| Louis Henri, Duc De Bourbon |
Article Index for Louis |
Website Links For Louis |
Information AboutLouis Henri, Duc De Bourbon |
|
Louis Henri Joseph, Duc de Bourbon et d'Enghien, Prince de Condé ( August 18 1692 – January 27 1740 ) was head of the cadet Bourbon-Condé wing of the French royal house from 1710 to his death. OVERVIEW AND EARLY YEARS He was born at Versailles, the eldest son of Louis III De Bourbon, Prince De Condé (1668-1710) and Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Nantes (1673-1743), an illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV Of France . He was the great-grandson of Louis II, the Great Condé, who died in 1687. Following the deaths of several members of the French royal family in the early 1700's, he was left as one of the premier princes of France, probably second in hereditary standing only to the King and the Duc D'Orléans . He was king Louis XV 's ''Premiere Ministre'' (first, or prime, minister) from 1723 to 1726. He was often called simply "''Monsieur le Duc''". This title applied mainly to him, not other ''Ducs''. Louis Henri's only son and successor was born out of his second marriage with Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg. We have been bequeathed the following physical description of him: "He was moderately good looking as a young man, but being over-tall he afterwards began to stoop, and became 'as thin and dry as a chip of wood.' " 10 Regarding this, and other information, the reader should be aware that in the duke's era, satirical pamphlets directed against the royalty were a common form of literature, and the chronicles left by noblemen and others attached to the court were often influenced by rivalries or prejudice. In other words, he may not have looked so bad. Based on collaborating evidence from other sources, however, it is probably safe to assume that he was tall, and not plump. 20 It is fairly certain he only had the use of one eye: "He was disfigured by an accident which befell him while hunting, when the Duc De Berry put out one of his eyes." 30 This probably happened before he was twenty five. He lost his first wife before he was twenty nine. 40 He had a "splendid residence at Chantilly." 50 In Sep. 1715, the Duc D'Orléans , who had just become Regent for the five year old king Louis XV, included the then 23 year old Duc de Bourbon in his first Regency Council. The Regency Council was the highest consultative body in the French government during the Regency, equivalent to the ''Conseil d'en Haut'' (High Council) in non-Regency times. In 1718, he supplanted the Duc De Maine in the position of superintendent of the king's education. This happened at the famous Regency Council meeting of 26 Aug, at which Maine and the Comte de Toulouse, illegitimate sons of the late king Louis XIV , were demoted to the rank of ordinary dukes and peers. 60 The actual teaching of the young king was not much disturbed however, since it was mostly done by his old and trusted tutor, the bishop of Fréjus, who remained in place. In the history books one usually finds highly uncomplementary descriptions of his personality. We will not burden the reader with all the adjectives that have been used. They fall under the general categories greed, bad manners, stupidity. He was wealthy. During the Regency his several pensions, together with the income from his extensive estates, gave him an income of 1.8 million livres. To make this figure meaningful to the modern reader, the historian Bernier, writing in 1984, says: "Although it is very difficult to equate money in the preindustrial era with our own, the best possible equivalence would be about $4.50 to the livre. 100 During the Regency he made large amounts of money by speculating in the financial ''Système'' (1716-20) of John Law . He bought paper notes, waited for their value to rise, then, before the ''Système'' failed in 1720, took them to Law's bank (which had become the national bank) and traded them in for gold. On March 3 , 1720 , following the example of the Prince de Conti who the day before had gone to Law's bank and withdrawn fourteen million livres in gold, which he took away in several large carts, de Bourbon went to the bank and took away twenty-five million. 110 The bank closed later that year due to lack of reserves. Bernier says de Bourbon made 40 million livres off the ''Système''. Jones says he made 20 million. 120 Good timing may not have been the only reason for his success in exploiting the ''Système''; his high position in aristocracy and government was an advantage. Historian James Breck Perkins says, "he asked enormous advantages in return for the protection he extended John Law and his associates , and the unfortunate adventurer [Law] was not in a position to say no to so powerful a nobleman." After the ''Système'' went under, "the government compelled some humbler speculators to disgorge their gains, but no one ventured to disturb the head of the house of Condé." 