The Fighting Governor | Page 6

of colonel. In the
same year (1643) Louis XIV came to the throne; and Conde, by smiting
the Spaniards at Rocroi, won for France the fame of having the best
troops in Europe.
It was not the good fortune of Frontenac to serve under either Conde or
Turenne during those campaigns, so triumphant for France, which
marked the close of the Thirty Years' War. From Perpignan he was
ordered to northern Italy, where in the course of three years he
performed the exploits which made him a brigadier-general at
twenty-six. Though repeatedly wounded, he survived twelve years of
constant fighting with no more serious casualty than a broken arm
which he carried away from the siege of Orbitello. By the time peace
was signed at Munster he had become a soldier well proved in the most
desperate war which had been fought since Europe accepted
Christianity.
To the great action of the Thirty Years' War there soon succeeded the
domestic commotion of the Fronde. Richelieu, despite his high
qualities as a statesman, had been a poor financier; and Cardinal
Mazarin, his successor, was forced to cope with a discontent which
sprang in part from the misery of the masses and in part from the
ambition of the nobles. As Louis XIV was still an infant when his
father died, the burden of government fell in name upon the
queen-mother, Anne of Austria, but in reality upon Mazarin. Not even
the most disaffected dared to rebel against the young king in the sense
of disputing his right to reign. But in 1648 the extreme youth of Louis
XIV made it easy for discontented nobles, supported by the Parlement
of Paris, to rebel against an unpopular minister.

The year 1648, which witnessed the Peace of Westphalia and the
outbreak of the Fronde, was rendered memorable to Frontenac by his
marriage. It was a runaway match, which began an extraordinary
alliance between two very extraordinary people. The bride, Anne de la
Grange-Trianon, was a daughter of the Sieur de Neuville, a gentleman
whose house in Paris was not far from that of Frontenac's parents. At
the time of the elopement she was only sixteen, while Frontenac had
reached the ripe age of twenty-eight. Both were high-spirited and
impetuous. We know also that Frontenac was hot-tempered. For a short
time they lived together and there was a son. But before the wars of the
Fronde had closed they drifted apart, from motives which were
personal rather than political.
Madame de Frontenac then became a maid of honour to the Duchesse
de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston d'Orleans [Footnote: Gaston
d'Orleans was the younger brother of Louis XIII, and heir-presumptive
until the birth of Louis XIV in 1638. His vanity and his complicity in
plots to overthrow Richelieu are equally famous.] and first cousin to
Louis XIV. This princess, known as La Grande Mademoiselle, plunged
into the politics of the Fronde with a vigour which involved her whole
household--Madame de Frontenac included--and wrote Memoirs in
which her adventures are recorded at full length, to the pungent
criticism of her foes and the enthusiastic glorification of herself.
Madame de Frontenac was in attendance upon La Grande
Mademoiselle during the period of her most spectacular exploits and
shared all the excitement which culminated with the famous entry of
Orleans in 1652.
Madame de Frontenac was beautiful, and to beauty she added the
charm of wit. With these endowments she made her way despite her
slender means--and to be well-born but poor was a severe hardship in
the reign of Louis XIV. Her portrait at Versailles reflects the striking
personality and the intelligence which won for her the title La Divine.
Throughout an active life she never lacked powerful friends, and
Saint-Simon bears witness to the place she held in the highest and most
exclusive circle of court society.

Frontenac and his wife lived together only during the short period
1648-52. But intercourse was not wholly severed by the fact of
domestic separation. It is clear from the Memoirs of the Duchesse de
Montpensier that Frontenac visited his wife at Saint-Fargeau, the
country seat to which the duchess had been exiled for her part in the
wars of the Fronde. Such evidence as there is seems to show that
Madame de Frontenac considered herself deeply wronged by her
husband and was unwilling to accept his overtures. From Mademoiselle
de Montpensier we hear little after 1657, the year of her quarrel with
Madame de Frontenac. The maid of honour was accused of disloyalty,
tears flowed, the duchess remained obdurate, and, in short, Madame de
Frontenac was dismissed.
The most sprightly stories of the Frontenacs occur in these Memoirs of
La Grande Mademoiselle. Unfortunately the Duchesse de Montpensier
was so self-centred that her witness is not dispassionate. She disliked
Frontenac, without concealment. As