to the belief of his contemporaries, by his wife, Catherine de la Trémouille. This event, among others, awoke strong suspicions as to the legitimacy of his heir and namesake, Henry, prince of Condé (1588–1646). King Henry IV., however, did not take advantage of the scandal. In 1609 he caused the prince of Condé to marry Charlotte de Montmorency, whom shortly after Condé was obliged to save from the king’s persistent gallantry by a hasty flight, first to Spain and then to Italy. On the death of Henry, Condé returned to France, and intrigued against the regent, Marie de’ Medici; but he was seized, and imprisoned for three years (1616–1619). There was at that time before the court a plea for his divorce from his wife, but she now devoted herself to enliven his captivity at the cost of her own liberty. During the rest of his life Condé was a faithful servant of the king. He strove to blot out the memory of the Huguenot connexions of his house by affecting the greatest zeal against Protestants. His old ambition changed into a desire for the safe aggrandizement of his family, which he magnificently achieved, and with that end he bowed before Richelieu, whose niece he forced his son to marry. His son Louis, the great Condé, is separately noticed below.
The next in succession was Henry Jules, prince of Condé (1643–1709), the son of the great Condé and of Clémence de Maillé, niece of Richelieu. He fought with distinction under his father in Franche-Comté and the Low Countries; but he was heartless, avaricious and undoubtedly insane. The end of his life was marked by singular hypochondriacal fancies. He believed at one time that he was dead, and refused to eat till some of his attendants dressed in sheets set him the example. His grandson, Louis Henry, duke of Bourbon (1692–1740), Louis XV.’s minister, did not assume the title of prince of Condé which properly belonged to him.
The son of the duke of Bourbon, Louis Joseph, prince of Condé (1736–1818), after receiving a good education, distinguished himself in the Seven Years’ War, and most of all by his victory at Johannisberg. As governor of Burgundy he did much to improve the industries and means of communication of that province. At the Revolution he took up arms in behalf of the king, became commander of the “army of Condé,” and fought in conjunction with the Austrians till the peace of Campo Formio in 1797, being during the last year in the pay of England. He then served the emperor of Russia in Poland, and after that (1800) returned into the pay of England, and fought in Bavaria. In 1800 Condé arrived in England, where he resided for several years. On the restoration of Louis XVIII. he returned to France. He died in Paris in 1818. He wrote Essai sur la vie du grand Condé (1798).
Louis Henry Joseph, duke of Bourbon (1756–1830), son of the last named, was the last prince of Condé. Several of the earlier events of his life, especially his marriage with the princess Louise of Orleans, and the duel that the comte d’Artois provoked by raising the veil of the princess at a masked ball, caused much scandal. At the Revolution he fought with the army of the emigrés in Liége. Between the return of Napoleon from Elba and the battle of Waterloo, he headed with no success a royalist rising in La Vendée. In 1829 he made a will by which he appointed as his heir the duc d’Aumale, and made some considerable bequests to his mistress, the baronne de Feuchères (q.v.). On the 27th of August 1830 he was found hanged on the fastening of his window. A crime was generally suspected, and the princes de Rohan, who were relatives of the deceased, disputed the will. Their petition, however, was dismissed by the courts.
Two cadet branches of the house of Condé played an important part: those of Soissons and Conti. The first, sprung from Charles of Bourbon (b. 1566), son of Louis I., prince of Condé, became extinct in the legitimate male line in 1641. The second took its origin from Armand of Bourbon, born in 1629, son of Henry II., prince of Condé, and survived up to 1814.
See Muret, L’Histoire de l’armée de Condé; Chamballand, Vie de Louis Joseph, prince de Condé; Crétineau-Joly, Histoire des trois derniers princes de la maison de Condé; and Histoire des princes de Condé, by the duc d’Aumale (translated by R. B. Borthwick, 1872).
CONDE, LOUIS DE BOURBON, Prince of (1530–1569), fifth
son of Charles de Bourbon, duke of Vendôme, younger brother
of Antoine, king of Navarre (1518–1562), was the first of the
famous house of Condé (see above). After his father’s death
in 1537 Louis was educated in the principles of the reformed
religion. Brave though deformed, gay but extremely poor for
his rank, Condé was led by his ambition to a military career.
He fought with distinction in Piedmont under Marshal de
Brissac; in 1552 he forced his way with reinforcements into
Metz, then besieged by Charles V.; he led several brilliant sorties
from that town; and in 1554 commanded the light cavalry on
the Meuse against Charles. In 1557 he was present at the battle
of St Quentin, and did further good service at the head of the
light horse. But the descendants of the constable de Bourbon
were still looked upon with suspicion in the French court, and
Condé’s services were ignored. The court designed to reduce his
narrow means still further by despatching him upon a costly
mission to Philip II. of Spain. His personal griefs thus combined
with his religious views to force upon him a rôle of political
opposition. He was concerned in the conspiracy of Amboise,
which aimed at forcing from the king the recognition of the
reformed religion. He was consequently condemned to death,
and was only saved by the decease of Francis II. At the accession
of the boy-king Charles IX., the policy of the court was changed,
and Condé received from Catherine de’ Medici the government
of Picardy. But the struggle between the Catholics and the
Huguenots soon began once more, and henceforward the career
of Condé is the story of the wars of religion (see France: History).
He was the military as well as the political chief of the Huguenot party, and displayed the highest generalship on many occasions,
and notably at the battle of St Denis. At the battle of Jarnac,
with only 400 horsemen, Condé rashly charged the whole
Catholic army. Worn out with fighting, he at last gave up his
sword, and a Catholic officer named Montesquiou treacherously
shot him through the head on the 13th of March 1569.
CONDÉ, LOUIS II. DE BOURBON, Prince of (1621–1686), called the Great Condé, was the son of Henry, prince of Condé, and Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, and was born at
Paris on the 8th of September 1621. As a boy, under his father’s
careful supervision, he studied diligently at the Jesuits’ College
at Bourges, and at seventeen, in the absence of his father, he
governed Burgundy. The duc d’Enghien, as he was styled
during his father’s lifetime, took part with distinction in the
campaigns of 1640 and 1641 in northern France while yet under
twenty years of age.
During the youth of Enghien all power in France was in the hands of Richelieu; to him even the princes of the blood had to yield; and Henry of Condé sought with the rest to win the 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 hand to Richelieu’s niece, Claire Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, a child of thirteen. He was present with Richelieu during the dangerous plot of Cinq Mars, and afterwards fought in the siege of 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 Spanish army were accounted the finest soldiers in Europe; on the other hand, the strength of the French army was placed at his command, and under him were the best generals of the service. The great battle of Rocroy (May 18) put an end to the supremacy of the Spanish army and inaugurated the long period of French military predominance. Enghien himself conceived and directed the decisive attack, and at the age of twenty-two won his place amongst the great captains of modern times. After a campaign of uninterrupted success, Enghien returned to Paris in triumph, and in gallantry and intrigues strove to forget his enforced and hateful marriage. In 1644 he was sent with reinforcements into Germany to the assistance of Turenne, who was hard pressed, and took command of the whole army. The battle of Freiburg (Aug.) was
