CHAPTER XXXIV
M. VINCENT IN POLITICS: THE FRONDE
M. VINCENT IN POLITICS: THE FRONDE
An unprecedented revolution
In 1648, people in France might have thought that their country was emerging from the nightmare of war and its train of misery. The victory at Lens (19th August), which consolidated that of Rocroi, was yet another triumph for Condé and coupled with the Peace of Westphalia between France and the Empire (24th October), presaged a speedy and successful outcome to the war against Spain. It was just at this moment that an unexpected domestic problem arose, in the shape of civil war or rather the series of civil wars known as the Fronde.
Collet, the 18th century biographer of Vincent de Paul, thought that Mazarin was chiefly responsible for the Fronde. He wrote "An Italian who had come to the fore in affairs of state and had astutely made himself indispensable to the Queen who was not aware of her own talents in this direction, was partly the reason, and partly the pretext, for an unprecedented revolution in our history." [1]
Collet's simplistic assessment has long been shared by a good number of French historians but in actual fact the situation was much more complicated.
The timing and the features of the Fronde wars bring them into the framework of a general climate of rebellion throughout Europe which affected, almost simultaneously; the England of Charles I, the Spain of Duke Condé, (uprisings in Portugal, Catalonia and Naples), the Holland of Willian II, the Sweden of Queen Christina and the Ukraine of the Cossack, Jmelnitski. [2] It would be wrong to label all these movements alike. Each one had its own individual characteristics and the outcome of each was different. But each one had determining features or "preconditions" which could have turned them all into full scale revolutions.
"The Fronde", wrote Mousnier, was the outward expression of a society and a state in deep crisis." [3] One of the chief causes of the Fronde was the war that was being waged abroad. It laid an increasingly heavy burden on all sections of society through the range and increased level of taxation which threatened to change the traditional monarchy into a dictatorship. To this must be added economic recession, adverse weather conditions and periodic epidemics which wore down the impoverished people. This led to a permanent state of unrest and a growing number of peasant revolts. One night say that between 1623 and 1648 not a single year went by without some uprising by the peasants. [4] Mazarin continued Richelieu's political policy and everything was subordinated to the prestige of the state, even though achieving this meant ignoring or violating traditional laws and privileges. It was the relentless march towards absolute monarchy.
Both the bourgeosie of Parlement, and the nobles, regarded this policy as a permanent violation of the laws by which monarchs had governed from time immemorial, and also as an attack on their interests and their influence on society. Both sides set themselves up as defenders of the old order and as opponents of political change. The Parlement of Paris, and to a lesser degree the provincial Parlements, claimed that they were trying to restore customs that had been in force earlier but this was really only an excuse for rebellion. The Parlements argued that since they had the right to ratify royal decisions, it followed that they should have access to all matters of state, and that they had the right to deliberate and pronounce on these, to convoke meetings of the country's representatives and even to accept or reject laws that were already in force after a "lit de justice." [5] The rebellion of the princes and barons was rooted in the idea that the monarch's powers were shared by all the royal family, particularly during the minority of a young monarch. It was also coloured by their understanding of a subject's duties, a concept which was closer to the feudal ideal of voluntary subjection (whereby each man was free to choose his own liege lord) than the moderm idea of the citizen being subject to the State. When the two kinds of rebellion happened simultaneously, the State was ready to disintegrate, especially since the nobles and the members of the Parlements had the support of the people, or perhaps we should say the rabble, of Paris, Bordeaux and other big cities.
Rebellion didn't split French society horizontally but vertically. There were Frondist and anti Frondist nobles, there were members of Parlement who were pro Mazarin and others who were against him, and there were townsfolk who fought for either side. The Fronde was not a class struggle and most of the country remained loyal to the King and to the State. Neither was the Fronde a revolution against the monarchy. It's war cry was not, "Down with the King", but as in Catalonia, Naples, Sweden and Holland, (in England it was a very different story), "Long live the King and down with bad government" or "Long live the King but down with taxes." [6]
Chronicle of events
It is customary to divide the chaotic events of the Fronde into two main stages; the Parlement Fronde (1648 49) and the Princes' Fronde (1651 1653). In fact, it was one continuous succession of incidents, in spite of the intrigues and criss crossing of interests that made more than one protagonist change his allegiance.
The disturbances of the Fronde began on 26th August, 1648, a week after Lens, and they were sparked off by the arrest, on Mazarin's orders, of two very popular councillors, Broussel and Blancmesnil. Mazarin held them responsible for a document approved in the preceding July, which asked, among other things, for the repeal of extended jurisdiction powers and that taxes should be approved by Parlement. After the arrest of the two councillors, the people of Paris took to the streets and their leader was the coadjutor archbishop, Jean François Paul de Gondi. The streets were bristling with barricades for three days. The Royal Family retreated to Saint Germain and after some difficult negotiations and the release of the two members of Parlement, they eventually signed the pact of Saint Germain, on 24th October, the same day as the Peace of Münster. But the people's unrest continued; there was growing discontent with Mazarin and the Royal Family found itself in an impossible situation. On the night of 6th January, 1649, the Court fled once again to Saint Germain and Mazarin advised Condé to lay siege to the city. Organised resistance to this was led by the first president of the Parlement, Molé, and by de Gondi. They laid in a stack of provisions and prepared to defend the city walls. But time was on Mazarin's side. After two months the citizens of Paris asked for negotiations to begin and on March 11th, 1649, the Concorde of Reuil was signed with concessions made on both sides. This marked the end of the Parlement Fronde.
The years 1649 and 1650 saw an uneasy truce with the web of alliances being woven and unwoven hundreds of times. Mazarin and Condé became sworn enemies. Gondi supported first one and then the other as he bacame involved in the web of intrigue, ambition, envy and greed where the ordinary people were just pawns or puppets in the game. The three protagonists, Mazarin, Condé and Gondi, hated each other because all three wanted power. The aristocracy which followed Condé, and the ordinary people who were led by Gondi and the Parlement, eventually joined forces against Mazarin. When the Minister ordered the arrest of Condé, Conti and Longueville (21st January, 1650), the second Fronde erupted.
Plots against Mazarin continued to be hatched all through the year 1650. In February of the following year, the Parlement persuaded the Queen to set the princes free and Mazarin was sent into exile. This was a strategic retreat. From his distant exile in Cologne, Mazarin continued to rule the heart and the government of Anne of Austria. There was no reconciliation of minds and hearts even when the King was proclaimed of age on 7th September, 1651. Civil war raged throughout the whole kingdom and the situation was made worse by the wars that France was fighing abroad. Condé thought to strengthen his position by making an alliance with the Spanish but this caused dissension in his own party.
