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 ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
H IN D U ISM

Volume 2

A D IC T IO N A R Y OF H IN D U IS M
A DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM
Its Mythology, Folklore and
Development 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1500

MARGARET AND JAMES STUTLEY

First published in 1977 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
This edition first published in 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1977 Margaret and James Stutley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-367-14300-8 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-05711-3 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-14535-4 (Volume 2) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-03223-3 (Volume 2) (ebk)

Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome
correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
A Dictionary of

HINDUISM
Its Mythology, Folklore and
Development 1500 B.C.-A.D. 1500

Margaret and James Stutley

Routledge & Kegan Paul

London and Henley
First published in 1977
by Rouíledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
39 Store Street
London W C1E 7DD and Broadway House,
Newtown Road, Henley-onThames, Oxon R G 9 I EN
Photosetting by Thomson Press (India) Limited,
New Delhi
and printed in Great Britain by
Lowe & Brydone

© Margaret and James S tut ley 1977

No part o f this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except fo r the quotation o f brief
passages in criticism

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Stutley, Margaret
A dictionary o f Hinduism.
1. Hinduism—Dictionaries
I. Title II. Stutley, James
294S0 3 B LI 105

ISB N 0 -7 100-8398-X
Contents

Preface vii

General Abbreviations and Symbols ix

Abbreviated Titles of Works referred to xi

List of romanized Sanskrit characters in English alphabetical order xv

Introduction xvii

Map of Ancient India xix

Dictionary 1

Bibliography 353

English Subjects and their Sanskrit Equivalents 369

Preface

The need for a new Dictionary o f Hinduism that would

meet the requirements o f the modem student and general
reader has long been recognized. The attem pt to meet
this need has been for us an exacting but interesting
task during the past twenty years.
Now that it is over we wish to thank those who have
directly contributed to its completion, and those who
have indirectly done so through the media of their
translations and commentaries, from which we have
quoted, such quotations being acknowledged in foot-
notes. But to those who, during the early stages of our
task gave much practical help, we tender special thanks.
They include Miss I.B. H om er, Professor P.S. Jaini,
Colonel E.F.J. Payne, and Mr. A.H. Prior.
We wish to thank also the Hon. Editor o f Folklore
for permission to use part of the entry entitled
‘Asvamedha’, contributed to Folklore, vol. 80, Winter
1969.

M argaret and James Stutley

General Abbreviations and Symbols

App. Appendix N.W. north-west

AS. Anglo-Saxon OE. Old English
c. circa, approximate date OFries. Old Friesian
Cal. Calcutta OG. Old German
cf. compare OHG. Old High German
ch. chapter OP. Old Persian
col. column OSI. Old Slavonic
comp. compound pa. parvan
ed. edition, or edited Pä. Pâli
e.g. exempli gratia, for example priv. privative
E. o r Eng. English q.v. quod vide, ‘which see’
et al. and others rev. revised edition o r version
etc. et cetera, and others similar to s. or sing. singular
f. feminine gender Sem. Semitic
fase. fascicule seq. or et seq. sequens, ‘following’
F. or Fr. French Skt. Sanskrit
G. German SI. or Slav. Slavonic
Goth. Gothic S.W. south-west
Gr. Greek tr. translation or translated
H. Hebrew V. vide, ‘see’
Hind. Hindi viz. videlicet, ‘namely’
ibid. ibidem, ‘in the same place or book’ W. Welsh
IE. Indo-European
i.e. id est, ‘that is’
Symbols
Intro. Introduction
L. Latin = ‘equivalent to’, ‘equal’
lit. literally ( ) parentheses enclosing remarks, de-
Lith. Lithuanian scriptions and explanatory state-
m. masculine gender ments
MS. or MSS. manuscript (s) [ ] brackets enclosing words intro-
n. neuter gender duced to link portions of a quoted
N.E. north-east passage
nom. nominative case J denotes an etymological root
Abbreviated Titles of Works referred to

The names of Sanskrit and Pali compositions, and of CHI. The Cambridge History o f India,
other works quoted from, or cited or referred to; full ed. by E.J. Rapson, 6 vols, 1922—
details of these works are given in the Bibliography. CHS. Principles o f Composition in Hindu
Sculpture, Alice Boner
CL, or Cyclo I. The Cyclopaedia o f India, 3 vols,
A BO R I Annals o f the Bhändärkar Oriental E. Balfour
Research Institute CII. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 3
AGP. Agni Puräna, tr. by M anmatha vols, 1888-1929
N ath D utt Shastri, 2 vols Cults. The Cults o f the Greek States,
AHI. An Advanced History o f India, Lewis Richard Famell
2nd edn., R.C. M ajumdar, et al. DHA. A Dictionary o f Hindu Architecture,
AIA The A rt o f Indian Asia, H. Zimmer Prasanna K um ar Acharya
Ait. Br. Aitareya Brähmana, tr. by DHL The Development o f Hindu Icono-
A.B. Keith graphy, J.N. Banerjea
Ancestor Worship. Origin and Development o f the EB. Encyclopaedia o f Buddhism, ed. by
Rituals o f Ancestor Worship, G.P. Malalasekera, fase. 1-
Dakshina Ranjan Shastri EBS. The Early Brahmanical System o f
AO S. American Oriental Society, New Gotra and Pravara, John Brough
Haven EHI. Elements o f Hindu Iconography,
Aspects. Aspects o f Early Visnuism, T.A.G. Rao, 2 vols
J. Gonda EM. Epic Mythology, E.W. Hopkins
AV. Atharva-Veda Sarhhitä, tr. by W. ERE. Encyclopaedia o f Religion and
Dwight Whitney, 2 vols Ethics, ed. by James Hastings,
AVB. Hymns o f the Atharva-Veda, tr. by 13 vols
M. Bloomfield ES. Encyclopaedia o f Superstitions, E.
BG. Bhagavadgitä, various translations and M.A. Radford.
BH. Brahmanism and Hinduism, M. EW. History o f Philosophy : Eastern and
Monier-Williams Western, S. Radhakrishnan, 2 vols
Bhâg. P. Bhägavata Puräna Facets. Facets o f Indian Thought, Betty
BIP. The Beginnings of Indian Heimann
Philosophy, F. Edgerton GG. The Golden Germ, F.D .K . Bosch
Br. Brähmana Hariv. Harivamsa
Brah. P. Brahmända Puräna, tr. G.C. Bosch HCD. or HD. A Classical Dictionary o f Hindu
Brhad-Är. Up. Brhad-Äranyaka Upanisad M ythology and Religion, John
Brhadd. Brhad-Devatä, tr. by A.A. Dowson
Macdonell HCIP. The History and Culture o f the
BSOAS. Bulletin o f the School o f Oriental Indian People, ed. by R.C.
and African Studies, London M ajumdar, et al., vols 1-5
CC. Change and Continuity in Indian H IIA. A History o f Indian and Indonesian
Religion, J. Gonda A rt, A.K. Coomaraswamy
CD. Century Dictionary, ed. by W.D. HIL. A History o f Indian Literature,
Whitney M. Wintemitz
CG. Cosmography and Geography in HIP. A History o f Indian Philosophy,
Early Indian Literature, D.C. Sircar S. Dasgupta
Chän. Up. Chändogya Upanisad HOS. Harvard Oriental Series
C. Herit. I. The Cultural Heritage o f India, HP. Hindu Polytheism. A. Daniélou
Sri Ramakrishna Centenary HW . Hindu World, 2 vols, Benjamin
Memorial, 3 vols Walker.
XI
A bbreviated T itles

