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CONDE, LOUIS II

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 844 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONDE, See also:LOUIS II . DE See also:BOURBON, See also:PRINCE OF (1621-1686), called the See also:Great Conde, was the son of See also:Henry, prince of Conde, and See also:Charlotte See also:Marguerite de See also:Montmorency, and was See also:born at See also:Paris on the 8th of See also:September 1621. As a boy, under his See also:father's careful supervision, he studied diligently at the See also:Jesuits' See also:College at See also:Bourges, and at seventeen, in the See also:absence of his father, he governed See also:Burgundy. The duc d'See also:Enghien, as he was styled during his father's lifetime, took See also:part with distinction in the See also:campaigns of 164o and 1641 in See also:northern See also:France while yet under twenty years of See also:age. During the youth of Enghien all See also:power in France was in the hands of See also:Richelieu; to him even the princes of the See also:blood had to yield; and Henry of Conde sought with the See also:rest to win the See also:cardinal's favour. Enghien was forced to conform. He was already deeply in love with Mlle. Marthe du Vigean, who in return was passionately devoted to him, yet, to flatter the cardinal, he was compelled by his father, at the age of twenty, to give his See also:hand to Richelieu's niece, Claire Clemence de Maille-See also:Breze, a See also:child of thirteen. He was See also:present with Richelieu during the dangerous See also:plot of Cinq See also:Mars, and afterwards fought in the See also:siege of See also:Perpignan (1642). In 1643 Enghien was appointed to command against the Spaniards in northern France. He was opposed by experienced generals, and the veterans of the See also:Spanish See also:army were accounted the finest soldiers in See also:Europe; on the other hand, the strength of the See also:French army was placed at his command, and under him were the best generals of the service. The great See also:battle of Rocroy (May 18) put an end to the supremacy of the Spanish army and inaugurated the See also:long See also:period of French military predominance.

Enghien himself conceived and directed the decisive attack, and at the age of twenty-two won his See also:

place amongst the great captains of See also:modern times. After a See also:campaign of uninterrupted success, Enghien returned to Paris in See also:triumph, and in gallantry and intrigues strove to forget his enforced and hateful See also:marriage. In 1644 he was sent with reinforcements into See also:Germany to the assistance of See also:Turenne, who was hard pressed, and took command of the whole army. The battle of See also:Freiburg (Aug.) was desperately contested, but in the end the French army won a great victory over the Bavarians and Imperialists commanded by See also:Count See also:Mercy. As after Rocroy, numerous fortresses opened their See also:gates to the See also:duke. The next See also:winter Enghien spent, like every other winter during the See also:war, amid the gaieties of Paris. The summer campaign of 1645 opened with the defeat of Turenne by Mercy, but this was retrieved in the brilliant victory of See also:Nordlingen, in which Mercy was killed, and Enghien himself received several serious wounds. The See also:capture of Philipsburg was the most important of his other achievements during this campaign. In 1646 Enghien served under the duke of See also:Orleans in See also:Flanders, and when, after the capture of Mardyck, Orleans returned to Paris, Enghien, See also:left in command, captured See also:Dunkirk (See also:October 11th). It was in this See also:year that the old prince of Conde died. The enormous power that See also:fell into the hands of his successor was naturally looked upon with serious alarm by the See also:regent and her See also:minister. Conde's See also:birth and military renown placed him at the See also:head of the French See also:nobility; but, added to that, the See also:family of which he was See also:chief was both enormously See also:rich and See also:master of no small portion of France.