Mazarin saw that popular discontent with Condé was on the increase and judged that the time was ripe to return to France with an army of 7,000 mercenaries. This was a mistake because all his enemies joined forces against him. Conté was summoned to Paris and Gondi, who had been appointed Cardinal de Retz since 19th February, 1652, once again inflamed the people against the hated Minister. In the outlying districts of Paris there were battles that lacked glory and brought desolation and famine to an already impoverished people. The situation in the capital itself was even worse. Food was scarce and this led to famine and to looting. On 4th July, a mob that went wild after rumours that the Parlement was considering unconditional surrender, attacked the town hall to vent their savagery on people that they took to be followers of Mazarin. The situation deteriorated rapidly. Parlement's forces couldn't stomach either the atrocities committed by Condé's soldiers or the anarchy of the masses. They entered into negotiations with the Court. The King agreed to dismiss Mazarin in August though his intention was to restore him to power once calm was restored. But the Minister's removal was put off indefinitely. In September a delegation of the clergy of Paris, headed, most ironically, by Retz himself, begged the King to return to Paris. Louis XIV promised an amnesty on condition that the leaders of the Fronde left Paris. Condé, who could expect no mercy from Mazarin's implacable hatred, went over to the Spanish side and took with him his weaponry and provisions. The King's demands having been met, the royal family made their triumphal entry into Paris on October 21st, amid the acclamations of the people who up to then had been in revolt. The Fronde was over. All that remained was for outstanding accounts to be settled. In December 1652, Retz was accused of inciting the King's uncle, Gaston d'Orléans, to rebellion, and was imprisoned in the château de Vincennes. Three months later, in February 1653, Mazarin came back and was acclaimed, in his turn, by the fickle masses. [7]
The Fronde took its name from the catapults that the urchins of Paris used in their street fights or to show defiance of the city constables. Its rebellion was no more successful than that of the urchin gangs. Its failure accelerated rather than delayed the triumph of the very policies it fought against. From now on nothing could halt the advent of absolute monarchy.
"We must continue distributing alms."
Vincent, and his two houses of Saint Lazare and the Bons Enfants, suffered the privations and inconveniences caused by these events, as did all the other people living in Paris. In January 1649, Vincent went on a journey which we will discuss in detail later on. In his absence, and notwithstanding the good will of the magistrates who appointed an armed guard of four men "to protect M. Vincent's grain" [8] at Saint Lazare, the house was commandeered on the instructions of a councillor who claimed he was acting with Parlement's authority. Under the pretext of inspecting the premises and making an inventory of its provisions, six hundred soldiers billeted themselves at Saint Lazare for three days and requisitioned the wheat and flour to sell them at the market. Not content with this, they got their hands on the keys of the house and searched it from top to bottom, looking for the treasures they imagined it contained. They caused untold damage. To crown it all, they set fire to the wood shed and reduced it to ashes. Fr. Lambert, who was temporarily deputising for Vincent, was devastated, and had recourse to Parlement. The officials there were indignant that such outrages had been committed in their name. They arranged for the immediate withdrwal of the soldiers but none of the damage was repaired. [9]
Vincent followed each day's events from afar, and sent detailed instructions to Fr. Lambert. Saint Lazare and the Bons Enfants were almost completely evacuated and, at the seminary of St. Charles, numbers were reduced to the minimum [10] needed "to continue distributing alms." [11] No setback could make Vincent give up his active and effective works of charity.
The farm at Orsigny had been pillaged, too, so Vincent instructed them to take out a loan of 16,000 livres so that they could help people in distress. The amount of aid distributed broke all records. More than 2,000 people received a daily ration of bread and soup at the gates of Saint Lazare. Parlement had decreed that anyone with surplus food should sell wheat at the fixed price of 10 livres a bushel; Vincent ordered his wheat to be sold for 6 livres. Saint Lazare was in such bad financial straits that Vincent thought one of his priests might go as chaplain to the galleys and so bring in a much needed salary. [12]
When the Concordat of Rueil brought temporary peace during the spring of that year, the food reserves at Saint Lazare were just about exhausted. In 3 months they had distributed ten muids of wheat (Each of which would be the equivaleent of about 57 gallons in liquid measurement.) The summer was a hard one. The community at Saint Lazare was reduced to eating rye bread and when this ran out they ate bread made from oats. [13]
"We were more frightened than anything else."
The second Fronde meant just as many headaches for Vincent. He, himself, was in danger one day when he was coming back from Saint Denis; most probably he had been discussing business matters with the Queen. The sentries didn't recognise him at first and they forced him to get out of his carriage and face shouting, threats and violence. [14] The attacks that took place in the outlying areas of Paris grazed the walls of St. Lazare on a couple of occasions. The first time this happened was on 13th March, 1652, the same day as the battle of St. Denis, when some of the skirmishes took place near the Priory and at the very doors of the foundlings' home. Nothing worse happened than that they all got a fright. Vincent wasn't easily rattled. "Yesterday there was a bit of a disturbance round here", was him only comment. [15] On the night of July 1st, the danger was greater. Condé's army was trying to find some point of entrance into the capital and surrounded Paris during that night's sortie. As they were passing Saint Lazare, eight soldiers took it on themselves to pillage the seminary of St. Charles. They didn't think twice about it but entered the building, and not content with the money and the provisions Fr. Alméras offered them, they searched the entire house, going into all the rooms, forcing open chests and cupboards, and taking away anything that caught their fancy. All of a sudden two men from the King's army appeared; one was a Swiss and the other was one of the Duke de Bouillon's coachdrivers. They set upon the intruders, forced them to abandon their booty, and drove them away. Then they stayed all night to guard the house. Vincent believed that the two men must have been sent by God since he had no idea who they were, but from then on he took precautions. On his instructions, a small detachment of armed men remained in the house and he, himself, kept guard at night with another six or seven members of the community. There were no further incidents. In fact, Vincent commented, "We got more of a fright than anything else." [16]
Fr. Le Gros got rather more than a fright on the famous day of July 4th. Vincent had commissioned him to represent Saint Lazare at a meeting, so he made his way to the municipal offices. When fighting broke out and Mazarin's supporters started to kill people, he found somewhere to hide and stayed there all night, "in grave danger of being killed or injured." During the final days of the revolt Vincent began to think that these frenzied mobs would destroy the capital completely. [17]
Saint Lazare suffered serious financial losses. No coaches could travel so this meant the tax on this service couldn't be collected, and Vincent calculated their lost income as 23,000 livres. [18] Added to that would be the loss of their entire harvest which would have come to something between 26 and 30 muids of wheat. [19] Vincent thought of sending the students at Saint Lazare to Le Mans as the cost of living was lower there than in the capital. [20]
But one way or another the missionaries were able to overcome their difficulties. Many people were worse off and had less chance of improving their situation; there were the poor, "the poor people who don't know where to go or what to do, they are suffering and their numbers increase every day these are my burden and my sorrow." [21]
"Cast yourself into the sea and the tempest will be calmed'"
It was not enough to suffer with others, or even to suffer more than others. Vincent's acute awareness of the sufferings of the poor who are the principal victims of every war, goaded him into action. He couldn't remain unmoved while people were dying in every part of France. First he had to rush to their assistance and later on we will see what a torrent of self sacrifice and tenderness he would set in motion to alleviate the effects of both Frondes and of the war abroad. But he had to try, also, to cut out the roots of so many miseries. This is the sole motive for what has been called Vincent de Paul's political action, an unfortunate term if people take it to mean that Vincent was motivated by party interests, personal preferences, ambition for power, or a particular ideology. You won't find any of these in any of Vincent's words or actions. His only concern was to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.