I A. or Ind. Ant. The Indian Antiquary by Lakshman Sarup

IAL. A Comparative Dictionary o f the Notes. Notes on Names and the Name o f
Indo-Âryan Languages, R.L. God in Ancient India, J. Gonda
Turner OHI. The Oxford History o f India, V.A.
IHQ. Indian Historical Quarterly Smith, rev. by Sir Mortimer
Images. Images and Symbols, Mircea Eliade Wheeler et al.
India. India and World Civilization, OM. The M asks o f God, vol. II, Oriental
D.P. Singhal Mythology, J. Campbell
IRA. India in the Rämäyana Age, ORC. Obscure Religious Cults, Shashi-
S.N. Vyas bhusan Dasgupta
IT. The Indian Theogony, Sukumari OST. Original Sanskrit Texts, 5 vols,
Bhattacharji J. Muir
IW . Indian Wisdom, M. Monier- P. or Pur. Puräna
Williams Patterns. Patterns in Comparative Religion,
IW P. Indian and Western Philosophy, Mircea Eliade
Betty Heimann PI. The Puräna Index, 3 vols, V.R.
JA. Journal Asiatique Ramachandra Dikshitar
JAOS. Journal o f the American Oriental PSPT. The Significance o f Prefixes in
Society Sanskrit Philosophical Termi-
JR A S. Journal o f the Royal Asiatic Society, nology, Betty Heimann
London PTR. Pauränic and Tantric Religion, J.N.
JRASB. Journal o f the Royal Asiatic Society Banerjea
o f Bengal PTS. The Pali Text Society’s Päli-English
Kaus. Kausika Sütra Dictionary, ed. by T.W. Rhys
Kaus Kausitaki Upanisad Davids and William Stede
Kaus. Br. Kausitaki Brahmano, tr. by A.B. RAA. Religion in Art and Archaeology,
Keith J.N . Banerjea
Legends. Legends in the Mahäbhärata, Ram. The Rämäyana. tr. by Hari Prasad
S.A. Dange Shastri, 3 vols
Loka. Loka. World and Heaven in the RV. The Hymns o f the Rgveda, various
Veda, J. Gonda translations
Mänd. Up. Mändukya Upanisad SBE. Sacred Books o f the East, ed. by
Manu The Laws o f Manu, tr. by G . Bühler F. Max Müller
M ark. P. Mârkandeya Puräna, tr. by F.E. SBr. Satapatha Brähmana, tr. by Julius
Pargiter Eggeling, 5 vols, SBE.
M atsya Pur. M atsya Puräna—A Study, V.S. SED. Sanskrit-English Dictionary, M.
Agrawala Monier-Williams
MBh. Mahäbhärata, sponsored by Pratap Seers. The Seers o f the Rgveda, V.G.
Chandra Roy, 2nd ed., 12 vols Rahurkar
MBh. Crit. Edn. The Critical Edition of the M ahä- Shamanism. Shamanism, Archaic Techniques o f
bhärata, ed. by V.S. Sukthankar, Ecstasy, Mircea Eliade
F. Edgerton, S.K. De, et al. SS. Smyasampädane, 3 vols, tr. by
MBh., EM. This refers to E.W. Hopkins’ S.C. Nandimath, et al.
references to the Mahäbhärata in Sus. Sam. Sushruta Samhitä, tr. and ed. by
his Epic Mythology Kaviraj Kunjalal Bhishagratna,
MCB. Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques, 3 vols
Brussels SV . Säma Veda, tr. by R.T. Griffith
M und Up. Mutfdaka Upanisad Svet. Up. Svetäsvatara Upanisad
M yths. M yths and Symbols in Indian Art Tait. Br. Taittiriya Brähmana
and Civilization, H. Zimmer, ed. Tait. Sam. The Veda o f the Black Yajus School
by J. Campbell entitled Taittiriya Samhitä, tr. by
Nir. The Nighantu and the Nirukta, tr. A.B. Keith

xii
Other documents randomly have
different content
 CHAPTER XXIX
Conditions of peace with the Huguenots decided upon—Refusal of the citizens of
Montpellier to open their gates to the King until his army has been disbanded—Bullion
advises Louis XIII to accede to their wishes, and is supported by the majority of the
Council—Bassompierre is of the contrary opinion, and urges the King to reduce
Montpellier to “entire submission and repentance”—Louis XIII decides to follow the
advice of Bassompierre, and the siege of the town is begun—A disastrous day for the
Royal army—Death of Zamet and the Italian engineer Gamorini—Political intrigues—
Bassompierre succeeds in securing the post of Keeper of the Seals for Caumartin,
although the King has already promised it to d’Aligre, the nominee of Condé—Heavy
losses sustained by the besiegers in an attack upon one of the advanced-works—Condé
quits the army and sets out for Italy—Bassompierre is created marshal of France amidst
general acclamations—Peace is signed—Death of the Abbé Roucellaï—Bassompierre
accompanies the King to Avignon, where he again falls of petechial fever, but recovers—
He assists at the entry of the King and Queen into Lyons—He is offered the government
of the Maine, but declines it.

