queen marguerite permitted to go to the king her husband.—is accompanied by the queenmother.—marguerite insulted by her husband’s secretary.—she harbours jealousy.—her attention to the king her husband during an indisposition.—their reconciliation.—the war breaks out afresh.—affront received from marechal de biron.
i now renewed my application for leave to go to the king my husband, which i continued to press on every opportunity. the king, perceiving that he could not refuse my leave any longer, was willing i should depart satisfied. he had this further view in complying with my wishes, that by this means he should withdraw me from my attachment to my brother. he therefore strove to oblige me in every way he could think of, and, to fulfil the promise made by the queen my mother at the peace of sens, he gave me an assignment of my portion in territory, with the power of nomination to all vacant benefices and all offices; and, over and above the customary pension to the daughters of france, he gave another out of his privy purse.
he daily paid me a visit in my apartment, in which he took occasion to represent to me how useful his friendship would be to me; whereas that of my brother could be only injurious,—with arguments of the like kind.
however, all he could say was insufficient to prevail on me to swerve from the fidelity i had vowed to observe to my brother. the king was able to draw from me no other declaration than this: that it ever was, and should be, my earnest wish to see my brother firmly established in his gracious favour, which he had never appeared to me to have forfeited; that i was well assured he would exert himself to the utmost to regain it by every act of duty and meritorious service; that, with respect to myself, i thought i was so much obliged to him for the great honour he did me by repeated acts of generosity, that he might be assured, when i was with the king my husband i should consider myself bound in duty to obey all such commands as he should be pleased to give me; and that it would be my whole study to maintain the king my husband in a submission to his pleasure.
my brother was now on the point of leaving alencon to go to flanders; the queen my mother was desirous to see him before his departure. i begged the king to permit me to take the opportunity of accompanying her to take leave of my brother, which he granted; but, as it seemed, with great unwillingness. when we returned from alencon, i solicited the king to permit me to take leave of himself, as i had everything prepared for my journey. the queen my mother being desirous to go to gascony, where her presence was necessary for the king’s service, was unwilling that i should depart without her. when we left paris, the king accompanied us on the way as far as his palace of dolinville. there we stayed with him a few days, and there we took our leave, and in a little time reached guienne, which belonging to, and being under the government of the king my husband, i was everywhere received as queen. my husband gave the queen my mother a meeting at wolle, which was held by the huguenots as a cautionary town; and the country not being sufficiently quieted, she was permitted to go no further.
it was the intention of the queen my mother to make but a short stay; but so many accidents arose from disputes betwixt the huguenots and catholics, that she was under the necessity of stopping there eighteen months. as this was very much against her inclination, she was sometimes inclined to think there was a design to keep her, in order to have the company of her maids of honour. for my husband had been greatly smitten with dayelle, and m. de thurene was in love with la vergne. however, i received every mark of honour and attention from the king that i could expect or desire. he related to me, as soon as we met, the artifices which had been put in practice whilst he remained at court to create a misunderstanding betwixt him and me; all this, he said, he knew was with a design to cause a rupture betwixt my brother and him, and thereby ruin us all three, as there was an exceeding great jealousy entertained of the friendship which existed betwixt us.
we remained in the disagreeable situation i have before described all the time the queen my mother stayed in gascony; but, as soon as she could reestablish peace, she, by desire of the king my husband, removed the king’s lieutenant, the marquis de villars, putting in his place the marechal de biron. she then departed for languedoc, and we conducted her to castelnaudary; where, taking our leave, we returned to pau, in bearn; in which place, the catholic religion not being tolerated, i was only allowed to have mass celebrated in a chapel of about three or four feet in length, and so narrow that it could scarcely hold seven or eight persons. during the celebration of mass, the bridge of the castle was drawn up to prevent the catholics of the town and country from coming to assist at it; who having been, for some years, deprived of the benefit of following their own mode of worship, would have gladly been present. actuated by so holy and laudable a desire, some of the inhabitants of pau, on whitsunday, found means to get into the castle before the bridge was drawn up, and were present at the celebration of mass, not being discovered until it was nearly over. at length the huguenots espied them, and ran to acquaint le pin, secretary to the king my husband, who was greatly in his favour, and who conducted the whole business relating to the new religion. upon receiving this intelligence, le pin ordered the guard to arrest these poor people, who were severely beaten in my presence, and afterwards locked up in prison, whence they were not released without paying a considerable fine.