The disturbances had hardly begun when Vincent took a step which was so daring and courageous that we can only explain it as his anxiety to shield the poor people of France from further horrors and misery. As already mentioned, the Court had fled from Paris on 6th January, 1649, to set up residence at Saint Germain. Just over a week later, on January 13th, Vincent set off in the same direction. The duties which kept him in contact with the important people in both factions had convinced him that peace could only be achieved if Mazarin were dismissed. He decided to act in a way that had always been very successful in his direction of his Congregation; he would give a charitable admonition and a measure of fraternal correction. With just one brother for company, Vincent left Saint Lazare in the early hours of the morning and set off for Saint Germain. So that no wrong interpretation would be put on this action, he left a written note for his old friend, Mattieu Molé, president of the Parlement, and the man he had given sleepless nights to after his son had been nominated bishop. In the note he explained that his only reason for taking such a step was that he wanted to do all in his power to achieve peace. If he hadn't gone to see Molé before setting off, it was because he wished to assure the Queen that he had not spoken to anyone in the opposite party about his intentions. At the same time he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't going over to the enemy or switching his allegiance. The only party he supported was the party of peace.
The journey proved to be full of incident. As they passed through Clichy it was still dark and the sentries, some armed with picks and others with guns, forced the two riders to halt. Vincent's former parishioners were suspicious of everything. Only the day before, a band of German soldiers had sacked the town, and the good peasants didn't want to be taken by surprised a second time. Brother Ducourneau, who was Vincent's companion, had little experience of such dangerous situations and began to tremble with fear. But one of the peasants recognised his former parish priest and suspicion gave way to respect. The people of Clichy gave Vincent all manner of advice about which paths to follow in order to avoid the enemy soldiers. Vincent continued his journey.
At Neuilly there was another scare, the river was so swollen that the waters covered the bridge. It was very dangerous to cross and the people advised Vincent not to attempt it. But Vincent was a good horseman and had many hours of riding experience. Nothing daunted, he dug in his spurs and crossed the angry torrent. Once he was safely on the other side he sent his horse back, so that a good man who had no other way of dealing with the obstacle, could get across. He arrived at Saint Germain about ten o'clock in the morning and immediately begged an audience with the Queen.
Perhaps it was then that the delicate nature of his mission dawned on Vincent. There were rumours at Court that the Queen wouldn't have a word said against her First Minister. One night, one of her attendants was helping her to undress, and the lady remarked that she had been told by the Duke of Elbeuf that Paris was ready to lay down arms as soon as the Cardinal was dismissed from office. The Queen dismissed her instantly with the words, "So you are in contact with the enemy! Get out of here! I never want to see you again."
In spite of his influence with the Queen, Vincent could expect to have a similar reception. More important people than Vincent had been sent into exile for less. When the doors of the royal chamber were opened he went in, prepared for anything. Six years earlier, in that same palace, he had soothed this same lady's grief as she looked on her dead husband. Now his words were forceful and insistent. The sufferings of the poor called for sacrifices to be made. The only way to have peace was for the Cardinal to go. The Queen listened to him in silence, and perhaps in sorrow, because she believed that she needed Mazarin to direct State affairs and perhaps, too, because of the attraction that the Italian Minister had for her. To avoid responsibility for such a decision she sent Vincent to Mazarin himself. The situation was getting more are more difficult for the embassador of charity.
His interview with the Cardinal was a long one. Vincent drew on all his powers of persuasion but he was nonetheless forthright. Echoing the prophets, he ended by saying, "My Lord, bow to misfortune. Cast yourself into the sea and the tempest will be calmed."
Mazarin, too, tried to shrug off responsibility. Good diplomat that he was, he answered Vincent courteously but did not commit himself in any way. He didn't want to make an enemy of the man whose goodwill was so obvious. But neither was he prepared to commit political suicide. Triumphantly he produced the solution.
"Well, Father, I will resign if M. Le Tellier thinks the same way as you do."
The cause was lost and Vincent knew it. Le Tellier, the Minister for War, was Mazarin's creature and it was a delusion to imagine that such a man would turn against his master. That day they held a Council meeting to discuss what they were pleased to call M. Vincent's proposal. Le Tellier opposed it for reasons of State and it was agreed that the Cardinal should not give up power or leave the country. The decision came as no surprise to Vincent. All he was worried about was the reason for his failure and he was quick to realise his mistake. Two days later he explained to Brother Ducourneau, "I have never found harsh words to do any good. If you want to change people's hearts you have to be very careful not to hurt their feelings." He was referring to the way he had spoken during his interview with the Queen.
A week later he wrote to Antoine Portail, "I went to Saint Germain to perform some small service for God but my sins rendered me unworthy of it." [22]
He almost considered himself personally responsible for the Fronde. Such is the humility of the saints.
"I left with a flock of 240 sheep."
After the failure of his mission at Court Vincent made other plans. For the time being, circumstances prevented him from returning to Paris. People in the capital would think that he went to Court because he was a follower of Mazarin; people at Court would interpret his return to Paris as showing solidarity with the rebels. This is often the fate of an intermediary. Vincent decided to use the time to go round the main houses of the Congregation. This was the last of Vincent's journeys that we know about in detail and the account is full of anecdotes. We can only describe it briefly.
From Saint Germain he sent out to visit Fr. Gondi in Villepreux. From there he went on to Fréneville where the house of Saint Lazare had a farm. That winter was exceptionally severe and he was obliged to stay there for nearly a month. At the end of February he left Le Mans. But he didn't leave alone. One of the armies, (friends or enemies it doesn't matter which) had pillaged the farm at Orsigny which was the granary of Saint Lazare. They had made off with the wheat and the provisions but had left the cattle scattered about in the fields. At the age of 77, Vincent recalled with nostalgia his young days as a shepherd boy. He went around gathering as many of the strayed animals as he could, until he had rounded up a flock of 240 sheep. Even after 70 years he hadn't forgotten how to do this and he knew that the sheep had to be counted one by one. He went on horseback, guiding them through snowy passes, just as in earlier days he had been a shepherd on stilts, and he stayed with the sheep until he was able to leave them in the safety of a farm that belonged to a lady who was a friend of his, at Étampes. [23]
Then, still on horseback, he went on to Le Mans, Angers, Rennes, Saint Méen, Nantes and Luçon. The whole journey was spiced with adventure. In the little village of Durtal, between Le Mans and Angers, he fell into the river and was nearly drowned. Fortunately, he was rescued, thanks to the speedy intervention of a missionary who jumped into the water. Not far from Rennes, he nearly fell into the waters round a mill. When he reached the city, an angry Frondist made a threating gesture as if to shoot him and said, "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if somebody blew your brains out" And saying this, he left the inn where they had been and went off to sleep in the hedgerow. The local magistrates made Vincent change his travel plans.
"My ignominy."