The Royal army had now invested Montpellier, which Rohan was
determined to defend to the last extremity, if he were unable to obtain a
treaty for the whole body of his co-religionists; but it seemed as though
peace would intervene to prevent further bloodshed. The Huguenots had
abated many of their pretensions, and Louis XIII, on his side, was not
disposed to press too hardly upon them. Affairs without were becoming
more and more alarming; and if the Ultramontane party, blinded by
religious hatred, desired to continue the war until the Protestants were
entirely crushed, level-headed men saw with grief France rendered impotent
abroad and a prey to civil strife to satisfy the bigotry of fanatics and the
egoistic ambition of the Prince de Condé. Lesdiguières, who desired to
terminate his career by the deliverance of Italy, resumed his negotiations
with Rohan, and in an interview between them at Saint-Privat conditions of
peace were decided upon. The King was prepared to sign the articles and to
make his entry into Montpellier; but the inhabitants firmly refused to open
their gates to him. If, said they, the King would withdraw with his army to a
distance of ten leagues, they would admit the Constable with what forces he
wished to enter, and a week hence, when his army had been disbanded, they
would receive his Majesty with all possible magnificence.
 “The fact was,” writes Bassompierre, “that Monsieur le Prince, mortal
enemy of the peace which was being negotiated, had said on several
occasions that, if the King entered Montpellier, he would cause the town to
be pillaged, whatever precautions might be taken to prevent it. This had so
alarmed the people of Montpellier that they preferred to have recourse to
any other extremity than that of receiving the King; and, as their final
answer, which they gave that day to M. de Bullion,[8] they offered all
obedience, provided the King did not enter their town, of which they
considered the pillage assured, if they opened their gates to him.”
Louis XIII at once summoned the council to consider the answer which
Bullion had brought back, and after the latter had read it to those present,
called upon him to give his opinion.
Bullion, who seems to have been a man of sound common-sense and had
been a witness that morning of the genuine alarm with which the
extravagant boasts of Condé had inspired the people of Montpellier,
strongly urged the King to humour them and “to seek solid advantages,
without allowing himself to be stopped by little formalities which are not
essential.” “If,” said he, “the town of Montpellier were refusing you the
obedience and submission which is your due, I should say that it is
necessary to destroy and exterminate it. But it is a people alarmed and
terrified by the threats which have been launched against them to plunder
and destroy them, to violate their wives and daughters and to burn their
houses, who entreats you in the name of God to receive its obedience
through your Constable, who will enter, when you have withdrawn, with
such forces as he pleases, to make your Majesty’s authority recognised
there, which is the same thing as though you entered yourself. Why do you
wish for a mere punctilio to refuse a peace so useful and honourable for
your Majesty; and prefer to undertake a long war, of which the issue is
doubtful and the expense excessive, in a country where the heat is
immoderate, and to expose your own person to the injuries of war and of
the season, when you can escape them without loss or blame?”
The King was visibly impressed by this excellent advice, and when
Condé sprang to his feet and began angrily declaiming against Bullion and
“the cabal which had forged this peace without the knowledge of the
Council and were endeavouring to conclude it with disgrace and infamy,”
he sternly bade him resume his seat, saying that he would have an
opportunity of giving his opinion when his turn came.
Not improbably influenced by the attitude of the King, counsellor after
counsellor rose and expressed his approval of the advice given by Bullion.
When Bassompierre was called upon, Condé exclaimed impatiently: “I
know his opinion already, and we can say of it ad idem.” To the general
astonishment, however, Bassompierre was for once in accord with Condé,
and advised the King to break off the negotiations forthwith and “show, by
a noble and generous disdain, how deeply he was offended by the
propositions of those of Montpellier.” “If,” said he, “your Majesty were
before Strasbourg, Antwerp, or Milan, and were concluding a peace with
the princes to which those towns belong, the stipulation that you should not
enter them would be tolerable; but that a King of France, victorious and
supported by a powerful army, in place of granting peace to a handful of his
rebel subjects, without resource and reduced to extremity, should receive it
from them on the disgraceful conditions which they have just proposed, is a
proposition so insulting that it cannot be suffered nor even listened to.... The
King who accepts those conditions must be prepared to receive terrible
insults from the other towns, who will be rendered audacious by this
example and assured of impunity by this unworthy toleration.... Sire, in the
name of God, take a firm resolution and persevere in it, and insist even
upon the ruin of this people, because it is rebellious, and because it is also
insolent and impudent; or to reduce it to entire submission and complete
repentance.”
He then pointed out that his own interests were opposed to the advice
which he was offering the King, and that he was actuated entirely by regard
for his Majesty’s service and honour, since he had already been promised
the marshal’s bâton and had nothing to gain at the siege of Montpellier,
“save much toil, dangerous wounds and perhaps even death.” It was also
possible that unfortunate accidents might arise which might oblige the King
to defer his promotion to the office of marshal or even compel him
[Bassompierre] to refuse the honour. “Nevertheless,” he concluded, “I shall
take these risks, and I beg your Majesty very humbly to delay my reception
[as marshal] until the town of Montpellier shall be reduced to its obedience,
and your Majesty avenged of the affront which these rebels have desired to
inflict upon you.”
 “When I had finished speaking,” says Bassompierre, “Monsieur le
Prince, who had listened to me attentively, rose and said to the King: ‘Sire,
here is an honest man, devoted servant of your Majesty, and jealous of your
honour.’ The King rose also, which obliged all the others to rise, and his
Majesty said to M. de Bullion; ‘Return to Montpellier and tell the people of
the town that I grant conditions to my subjects, but that I do not receive
them from them. Let them accept those which I have offered them or let
them prepare to be forced to do so.’ And thus the council ended. Monsieur
le Prince did me the honour to approach and embrace me and to say aloud
so many kind things of me that I was covered with confusion.”
There can be no doubt that Bassompierre, who was an honest man and a
devoted servant of the Crown, was actuated by what he considered to be his
duty in tendering this advice to his sovereign, which had touched Louis XIII
on his weakest spot—his exaggerated regard for his own dignity. But it is
equally certain that he had committed a disastrous mistake, both from a
political and military point of view, in counselling the King to sacrifice the
interests of his realm for what Bullion had rightly described as “a mere
punctilio.” For, not only was an immediate peace of the most vital
importance to the interests of France, both at home and abroad, but the
reduction of the people of Montpellier to “entire submission and complete
repentance” was a task which, in the most favourable circumstances, could
not be effected except at immense expense and at the cost of hundreds of
valuable lives. It is indeed amazing that, after the terrible lesson of
Montauban, anyone could have been so rash as to embark upon another
great siege for reasons so inadequate.