130 ''PREMIER MINISTRE'' The Regency ended when Louis XV reached the age of majority, thirteen, in Feb. 1723. Cardinal Dubois, who had been the Regent's ''Premier Ministre'', remained in that capacity for the king. However Dubois died in August 1723. Thereupon Orléans, the former Regent, became the king's ''Premier Ministre'', but he too did not remain long at the post. On the evening of December 2nd, 1723 he died of a stroke. The Duc de Bourbon rushed to see the king that very evening and requested the Prime Ministership. It was granted immediately. There is a story that the king's tutor, the bishop of Fréjus, who was his closest and most trusted confidant, was present at the meeting, recommended acceptance, and that the king indicated his assent by a silent nod. Guizot(p.50) says that Louis "sought in his perceptor's {Link without Title} eyes the guidance he needed". Gooch(44) and Perkins(52) also say that Fréjus acquiesced in the appointment. Jones, on the other hand, says that Fréjus was ''not'' there. Jones also says that after the meeting, in order to protect his own influence with the king, which was great, Fréjus got the king to agree never to hold discussions with de Bourbon unless he too was present. 140 There is not much disagreement on this latter point: all sources say that throughout his premiership, de Bourbon could never get an audience with Louis XV without Fréjus being there. This was an unusual, and for de Bourbon, eventually an intolerable, situation. Orléans had been able to see the king whenever he wanted. It illustrates the power of Fréjus, who in afew years was to assume control of the government himself. To assess why the king -- or Fréjus -- chose, or allowed, de Bourbon to become ''Premier Ministre'', let us avail ourselves of the insights of the French lawyer and writer d'Angerville, who was writing in 1781: 150 :On Louis XV choosing de Bourbon:] In making the choice, which no doubt was not the best he might have made, because he lacked the necessary experience not only of men but of himself, he nevertheless acted in strict accordance with the rules of etiquette. He deemed it his duty to confer the post, which was the most important in the kingdom, upon a prince of the royal house. As they were all young men, he appointed the eldest, who, however, was but thirty one years old. The manner in which His Royal Highness Duc de Bourbon had managed his own revenues, and had added to them, despite his youth (that being a period when a man's thoughts are wont to be exclusively centred upon pleasure) was a strong presumption that he would prove a capable public administrator, and the fact that he was already rich led people to imagine that he would not trouble his head about adding to his fortune. Finance, indeed, was the most important branch of public affairs at that time. What France needed was a government which would pursue a policy of peace, conciliation and retrenchment, and avail itself of the tranquil condition of Europe in order to bring about by trade, industry and the gradual restoration of the metal reserve, a recovery from the state of exhaustion into which the country had fallen. from the wars in Louis XIV 's reign. No one, however, failed to appreciate how immensely inferior in talent the Duke was to the Regent. One of de Bourbon's first moves as premier was to replace d'Argenson, the minister of police, with Ravat d'Ombreval, who was a relative of Mme de Prie's. This gave de Bourbon control of press censorship, and also gave him control of much of the mail. 160 He announced a new promotion of the Marshals of France -- the first since 1715 -- and made some new appointments to France's highest chivalric order, the Knights of the Saint Esprit. The conferees were almost all supporters of ''Monsieur le Duc''. 170 The members of the Protestant religion in France, the Hugenots, had been granted the right to worship in their faith by Henry IV, and had remained unmolested during the reign of his successor, Louis XIII, but the next king, Louis XIV, had been hostile to them, to the point where, in 1685, revoking Henry IV's edict of toleration, he forbade Protestants to worship publicly, and announced other harsh sanctions against them. Under this duress, many Protestants converted to Catholicism; many others fled the country. Those who converted, however, usually did so only outwardly. Perkins: "In truth, the number of Protestants who really became Catholics and nurtured their children in that faith was insignificant; as soon as the vigilance of the government was relaxed they neglected the service of the Catholic Church, and, when they dared, they met in their houses or in the open air for the worship of their faith". 180 During the years 1702-04, a serious state of rebellion existed in the region of the Cévennes mountains in South-Eastern France. The Protestants there, known as the Camisards, were ecstatic in religion and tenacious in struggle against the Catholic creed. The wore them down, but some unrest was known there still in 1709. The penalties for preaching at, or even attending, a Protestant assembly were severe: life terms in the Nevertheless there remained those who advocated rigor in the treatment of the Protestants. Prominent among these was the bishop of Nantes, Lavergne de Tressan, grand almoner to the Regent. He argued with both the Regent and his most influential minister, Dubois, in favour of severe measures against the Protestants. They rejected his ideas. When de Bourbon came to be premier, however, the bishop found in him a more receptive audience, and he was given the go-ahead to draw up a general law against "''l'héréie''". The law was declared by the King on 14 May 1724: ::Of all the grand designs of our most honoured lord and great-grandfather, there is none that we have more at heart to carry out than that which he conceived, of entirely extinguishing heresy in his kingdom. Arrived at majority, our first care has been to