Charles de l'Aubépine, Marquis de Châteauneuf, of an ancient family of counsellors and secretaries of state, had succeeded Michael Marillac in the office of Keeper of the Seals in 1630; this he owed to the favor of Richelieu, and to the attachment which he had shown him. He had carried this devotion very far, for he had presided at Toulouse over the commission which had sentenced the imprudent and unfortunate Montmorenci, and had thus drawn upon himself the eternal enmity of the Montmorencis and the Condés. Châteauneuf had therefore given bloody pledges of fidelity to Richelieu, and they seemed inseparable. The cardinal had loaded him with favors, as was his custom towards his friends. Châteauneuf had been appointed chancellor of the royal orders, and Governor of Touraine. He was a consummate man of business, laborious and active, and endowed with that quality which best pleased the cardinal, resolution; but he had an inordinate ambition which he retained through life, and which when joined with love, rendered him blind to all but his purpose.[1] We cannot but smile when we recall the assertion of
- ↑ Richelieu, Testament Politique, Chap. i.: "The important post to which your majesty had appointed him, the hundred thousand crowns which he received each year from your liberality, the government of one of your provinces, all extraordinary marks of favor to a man in his position, were not considerations weighty enough to deter him from becoming the author of his own ruin." Memoires, Vol. vii., p. 326: "M. de Châteauneuf was made Keeper of the Seals in the belief that he would be guided solely by the commandments of the king, and the interests of his service, as he had hitherto seemed to have no other design, and had been for many years attached to the cardinal, serving him with many tokens of affection and fidelity; but no sooner was he emancipated by the authority of his office and placed in an independent position, than the designs which before had been concealed by respect and fear, began to disclose themselves. He attached himself to the cabals of the court, particularly to that of factious women headed by the Duchess de Chevreuse, whose conduct had often displeased the king, inasmuch as she had not only belonged to all the troublesome factions that had been raised against him, but had formerly been herself the very dangerous leader of a party."