The siege began in anything but an auspicious manner. In the early hours
of September 2, Bassompierre and Praslin advanced against the ridge of
Saint-Denis, where the citadel now stands, and carried it without any
resistance, since there was only a guard-house there, the occupants of which
fled at their approach. Leaving Valençay there with some 1,500 men to hold
it, they returned to camp, and, after attending a meeting of the Council,
Bassompierre, who had to be up all the following night to superintend the
opening of the trenches, went to his tent to snatch a few hours’ sleep. About
midday, he was awakened by the sound of heavy firing, and, hurrying out,
he saw the troops whom he and Praslin had left on the ridge of Saint-Denis
in disorderly retreat, hotly pursued by the enemy.
It appears that Valençay, believing that there was no possibility of his
being attacked in broad daylight, had not only neglected to entrench
himself, but had even allowed his men to pile arms and scatter about the
ridge; and, to crown all, had permitted a trumpeter from the town, who had
been sent to demand the bodies of the dead, to approach without taking the
precaution to order his eyes to be bandaged. On his return to Montpellier,
this man duly reported what he had seen to his officers; and the garrison,
sallying out in considerable force, fell upon the astonished Valençay and
utterly routed him.
Springing on a horse, Bassompierre galloped off to the quarters of the
Swiss Guards, who were the troops nearest the ridge of Saint-Denis, called
them to arms and led them against the enemy. Meantime, the Duc de
Montmorency, the young Duc de Fronsac and other nobles and gentlemen,
who happened to be in attendance on the King, who had just finished
dinner, had mounted the first horses they could find, and, with more valour
than discretion, thrown themselves into the mêlée, in a vain endeavour to
rally the fugitives. Montmorency’s life was saved by d’Argencourt, the
lieutenant-governor of Montpellier, who fortunately recognised him, and he
escaped with a couple of not very serious wounds; but his companions
perished almost to a man, amongst them being Fronsac, whom
Bassompierre describes as “a young prince of great promise, who, in his
opinion, would have been one day a great captain,” the Marquis de
Beuvron, d’Auctot, who commanded Condé’s company of light horse and
was a great favourite of the prince, and Luynes’s nephew Combalet, brother
of the young lady whom Bassompierre would in all probability have
married, had the late Constable lived a few months longer.[9]
However, Bassompierre had now brought up the Swiss, and before the
advance of these veterans, the enemy, who had pursued the routed troops
almost to the confines of the Royal camp, fell back into the town, and the
ridge of Saint-Denis was recovered. But it had been a most disastrous day
for the besiegers, for Valençay’s force had been terribly cut up and his best
officers killed.
Next day, the defenders of Montpellier, encouraged by this success,
made a determined attack on Montmorency’s troops, encamped to the west
of the town, who gave way before them. Zamet,[10] who had taken over the
command from the wounded duke, succeeded in rallying them and driving
the enemy back. But almost immediately afterwards he was mortally
wounded by a cannon-shot from the town, and died a few days later.
The trenches were opened without any further disasters, but very little
progress was made, for the enemy stubbornly disputed every yard of
ground. The Italian engineer Gamorini was killed on the 11th, and his death
was a severe loss to the besiegers. The same night the defenders made a
fierce sortie, which was not repulsed until the work of several days had
been destroyed. During the fighting a captain of the Navarre Regiment
named Des Champs was surrounded by the enemy and would have been
killed, had he not cried out: “I am Bassompierre; I am worth 20,000 crowns
to you!” Upon which they spared his life and made him prisoner, thinking
that they had secured a valuable prize.
In the night of the 13th-14th, the besiegers attacked the advanced-works
on the north side of the town in three places simultaneously, and carried
them. This placed them in a favourable position for bringing their cannon to
bear upon the main fortifications; but, on the advice of a young engineer
named La Magne Chavannes, and notwithstanding the opposition of
Bassompierre and other officers, Condé insisted that they should first
concentrate their efforts against a ravelin situated between the two bastions.
The task of approaching this work proved a most difficult one, as they were
exposed to a heavy flanking fire from the town which repeatedly levelled
their traverses, and to bombing-attacks, which did considerable execution;
while one night the trenches were completely flooded by a violent storm.
Meantime, the generals were devoting what time they could spare from
their military duties to political intrigue. The Cardinal de Retz had died at
the end of August, and the Keeper of the Seals, De Vic, in the first days of
September, and their deaths had greatly weakened Condé’s party. He and
Schomberg succeeded in replacing the former in the Council by their friend
the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, and thus contrived to exclude Richelieu,
though they could not prevent him being recommended for the vacant
cardinal’s hat, which was immediately solicited for him by the Queen-
Mother. Condé then pressed the King to confer the post of Keeper of the
Seals upon d’Aligre, a Counsellor of State who was devoted to his interests,
and would appear to have extracted a promise from his Majesty that he
should be appointed. At any rate, when retiring to rest on the night of
September 21, the King had told the courtiers who were present that it was
his intention to make d’Aligre Keeper of the Seals, and they had informed
Condé.
Next morning, flushed with success and convinced that he was on the
point of triumphing over his enemies and dominating both the King and the
State, Condé sent Roucellaï to Bassompierre with what amounted to an
ultimatum. As Bassompierre was entering the King’s quarters, with Praslin,
to attend a meeting of the Council, the abbé drew him aside and informed
him that he had a communication of great importance to make to him on
behalf of Monsieur le Prince, and that he desired to speak before Praslin.
After assuring Bassompierre that he was deeply sensible of the
obligations under which he had placed him,[11] and that, in return, he had
done everything in his power to secure for him the good will of Condé,
Roucellaï declared that, despite all his efforts and those of his friends,
Monsieur le Prince was as ill-satisfied with him as he could well be, and
was convinced that, not only did he prefer Puisieux’s friendship to his, but
had actually assisted that Minister to prejudice his Majesty’s mind against
him. He had therefore charged him to offer Bassompierre once more his
entire friendship, provided that he were willing to abandon that of Puisieux;
and he required an answer that very day, as he declined to wait any longer.
And the abbé entreated him to accept his patron’s offer and so escape the
disastrous consequences which would inevitably follow a refusal.
“M. d’Aligre,” said he, “will be to-morrow Keeper of the Seals, and he
and M. de Schomberg, closely united with Monsieur le Prince, will not only
ruin M. de Puisieux, but also all his abettors and adherents, of whom you
are the chief. I wished to tell you this before the Maréchal de Praslin, who
loves you as a father, and who will be my witness that I have striven to
avert from your head the storm which I perceive ready to burst upon it. For
assuredly these three persons united together will possess the State, and will
exalt or abase whomsoever they please.”
“As he concluded these words,” says Bassompierre, “the King called me,
and since he saw me looking thoughtful, he inquired of what I was
dreaming. ‘I am dreaming, Sire,’ I answered, ‘of an extravagant harangue
which Roucellaï has just made me, before M. de Praslin, on behalf of
Monsieur le Prince, which has astonished me both on my own account and
yours. He declares me incapable of ever possessing his good graces if I do
not accept them in the course of to-day, on condition of abandoning the
friendship of M. de Puisieux, and says further that he, Schomberg and
d’Aligre (who is to-morrow to become Keeper of the Seals) will be three
heads in one hood, who will govern the State according to their whim, and,
without any contradiction, ruining or aggrandizing their enemies or their
partisans or servants at their pleasure. Judge, Sire, the condition to which
you and those who desire to depend only upon you will be reduced!’
“It was unnecessary to say any more to the King to exasperate him.
‘They are not where they think they are,’ he replied, ‘and I have a rod in
pickle for them.’ I begged him not to detain me longer, lest Roucellaï should
believe that I had told him of his harangue, and, without appearing to notice
anything, to ask the Maréchal de Praslin whether he had not said this, and
more.”
Bassompierre then went back to Roucellaï and told him that “neither
threats nor disgrace were able to make him abandon his friends, but, on the
contrary, served only to bind him more closely to them,” and that “though
he should always be Monsieur le Prince’s very humble servant, he would
never do anything unworthy of himself to acquire his good graces.”
Meantime, Praslin had confirmed what Bassompierre had told the King
and contrived to anger him still more against Condé and Schomberg; and
his Majesty told Bassompierre that he would discuss the matter with him
after dinner, when he would decide what must be done.
When the Council rose, Puisieux came up to Bassompierre and said:
“The matter is decided; d’Aligre is Keeper of the Seals.” Bassompierre
replied that he would believe it when he saw it; and that, meantime, he did
not intend to worry about the matter. The Minister, however, declined to be
comforted and went away, looking very disconsolate. Louis XIII then spoke
to Bassompierre, and told him that he feared that he would be obliged to
make d’Aligre Keeper of the Seals, as there was no one else who possessed
all the necessary qualifications for so important a post. Bassompierre
replied that his Majesty was doing an injustice to Caumartin, one of the
oldest Counsellors of State, who had been entrusted in his time with several
embassies and other important commissions, of which he had acquitted
himself with credit. The King objected that Caumartin stammered, as he did
himself, and that, as it was one of the duties of the Keeper of the Seals to
prompt his sovereign when he was making a speech, this would entail
serious inconvenience. “The man who ought to assist me when I am
speaking,” said he, “will require someone to speak for him!”
However, Bassompierre waited in the King’s chamber until his Majesty
returned from dinner, when, finding that he was much incensed at Condé’s
presumption, he skilfully fanned the flame and then again proposed
Caumartin to him, pointing out that, if at the end of three months the King
found that he was incapable of discharging the duties of his post to his
satisfaction, he could call for his resignation.
After some hesitation, the King told him that he had decided to give the
Seals to Caumartin, and would inform him of it when he came to the
Council on the following morning, but until then he should say nothing
about the matter to anyone. The battle, however, was not yet won, for Louis
was so easily influenced that if Condé were to see him in the interval, he
would probably have no more difficulty in persuading him to break the
promise he had just given Bassompierre than Bassompierre had had to