have before us the edicts whereof execution has been delayed, especially in the provinces afflicted with the contagion. We have observed that the chief abuses which demand a speedy remedy relate to illicit assemblies, the education of children, the obligation of public functionaries to profess the Catholic religion, the penalties against the relapsed, and the celebration of marriage, regarding which here are our intentions: Shall be condemned: preachers to the penalty of death, their accomplices to the galleys for life, and women to be shaved and imprisoned for life. Confiscation of property: parents who shall not have baptism administered to their children within twenty-four hours, and see that they attend regularly the catechism and the schools, to fines and such sums as they may amount to together; even to greater penalties. Midwives, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, domestics, relatives, who shall not notify the parish priests of births or illnesses, to fines. Persons who shall exhort the sick, to the galleys or imprisonment for life, according to sex; confiscation of property. The sick who shall refuse the sacraments, if they recover, to banishment for life; if they die, to be dragged on a hurdle. Desert-marriages are illegal; the children born of them are incompetent to inherit. Minors whose parents are expatriated may marry without their authority; but parents whose children are on foreign soil shall not consent to their marriage, on pain of the galleys for the men and banishment for the women. Finally, of all fines and confiscations, half shall be employed in providing subsistence for the new converts. 200 The law equalled, and even surpassed in some measures, the most severe proclamations of Louis XIV. However times had changed. Louis XIV's decrees against the Protestants had been greeted, by the majority of the country, with enthusiasm; this was greeted with indifference. The clergy, on the whole, had not sought this edict, it was, says Guizot, "the work of an ambitious man {Link without Title} backed up by certain fanatics". 210 The magistrates, too, tended not to be rigorous in their application of the edict. 210 Descrimination was seriously carried out only where the local authorities were zealous. It mostly occurred in southern France, especially in the dioceses of Nimes and Uzès, and in Dauphiné. 220 Protestant preacher/leaders active during this period in France included Antoine Court , Paul Rabaut , Alexander Ramsey , and Roger. 230 They often lived as nomads in wilderness areas in order to avoid capture. (Perhaps they also liked it there.) Perkins estimates that the number of men and women imprisoned or sent to the galleys for religious offences in the 40 years following the edict of 1724 was less than two thousand. 240 According to Antione Court, in this period eight ministers were executed. This was a much lowere rate of loss than had occurred during the later part of Louis XIV's reign. 250 Toulon was the centre where most of the men committed to the galleys for religious crimes served their sentences. 252 Through the letters of one of its inmates, Marie Durand, and from the accounts of some other witnesses, a dreary and desolate women's prison, the Tower of Constance at Aigues Mortes, is known to us. 254 In the late 1760's, the dozen or so women still there were finally released through the efforts of the Prince of Beaveau. 256 In the decades following 1724, enthusiasm for the persecution of Protestants continued to wane; and, according to Perkins, "The Protestants enjoyed a practical toleration for a quarter of a century before the law secured them a legal toleration." 258 The King had been betrothed to the ''infanta'' of Spain, daughter of the Spanish King, in 1721, when she was just three years old, and the King only eleven. By 1724 the King was fourteen, and well-grown for his age, but the ''infanta'' was still a decade away from child-bearing age. Some felt that this was too long for France to wait for an heir. This was especially so since if Louis XV died without an heir, it appeared possible that Philppe V of Spain would throw away the treaty of Utrecht, leap upon the French throne, to which he had a hereditary claim, and thus plunge France and Spain into a terrible conflict with the other European powers. It appears that by the summer of 1724, 260 Mme de Prie, and possibly also M le Duc, was considering breaking Louis XV's engagement with the ''infanta'', despite the great offence this would cause to Spain, and finding him a wife with whom he could start making babies right away. Others were also proposing this course: :God has given us a King so strong that for the last year we might hope for a Dauphin, so, for the satisfaction of his people and himself, he should be married today rather than tomorrow. – Maréchal Duc de Villars in Gooch, p.54. :The infanta must be started off, and by coach too, to get it over sooner. – Comte Morville in Guizot, p.58. So it came to pass that in April 1725, the ''infanta'' was sent back to Madrid – Louis did not even say goodbye. 262 Meanwhile a search had been underway for a replacement; but before we discuss that we will examine more fully the reasons why the engagement was broken. Some sources suggest that self-interest on the part of Mme de Prie and de Bourbon was a factor. Below we list the motives that have been hypothesized. The first has already been mentioned but we repeat it here for completeness.
