Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/218

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

where he remained three years. He then asked to be set at liberty, and appointed to a com- mand against the Protestants. His request was granted, and in 1636 he entered Franche- Comte, and after capturing several places laid siege to Dole. The town made a vigorous resistance, and Conde was forced to raise the siege. He was equally unsuccessful at the siege of Fuenterrabia in 1638, but took Salces in 1639, and Elne in 1642. After the death of Louis XIII. he was admitted to the council of regency, in which he rendered signal ser- vices. "But his greatest glory," says Vol- taire, "was to be the father of the great CondeV' IV. Lonis II. de Bourbon, the great Cond6, son of the preceding, born in the castle of Vincennes, Sept. 8, 1621, died at Chantilly, Dec. 11, 1686. After receiving a thorough education, he entered the military service and signalized himself by unusual intrepidity and fierceness of temper. When only 22 years old, and known as the duke d'Enghien, he was placed in command of the French army in Flanders. Contrary to the advice of the old generals who served under his orders, he gave battle to the Spaniards at Eocroy, May 19, 1643, and through skilful manoeuvres, and the impetuosity of his attacks, overpowered them ; thus inaugurating by a brilliant victory the reign of Louis XIV. In 1644, being sent to Germany, he fought for three days in succes- sion against the Bavarian Gen. Mercy, near Freiburg, and forced him to retreat. In 1645 he again met his rival Gen. Mercy at Nordlin- gen, and engaged in a terrific conflict, during which Mercy was killed, while Cond6 himself was wounded, but finally achieved another triumph. In 1646 he returned to Flanders, and took Dunkirk ; but the following year, in Spain, he was foiled in the siege of Lerida, and his past exploits did not shield him against ridicule and satire. But these were soon si- lenced by another great success, Aug. 20, 1648,' at Lens in Flanders. There he completed the destruction of that formidable Spanish infan- try which had received the first deadly blow at Eocroy ; and a still more important object was gained, this victory bringing about the end of the thirty years' war, and the peace of West- phalia, signed by France Oct. 24, 1648. At the beginning of the war of the Fronde in the next year, he for a while sided with the court against the parliament and the lords, and after a three months' siege succeeded in reinstating the young king in Paris ; but dissatisfied with the reward of this service, he acted with an overbearing superciliousness which was imita- ted by his followers, and caused them to be styled petits maUres. Queen Anne of Austria and Mazarin, being resolved to get rid of so despotic an auxiliary, became reconciled for a while with the chiefs of the Fronde, and had the prince arrested, in company with his broth- er and brother-in-law, Conti and Longueville, Jan. 18, 1650. Liberated by Mazarin, who was obliged to leave the kingdom, he repaired to Bordeaux, which city had already revolted in his behalf. He was worsted by several roy- alist chiefs, and especially by Turenne. The first important engagement between the two great rivals took place April 7, 1652, near B16neau on the Loire, where, notwithstanding the numerical inferiority of his troops, Turenne conquered. " You have for the second time placed the crown of France on the head of my son," said Anne of Austria, in congratulating him upon his success. Three months later, July 2, another battle was fought under the walls of Paris in the faubourg St. Antoine, and Cond6 would have been entirely defeated had not the duchess de Montpensier, then in Paris, caused the gates of the metropolis to be opened, and the artillery of the Bastile to play upon the royal army. But Paris, the parlia- ment, and nearly all the Frondeurs were tired of the protracted struggle ; and it was in vain that Cond6 urged them to prolong their resis- tance. They made their peace with the queen, and the prince had now no other alternative than to go over to the Spaniards in the Neth- erlands. The French hero was now seen in the ranks of those against whom he had been so fiercely arrayed, fighting against his own countrymen. But fortune seemed to have de- serted him ; he shared in the defeats jnflicted by Turenne upon his allies at Arras in 1654, and near Dunkirk in 1658. On the conclu- sion of the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, he was pardoned and allowed to return to France, where he lived at his magnificent country seat of Chantilly. Eight years afterward he was recalled to active service, and early in 1668 conquered Franche-Comte" within less than three weeks. This reinstated him with the king, but not sufficiently to make the latter support. him as a candidate for the crown of Poland after the abdication of John Casimir. In 1672, on the outbreak of the war against the United Provinces, Conde was placed at the head of one of the armies which invaded the Netherlands, and was wounded in the arm at the crossing of the Rhine. He afterward opposed William of Orange, whom he fought at Senef, Aug. 11, 1674, with doubtful success. The next year he was called to Alsace to com- mand another French army which had been en- tirely disorganized by the death of Turenne ; he restored order, and drove Montecuculi be- yond the Ehine. This was his last triumph, the infirmities consequent upon his long cam- paigns forcing him to retire. He repaired to Chantilly, where he was surrounded by a crowd of followers; here also he frequently received the most illustrious poets of his time, Eacine, Moliere, La Fontaine, and Boileau. In his latter years he was especially fond of the society of Bossuet, who was his spiritual ad- viser, and whose funeral oration describes in a most eloquent manner the military life and Christian death of the illustrious warrior. See Essai sur la vie du grand Conde, by Louis Jo- seph de Bourbon, prince de Conde (London,

ed