induce him to break the promise he had given Condé. Aware of this,
Bassompierre determined to get his Majesty to commit himself in writing,
and demanded permission “to send a note on his behalf to console by this
good news M. de Puisieux, who had gone to his lodging stricken to the
heart.” To this the King consented, provided that Puisieux should be
enjoined to keep the affair secret; and Bassompierre, taking Louis’s
escritoire, which was on the table, wrote the letter and then begged the King
to add a few words in his own hand. And his Majesty wrote at the foot: “I
confirm this note.”
In order to get the King to commit himself still further, Bassompierre
then asked if he would permit him to write to Caumartin, to which Louis,
after making some little difficulty, also consented.
It was well that Bassompierre had taken these precautions, for, next
morning, Condé, having learned what was in the wind, came to the King to
inquire whether there were any truth in a report that had reached him that
his Majesty intended to make Caumartin Keeper of the Seals. Louis, greatly
embarrassed, assured him that it was without foundation, and he returned
the same answer to several other persons whom the prince had put up to
question him on the matter. It is probable, indeed, that had he not been
persuaded to commit himself in regard to Caumartin, Condé’s candidate
would, after all, have got the Seals. As it was, he had gone too far to draw
back, and, to the intense mortification of Monsieur le Prince, he that
afternoon gave them to Caumartin.
The appointment of Caumartin in place of his own nominee,
notwithstanding the promise which Louis XIII had given him, was a serious
rebuff to the presumptuous Condé, nor did he succeed any better in his
military than in his political operations. On October 2, against the advice of
Bassompierre, he gave orders that an attempt should be made to carry the
ravelin by assault. It failed, and the besieged retaliated by a furious sortie on
the flank of the Royal troops, which one of the latter’s own mines had laid
open, and compelled them to abandon their trenches. Through the united
efforts of Bassompierre[12]
and d’Épernon, the enemy were driven back, but the losses had been
heavy, and included a number of officers. Montpellier was threatening to
become a second Montauban.
A few days later, Lesdiguières, who had returned to his government of
Dauphiné before the siege began, arrived in the Royal camp, at the head of
considerable reinforcements. The Constable came ostensibly to take
command of the operations, but his real object was to resume his
negotiations for peace, which Louis XIII had, unknown to Condé,
authorised him to do. The prince, deprived of his command and perceiving
that peace was about to be concluded, despite all his efforts to prevent it,
comprehended that his favour was at an end, and, in high dudgeon, quitted
the army and set out for Italy, on the pretext of acquitting himself of a vow
which he made during his imprisonment to perform a pilgrimage to the
shrine of Our Lady of Loretto.
The following morning (October 14), the terms of peace having been
agreed upon, Rohan was permitted to pass through the camp and enter
Montpellier, in order to persuade the citizens to accept the conditions,
which included the admission of a Royal garrison into the town.
On the morning of the 12th, Bassompierre came to the King’s quarters to
attend a meeting of the Council. It seemed to him that the King, who was in
his aviary, did not look at him as kindly as usual, nor did he address him.
Presently, his Majesty requested the members of the Council to follow him
into his chamber, and told the Cardinal de la Vallette and Chevreuse,
d’Elbeuf and Vendôme, who had come to pay him their respects, that he
desired their presence also.
“As we entered,” says Bassompierre, “the Keeper of the Seals said to
me: ‘It was my intention to recognise the obligations under which you have
placed me, by sending you your letters perfumed, but the King pressed me
so much to seal them, through Beautré, whom he sent to me yesterday
evening, that I had not the time.’ ‘What letters?’ I asked. ‘Those creating
you marshal of France, whose oath you are about to take.’ I was very
astonished and rejoiced likewise at this unexpected news, and, at the same
time, the King spoke these very words:—
“ ‘Messieurs, it is my intention to recognise the good and great services
which M. de Bassompierre has rendered me for several years, both in the
wars which I have waged and on other occasions, by the office of marshal
of France, believing that he will serve me worthily and usefully therein. I
desire to have your opinions on this matter, to see whether they are in
conformity with my own.’
“Then all, with one voice, did me the honour to say more good of me
than I deserved; upon which, without saying anything further to me, he [the
King] took me by the hand, and being seated in his chair, made me kneel
and take the oath. Then he placed in my hand the bâton, for which I
rendered him the most humble thanks that I could think of. All present
advanced to embrace and to felicitate me; and next every corps in the army,
both of the infantry and the cavalry, came to offer very humble thanks to the
King for the choice that he had made of my person, their first brigadier-
general, to make him a marshal of France. And those of the artillery having
demanded permission to fire a salvo of all the cannon in the army, the
infantry did the same, to make a salvo of rejoicing. And the Sieur de
Calonges, governor of Montpellier, sent to inquire of our soldiers in the
trenches why this salvo was being fired, and, on being acquainted with the
reason, he gave orders that the people of Montpellier should do the same as
the army; and there also a general salvo was fired.”
It was a fitting tribute to a very brave man and a most capable officer,
who had most thoroughly earned the high honour which had just been
conferred upon him.
 The same night the authorities of Montpellier sent to inform Louis XIII
of their acceptance of the terms of peace, and on the 18th the ratification
was brought to the King. The King signed the edict which put an end to this
miserable war which had cost France so dear on the following day,[13] and
Créquy and Bassompierre with the French and Swiss Guards took
possession of the town. His Majesty made his entry on the 20th, and “all
was as peaceable as if there had never been a war.”
On the 22nd, Roucellaï, who had been very ill for some days with
petechial fever, sent an earnest request for Bassompierre to come to him. He
went and found the unfortunate abbé almost at his last gasp, and he had
only just time to confide his papers to Bassompierre, with directions to burn
all those which he thought advisable, then he died. As Roucellaï had been
one of the most inveterate intriguers of his time, these papers must have
furnished interesting reading, and have contained the wherewithal to set the
whole Court by the ears. It was just as well, therefore, that Bassompierre
had authority to destroy them.
On the 27th, Louis XIII left Montpellier and two or three days later
made his entry into Arles, “where for the first time,” says Bassompierre, “I
marched in my quality of marshal of France, immediately before the King,
on the left of the Maréchal de Praslin.”
From Arles Bassompierre was despatched with the greater part of the
army to reduce some small places from which the Sieur de Brison, a
Huguenot chief who had refused to make his submission, was pillaging the
surrounding country. This he successfully accomplished, and towards the
middle of November rejoined the King at Lyons. On the way thither he
spent a night at Valence, “where he found M. de Lusson (sic), who had been
nominated cardinal and was on his way to receive the hat from the
King.”[14] From Lyons he accompanied Louis XIII to Avignon, where the
King received a visit from Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, who came to lay
the basis of a treaty between France, Savoy and Venice, which was signed
at Paris on February 7 of the following year, and which had for its object to
compel Spain to execute the Treaty of Madrid and to restore the Valtellina
to the Grisons.
On the day following the Duke of Savoy’s arrival, the marshal was taken
ill while attending a play given in honour of the King at the Jesuit College.
His illness developed into another attack of petechial fever, though happily
not in so severe a form as the one he had had after the siege of Montauban.
However, it kept him at Avignon for a fortnight and prevented him from
accompanying the King to Grenoble, though he was well enough to assist at
their Majesties’ entry into Lyons, which took place on December 12 and
would appear to have rivalled in magnificence that of Henri II and
Catherine de’ Medici into the same city in 1548, though on this occasion
there was no Diane de Poitiers present to dispute the honours with the
Queen of France and give piquancy to the ceremony.
The entry was followed by a week of balls, banquets, theatrical
performances, and displays of fireworks, all of which festivities were no
doubt much appreciated by the marshal after so many months of war’s
alarms, capped by a severe illness, and all the more, since, he tells us, in the
course of them he was reconciled to a fair lady—her name is not recorded
—from whom he had had the misfortune to be estranged.
Louis XIII left Lyons to return to Paris on December 19. At La Charité,
where he spent Christmas, news arrived of the death of the Prince de
Guéméné, governor of the Maine, and the King offered the vacant office to
Bassompierre. The marshal, however, declined it, on the ground that he
desired “to receive his [the King’s] favours and benefits at such intervals
that the King should be praised for his kindness and he himself for his
modesty, and that, as only two months had elapsed since he had honoured
him with the office of marshal of France, if he were to make him so soon
governor of a province, people would talk about it.” We are, however,
inclined to think that the real reason of his refusal was his disinclination to
leave the Court—for the governor of a province was obliged to reside there
for several months in each year—partly owing to the attraction which court
life had for him, and partly because he knew that to retain the favour of a
king like Louis XIII it was necessary to be with him constantly.
 CHAPTER XXX
Fall of Schomberg—La Vieuville becomes Surintendant des Finances—His bitter jealousy
of Bassompierre—He informs Louis XIII that the marshal “deserves the Bastille or
worse”—Semi-disgrace of Bassompierre, who, however, succeeds in making his peace
with the King—Mismanagement of public affairs by Puisieux and his father, the
Chancellor Brulart de Sillery—La Vieuville and Richelieu intrigue against them and
procure their dismissal from office—The Earl of Holland arrives in Paris to sound the
French Court on the question of a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Henrietta
Maria—Bassompierre takes part in a grand ballet at the Louvre—La Vieuville accuses
the marshal of drawing more money for the Swiss than he is entitled to—Foreign policy
of La Vieuville—Richelieu re-enters the Council—Bassompierre accused by La Vieuville
of being a pensioner of Spain—Serious situation of the marshal—The Connétable
Lesdiguières advises Bassompierre to leave France, but the latter decides to remain—
Differences between La Vieuville and Richelieu over the negotiations for the English
marriage—Arrogance and presumption of La Vieuville—Intrigues of Richelieu against
him—The King informs Bassompierre that he has decided to disgrace La Vieuville—
Indiscretion of the marshal—Duplicity of Louis XIII towards his Minister—Fall of La
Vieuville—Richelieu becomes the virtual head of the Council.

