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83 - Story of Old France by H. A. Guerber · Story of Old France

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  Speaker 1: Section eighty two of the Story of Old France. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Marc de Sanzo. The Story
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  Speaker 1: of Old France by H. A. Gerber, Section eighty two.
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  Speaker 1: The Wars of the Fronde. Meantime, great changes had been
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  Speaker 1: taking place in France, where the aristocracy was now everything,
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  Speaker 1: and where the lower classes not only had no influence,
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  Speaker 1: but were said quote not even to possess their own
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  Speaker 1: souls and quote. The long war had proved so expensive
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  Speaker 1: that taxes had greatly increased, and loans could now be
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  Speaker 1: obtained only by paying exorbitant interest, a state of affairs which,
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  Speaker 1: by adding to the nation's already heavy burdens, fostered much discontent.
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  Speaker 1: In sixteen forty eight, therefore, the very year that the
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  Speaker 1: Treaty of Westphalia was signed, civil war broke out in France.
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  Speaker 1: The people and the Parliament of Paris began vehemently to
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  Speaker 1: oppose the court. This conflict is known as the Frond
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  Speaker 1: because the rebels acted like the Paris ragamuffins, who armed
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  Speaker 1: with slings Fronds pelted passers by in the suburbs with stones,
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  Speaker 1: but scattered and fled whenever the guard turned out to
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  Speaker 1: call them to account for such misbehavior. The First War
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  Speaker 1: of the Frond broke out immediately after an attempt on
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  Speaker 1: the Queen's part to awe the Parliament by arresting Brussel,
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  Speaker 1: a member who strongly advocated more liberty for the people
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  Speaker 1: than the court approved. But the Parisians, on learning of
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  Speaker 1: his arrest, threw up barricades in the streets and angrily
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  Speaker 1: demanded Brussel's release, their spokesman, having failed to secure it
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  Speaker 1: the first time he went to the palace. The angry
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  Speaker 1: mob would have torned him to pieces had he not
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  Speaker 1: coolly reminded them that they would gain nothing by it.
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  Speaker 1: On returning to the tuirie again, this clever man obtained
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  Speaker 1: what he wished from the Queen Regent by pointing to
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  Speaker 1: the little king then playing in the yard and warning
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  Speaker 1: her gravely, Madam, that child is losing his crown. Still,
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  Speaker 1: the trouble did not end with Grousel's release, for several
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  Speaker 1: of the discontented nobles gladly seized this opportunity to rebel
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  Speaker 1: and helped the people in Parliament. They were joined by
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  Speaker 1: the Duke of Beaufort, and the disturbance became so alarming
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  Speaker 1: that the court soon fled from Paris, taking refuge at
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  Speaker 1: Saint Germain, where nothing had been prepared for its coming.
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  Speaker 1: It was customary in those days to travel with bed, bedding, kitchen, utensils,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera, and as in the hurry of departure, nothing
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  Speaker 1: of the sort had been provided. The royal party had
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  Speaker 1: to suffer all manner of hardships. The King in particular,
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  Speaker 1: felt these privations so keenly that he took a strong
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  Speaker 1: dislike to Saint Germain. Having escaped in safety from the capital,
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  Speaker 1: the Queen took prompt measures to suppress the Frond and
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  Speaker 1: ordered Conde to blockade Paris. Several skirmishes occurred between the
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  Speaker 1: royal troops and the rebels before an agreement was reached,
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  Speaker 1: which put an end to what is known as the
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  Speaker 1: Parliamentary or Old Frond. Sixteen forty nine, although checked for
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  Speaker 1: the present civil war was not at an end. Next
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  Speaker 1: year broke out what is known as the Frond of
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  Speaker 1: the Princes or Young Frond, in which the principal nobles
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  Speaker 1: took part. Conde himself headed the faction, though jealously of Mazarin,
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  Speaker 1: but was promptly arrested, and, during his captivity in Vancint
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  Speaker 1: beguiled long hours by cultivating carnations, of which he was
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  Speaker 1: very proud. His friends, however, raised so large an army
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  Speaker 1: against Mazarin that the unpopular minister was obliged to flee
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  Speaker 1: from Paris. In the midst of the excitement, a rumor
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  Speaker 1: or spread that the court also had again secretly left
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  Speaker 1: the city, carrying off the little King. At this report,
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  Speaker 1: the people became frantic and crowded around the palace, clamoring
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  Speaker 1: for a sight of their sovereign to make sure he
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  Speaker 1: was still in their midst, The queen tried to pacify
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  Speaker 1: the mob, but, perceiving that her efforts were vain, she
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  Speaker 1: persuaded the little King, who was already in bed, to
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  Speaker 1: feign sleep, and then admitted a certain number of the rioters,
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  Speaker 1: bidding them a file noiselessly through the royal bed chamber
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  Speaker 1: and satisfy themselves that, as they had been assured, Louis
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  Speaker 1: was there wrapped in slumber. The king, then twelve years old,
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  Speaker 1: pretended to sleep while these Parisians gazed their fill upon him,
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  Speaker 1: But the vivid impression left by the clamors of the
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  Speaker 1: mob and this night invasion of the palace were never
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  Speaker 1: effaced from his mind and helped to determine him, when older,
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  Speaker 1: to take up his abode outside of the tumultuous capital.