::The Duke of Bourbon asked Philip to make the husband of Mme de Prie a grandee, a title which would have descended to a child Bourbon had by her. (See his letter to Tessé.) If this request had been granted, the infanta would probably not have been sent away. . . . Letter of Stanhope. – footnote, p. 58, Perkins. By, at latest, the winter of 1725, the guestion of who should be the infanta's replacement was being considered. 274 Candidates included the sisters of M. le Duc, especially Mlle. Vermandois. De Prie came to be opposed to this choice because it would give the Duchesse de Bourbon, Vermandois' and M. le Duc's mother, too much influence. 276 The duchesse and Mme. de Prie did not like each other. Furthermore, Fréjus was opposed to Louis marrying anyone from the Bourbon-Condé branch of the royal family. 278 Reputedly, a list of 99 elegible princesses of Europe was drawn up; Guizot says there were 25 Catholics, 3 Anglicans, 13 Calvinists, 55 Lutherans, 3 Greeks. 280 Prominent among these was a daughter of George I of England. The prize was offered to her if she would consent to become a Catholic. 282 However that would have caused great difficulties for her father, as he was occupying the throne mainly because he was Protestant, whereas his rival, James Stuart, was Catholic; he had to politely decline the offer of France to his daughter. Another prominent contender was the grand duchess, later empress, Elizabeth of Russia. Others on the list included the daughter of the Duc de Lorraine; a princess of Savoy who was Louis XV's first cousin, and the princess of Hesse-Rheinfels, 300 The choice finally made was the daughter of the deposed king of Poland. Her name was Marie Leczinska; her father, Stanislaus, had occupied the Polish throne from 1704 with the backing of Charles XII of Sweden. He lost it after five years because his sponsor was beaten by Peter the Great of Russia, at Pultova. Stanislaus had found refuge, first in Germany, then in France, where the Regent, Orléans, had given him a house at Wissembourg in Alsace, a pension of 50 thousand livres, irregularly paid, and, as a sign of respect, a few regiments of soldiers as companions; they, along with a handful of retainers who had followed the forsaken king in his wanderings, comprised his bare little court. "His property in Poland had been confiscated and his wife's jewels pawned."(Gooch) Marie did not have a reputation for great beauty or intelligence, but she was not ugly, and was healthy and had a very agreeable character: kind, generous, and calm. She had already been thought of as a wife for the Duc de Bourbon. Now he and Mmme de Prie decided he would be ideal for the King. On March 31, 1725, the Council met and agreed that the offer would go to Marie Leczinska. Afterwards she told a story of how the proposal was received at Wissembourg. A messenger arrives from Versailles with a letter for Stanislaus. Shock! Delight! He rushes to where his wife and daughter sit talking and working at their needle-crafts. :"Down on our knees in thanks to God!" :"Are you restored to the Polish throne?" :"Heaven is still more gracious: you are queen of France." They embraced with tears, and knelt to thank God for having delivered them from their trials. In May Mme de Prie went to Wissembourg bearing presents from the King. She stayed to help with the arrangements, and to instruct Marie in the ways of the French court. On May 27 the name of the Queen-to-be was made public. At the beginning of June, the members of the Queen's household were announced: 400
:Mme de Prie :Duchesse de Villars :Marquise de Matignon :Marquise de Nesle :Marquise de Ruppelmonde :Comtesse d' Egmont
The duc d'Orléans, who was angry at not having been consulted about the marriage plans, was placated by making him the bridegroom in the marriage by procuration, which took place before Marie travelled across country for the real ceremony with the King. The marriage by procuration was performed at Strasbourg Cathedral by Cardinal de Rohan, Grand Almoner of France. In it, Marie was dressed in a grand ''Habit de cérémonie'' "made of silver brocade and embroidered with precious stones." 