In the second week in January, 1623, the Court reached Paris, and Louis
XIII made “a kind of entry” into his capital. This event appears to have
given rise to a good deal of unpleasantness:—
“Monsieur[15] having refused to suffer Monsieur le Comte[16] to ride
with him, Monsieur le Comte did the same to M. de Guise, who withdrew.
It happened also that the Provost of the Merchants[17] claimed the right to
march immediately before the King, on the ground that it was not an entry,
but a joyous arrival, for which the marshals of France felt such contempt
that they declined even to contest the point, and did not take part in the
procession.”
A few days after the King’s return to Paris, Schomberg was deprived of
the post of Surintendant of Finance and banished the Court. Since the
Treaty of Montpellier Puisieux had been busily intriguing against him, in
company with La Vieuville, a sworn enemy of Schomberg, and had accused
him of gross mismanagement of the finances, if not worse. That he had
mismanaged them was true enough, though how any other result could have
been expected, when he was required to combine the duties of Surintendant
with those of Grand Master of the Artillery on active service, it is difficult
to see. However, his hands appear to have been perfectly clean, otherwise
Richelieu would scarcely have recalled him to office so soon as he came
into power, and, though he had committed a grave error in attaching himself
to Condé and the war party, he was a more honest, as well as an abler, man
than those who had brought about his fall.
Bassompierre, who had taken no part in this intrigue, and had, indeed,
endeavoured to protect Schomberg, now proposed to the King to reappoint
Sully to the office which he had filled so ably under Henri IV, a suggestion
which did him much honour, since he and the old statesman had never been
on friendly terms. But Puisieux and his father, the Chancellor Brulart de
Sillery, objected, on the score of Sully’s religion, and La Vieuville was
made Surintendant.
La Vieuville was a man of some ability, but he was rash, corrupt and an
unscrupulous intriguer; and no sooner was he admitted to the King’s
Council than he began to conspire, first, to get rid of the Chancellor and
Puisieux, his benefactors, then, of all those whom the King admitted to his
intimacy, and particularly of Bassompierre, of whom he appears to have
conceived the bitterest jealousy.
Towards the end of that year a dispute of long standing between Diane
de France, the widow of the Connétable de Montmorency, and the Duchesse
de Chevreuse, was adjudicated upon by Louis XIII. It appears that Madame
de Montmorency had accepted the post of dame d’honneur to the Queen on
the understanding that no Surintendante of her Majesty’s Household should
be appointed over her. This condition, however, had not been observed, and
the Duchesse de Chevreuse, or the Duchesse de Luynes, as she was at that
time, had been appointed Surintendante. The Duc de Montmorency, acting
on behalf of his step-mother, requested the King to appoint someone to
inquire into this weighty matter and report to the Council, and, as the Duc
de Chevreuse, representing his wife, raised no objection, her request was
granted. Neither nobleman had, of course, the least intention of
compromising the interests of the lady he represented by adopting this
course; and their mortification may be imagined when, in November, Louis
XIII cut the Gordian knot by depriving both Madame de Montmorency and
Madame de Chevreuse of their charges.
 In a conversation with Bassompierre, Puisieux asked him his opinion of
the King’s decision. Bassompierre frankly replied that he considered it the
worst he had ever known him give, as he had thereby offended both parties,
and that “the judge would be condemned to pay the costs of the action.”
Puisieux inquired what he meant, when he said that, in the unsettled
condition of the kingdom, and the probability of another war with the
Huguenots, who were angrily demanding the destruction of Fort Saint-
Louis at La Rochelle,[18] it was most imprudent of the King to displease
two such great Houses as those of Montmorency and Lorraine, and that he
ought to indemnify forthwith both ladies for the loss of their charges;
otherwise, in the event of war, he might not be able to rely on the loyalty of
their relatives.
Bassompierre spoke to Puisieux as one friend might speak to another,
and, of course, believed that the latter would regard it as a private
conversation. But the Minister, “to play the good valet,” reported what the
marshal had said, very possibly with some little embellishments of his own,
to Louis XIII, who, in turn, informed La Vieuville; and La Vieuville,
delighted to find an opportunity of injuring Bassompierre, professed the
utmost indignation, and “told the King that such words were criminal, and
that they deserved the Bastille or worse.” His Majesty did not send
Bassompierre to the Bastille, but he frowned angrily whenever he saw him,
and for a whole week refused to honour him with so much as a word. At the
end of that time, however, he unbosomed himself to the Cardinal de la
Rochefoucauld and his confessor Père Seguiran, who, fortunately, happened
to be on friendly terms with the marshal, and, through their good offices,
the latter succeeded in making his peace with the King.
This affair was only the prelude to further and more determined attempts
by La Vieuville to deprive Bassompierre of the royal favour, but for the
moment he was more intent on bringing about the downfall of the
Chancellor and Puisieux, in which task he had the powerful support of
Richelieu.
Since the dismissal of Schomberg, the Brûlarts, père et fils, had been all-
powerful[19] and had mismanaged matters both at home and abroad. The
treaty which had been signed between France, Savoy, and Venice in
February, 1623, had pledged the contracting parties to take vigorous
measures for the recovery of the Valtellina. But the Chancellor and his son
had no wish to embark in a war which they felt themselves incapable of
conducting, and when the Spanish Government offered to hand over the
fortresses of the Valtellina to the Pope in deposit, on condition that his
Holiness would assure the tranquillity of the country or restore them to
Philip IV, they eagerly embraced this way out of the difficulty. Rome and
Spain, however, were in accord to deceive France. The Duke of Feria,
governor of the Milanese, did not deliver all the forts to the Papal troops,
and the two most important strongholds, Ripa and Chiavenna, remained in
Spanish hands; while, on his side, Gregory XV claimed that the Grisons
should become Catholic, or that the Valtellina should be constituted a fourth
League, with the same rights as the other Leagues of the Grisons. The
Treaty of Paris had, in the words of the disgusted Venetian Ambassador,
proved itself to be “nothing but a demonstration on paper.”
At home, the Brûlarts trafficked in offices, and allowed, as was the
custom, their relatives and friends to enrich themselves at the expense of the
State. Such practices were regarded in those days as mere peccadilloes, but
Richelieu, who was slowly but surely paving the way for his return to
office, and was aware that there was no chance of realising his ambition so
long as the Chancellor and his son remained in power, professed to be
scandalised, and there can be no doubt that more than one of the pamphlets
which appeared attacking the incapacity and greed of the Ministers in
vigorous and not too refined language were inspired by his Eminence. At
the same time, Richelieu adroitly insinuated to the King, through Marie de’
Medici, that the Brûlarts were turning the great project on the Valtellina
announced by the League of Paris to the shame of France, and Louis XIII,
who keenly resented the impotence of his diplomacy, became more and
more incensed against them. La Vieuville, on his part, was not idle and
accused the Brûlarts, probably with justification, of having levied toll on the
subsidies which were being sent to the Dutch. The consequence was that on
New Year’s Day, 1623, the King demanded the Seals from the Chancellor,
and at the beginning of February ordered both him and his son to retire to
one of their country-seats.
The King gave the Seals to d’Aligre, who, it will be remembered, would
have received them in the autumn of 1622 but for Bassompierre’s
intervention. In consequence, the marshal was somewhat apprehensive that
he might cherish a grudge against him, and went to offer him his
congratulations with considerable misgivings as to how they would be
received. To his surprise, however, d’Aligre greeted him with marked
cordiality.
“At this,” he says, “the others who had come to felicitate him were
dumfounded, but I said to them aloud: ‘Do not be astonished, gentlemen, at
the cordiality with which the new Keeper of the Seals has received me; for I
am the cause of the King having given them to him to-day.’ ‘I was not
aware, Monsieur,’ said he, ‘that I was under this obligation to you; I beg
you to tell me why.’ ‘Monsieur,’ I answered, ‘but for me, you would not
have had them to-day, but a year ago.’ Whereat he began to laugh and told
me that it was true, but that I had done my duty; for, since I had not been
solicited by him, with whom I was hardly acquainted, I was obliged to use
my influence on behalf of my friend M. de Caumartin. Then he told me that
he begged me to love him, and that he would swear before these gentlemen
to be faithfully my servant and friend, as he had assuredly shown himself to
be on every occasion that has arisen.”
But if Bassompierre had nothing to fear from the good-natured d’Aligre,
he had everything to apprehend from the jealous and unscrupulous La
Vieuville.
“By this means [the disgrace of the Brûlarts] La Vieuville was in
supreme favour, and from that time worked openly for my ruin, since he
had not been able to compel me to abandon my friends and to bind myself
to him in a close alliance, as he had begged me earnestly to do before
Christmas.”
However, the marshal did not allow any fear of approaching ruin to
interfere with his enjoyment of the Fair of Saint-Germain and the other
gaieties of that winter, during which the negotiations for the marriage of the
Prince of Wales (afterwards Charles I.) with the Infanta Maria Anna, sister
of Philip IV, having been definitely broken off, the Earl of Holland arrived
in Paris to sound the French Court on the question of an alliance between
the prince and Henriette-Marie. The King and Queen each organised a
grand ballet. In his Majesty’s, which was entitled les Voleurs, Louis XIII
represented a Dutch captain, M. de la Roche-Guyon a Dutch lady, and the
Ducs de Chevreuse and de Luxembourg and the Maréchaux de Créquy and
de Bassompierre impersonated pirates. Bassompierre had to recite the
following verses:—
 “Enfin malgré les flots me voici de retour,
La mer se promettait de noyer mon amour,
Dont la constance luy fait honte;
Mais elle est bien loin de son compte:
Caliste, vos appas ont rompu son dessein,
Les flots où je me perds sont dedans vostre sein.”