Vincent had intended to go from Luçon to Saintes. But in the meantime the Concorde of Rueil had been signed and the Queen ordered him to return to Paris. So he started the return journey via Richelieu, but when he arrived there he fell ill. Everyone was worried. Alexandre Veronne, who had some nursing skills and was the best person to look after Vincent, was sent from Saint Lazare. Louise de Marillac was very concerned and wrote to him. The Duchess d'Aiguillon sent a pair of horses and the carriage which the Ladies of Charity had given him some years earlier and which he was reluctant to use. He returned to Paris in it towards the middle of July. As soon as he got back to Saint Lazare he returned to Paris in it towards the middle of July. As soon as he got back to Saint Lazare he returned the two horses to the Duchess. He would rather stay shut up in Saint Lazare than go about in a carriage. But the Duchess was adamant. She spoke to the Queen and to the archbishop, and both the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities formally ordered him to use it. After this, Vincent travelled about like a gentleman, in his own carriage. He always referred to it as "his ingominy."
[24]
"Yesterday I spoke to the Queen."
During the second Fronde, the Fronde of the Princes, Vincent intensified still further his efforts to secure peace. His friendship with people on both sides and his unique position as a man of God who had neither interest in, nor ambition for political power, marked him out as the ideal mediator between them. He exercised this rôle with discretion and impartiality and was very successful. The gaps in documentation for this period do not allow us to reconstruct every step in the negotiations but the texts that do still exist give us at least a glimpse of the main outlines.
In a letter dated July 1652, and preserved by Abelly, Vincent informed Mazarin of the dialogue he had had with both sides. On the previous day Vincent had had an interview at Saint Denis with Anne of Austria, to tell her of the proposals made by the Duke of Orléans and the Prince of Condé after he had spoken to each of these separately. In Paris he had another interview with the Duke of Orléans and told him what the Queen thought. Orléans met up with Condé to compose a joint reply and one of Condé's secretaries, D'Ornano, was to communicate this reply to Vincent who would see that it was delivered to the Queen and the Cardinal.
The gist of the King's demands was that he required the total submission of Paris and recognition by the princes that the cardinal's policy had been the right one. Given these conditions, he was prepared to make concessions, such as Mazarin's dismissal. Agreement was to be reached through men that both parties could trust, rather than through official delegates. [26]
These initiatives were overtaken by events. The gulf that already existed between both parties was widened on July 4th. On 20th July, the Duke of Orléans accepted the title of Lieutenant General of the Realm, setting himself up in open rebellion against his nephew, the King. Vincent continued to maintain contact with both factions. He obtained from the Duke d'Orléans a safeconduct which would protect him from unpleasant incidents like the one at Saint Denis. [27] That same month he would risk his life to help Mazarin's friend, Chancellor Séguier, who was trapped in Paris, to leave the capital by way of Saint Lazare's precint, so that he could join the Court at Pontoise [28] and beg the Queen and her generals, Rameville and Touraine, for protection against the troops who were setting fire to crops and preventing wheat from being brought into Paris. [29]
Negotiations got bogged down and then Vincent thought of nother initiative. He would ask the Pope to mediate in the conflict. On 16th August he sent a strongly worded petition to the Pope in which he gave a graphic account of the country's catastrphes and begged the Pontiff to intervene and remedy the evils.
"There is no greater remedy for our ills", he concluded, "than the help that can come to us from your fatherly concern, your affection for us and from the authority of Your Holiness." [30]
"It doesn't matter whether you depart before or after."
The Fronde, however, was drawing to a close. Two days after Vincent's letter to the Pope, Louis XIV invited Mazarin to leave the country. This was yet another manoeuvre by the crafty Italian. The letter made it clear that his dismissal was only temporary, but for the moment, it represented a major concession. An increasing number of men defected from the Frondist ranks at a time when there was growing dissatisfaction with Condé's intransigence.
Mazarin continued to remain at Court, and as the cardinal's presence there was the last remaining obstacle to the ending of hostilities, Vincent went a step further. He wrote to Mazarin and this has been described as "one of the great political moves of the century." [31] Vincent was asking for the monarchs to be allowed to enter Paris without the cardinal being there to accompany them. Basically this was just the repetition of a suggestion he had made three years earlier at Saint Germain. To make it more palatable he described the mood in the capital.
"I now see Paris recovering from the sad situation it was in before; begging the King and Queene to return and loudly acclaiming them. Everywhere I go, and everyone I meet, tells the same story. Even the Ladies of Charity, who come from the most important families in Paris, tell me that if Their Majesties return, there will be a regiment of ladies ready to give them a triumphant reception".
Vincent did well to mention the ladies. Mazarin knew that a good number of them came from families that were his bitterest enemies though there were also some ardent Mazarinists among them, such as the Chancellor's wife and Mlle. Lamoignon. One of Vincent's miraculous achievements was to have kept such an assembly of different political persuasions, united in the cause of charity.
Then Vincent studied every single objection to the Cardinal's removal and refuted them all. So as to make it abundantly clear that he was not acting from any personal consideration, he ended up by presenting the resignation as a long term victory. When it came to cajolery the Gascon, Vincent de Paul, needed no lessons from the Italian Mazarin.
"It doesn't really matter whether Your Eminence departs before or after the King's arrival, provided that he does come. And once the King is established in Paris he can bring Your Eminence back whenever he thinks fit." In this way "he will win the support of the people, and in a very short while they will acclaim his again, I'm sure." [32]
Quite a few biographers think that Mazarin's initial reaction on reading this letter was one of anger. [33] There is no reason to suppose that this was the case. Vincent's letter fitted in with Mazarin's own plan. Events took their course in accordance with Vincent's advice and forethought. Mazarin withdrew for a while. The monarchs returned to Paris without him. Vincent, himself, witnessed Their Majesties' triumphal entry into the capital.
"You cannot imagine how much rejoicing there is on all sides at their return. There is no trace of past troubles and this gives us good reason to hope that the country's internal disorders will soon come to a complete end." [34]
In some sense Vincent had contrived to bring aabout this happy ending because he had helped to persuade Mazarin to go.
Shortly before the monarchs' return to Paris, Vincent had stopped being a member of the Council of Conscience. [35] This has commonly been interpreted as Mazarin's revenge for Vincent's attitude during the Fronde, and in particular, for his letter of September 11th. [36] Such an explanation is in line with the biased view of those who represent Vincent as Mazarin's constant enemy but this is not a true picture of the situation. Other factors have to be taken into
consideration.
Vincent had been appointed to the Council of Conscience because of his position as confessor to the Queen. Once the King was declared of age this office became the responsibility of the King's confessor: In fact, the Jesuits, Dinet and Annat, who succeeded each other as confessor to Louis XIV, took over Vincent's post in the Council of Conscience. Furthermore, Vincent was now 71 years old and although he remained clear thinking and energetic, he was nevertheless an old man in the eyes of the younger generation. And Mazarin, whose power was consolidated after the defeat of the Frondists, had no further need of support from those sectors represented by Vincent, whose goodwill had been so important to him in the early years of his government.
Looking back over all Vincent's actions in the slippery field of politics, we must conclude that none of these actions was motivated by party politics. The only party he belonged to, and would always belong to, was "the party of God and the party of charity." [37] So he was never a politician in the strict sense of the word.
