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MOLE, MATHIEU (1584—1656)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 653 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MOLE, MATHIEU (1584—1656) , See also:French statesman, son of Edouard mole (d. 1614), who was for a See also:time procureur-See also:general, was educated at the university of See also:Orleans. Admitted conseiller in 16o6, he was See also:president aux requeetes in Oro, procureur-general in See also:succession to See also:Nicolas de Bellievre in 1614, and he took See also:part in the See also:assembly of the Notables summoned at See also:Rouen in 1617. He fought in vain against the setting up of See also:special tribunals, or commissions, to try prisoners charged with See also:political offences, and for his persistence in the See also:case of the See also:brothers See also:Louis and See also:Michel de See also:Marillac he was suspended in 1631, and ordered to appear at See also:Fontainebleau in his own See also:defence. Hitherto Mole's relations with See also:Richelieu had been fairly See also:good, but his inclination to the doctrines of See also:Port Royal increased the See also:differences between them, and it was not until after Richelieu's See also:death that he was able to secure the See also:release of his friend, the See also:abbe de St Cyran. In 1641 he was appointed first president of the See also:parlement, with the preliminary See also:condition that he should not permit the general assembly of the See also:chambers except by See also:express See also:order of the See also:king. After Richelieu's death the pretensions of the parlement in-creased; the hereditary magistrature arrogated to itself the functions of the states-general, and in 1648 the parlement with the other See also:sovereign courts (the cour See also:des aides, the See also:grand conseil, and the cour des cornptes) met in one assembly and proposed for the royal See also:sanction twenty-seven articles, which amounted in substance to a new constitution. In the See also:long conflict between See also:Anne of See also:Austria and the parlement, Mole, without yielding the rights of the parlement, played a conciliatory part. In the popular tumult known as the See also:day of the barricades (Aug. 26, 1648) he sought out See also:Mazarin and the See also:queen to demand the release of See also:Pierre Broussel and his colleagues, whose seizure had been the See also:original cause of the outbreak. Next day the parlement marched in procession to repeat Mole's demand. On their way back they were stopped by the See also:crowd.

" Turn, traitor," said one of the rebels to Mole, seizing him by the See also:

beard, " and unless you wish to be massacred, either bring back Broussel, or bring Mazarin as a See also:hostage." Many magistrates fled; the remnant, headed by the intrepid mole, returned to the Palais Royal, where Anne of Austria was induced to release the prisoners. Mol'e's moderating counsels failed to prevent the outbreak of the first See also:Fronde, but he negotiated the See also:peace of See also:Rueil in 1651, and averted a conflict between the partisans of See also:Conde and of the See also:Cardinal de See also:Retz within the precincts of the Palais de See also:Justice. He refused honours and rewards for himself or his See also:family, but became keeper of the See also:seals, in which capacity he was compelled to follow the See also:court, and he therefore retired from the See also:presidency of the parlement. He died on the 3rd of See also:January 1656. The Memoires of Mole were edited for the Societe de 1'histoire de See also:France (4 vols., 1855) by Aime See also:Champollion-See also:Figeac, and his See also:life was written by See also:Baron A. G. P. de See also:Barante in Le Parlement et la Fronde (1859). See also the See also:memoirs of Omer Talon and of De Retz.

End of Article: MOLE, MATHIEU (1584—1656)

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