At the beginning of March, La Vieuville complained to the King that,

with the connivance of Puisieux, when he had been Secretary of State for
War, Bassompierre had been drawing every year for the maintenance of the
Swiss 24,000 livres more than he was entitled to. The marshal, on learning
of this, angrily denied that he had received a sol more than was justly due,
and proceeded to prove his statement in the presence of the King, when
high words passed between him and the Minister. Nevertheless, his
accounts were not passed, and the matter remained in abeyance.
La Vieuville, with all his faults, showed both energy and ability; and he
was the first to reverse the disastrous Spanish policy of the Court. He
recalled the Commandeur de Sillery, the French Ambassador to Rome,
where he had shown himself as feeble and undecided as his relatives in
Paris; sent the Marquis de Cœuvres, a good soldier and a skilful
diplomatist, as Ambassador to Switzerland, to urge the Cantons, both
Protestant and Catholic, to go to the assistance of the Grisons; concluded
offensive and defensive alliances with the Dutch, which assured to them a
subsidy for the next two years; and warmly supported the English marriage-
project. But he made many enemies besides Bassompierre, and feeling the
need of conciliating the Queen-Mother, who for some weeks had absented
herself from Court, as a protest against the treatment of Richelieu, he
promised to obtain for her favourite admission to the Council.
This was no easy task, for the mediocrities who had so long surrounded
Louis XIII had succeeded in inspiring him with their own dread of this great
man, and the King was, in consequence, very unwilling to entrust him with
office, added to which he still associated him with the followers of Concini,
all of whom he held in aversion. “There is a man who would like to be of
my Council,” he observed one day to Praslin, as Richelieu passed by; “but I
cannot bring myself to this step, after all he has done against me.” “I know
him better than you do,” he said on another occasion to Marie de’ Medici,
when she had been urging the Cardinal’s claims upon him; “he is a man of
unmeasured ambition.” Now, however, he did not withstand the request of
his Minister, reinforced by the solicitations of the Queen-Mother, and on
April 29, 1624, Richelieu re-entered the Council.

Meanwhile, La Vieuville had resumed hostilities against Bassompierre,

whose intimacy with the King he appears to have regarded as the chief
obstacle in the path of his ambition. This time he launched a far more
serious charge against the marshal than that of drawing more money on
account of the Swiss than he was entitled to, and accused him of being a
pensioner of Spain.
It is difficult to say with any degree of certainty on what grounds this
charge was based, since Bassompierre himself throws no light upon the
subject. But it would appear from a manuscript of Dupuy in the
Bibliothèque Nationale that, during the marshal’s embassy to Madrid, the
Spanish Government had proposed to him a commercial treaty between
France and Spain, and that in 1623 Bassompierre had presented a memorial
to Louis XIII in favour of this project. In the margin of his copy of this
memorial Dupuy gives his own opinion of the proposed treaty, and while
praising the ability with which Bassompierre has stated the case in its
favour, he foresees several objections, and among them, the following:—
“Without doubt this proposition of the King of Spain contains some
hidden artifice, which his Majesty will not discover until after he has
completely committed himself, and then it will be too late to remedy it.”
It is therefore not improbable that, at the beginning of the following year,
La Vieuville had seized the pretext of this memorial to accuse Bassompierre
of having accepted money from the Court of Madrid to advocate a proposal
which was to the disadvantage of France.
However that may be, La Vieuville was very active in the matter, and in
May caused the arrest of one Alphonso Lopez, a Spanish Moor, who had
long resided in Paris, where he carried on an extensive trade in jewellery,
tapestries, and objets d’art, and who, in the course of his business, was a
frequent visitor to Bassompierre’s house, “imagining that by his means,”
says the marshal, “he might discover something against me.”
Bassompierre demanded an audience of Louis XIII, who was at
Compiègne, in order that he might have an opportunity of defending
himself; but his Majesty did not seem anxious to grant it.
“At length, the King promised to speak to me one evening in June, on
the rampart which is near his cabinet.... I said to him what God inspired me
to say in favour of my innocence and against the calumny of La Vieuville;
in such fashion that I stood very well with him, and he [La Vieuville] very
ill. And, the better to conceal our game, the King desired me not to speak to
him in public, save when I came to take the password from him, when he

CHARLES, MARQUIS DE LA VIEUVILLE.