In 1648, people in France might have thought that their country was emerging from the nightmare of war and its train of misery. The victory at Lens (19th August), which consolidated that of Rocroi, was yet another triumph for Condé and coupled with the Peace of Westphalia between France and the Empire (24th October), presaged a speedy and successful outcome to the war against Spain. It was just at this moment that an unexpected domestic problem arose, in the shape of civil war or rather the series of civil wars known as the Fronde.
Collet, the 18th century biographer of Vincent de Paul, thought that Mazarin was chiefly responsible for the Fronde. He wrote "An Italian who had come to the fore in affairs of state and had astutely made himself indispensable to the Queen who was not aware of her own talents in this direction, was partly the reason, and partly the pretext, for an unprecedented revolution in our history." [1]
Collet's simplistic assessment has long been shared by a good number of French historians but in actual fact the situation was much more complicated.
The timing and the features of the Fronde wars bring them into the framework of a general climate of rebellion throughout Europe which affected, almost simultaneously; the England of Charles I, the Spain of Duke Condé, (uprisings in Portugal, Catalonia and Naples), the Holland of Willian II, the Sweden of Queen Christina and the Ukraine of the Cossack, Jmelnitski. [2] It would be wrong to label all these movements alike. Each one had its own individual characteristics and the outcome of each was different. But each one had determining features or "preconditions" which could have turned them all into full scale revolutions.
"The Fronde", wrote Mousnier, was the outward expression of a society and a state in deep crisis." [3] One of the chief causes of the Fronde was the war that was being waged abroad. It laid an increasingly heavy burden on all sections of society through the range and increased level of taxation which threatened to change the traditional monarchy into a dictatorship. To this must be added economic recession, adverse weather conditions and periodic epidemics which wore down the impoverished people. This led to a permanent state of unrest and a growing number of peasant revolts. One night say that between 1623 and 1648 not a single year went by without some uprising by the peasants. [4] Mazarin continued Richelieu's political policy and everything was subordinated to the prestige of the state, even though achieving this meant ignoring or violating traditional laws and privileges. It was the relentless march towards absolute monarchy.
Both the bourgeosie of Parlement, and the nobles, regarded this policy as a permanent violation of the laws by which monarchs had governed from time immemorial, and also as an attack on their interests and their influence on society. Both sides set themselves up as defenders of the old order and as opponents of political change. The Parlement of Paris, and to a lesser degree the provincial Parlements, claimed that they were trying to restore customs that had been in force earlier but this was really only an excuse for rebellion. The Parlements argued that since they had the right to ratify royal decisions, it followed that they should have access to all matters of state, and that they had the right to deliberate and pronounce on these, to convoke meetings of the country's representatives and even to accept or reject laws that were already in force after a "lit de justice." [5] The rebellion of the princes and barons was rooted in the idea that the monarch's powers were shared by all the royal family, particularly during the minority of a young monarch. It was also coloured by their understanding of a subject's duties, a concept which was closer to the feudal ideal of voluntary subjection (whereby each man was free to choose his own liege lord) than the moderm idea of the citizen being subject to the State. When the two kinds of rebellion happened simultaneously, the State was ready to disintegrate, especially since the nobles and the members of the Parlements had the support of the people, or perhaps we should say the rabble, of Paris, Bordeaux and other big cities.
Rebellion didn't split French society horizontally but vertically. There were Frondist and anti Frondist nobles, there were members of Parlement who were pro Mazarin and others who were against him, and there were townsfolk who fought for either side. The Fronde was not a class struggle and most of the country remained loyal to the King and to the State. Neither was the Fronde a revolution against the monarchy. It's war cry was not, "Down with the King", but as in Catalonia, Naples, Sweden and Holland, (in England it was a very different story), "Long live the King and down with bad government" or "Long live the King but down with taxes." [6]
Chronicle of events
It is customary to divide the chaotic events of the Fronde into two main stages; the Parlement Fronde (1648 49) and the Princes' Fronde (1651 1653). In fact, it was one continuous succession of incidents, in spite of the intrigues and criss crossing of interests that made more than one protagonist change his allegiance.
The disturbances of the Fronde began on 26th August, 1648, a week after Lens, and they were sparked off by the arrest, on Mazarin's orders, of two very popular councillors, Broussel and Blancmesnil. Mazarin held them responsible for a document approved in the preceding July, which asked, among other things, for the repeal of extended jurisdiction powers and that taxes should be approved by Parlement. After the arrest of the two councillors, the people of Paris took to the streets and their leader was the coadjutor archbishop, Jean François Paul de Gondi. The streets were bristling with barricades for three days. The Royal Family retreated to Saint Germain and after some difficult negotiations and the release of the two members of Parlement, they eventually signed the pact of Saint Germain, on 24th October, the same day as the Peace of Münster. But the people's unrest continued; there was growing discontent with Mazarin and the Royal Family found itself in an impossible situation. On the night of 6th January, 1649, the Court fled once again to Saint Germain and Mazarin advised Condé to lay siege to the city. Organised resistance to this was led by the first president of the Parlement, Molé, and by de Gondi. They laid in a stack of provisions and prepared to defend the city walls. But time was on Mazarin's side. After two months the citizens of Paris asked for negotiations to begin and on March 11th, 1649, the Concorde of Reuil was signed with concessions made on both sides. This marked the end of the Parlement Fronde.
The years 1649 and 1650 saw an uneasy truce with the web of alliances being woven and unwoven hundreds of times. Mazarin and Condé became sworn enemies. Gondi supported first one and then the other as he bacame involved in the web of intrigue, ambition, envy and greed where the ordinary people were just pawns or puppets in the game. The three protagonists, Mazarin, Condé and Gondi, hated each other because all three wanted power. The aristocracy which followed Condé, and the ordinary people who were led by Gondi and the Parlement, eventually joined forces against Mazarin. When the Minister ordered the arrest of Condé, Conti and Longueville (21st January, 1650), the second Fronde erupted.
Plots against Mazarin continued to be hatched all through the year 1650. In February of the following year, the Parlement persuaded the Queen to set the princes free and Mazarin was sent into exile. This was a strategic retreat. From his distant exile in Cologne, Mazarin continued to rule the heart and the government of Anne of Austria. There was no reconciliation of minds and hearts even when the King was proclaimed of age on 7th September, 1651. Civil war raged throughout the whole kingdom and the situation was made worse by the wars that France was fighing abroad. Condé thought to strengthen his position by making an alliance with the Spanish but this caused dissension in his own party.
