MONTMORENCY, Henri II. Duc de

MONTMORENCY, Henri II. Duc de, grandson of the preceding, was born at Chantilly in 1595. His career began under the most favourable circumstances. He was the godson of Henri IV., and was constantly receiving marks of the royal affection. His illustrious name, his winning manners, his generous spirit, and his chivalrous valour, rendered him at an early age the darling of the court and the people. Hardly had he attained his eighteenth year when Louis XIII. raised him to the office of admiral. Yet his good fortune was not greater than his desert. He wrested several important places from the Protestants, and was present at the sieges of Montauban and Monpellier. On the renewal of the civil war in 1625, the fleet sent from Holland to the aid of the French King was placed under his command. Kindling the lukewarm Dutch soldiers by his fiery enthusiasm, he captured at their head the Isles of Rhé and Oleron. He then in 1628 measured his strength in Languedoc against the Duc de Rohan, and was not worsted in the contest with that famous leader of the Huguenots. His brightest laurels, however, were won during the following year in the war against the Spaniards in Piedmont. Falling in with an army under Doria at Veillane, he charged across a ditch at the head of the gendarmes of the King, struck down the hostile general with his own hand, and fought like a common soldier until the enemy was completely driven from the field. This brilliant victory was followed by the raising of the siege of Casal, and the appointment of Montmorency to the rank of Marshal of France. In the height of his fame and influence he was now solicited to join the opponents of Cardinal Richelieu. His pride, pampered by so many successes, was quick to incite him to hostility against

one who was so deadly a foe of the nobility; and he rushed into open rebellion with his characteristic impetuosity. In his character of governor of Languedoc, he raised levies of troops and money in 1632, and, after forming a junction with Gaston, Duke of Orleans, saw himself at the head of an army of six or seven thousand. Negotiation was tried in vain; and in September Montmorency was confronted at Castelnaudary by an army under La Force and Schomberg. At this crisis he forgot the caution of the general in the headlong valour of the soldier. Bursting into the royal camp at the head of a few horsemen, he cut his way through six ranks of infantry amidst a continued shower of shot, and fought against overwhelming numbers, until his horse dropped dead, and left him in the power of his enemies. He was doomed to death by the inexorable Richelieu, as an example to the rest of the plotting nobility. In vain was his life begged by all ranks throughout France. The only palliation of punishment that could be obtained from Louis XIII. was that the execution should be in private. Montmorency was therefore beheaded in the Hotel de Ville of Toulouse in October 1632.