From a contemporary print.

would be able to say a few words to me, and I to him. And he said that he
intended to seem displeased with me, and that I must not show any
appearance of having been reconciled with him, and that if I had anything
to say to him, it should be through the medium of Toiras, Beaumont, or the
Chevalier de Souvré. Finally, after I had spoken to the King, I had no longer
any doubt that La Vieuville would be completely ruined.”
However, if La Vieuville was about to be ruined, it looked very much as
though he would succeed in ruining Bassompierre first, notwithstanding
that Richelieu, d’Aligre, and the Constable had all assured the marshal that
they were resolved not to allow the Minister to prejudice their minds
against him. Le Doux, a maître des requêtes, who had been entrusted with
the duty of examining Lopez’s ledgers and papers, had reported to La
Vieuville that he had found that a certain Spaniard named Guadamiciles had
furnished Bassompierre with a sum of 40,000 francs. The entry upon which
Le Doux based this information was as follows:—
“Al Sr. Mal. de Bassompierre por guadamiciles, 40,000 Ms.”[20]
Now, as Bassompierre explains, Lopez had received 40,000 maravedis
from a merchant in Spain on account of some tapestries of gilded leather
(guadamiciles) which the marshal had commissioned him to sell for him.
But Le Doux and La Vieuville believed, or affected to believe, that
guadamiciles was a proper name, and the latter pressed the King most
urgently to have Bassompierre arrested forthwith and conveyed to the
Bastille.
To this Louis XIII refused to consent, but he and all his Council admitted
that it was most necessary to ascertain the identity of this mysterious
Guadamiciles and to arrest him, if he were in France, and, in the event of
his proving to be a Spanish banker, Bassompierre likewise.
The marshal learned all this from Lesdiguières, who, so soon as the
Council rose, sent for him to warn him of his danger:
“The Constable begged me to leave France for some time, in order to
escape my disgrace, which was certain, and even offered me 10,000
crowns, if I were in need of money. I thanked him very humbly for his
warning and his offer, but told him that he ought to give it to La Vieuville,
who would be ruined in a month, and not myself. This worthy man sought
to persuade me to yield to the present violence, but I (who knew more about
the matter than I told him), assured him that I was as firmly established as
La Vieuville was tottering. Nevertheless, on the morrow, he [La Vieuville]
had the power to cause Colonel d’Ornano to be driven away from Monsieur
brother of the King,[21] which caused the Constable to urge me anew to be
gone; but I assured him again of my safety and of the complete ruin of La
Vieuville.”
Bassompierre had judged the situation correctly, for the man whom La
Vieuville had introduced into the Council, in the hope of strengthening his
own position, was gradually undermining it. La Vieuville’s intention had
been to make of Richelieu a mere consulting Minister, who would give
advice only when called upon to do so, and whose sphere of activity would
be limited by the four walls of the Council-chamber. The Cardinal resigned
himself to this rôle, in appearance at least; nevertheless, it was not long
before he and his chief came into sharp collision.
At the beginning of June the Earls of Holland and Carlisle arrived in
France to demand the hand of Henriette-Marie for the Prince of Wales, and
La Vieuville, d’Aligre, and Richelieu were charged to discuss with the
representatives of James I the clauses of the marriage treaty. The Cardinal,
although a warm partisan of the English alliance, had declared that “it was
necessary for the men of France to seek in this alliance all the advantages
possible for religion [i.e., the Catholic religion].... If not, it was greatly to be
feared that they would bring down upon themselves the wrath of God, as
did Jehosaphat, who, although a pious king, felt severely the Hand of God
for having allied himself with Ahab, King of Israel, who persecuted the
servants of God.” He now demanded that the English Government should
make the Catholics of England, in favour of the French princess, the same
concessions in regard to the public exercise of their religion as they had
consented to in the case of the Infanta. This was at once refused, and all that
Holland and Carlisle would promise was liberty of private worship, and
that, not by a formal engagement inserted in the treaty, but by a simple
verbal promise on the part of James I. Richelieu pressed for an article in the
contract, so that the engagement might be “more solemn and public,” his
object being that the English Catholics might feel themselves under a
greater obligation to France. But the Ambassadors, perceiving his motive,
remained firm, even when he declared it to be a sine quâ non.
La Vieuville was incensed that Richelieu should be compromising the
English alliance for the sake of the English Catholics. “Morbleu!” said he,
“these priests are spoiling all my work.” He recalled from England the
French Ambassador, the Comte de Tillières, a brother-in-law of
Bassompierre, who had also shown himself too solicitous for the interests
of the Catholics, and told Holland and Carlisle that the French demands
were only made for form’s sake and to satisfy the Pope and the Catholics of
France, and that it was really a matter of indifference to Louis XIII how
their master treated his Catholic subjects. A little later, becoming uneasy at
the slow progress of the negotiations, he caused James I to be informed that
the King would be content with a simple promise of toleration. Richelieu,
warned by the Secretary of State Brienne of the game La Vieuville was
playing, vowed to make him repent it.
La Vieuville, all unconscious of his danger, went forward boldly. He
gave Marescot, who was being sent on an embassy to Germany, instructions
differing materially from those which had been decided upon in the
Council. He tried to persuade Monsieur that Richelieu had been responsible
for Ornano’s disgrace. In connivance with his father-in-law Beaumarchais,
a high official of the Treasury, he entered into important financial
transactions without consulting the King or his colleagues. He left the
pensions even of the greatest nobles unpaid and ignored their
remonstrances. He was haughty, churlish, and incautious in his language,
even when speaking of the King. Never did Minister so persistently court
his fall.
Richelieu, perceiving that the time to strike had come, launched against
him his friend Fançan, a canon of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, and the ablest
publicist of his time, whom he had already employed with effect against the
Brûlarts, and who published a pamphlet entitled la Voix Publique au Roi,
which appears to have had a great vogue:—
“It is said, Sire, that La Vieuville plays the Maréchal d’Ancre, the
Luynes and the Puisieux all together, and that so great is his presumption,
that in your Council he takes upon himself to decide everything.”
The voice of the public had, however, nothing but praise for the Cardinal
de Richelieu, who was “refined up to twenty-two carats,” “adroit and
prudent,” and “showed no inclination to seek any other support than in the
legitimate authority of his Majesty.” It was hoped that he would be to the
King what the Cardinal Georges d’Amboise had been to the well-loved
Louis XII.
Then Richelieu revealed to the King the irregular proceedings of La
Vieuville, and experienced little difficulty in arousing Louis to a high pitch
of resentment against a Minister who was acting without his knowledge,
and who, in the matter of the English Catholics, was misrepresenting his
sentiments and compromising his conscience. Towards the end of July the
disgrace of La Vieuville was resolved upon, and the King, who was at
Germigny-l’Évêque, the summer residence of the Bishops of Meaux, sent
Toiras to Paris to inform Bassompierre of his decision.
On the way this gentleman had the misfortune to meet a certain Sieur de
Bernay, who, happening to have a grievance against him, insisted on
receiving satisfaction then and there; and, as the duel which ensued resulted
in M. de Toiras having to take to his bed, the royal message never reached
Bassompierre. However, two or three days later, he received orders from the
King to come to Saint-Germain early on the morrow without fail. He went,
accompanied by the Duc de Bellegarde, and was very cordially received by
his Majesty, who told him and the Grand Equerry that he had decided to
disgrace La Vieuville.
While they were with the King, who should arrive but La Vieuville
himself, accompanied by his brother-in-law the Maréchal de Vitry, and the
Minister could not conceal his astonishment and mortification at the sight of
Louis walking up and down between Bellegarde and Bassompierre and
apparently on the best of terms with the latter. On perceiving La Vieuville,
the King left his companions and went to speak to him, while Bassompierre
approached the Maréchal de Vitry, who told him that he had been much
distressed at seeing him on such bad terms with his brother-in-law, and that
he was most anxious to effect a reconciliation between them. “Why should I
be reconciled to him,” answered Bassompierre, “at the moment that he is
about to be disgraced, when I refused when he was all-powerful?” “What!
disgraced!” cried the astonished Vitry. “Yes, disgraced; and never trust me
again if a fortnight hence he is still Surintendant.”
No sooner was the conversation between the King and La Vieuville at an
end, than Vitry drew his brother-in-law aside and informed him of what
Bassompierre had just said; upon which the Minister, in his turn,
immediately reported it to Louis XIII. The King assured him that he had not
the least intention of dispensing with his services, and that Bassompierre
was more likely to be disgraced than himself; and, so embarrassed was the
young monarch that, had La Vieuville been bold enough to demand the
immediate exile of the marshal, as Richelieu would have done in similar
circumstances, it is not improbable that the latter would have had good