Mazarin saw that popular discontent with Condé was on the increase and judged that the time was ripe to return to France with an army of 7,000 mercenaries. This was a mistake because all his enemies joined forces against him. Conté was summoned to Paris and Gondi, who had been appointed Cardinal de Retz since 19th February, 1652, once again inflamed the people against the hated Minister. In the outlying districts of Paris there were battles that lacked glory and brought desolation and famine to an already impoverished people. The situation in the capital itself was even worse. Food was scarce and this led to famine and to looting. On 4th July, a mob that went wild after rumours that the Parlement was considering unconditional surrender, attacked the town hall to vent their savagery on people that they took to be followers of Mazarin. The situation deteriorated rapidly. Parlement's forces couldn't stomach either the atrocities committed by Condé's soldiers or the anarchy of the masses. They entered into negotiations with the Court. The King agreed to dismiss Mazarin in August though his intention was to restore him to power once calm was restored. But the Minister's removal was put off indefinitely. In September a delegation of the clergy of Paris, headed, most ironically, by Retz himself, begged the King to return to Paris. Louis XIV promised an amnesty on condition that the leaders of the Fronde left Paris. Condé, who could expect no mercy from Mazarin's implacable hatred, went over to the Spanish side and took with him his weaponry and provisions. The King's demands having been met, the royal family made their triumphal entry into Paris on October 21st, amid the acclamations of the people who up to then had been in revolt. The Fronde was over. All that remained was for outstanding accounts to be settled. In December 1652, Retz was accused of inciting the King's uncle, Gaston d'Orléans, to rebellion, and was imprisoned in the château de Vincennes. Three months later, in February 1653, Mazarin came back and was acclaimed, in his turn, by the fickle masses. [7]
The Fronde took its name from the catapults that the urchins of Paris used in their street fights or to show defiance of the city constables. Its rebellion was no more successful than that of the urchin gangs. Its failure accelerated rather than delayed the triumph of the very policies it fought against. From now on nothing could halt the advent of absolute monarchy.
"We must continue distributing alms."
Vincent, and his two houses of Saint Lazare and the Bons Enfants, suffered the privations and inconveniences caused by these events, as did all the other people living in Paris. In January 1649, Vincent went on a journey which we will discuss in detail later on. In his absence, and notwithstanding the good will of the magistrates who appointed an armed guard of four men "to protect M. Vincent's grain" [8] at Saint Lazare, the house was commandeered on the instructions of a councillor who claimed he was acting with Parlement's authority. Under the pretext of inspecting the premises and making an inventory of its provisions, six hundred soldiers billeted themselves at Saint Lazare for three days and requisitioned the wheat and flour to sell them at the market. Not content with this, they got their hands on the keys of the house and searched it from top to bottom, looking for the treasures they imagined it contained. They caused untold damage. To crown it all, they set fire to the wood shed and reduced it to ashes. Fr. Lambert, who was temporarily deputising for Vincent, was devastated, and had recourse to Parlement. The officials there were indignant that such outrages had been committed in their name. They arranged for the immediate withdrwal of the soldiers but none of the damage was repaired. [9]
Vincent followed each day's events from afar, and sent detailed instructions to Fr. Lambert. Saint Lazare and the Bons Enfants were almost completely evacuated and, at the seminary of St. Charles, numbers were reduced to the minimum [10] needed "to continue distributing alms." [11] No setback could make Vincent give up his active and effective works of charity.
The farm at Orsigny had been pillaged, too, so Vincent instructed them to take out a loan of 16,000 livres so that they could help people in distress. The amount of aid distributed broke all records. More than 2,000 people received a daily ration of bread and soup at the gates of Saint Lazare. Parlement had decreed that anyone with surplus food should sell wheat at the fixed price of 10 livres a bushel; Vincent ordered his wheat to be sold for 6 livres. Saint Lazare was in such bad financial straits that Vincent thought one of his priests might go as chaplain to the galleys and so bring in a much needed salary. [12]
When the Concordat of Rueil brought temporary peace during the spring of that year, the food reserves at Saint Lazare were just about exhausted. In 3 months they had distributed ten muids of wheat (Each of which would be the equivaleent of about 57 gallons in liquid measurement.) The summer was a hard one. The community at Saint Lazare was reduced to eating rye bread and when this ran out they ate bread made from oats. [13]
"We were more frightened than anything else."
The second Fronde meant just as many headaches for Vincent. He, himself, was in danger one day when he was coming back from Saint Denis; most probably he had been discussing business matters with the Queen. The sentries didn't recognise him at first and they forced him to get out of his carriage and face shouting, threats and violence. [14] The attacks that took place in the outlying areas of Paris grazed the walls of St. Lazare on a couple of occasions. The first time this happened was on 13th March, 1652, the same day as the battle of St. Denis, when some of the skirmishes took place near the Priory and at the very doors of the foundlings' home. Nothing worse happened than that they all got a fright. Vincent wasn't easily rattled. "Yesterday there was a bit of a disturbance round here", was him only comment. [15] On the night of July 1st, the danger was greater. Condé's army was trying to find some point of entrance into the capital and surrounded Paris during that night's sortie. As they were passing Saint Lazare, eight soldiers took it on themselves to pillage the seminary of St. Charles. They didn't think twice about it but entered the building, and not content with the money and the provisions Fr. Alméras offered them, they searched the entire house, going into all the rooms, forcing open chests and cupboards, and taking away anything that caught their fancy. All of a sudden two men from the King's army appeared; one was a Swiss and the other was one of the Duke de Bouillon's coachdrivers. They set upon the intruders, forced them to abandon their booty, and drove them away. Then they stayed all night to guard the house. Vincent believed that the two men must have been sent by God since he had no idea who they were, but from then on he took precautions. On his instructions, a small detachment of armed men remained in the house and he, himself, kept guard at night with another six or seven members of the community. There were no further incidents. In fact, Vincent commented, "We got more of a fright than anything else." [16]
Fr. Le Gros got rather more than a fright on the famous day of July 4th. Vincent had commissioned him to represent Saint Lazare at a meeting, so he made his way to the municipal offices. When fighting broke out and Mazarin's supporters started to kill people, he found somewhere to hide and stayed there all night, "in grave danger of being killed or injured." During the final days of the revolt Vincent began to think that these frenzied mobs would destroy the capital completely. [17]
Saint Lazare suffered serious financial losses. No coaches could travel so this meant the tax on this service couldn't be collected, and Vincent calculated their lost income as 23,000 livres. [18] Added to that would be the loss of their entire harvest which would have come to something between 26 and 30 muids of wheat. [19] Vincent thought of sending the students at Saint Lazare to Le Mans as the cost of living was lower there than in the capital. [20]
But one way or another the missionaries were able to overcome their difficulties. Many people were worse off and had less chance of improving their situation; there were the poor, "the poor people who don't know where to go or what to do, they are suffering and their numbers increase every day these are my burden and my sorrow." [21]
"Cast yourself into the sea and the tempest will be calmed'"
It was not enough to suffer with others, or even to suffer more than others. Vincent's acute awareness of the sufferings of the poor who are the principal victims of every war, goaded him into action. He couldn't remain unmoved while people were dying in every part of France. First he had to rush to their assistance and later on we will see what a torrent of self sacrifice and tenderness he would set in motion to alleviate the effects of both Frondes and of the war abroad. But he had to try, also, to cut out the roots of so many miseries. This is the sole motive for what has been called Vincent de Paul's political action, an unfortunate term if people take it to mean that Vincent was motivated by party interests, personal preferences, ambition for power, or a particular ideology. You won't find any of these in any of Vincent's words or actions. His only concern was to alleviate the sufferings of the poor.