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  Speaker 1: Released from prison, Conde now s sought more and more power,
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  Speaker 1: but finding to his disgust that Mazarin's influence still prevailed
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  Speaker 1: at court, he resumed his plots with other nobles and
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  Speaker 1: began open rebellion against the royal party. The king and
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  Speaker 1: his mother left Paris and presently summoned Mazarin to their assistance.
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  Speaker 1: Returning toward the capital, the youthful king was taken by
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  Speaker 1: Mazarin to witness the one great battle of the Young Frond.
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  Speaker 1: This encounter took place just outside one of the gates
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  Speaker 1: of Paris, in the Faubourg Saint Antoine, where Turenne, at
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  Speaker 1: the head of the royal troops, encountered CONDEI leading the rebels.
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  Speaker 1: Such was the activity that CONDEI displayed on this memorable
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  Speaker 1: occasion that Urennes admiringly exclaimed, I have not seen one
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  Speaker 1: CONDEI to day. I have seen more than twelve of them.
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  Speaker 1: In spite of all this energy, CONDEI would have been
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  Speaker 1: sorely worsted in this battle had not the daughter of Gaston,
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  Speaker 1: Mademoiselle de Montparcier, mounted to the top of the bastilla
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  Speaker 1: and thence boldly directed the king's cannon upon the royal troops,
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  Speaker 1: thus checking their advance. This lady, although several years older
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  Speaker 1: than Louis the fourteenth and his cousin besides, had been
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  Speaker 1: most anxious to become Queen of France, as Mazarin well knew,
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  Speaker 1: by siding thus openly with the royal foes on this occasion, however,
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  Speaker 1: she forfeited her last chance of winning a crown, as
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  Speaker 1: Mazarin put it quote, by that cannon shot she killed
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  Speaker 1: her husband. And now Mazarin knew that the nobles were
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  Speaker 1: united only by their dislike of him, and that the
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  Speaker 1: Spaniards had been invited to take part in the war
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  Speaker 1: under pretext of ousting him from office. He therefore advised
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  Speaker 1: the Queen to banish him from court a second time,
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  Speaker 1: and patiently waited for the princes to quarrel among themselves.
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  Speaker 1: No sooner had this come to pass than he returned
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  Speaker 1: in triumph. The parliament of Paris soon submitted. The nobles
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  Speaker 1: returned to their allegiance, and the court came back to Paris,
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  Speaker 1: where the king was warmly welcomed, but where Mazarin continued
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  Speaker 1: to be greatly disliked. Instead of making open war, however,
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  Speaker 1: his foes now vented their spite by writing and publishing
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  Speaker 1: lampoons against him, which were known as Mazarinad, a name
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  Speaker 1: now generally applied to political satires. Condei, the only noblemen
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  Speaker 1: who refused to submit, went off to join the forces
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  Speaker 1: of Spain in Flanders, where Turenne faced him in several
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  Speaker 1: small encounters and finally defeated him in the Great Battle
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  Speaker 1: of the Downs near Dunkirk. Knowing the obstinacy and incapacity
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  Speaker 1: of his Spanish troops, Condei felt sure beforehand that there
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  Speaker 1: was no hope of winning a victory on this occasion.
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  Speaker 1: So he remarked to a bystander, were you ever in
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  Speaker 1: a battle? My lord? No? Was the answer. Well, then
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  Speaker 1: in the course of the next half hour he will
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  Speaker 1: see us lose one. Shortly after this battle, the Treaty
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  Speaker 1: of the Pyrenees sixteen fifty nine ended the war between
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  Speaker 1: France and Spain. It left France in possession of her conquests,
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  Speaker 1: but provided that the Great Conde should be pardoned and
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  Speaker 1: restored to his offices. It also settled the king's marriage,
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  Speaker 1: as we shall see later on end of Section eighty two.