this indignity gave me great offence, as i never expected anything of the kind. accordingly, i complained of it to the king my husband, begging him to give orders for the release of these poor catholics, who did not deserve to be punished for coming to my chapel to hear mass, a celebration of which they had been so long deprived of the benefit. le pin, with the greatest disrespect to his master, took upon him to reply, without waiting to hear what the king had to say. he told me that i ought not to trouble the king my husband about such matters; that what had been done was very right and proper; that those people had justly merited the treatment they met with, and all i could say would go for nothing, for it must be so; and that i ought to rest satisfied with being permitted to have mass said to me and my servants. this insolent speech from a person of his inferior condition incensed me greatly, and i entreated the king my husband, if i had the least share in his good graces, to do me justice, and avenge the insult offered me by this low man.
the king my husband, perceiving that i was offended, as i had reason to be, with this gross indignity, ordered le pin to quit our presence immediately; and, expressing his concern at his secretary’s behaviour, who, he said, was overzealous in the cause of religion, he promised that he would make an example of him. as to the catholic prisoners, he said he would advise with his parliament what ought to be done for my satisfaction.
having said this, he went to his closet, where he found le pin, who, by dint of persuasion, made him change his resolution; insomuch that, fearing i should insist upon his dismissing his secretary, he avoided meeting me. at last, finding that i was firmly resolved to leave him, unless he dismissed le pin, he took advice of some persons, who, having themselves a dislike to the secretary, represented that he ought not to give me cause of displeasure for the sake of a man of his small importance,—especially one who, like him, had given me just reason to be offended; that, when it became known to the king my brother and the queen my mother, they would certainly take it ill that he had not only not resented it, but, on the contrary, still kept him near his person.
this counsel prevailed with him, and he at length discarded his secretary. the king, however, continued to behave to me with great coolness, being influenced, as he afterwards confessed, by the counsel of m. de pibrac, who acted the part of a double dealer, telling me that i ought not to pardon an affront offered by such a mean fellow, but insist upon his being dismissed; whilst he persuaded the king my husband that there was no reason for parting with a man so useful to him, for such a trivial cause. this was done by m. de pibrac, thinking i might be induced, from such mortifications, to return to france, where he enjoyed the offices of president and king’s counsellor.
i now met with a fresh cause for disquietude in my present situation, for, dayelle being gone, the king my husband placed his affections on rebours. she was an artful young person, and had no regard for me; accordingly, she did me all the ill offices in her power with him. in the midst of these trials, i put my trust in god, and he, moved with pity by my tears, gave permission for our leaving pau, that “little geneva;” and, fortunately for me, rebours was taken ill and stayed behind. the king my husband no sooner lost sight of her than he forgot her; he now turned his eyes and attention towards fosseuse. she was much handsomer than the other, and was at that time young, and really a very amiable person.
pursuing the road to montauban, we stopped at a little town called eause, where, in the night, the king my husband was attacked with a high fever, accompanied with most violent pains in his head. this fever lasted for seventeen days, during which time he had no rest night or day, but was continually removed from one bed to another. i nursed him the whole time, never stirring from his bedside, and never putting off my clothes. he took notice of my extraordinary tenderness, and spoke of it to several persons, and particularly to my cousin m——-, who, acting the part of an affectionate relation, restored me to his favour, insomuch that i never stood so highly in it before. this happiness i had the good fortune to enjoy during the four or five years that i remained with him in gascony.