The disturbances had hardly begun when Vincent took a step which was so daring and courageous that we can only explain it as his anxiety to shield the poor people of France from further horrors and misery. As already mentioned, the Court had fled from Paris on 6th January, 1649, to set up residence at Saint Germain. Just over a week later, on January 13th, Vincent set off in the same direction. The duties which kept him in contact with the important people in both factions had convinced him that peace could only be achieved if Mazarin were dismissed. He decided to act in a way that had always been very successful in his direction of his Congregation; he would give a charitable admonition and a measure of fraternal correction. With just one brother for company, Vincent left Saint Lazare in the early hours of the morning and set off for Saint Germain. So that no wrong interpretation would be put on this action, he left a written note for his old friend, Mattieu Molé, president of the Parlement, and the man he had given sleepless nights to after his son had been nominated bishop. In the note he explained that his only reason for taking such a step was that he wanted to do all in his power to achieve peace. If he hadn't gone to see Molé before setting off, it was because he wished to assure the Queen that he had not spoken to anyone in the opposite party about his intentions. At the same time he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't going over to the enemy or switching his allegiance. The only party he supported was the party of peace.
The journey proved to be full of incident. As they passed through Clichy it was still dark and the sentries, some armed with picks and others with guns, forced the two riders to halt. Vincent's former parishioners were suspicious of everything. Only the day before, a band of German soldiers had sacked the town, and the good peasants didn't want to be taken by surprised a second time. Brother Ducourneau, who was Vincent's companion, had little experience of such dangerous situations and began to tremble with fear. But one of the peasants recognised his former parish priest and suspicion gave way to respect. The people of Clichy gave Vincent all manner of advice about which paths to follow in order to avoid the enemy soldiers. Vincent continued his journey.
At Neuilly there was another scare, the river was so swollen that the waters covered the bridge. It was very dangerous to cross and the people advised Vincent not to attempt it. But Vincent was a good horseman and had many hours of riding experience. Nothing daunted, he dug in his spurs and crossed the angry torrent. Once he was safely on the other side he sent his horse back, so that a good man who had no other way of dealing with the obstacle, could get across. He arrived at Saint Germain about ten o'clock in the morning and immediately begged an audience with the Queen.
Perhaps it was then that the delicate nature of his mission dawned on Vincent. There were rumours at Court that the Queen wouldn't have a word said against her First Minister. One night, one of her attendants was helping her to undress, and the lady remarked that she had been told by the Duke of Elbeuf that Paris was ready to lay down arms as soon as the Cardinal was dismissed from office. The Queen dismissed her instantly with the words, "So you are in contact with the enemy! Get out of here! I never want to see you again."
In spite of his influence with the Queen, Vincent could expect to have a similar reception. More important people than Vincent had been sent into exile for less. When the doors of the royal chamber were opened he went in, prepared for anything. Six years earlier, in that same palace, he had soothed this same lady's grief as she looked on her dead husband. Now his words were forceful and insistent. The sufferings of the poor called for sacrifices to be made. The only way to have peace was for the Cardinal to go. The Queen listened to him in silence, and perhaps in sorrow, because she believed that she needed Mazarin to direct State affairs and perhaps, too, because of the attraction that the Italian Minister had for her. To avoid responsibility for such a decision she sent Vincent to Mazarin himself. The situation was getting more are more difficult for the embassador of charity.
His interview with the Cardinal was a long one. Vincent drew on all his powers of persuasion but he was nonetheless forthright. Echoing the prophets, he ended by saying, "My Lord, bow to misfortune. Cast yourself into the sea and the tempest will be calmed."
Mazarin, too, tried to shrug off responsibility. Good diplomat that he was, he answered Vincent courteously but did not commit himself in any way. He didn't want to make an enemy of the man whose goodwill was so obvious. But neither was he prepared to commit political suicide. Triumphantly he produced the solution.
"Well, Father, I will resign if M. Le Tellier thinks the same way as you do."
The cause was lost and Vincent knew it. Le Tellier, the Minister for War, was Mazarin's creature and it was a delusion to imagine that such a man would turn against his master. That day they held a Council meeting to discuss what they were pleased to call M. Vincent's proposal. Le Tellier opposed it for reasons of State and it was agreed that the Cardinal should not give up power or leave the country. The decision came as no surprise to Vincent. All he was worried about was the reason for his failure and he was quick to realise his mistake. Two days later he explained to Brother Ducourneau, "I have never found harsh words to do any good. If you want to change people's hearts you have to be very careful not to hurt their feelings." He was referring to the way he had spoken during his interview with the Queen.
A week later he wrote to Antoine Portail, "I went to Saint Germain to perform some small service for God but my sins rendered me unworthy of it." [22]
He almost considered himself personally responsible for the Fronde. Such is the humility of the saints.
"I left with a flock of 240 sheep."
After the failure of his mission at Court Vincent made other plans. For the time being, circumstances prevented him from returning to Paris. People in the capital would think that he went to Court because he was a follower of Mazarin; people at Court would interpret his return to Paris as showing solidarity with the rebels. This is often the fate of an intermediary. Vincent decided to use the time to go round the main houses of the Congregation. This was the last of Vincent's journeys that we know about in detail and the account is full of anecdotes. We can only describe it briefly.
From Saint Germain he sent out to visit Fr. Gondi in Villepreux. From there he went on to Fréneville where the house of Saint Lazare had a farm. That winter was exceptionally severe and he was obliged to stay there for nearly a month. At the end of February he left Le Mans. But he didn't leave alone. One of the armies, (friends or enemies it doesn't matter which) had pillaged the farm at Orsigny which was the granary of Saint Lazare. They had made off with the wheat and the provisions but had left the cattle scattered about in the fields. At the age of 77, Vincent recalled with nostalgia his young days as a shepherd boy. He went around gathering as many of the strayed animals as he could, until he had rounded up a flock of 240 sheep. Even after 70 years he hadn't forgotten how to do this and he knew that the sheep had to be counted one by one. He went on horseback, guiding them through snowy passes, just as in earlier days he had been a shepherd on stilts, and he stayed with the sheep until he was able to leave them in the safety of a farm that belonged to a lady who was a friend of his, at Étampes. [23]
Then, still on horseback, he went on to Le Mans, Angers, Rennes, Saint Méen, Nantes and Luçon. The whole journey was spiced with adventure. In the little village of Durtal, between Le Mans and Angers, he fell into the river and was nearly drowned. Fortunately, he was rescued, thanks to the speedy intervention of a missionary who jumped into the water. Not far from Rennes, he nearly fell into the waters round a mill. When he reached the city, an angry Frondist made a threating gesture as if to shoot him and said, "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if somebody blew your brains out" And saying this, he left the inn where they had been and went off to sleep in the hedgerow. The local magistrates made Vincent change his travel plans.
"My ignominy."
