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Much to the marshal's distress, a clumsy jouster, Field Captain Montgomery, sank his lance into the king's eye during one of his tournaments. The king died from his injury and as a result the formidable Catherine de' Medici came to power. She did not share her deceased husband's feelings of friendship for Saint André and with Henri II departed, the donations he had been awarded were revoked. All Saint André could think about from then on was fighting the Protestants.
He died in combat in the year of Our Lord 1562, from a bullet in the head. He left behind him a widow, Marguerite de Lustrac, an extremely ambitious woman who intended to remarry without delay. Her choice fell upon a blood prince, Louis I of Bourbon, the first Prince of Condé. All the better to seduce him, Marguerite de Lustrac changed her religion, for Condé was one of the leaders of the Huguenots. She purely and simply offered Louis of Condé her castle and her wealth. He accepted them, hanging on to the chateau… but abandoning the lady!
Louis I of Condé would not enjoy his indelicately acquired abode for very long: he died in Jarnac in 1569, in exactly the same way as Saint André.
In the year of Our Lord 1609, Henri II of Condé, the third prince of the house, married Charlotte de Montmorency. King Henri IV, with his own interests at heart, gave the marriage his blessing. For the bride was beautiful, all too beautiful, and the king was in love with her. He was count-ing on the accommodating nature of her husband. But Condé was on his guard and took his wife to his chateau in Vallery. He declined royal invitation after royal invitation, but when these eventually became too pressing, he went to court alone.
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Firstly, he ordered Malesherbes to sing his love. Then, with two of his most faithful subjects, the king headed for his cousin's, the prince's, lands; for his first surreptitious visit he was disguised as a falconer and for the second as a houndsman with a patch over one eye.
Overcome with emotion, Henri IV finally beat his retreat but Condé was gripped with fear at just how far the king had gone. France in all its history had never witnessed such a situation. In order to remove his wife from the royal flame the prince sought refuge in Brussels. Henri IV, drunk with pain, attempted to waylay the carriage at the border, but he was too late. Once in Brussels, Condé called for the Pope to intervene.
| Henri IV |
Ch. de Montmorency |
| 1553-1610 |
1594 - 1650 |
As for the king, he called upon Charlotte's father, the High Constable of Montmorency, denunciating the bad treatment Condé would inflict upon his wife. The house of Brussels protected Condé and just managed to foil an attempt by the king to kidnap Charlotte. But the king's audacity finally got through to Charlotte; she was bored in Brussels and missed the excitement of the French court, where she had appeared but for a moment.
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She also longed for her family. Her father, won over to the king's cause, urged his exiled daughter to return home. Condé, jealous and angry and in need of some space, went to his chateau in Milan. Charlotte chose this precise moment to submit a request to return to Paris… The royal passion had finally set the princess's heart alight. The Princes of Orange opposed her depart-ure, arguing that they would only grant her request with her husband's consent. All Brussels was on tenterhooks, fearing that Henri IV might launch a mighty cavalry attack on the city. Ambassadors delivered the king's passionate letters to the princess and it is believed that they even carried replies from the "Bel Ange" to her "Cher Chevalier".
It was at this time that Henri IV, invigorated by his passion, decided to assume command of the most powerful army in the world. He intended to take Brussels by storm, to make the house of Austria see reason, and to take Charlotte into his arms as a conquering hero.
The sovereign's thunderbolts resounded throughout Europe and the whole continent might have gone up in flames had Ravaillac not done away with the aging Romeo on April 14th in the year of Our Lord 1610. Condé, meanwhile, was busy orchestrating the power wielders in the kingdom to oppose the regency of Catherine de' Medici, who imprisoned him. Twenty years later he welcomed Louis XIII to Vallery.
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