our residence, for the most part of the time i have mentioned, was at nerac, where our court was so brilliant that we had no cause to regret our absence from the court of france. we had with us the princesse de navarre, my husband’s sister, since married to the duc de bar; there were besides a number of ladies belonging to myself. the king my husband was attended by a numerous body of lords and gentlemen, all as gallant persons as i have seen in any court; and we had only to lament that they were huguenots. this difference of religion, however, caused no dispute among us; the king my husband and the princess his sister heard a sermon, whilst i and my servants heard mass. i had a chapel in the park for the purpose, and, as soon as the service of both religions was over, we joined company in a beautiful garden, ornamented with long walks shaded with laurel and cypress trees. sometimes we took a walk in the park on the banks of the river, bordered by an avenue of trees three thousand yards in length. the rest of the day was passed in innocent amusements; and in the afternoon, or at night, we commonly had a ball.
the king was very assiduous with fosseuse, who, being dependent on me, kept herself within the strict bounds of honour and virtue. had she always done so, she had not brought upon herself a misfortune which has proved of such fatal consequence to myself as well as to her.
but our happiness was too great to be of long continuance, and fresh troubles broke out betwixt the king my husband and the catholics, and gave rise to a new war. the king my husband and the marechal de biron, who was the king’s lieutenant in guienne, had a difference, which was aggravated by the huguenots. this breach became in a short time so wide that all my efforts to close it were useless. they made their separate complaints to the king. the king my husband insisted on the removal of the marechal de biron, and the marshal charged the king my husband, and the rest of those who were of the pretended reformed religion, with designs contrary to peace. i saw, with great concern, that affairs were likely soon to come to an open rupture; and i had no power to prevent it.
the marshal advised the king to come to guienne himself, saying that in his presence matters might be settled. the huguenots, hearing of this proposal, supposed the king would take possession of their towns, and, thereupon, came to a resolution to take up arms. this was what i feared; i was become a sharer in the king my husband’s fortune, and was now to be in opposition to the king my brother and the religion i had been bred up in. i gave my opinion upon this war to the king my husband and his council, and strove to dissuade them from engaging in it. i represented to them the hazards of carrying on a war when they were to be opposed against so able a general as the marechal de biron, who would not spare them, as other generals had done, he being their private enemy. i begged them to consider that, if the king brought his whole force against them, with intention to exterminate their religion, it would not be in their power to oppose or prevent it. but they were so headstrong, and so blinded with the hope of succeeding in the surprise of certain towns in languedoc and gascony, that, though the king did me the honour, upon all occasions, to listen to my advice, as did most of the huguenots, yet i could not prevail on them to follow it in the present situation of affairs, until it was too late, and after they had found, to their cost, that my counsel was good. the torrent was now burst forth, and there was no possibility of stopping its course until it had spent its utmost strength.
before that period arrived, foreseeing the consequences, i had often written to the king and the queen my mother, to offer something to the king my husband by way of accommodating matters. but they were bent against it, and seemed to be pleased that matters had taken such a turn, being assured by marechal de biron that he had it in his power to crush the huguenots whenever he pleased. in this crisis my advice was not attended to, the dissensions increased, and recourse was had to arms.
the huguenots had reckoned upon a force more considerable than they were able to collect together, and the king my husband found himself outnumbered by marechal de biron. in consequence, those of the pretended reformed religion failed in all their plans, except their attack upon cahors, which they took with petards, after having lost a great number of men, m. de vezins, who commanded in the town, disputing their entrance for two or three days, from street to street, and even from house to house. the king my husband displayed great valour and conduct upon the occasion, and showed himself to be a gallant and brave general. though the huguenots succeeded in this attempt, their loss was so great that they gained nothing from it. marechal de biron kept the field, and took every place that declared for the huguenots, putting all that opposed him to the sword.