410 The true wedding which followed took place at Fontainbleu. Marie wore "a royal cape of purple velvet, held by a gold fleur-de-lys, bordered and lined with ermine; her skirt was of the same material, with the bodice and the front of her skirt covered with precious stones and clasps made of the rarest diamonds . . . On her head she carried a diamond crown . . . The King was in gold brocade enriched with diamonds and precious stones, a cloak covered with gold embroidery, a white plume and a huge diamond in his hat." 410 After the ceremony Marie and Louis had dinner in public and watched the fireworks display that was put on. Then they went to bed. By the next morning the marriage had been consummated. In that era, sex was a less taboo subject, so there was "an immediate plethora of accounts." Although it is difficult to sort out the facts, the King may have said he had honoured his bride with "seven repeated proofs of his love." 420 Marie's "friendly and anassuming ways" 430 made her well-liked by the people at Versailles. Saint-Simon , the famous French memoirs writer known for his acid portraits of grandees, described the Duke of Bourbon as a man with "an almost stupid foolishness, an indomitable obstinacy, an insatiable self-interest". On the other hand, the Cardinal De Fleury said that he found in the Duke of Bourbon "goodness, probity, and honor" and that he considered himself one of the duke's friends. MARRIAGES AND CHILDREN On 9 July 1713 , he married Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Conti ( 1689 – 1720 ). They had no children. He married secondly on 23 July 1728 , Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg ( 1714 – 1741 ). They had 1 son, Louis Joseph ( 9 August 1736 – 13 May 1818 ); he led the Army of Condé during the French Revolutionary Wars. SOURCES
NOTES 10. The quote is from Meyrac's footnote in d'Angerville, p.33. 20. Bernier, p.22. 30. Meyrac's footnote in d'Angerville, p.33. 40. Gooch, p.50; Lavisse, vol. VIII, part 2, page 78. 50. Gooch, p.50. 60. The account above is consistent with Bernier, p.22., Gooch, 36, and Guizot, 20,21, except that Guizot says the council meeting took place on the 24th. Jones, p.47, says Villeroi, not de Bourbon received control of the king's education. Shennan, p.43 confirms the date, 26th, but doesn't say who became superintendent of education. 70. Bernier, p.22; Gooch, pp.50,51; Jones, p.79; Kitchin, p.392; Lavisse, p.78, Perkins, p.52. 80. Barbier, ''Journal historique et anecdotique'', vol. I, p.192. In Jones, p.79. 90. Jones, p.79. 100. Both figures are from Bernier, p.22. 110. Bernier, p. 34. 120. Bernier, p.46; Jones, p.68. 130. Perkins, pp.51,52. 140. Jones, p.79. 150. D'Angerville, pp.33,34. 160. Bernier, p.47. 170. Bernier, p.47. 180. Perkins, p.65. 190. Sentence incorporates material from Lavisse, which is in the public domain (p.84). 200. Quoted in Guizot, p.54. 210. Guizot, p.55. 220. Lavisse, p.86. 230. Antione Court, see Guizot, pp.52, 53, 56, and Perkins, p.65-7; Rabaut, see Guizot, p.56; Roger and Ramsey, see Perkins, p.73. 240. Perkins, p.74. 250. Perkins, pp.73, 74. His source for much of his data on numbers of prisoners is Coquerel. 252. Perkins, p.74. 254. Perkins, pp.75-78 256. Perkins, pp.77, 78. Concerning the Prince de Beaveau's rescue efforts, he guotes a description by the Chevalier of Boufflers in Coquerel. He cites Coquerel, ''Histoire des églises du désert'' in connexion with the Hugenots generally, but it is not entirely clear whether this is the work containing the Boufflers quote. 258. Perkins, p.78. 260. Bernier, p.50. 262. Jones, p.80. 264. Bernier, p.51; Gooch, p.54; Jones, p.80. 266. Jones, p.80. 268. Jones, p.80. 270. Bernier, p. 51; Guizot, p.58; Perkins, pp.57-8. 272. This is almost a direct quote from Perkins (p.58); it isn't too clear what he means by "interest", but we include his words here in order to be thorough. D'angerville, p.39, also says that the marriage with the infanta might "rob {Link without Title} of his influence, or at all events neccesitate it being shared with others." 274. Perkins, p.60, footnote 2. 276. Bernier, p.51; D'Angerville, pp.39-40. 278. Bernier, p.51; Perkins, p.60. 280. Meyrac's footnote in D'Angerville, p.41; Guizot, p.59; Perkins, p.59, says there were 100. 282. Perkins, p.60, gives a reference for this statement: ''Affaires Etrangeres Angleterre'', 1725, p.350. 300. Perkin 400. The bulleted list is compiled from information in Bernier, p.53, and Gooch, p.57. 410. The descriptions of the costumes are from Chevalier Daudet, ''Journal historique . . . du marriage du roy . . . .'' 1725, Chalons, p.259; quoted in Bernier, p.54. 420. Bernier, p.54. |