Conde himself held Burgundy, See also:

Berry and the See also:marches of See also:Lorraine, as well as other less important territory; his See also:brother See also:Conti held See also:Champagne, his brother-in-See also:law, See also:Longueville, See also:Normandy. The See also:government, therefore, determined to permit no increase of his already overgrown authority, and See also:Mazarin made an See also:attempt, which for the moment proved successful, at once to find him employment and to tarnish his fame as a See also:general. He was sent to See also:lead the revolted Catalans. See also:Ill-supported, he was unable to achieve anything, and, being forced to raise the siege of See also:Lerida, he returned See also:home in See also:bitter indignation. In 1648, however, he received the command in the important See also:field of the See also:Low Countries; and at See also:Lens (Aug. 19th) a battle took place, which, beginning with a panic in his own See also:regiment, was retrieved by Conde's coolness and bravery, and ended in a victory that fully restored his See also:prestige. In September of the same year Conde was recalled to See also:court, for the regent See also:Anne of See also:Austria required his support. Influenced by the fact of his royal birth and by his arrogant scorn for the See also:bourgeois, Conde See also:lent himself to the court party, and finally, after much hesitation, he consented to lead the army which was to reduce Paris (See also:Jan. 1649). On his See also:side, insufficient as were his forces, the war was carried on with vigour, and after several See also:minor combats their substantial losses and a threatening of scarcity of See also:food made the Parisians weary of the war. The See also:political situation inclined both parties to See also:peace, which was made at See also:Rueil on the loth of See also:March (see See also:FRONDE, THE). It was not long, however, before Conde became estranged from the court.

His See also:

pride and ambition earned for him universal distrust and dislike, and the See also:personal resentment of Anne in addition to motives of policy caused the sudden See also:arrest of Conde, Conti and Longueville on the 18th of See also:January 165o. But others, including Turenne and his brother the duke of See also:Bouillon, made their See also:escape. Vigorous attempts for the See also:release of the princes began to be made. The See also:women of the family were now its heroes. The See also:dowager princess claimed from the See also:parlement of Paris the fulfilment of the reformed law of arrest, which forbade imprisonment without trial. The duchess of Longueville entered into negotiations with See also:Spain; and the See also:young princess of Conde, having gathered an army around her, obtained entrance into See also:Bordeaux and the support of the parlement of that See also:town. She alone, among the nobles who took part in the folly of the Fronde, gains our respect and sympathy. Faithful to a faithless See also:husband, she came forth from the retirement to which he had condemned her, and gathered an army to fight for him. But the delivery of the princes was brought about in the end by the junction of the old Fronde (the party of the parlement and of Cardinal de See also:Retz) and the new Fronde (the party of the Cones); and Anne was at last, in See also:February 1651, forced to liberate them from their See also:prison at See also:Havre. Soon afterwards, however, another shifting of parties left Conde and the new Fronde isolated. With the court and the old Fronde in See also:alliance against him, Conde found no resource but that of making See also:common cause with the Spaniards, who were at843 war with France. The confused See also:civil war which followed this step (See also:Sept.

1651) was memorable chiefly for the battle of the See also:

Faubourg St See also:Antoine, in which Conde and Turenne, two of the foremost captains of the age, measured their strength (See also:July 2, 1652), and the army of the prince was only saved by being admitted within the gates of Paris. La Grande Mademoiselle, daughter of the duke of Orleans, persuaded the Parisians to See also:act thus, and turned the See also:cannon of the See also:Bastille on Turenne's army. Thus Conde, who as usual had fought with the most desperate bravery, was saved, and Paris underwent a new investment. This ended in the See also:flight of Conde to the Spanish army (Sept. 1652), and thenceforward, up to the peace, he was in open arms against France, and held high command in the army of Spain. But his now fully See also:developed. See also:genius as a See also:commander found little See also:scope in the cumbrous and antiquated See also:system of war practised by the Spaniards, and though he gained a few successes, and manceuvred with the highest possible skill against Turenne, his disastrous defeat at the See also:Dunes near Dunkirk (14th of See also:June 1658), in which an See also:English contingent of See also:Cromwell's veterans took part on the side of Turenne, led Spain to open negotiations for peace. After the peace of the See also:Pyrenees in 1559, Conde obtained his See also:pardon (January 166o) from Louis, who thought him less dangerous as a subject than as possessor of the See also:independent See also:sovereignty of See also:Luxemburg, which had been offered him by Spain as a See also:reward for his services. Conde now realized that the period of agitation and party warfare was at an end, and he accepted, and loyally maintained' henceforward, the position of a chief subordinate to a masterful See also:sovereign. Even so, some years passed before he was recalled to active employment, and these years he spent on his See also:estate at See also:Chantilly. Here he gathered See also:round him a brilliant See also:company, which included many men of genius—Moliere, See also:Racine, Boileau, La See also:Fontaine, See also:Nicole, See also:Bourdaloue and See also:Bossuet. About this See also:time negotiations between the Poles, Conde and Louis were carried on with a view to the See also:election, at first of Conde's son Enghien, and afterwards of Conde himself, to the See also:throne of See also:Poland. These, after a long See also:series of curious intrigues,. were finally closed in 1674 by the See also:veto of Louis XIV. and the election of See also:John Sobieski.

