VIII.] POWER OF THE CROWN. 137 John Francis de Gondi, coadjutor to his uncle the Arch- bishop of Paris, and afterwards known as Cardinal de Retz. The blockade was not very effective, for Condd's troops were not strong enough to stop the supplies of food, and when Turenne took the side of the Fronde, the Court offered terms of peace. The people of Paris, being weary of the siege, accepted them, though Mazarin remained minister, and things went on much as before. This hollow peace was signed at Renil on the 4th of March, 1649. 10. The Second War of the Fronde, 1650. — Cond^ thought himself the first person in thekingdom, and gave himself intolerable airs. Mazarin determined to have him arrested, and actually made him, as a member of the council, sign an order for his own imprisonment without seeing what it was. He was shut up in the Castle of Vincennes with his brother the Prince of Conti and his brother-in-law the Duke of Longueville. Bouillon was also made prisoner. Their wives did their utmost to dehver them. Madame de Longueville, who tried to raise Normandy, failed, and had to flee in disguise to Holland ; but the Princess of Conde stirred up Bourdeaux, and Turenne united with the Spaniards. The mob of Paris again rose, and fancying that the queen was again going to steal away the king, invaded the palace at night, and insisted on seeing him in his bed. He feigned sleep all the time they were passing through his room, but he was old enough never to forget the insult. Mazarin felt that he must yield to the storm ; he left Paris, set the princes at liberty, and left the country. But he still cor- responded with the queen, and directed her in everything. 11. Third War of the Fronde, 1 651.— Condi's pride and overbearing manners soon gave general offence, and the queen intreated the coadjutor De Retz to assist her in getting rid of him. and bringing back the cardinal. Finding out what was going on, Conde came to the parliament with an armed following ; there was a furious quarrel, and the coadjutor v/as almost killed by the Duke of Rochefoucauld. Condi's pride had set queen, Fronde, and people all alike against him, and in his wrath he went off to Guienne and, according to the usual plea of the rebels, raised an army to free the king from bad advisers. The effect was to make Anne of Austria recall Mazarin, whereupon Paris shut its gates and again de- clared him an outlaw. There was throughout an absurd element in this war, and never more so than when.