from the commencement of this war, the king my husband doing me the honour to love me, and commanding me not to leave him, i had resolved to share his fortune, not without extreme regret, in observing that this war was of such a nature that i could not, in conscience, wish success to either side; for if the huguenots got the upper hand, the religion which i cherished as much as my life was lost, and if the catholics prevailed, the king my husband was undone. but, being thus attached to my husband, by the duty i owed him, and obliged by the attentions he was pleased to show me, i could only acquaint the king and the queen my mother with the situation to which i was reduced, occasioned by my advice to them not having been attended to. i, therefore, prayed them, if they could not extinguish the flames of war in the midst of which i was placed, at least to give orders to marechal de biron to consider the town i resided in, and three leagues round it, as neutral ground, and that i would get the king my husband to do the same. this the king granted me for nerac, provided my husband was not there; but if he should enter it, the neutrality was to cease, and so to remain as long as he continued there. this convention was observed, on both sides, with all the exactness i could desire. however, the king my husband was not to be prevented from often visiting nerac, which was the residence of his sister and me. he was fond of the society of ladies, and, moreover, was at that time greatly enamoured with fosseuse, who held the place in his affections which rebours had lately occupied. fosseuse did me no ill offices, so that the king my husband and i continued to live on very good terms, especially as he perceived me unwilling to oppose his inclinations.
led by such inducements, he came to nerac, once, with a body of troops, and stayed three days, not being able to leave the agreeable company he found there. marechal de biron, who wished for nothing so much as such an opportunity, was apprised of it, and, under pretence of joining m. de cornusson, the seneschal of toulouse, who was expected with a reinforcement for his army, he began his march; but, instead of pursuing the road, according to the orders he had issued, he suddenly ordered his troops to file off towards nerac, and, before nine in the morning, his whole force was drawn up within sight of the town, and within cannon-shot of it.
the king my husband had received intelligence, the evening before, of the expected arrival of m. de cornusson, and was desirous of preventing the junction, for which purpose he resolved to attack him and the marshal separately. as he had been lately joined by m. de la rochefoucauld, with a corps of cavalry consisting of eight hundred men, formed from the nobility of saintonge, he found himself sufficiently strong to undertake such a plan. he, therefore, set out before break of day to make his attack as they crossed the river. but his intelligence did not prove to be correct, for de cornusson passed it the evening before. my husband, being thus disappointed in his design, returned to nerac, and entered at one gate just as marechal de biron drew up his troops before the other. there fell so heavy a rain at that moment that the musketry was of no use. the king my husband, however, threw a body of his troops into a vineyard to stop the marshal’s progress, not being able to do more on account of the unfavourableness of the weather.
in the meantime, the marshal continued with his troops drawn up in order of battle, permitting only two or three of his men to advance, who challenged a like number to break lances in honour of their mistresses. the rest of the army kept their ground, to mask their artillery, which, being ready to play, they opened to the right and left, and fired seven or eight shots upon the town, one of which struck the palace. the marshal, having done this, marched off, despatching a trumpeter to me with his excuse. he acquainted me that, had i been alone, he would on no account have fired on the town; but the terms of neutrality for the town, agreed upon by the king, were, as i well knew, in case the king my husband should not be found in it, and, if otherwise, they were void. besides which, his orders were to attack the king my husband wherever he should find him.
i must acknowledge on every other occasion the marshal showed me the greatest respect, and appeared to be much my friend. during the war my letters have frequently fallen into his hands, when he as constantly forwarded them to me unopened. and whenever my people have happened to be taken prisoners by his army, they were always well treated as soon as they mentioned to whom they belonged.
i answered his message by the trumpeter, saying that i well knew what he had done was strictly agreeable to the convention made and the orders he had received, but that a gallant officer like him would know how to do his duty without giving his friends cause of offence; that he might have permitted me the enjoyment of the king my husband’s company in nerac for three days, adding, that he could not attack him, in my presence, without attacking me; and concluding that, certainly, i was greatly offended by his conduct, and would take the first opportunity of making my complaint to the king my brother.