The prince's retirement, which was only broken by the See also:

Polish question and by his personal intercession on behalf of See also:Fouquet in 1664, ended in 1668. In that year he proposed to See also:Louvois, the minister of war, a See also:plan for seizing Franche-See also:Comte, the See also:execution of which was entrusted to him and successfully carried out. He was now completely re-established in the favour of Louis, and with Turenne was the See also:principal French commander in the celebrated campaign of 1672 against the Dutch. At the forcing of the See also:Rhine passage at Tollhuis (June 12) he received a severe See also:wound, after which he commanded in See also:Alsace against the Imperialists. In 1673 he was again engaged in the Low Countries, and in 1674 he fought his last great battle at Seneff against the prince of See also:Orange (afterwards See also:William III. of See also:England). This battle, fought on the 11th of See also:August, was one of the hardest of the See also:century, and Conde, who displayed the reckless bravery of his youth, had three horses killed under him. His last campaign was that of 1675 on the Rhine, where the army had been deprived of its general by the See also:death of Turenne; and where by his careful and methodical See also:strategy he repelled the invasion of the Imperial army of See also:Montecucculi. After this campaign, prematurely worn out by the toils and excesses of his See also:life, and tortured by the See also:gout, he returned to Chantilly, where he spent the eleven years that remained to him in quiet retirement. In the end of his life he specially sought the companionship of Bourdaloue, Nicole and Bossuet, and devoted himself to religious exercises. He died on the r rth of See also:November 1686 at the age of sixty-five. Bourdaloue attended him at his death-See also:bed, and Bossuet pronounced his 'loge. The earlier political career of Conde was typical of the great French See also:noble of his See also:day.

Success in love and war, predominant See also:

influence over his sovereign and universal See also:homage to his own exaggerated pride, were the See also:objects of his ambition. Even as an See also:exile he asserted the See also:precedence of the royal See also:house of France over the princes of Spain and Austria, with whom he was allied for the moment. But the Conde of 1668 was no longer a politician and a marplot; to be first in war and in gallantry was still his aim, but for the rest he was a submissive, even a subservient, minister of the royal will. It is on his military See also:character, however, that his fame rests. This changed but little. Unlike his great See also:rival Turenne, Conde was equally brilliant in his first battle and in his last. The one failure of his generalship was in the Spanish Fronde, and in this everything See also:united to thwart his genius; only on the battlefield itself was his personal See also:leader-See also:ship as conspicuous as ever. That he was capable of waging a methodical war of positions may be assumed from his campaigns against Turenne and Montecucculi, the greatest generals of the predominant school. But it was in his eagerness for battle, his See also:quick decision in See also:action, and the stern will which sent his regiments to See also:face the heaviest loss, that Conde is distinguished above all the generals of his time. In private life he was harsh and unamiable, seeking only the gratification of his own pleasures and desires. His enforced and loveless marriage embittered his life, and it was only in his last years, when he had done with ambition, that the more humane side of his character appeared in his devotion to literature. Conde's unhappy wife had some years before been banished to See also:Chateauroux.

An See also:

accident brought about her ruin. Her contemporaries, greedy as they were of See also:scandal, refused to believe any evil of her, but the prince declared himself convinced of her unfaithfulness, placed her in confinement, and carried his resentment so far that his last See also:letter to the See also:king was to See also:request him never to allow her to be released.

End of Article: CONDE, LOUIS II

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