Vincent had intended to go from Luçon to Saintes. But in the meantime the Concorde of Rueil had been signed and the Queen ordered him to return to Paris. So he started the return journey via Richelieu, but when he arrived there he fell ill. Everyone was worried. Alexandre Veronne, who had some nursing skills and was the best person to look after Vincent, was sent from Saint Lazare. Louise de Marillac was very concerned and wrote to him. The Duchess d'Aiguillon sent a pair of horses and the carriage which the Ladies of Charity had given him some years earlier and which he was reluctant to use. He returned to Paris in it towards the middle of July. As soon as he got back to Saint Lazare he returned to Paris in it towards the middle of July. As soon as he got back to Saint Lazare he returned the two horses to the Duchess. He would rather stay shut up in Saint Lazare than go about in a carriage. But the Duchess was adamant. She spoke to the Queen and to the archbishop, and both the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities formally ordered him to use it. After this, Vincent travelled about like a gentleman, in his own carriage. He always referred to it as "his ingominy."
[24]
"Yesterday I spoke to the Queen."
During the second Fronde, the Fronde of the Princes, Vincent intensified still further his efforts to secure peace. His friendship with people on both sides and his unique position as a man of God who had neither interest in, nor ambition for political power, marked him out as the ideal mediator between them. He exercised this rôle with discretion and impartiality and was very successful. The gaps in documentation for this period do not allow us to reconstruct every step in the negotiations but the texts that do still exist give us at least a glimpse of the main outlines.
In a letter dated July 1652, and preserved by Abelly, Vincent informed Mazarin of the dialogue he had had with both sides. On the previous day Vincent had had an interview at Saint Denis with Anne of Austria, to tell her of the proposals made by the Duke of Orléans and the Prince of Condé after he had spoken to each of these separately. In Paris he had another interview with the Duke of Orléans and told him what the Queen thought. Orléans met up with Condé to compose a joint reply and one of Condé's secretaries, D'Ornano, was to communicate this reply to Vincent who would see that it was delivered to the Queen and the Cardinal.
The gist of the King's demands was that he required the total submission of Paris and recognition by the princes that the cardinal's policy had been the right one. Given these conditions, he was prepared to make concessions, such as Mazarin's dismissal. Agreement was to be reached through men that both parties could trust, rather than through official delegates. [26]
These initiatives were overtaken by events. The gulf that already existed between both parties was widened on July 4th. On 20th July, the Duke of Orléans accepted the title of Lieutenant General of the Realm, setting himself up in open rebellion against his nephew, the King. Vincent continued to maintain contact with both factions. He obtained from the Duke d'Orléans a safeconduct which would protect him from unpleasant incidents like the one at Saint Denis. [27] That same month he would risk his life to help Mazarin's friend, Chancellor Séguier, who was trapped in Paris, to leave the capital by way of Saint Lazare's precint, so that he could join the Court at Pontoise [28] and beg the Queen and her generals, Rameville and Touraine, for protection against the troops who were setting fire to crops and preventing wheat from being brought into Paris. [29]
Negotiations got bogged down and then Vincent thought of nother initiative. He would ask the Pope to mediate in the conflict. On 16th August he sent a strongly worded petition to the Pope in which he gave a graphic account of the country's catastrphes and begged the Pontiff to intervene and remedy the evils.
"There is no greater remedy for our ills", he concluded, "than the help that can come to us from your fatherly concern, your affection for us and from the authority of Your Holiness." [30]
"It doesn't matter whether you depart before or after."
The Fronde, however, was drawing to a close. Two days after Vincent's letter to the Pope, Louis XIV invited Mazarin to leave the country. This was yet another manoeuvre by the crafty Italian. The letter made it clear that his dismissal was only temporary, but for the moment, it represented a major concession. An increasing number of men defected from the Frondist ranks at a time when there was growing dissatisfaction with Condé's intransigence.
Mazarin continued to remain at Court, and as the cardinal's presence there was the last remaining obstacle to the ending of hostilities, Vincent went a step further. He wrote to Mazarin and this has been described as "one of the great political moves of the century." [31] Vincent was asking for the monarchs to be allowed to enter Paris without the cardinal being there to accompany them. Basically this was just the repetition of a suggestion he had made three years earlier at Saint Germain. To make it more palatable he described the mood in the capital.
"I now see Paris recovering from the sad situation it was in before; begging the King and Queene to return and loudly acclaiming them. Everywhere I go, and everyone I meet, tells the same story. Even the Ladies of Charity, who come from the most important families in Paris, tell me that if Their Majesties return, there will be a regiment of ladies ready to give them a triumphant reception".
Vincent did well to mention the ladies. Mazarin knew that a good number of them came from families that were his bitterest enemies though there were also some ardent Mazarinists among them, such as the Chancellor's wife and Mlle. Lamoignon. One of Vincent's miraculous achievements was to have kept such an assembly of different political persuasions, united in the cause of charity.
Then Vincent studied every single objection to the Cardinal's removal and refuted them all. So as to make it abundantly clear that he was not acting from any personal consideration, he ended up by presenting the resignation as a long term victory. When it came to cajolery the Gascon, Vincent de Paul, needed no lessons from the Italian Mazarin.
"It doesn't really matter whether Your Eminence departs before or after the King's arrival, provided that he does come. And once the King is established in Paris he can bring Your Eminence back whenever he thinks fit." In this way "he will win the support of the people, and in a very short while they will acclaim his again, I'm sure." [32]
Quite a few biographers think that Mazarin's initial reaction on reading this letter was one of anger. [33] There is no reason to suppose that this was the case. Vincent's letter fitted in with Mazarin's own plan. Events took their course in accordance with Vincent's advice and forethought. Mazarin withdrew for a while. The monarchs returned to Paris without him. Vincent, himself, witnessed Their Majesties' triumphal entry into the capital.
"You cannot imagine how much rejoicing there is on all sides at their return. There is no trace of past troubles and this gives us good reason to hope that the country's internal disorders will soon come to a complete end." [34]
In some sense Vincent had contrived to bring aabout this happy ending because he had helped to persuade Mazarin to go.
Shortly before the monarchs' return to Paris, Vincent had stopped being a member of the Council of Conscience. [35] This has commonly been interpreted as Mazarin's revenge for Vincent's attitude during the Fronde, and in particular, for his letter of September 11th. [36] Such an explanation is in line with the biased view of those who represent Vincent as Mazarin's constant enemy but this is not a true picture of the situation. Other factors have to be taken into
consideration.
Vincent had been appointed to the Council of Conscience because of his position as confessor to the Queen. Once the King was declared of age this office became the responsibility of the King's confessor: In fact, the Jesuits, Dinet and Annat, who succeeded each other as confessor to Louis XIV, took over Vincent's post in the Council of Conscience. Furthermore, Vincent was now 71 years old and although he remained clear thinking and energetic, he was nevertheless an old man in the eyes of the younger generation. And Mazarin, whose power was consolidated after the defeat of the Frondists, had no further need of support from those sectors represented by Vincent, whose goodwill had been so important to him in the early years of his government.
Looking back over all Vincent's actions in the slippery field of politics, we must conclude that none of these actions was motivated by party politics. The only party he belonged to, and would always belong to, was "the party of God and the party of charity." [37] So he was never a politician in the strict sense of the word.
