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Conde Biography

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CONDÉ, LOUIS II DE BOURBON (1621-86) is known in history as the Great Condé. [See Condé] After a thorough education in the Jesuit seminary at Bruges the young Prince, who was known as the Duc d'Enghien during the lifetime of his father, was introduced at court, and the next year, at the age of 18, was made Governor of Burgundy. To further his father's political aims, he was forced, in 1641, to marry the niece of Richelieu, much against his inclination. Meanwhile he had entered the military service and distinguished himself in the Netherlands, but his great triumph came in 1643, when, at the battle of Rocroi, he outmanœuvred the Spanish infantry, raised the siege, and inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy. Other successes followed, and Condé was promoted and sent to Alsace, in the summer of 1643, to cooperate with Turenne. After the victory of Freiburg, the capture of Philippsburg, Mainz, and other cities on the Rhine, Condé returned in triumph to Paris for the winter, but in 1645, after the defeat of Turenne by Mercy, he again took the field and by his splendid dash and energy won a series of victories culminating in that of Nördlingen in 1645, where Mercy was killed. Associated with the Duke of Orléans in the Netherlands in 1646, Condé won several brilliant victories. The death of his father in the same year made him head of the Condé family, gave him possession of vast estates and a large fortune, and made him the highest personage in the state after the King and the Duke of Orléans. Though feared by Mazarin, Condé was given the chief command in the Netherlands and made captain general of the French forces. The victory at Lens in 1648 added to his fame, and he was recalled to Paris to suppress the rising of the Fronde (q.v.). After many intrigues, plots, and counterplots the court returned to Paris. Condé's haughtiness of manner and dictatorial measures, however, soon alienated the Queen and nobles, and by the advice of Mazarin he was arrested, with other members of his family. The threatened advance of Turenne, the murmurs of the Fronde, and the activity of friends soon secured Condé's release. The discomfiture and flight of Mazarin again brought Condé to the front, but the failure of the court to fulfill its promises and the suspicions he entertained that his assassination was contemplated roused him to fresh rebellion in 1651. His former ally, Turenne, was now on the side of the court, and after Condé had won the battle of Bléneau (April, 1652) and advanced on Paris, he was met by Turenne at the head of the royal troops. A bloody and indecisive conflict ensued, the net result of which was so to weaken the Frondeurs that most of them consented to a treaty of peace. Condé, however, rejected the proffered terms, and after a vain effort to retrieve his cause and seize Paris, went over to Spain. In the war which followed he acted as commander in chief of the Spanish forces in Flanders, but, despite his brilliant strategy, could gain no advantage over Turenne, who opposed him, and he was finally badly defeated in the battle of the Dunes (June 14, 1658) by the allied French and English forces. When the Peace of the Pyrenees was made (1659), Condé was pardoned and again entered the service of France. In 1673 he commanded in the Netherlands and the next year fought a drawn battle at Seneffe with William of Orange. This was the great general's last important battle, though in 1675 he succeeded Turenne, on the latter's death, in command of the army on the Rhine. Disabled by gout, he resigned his post and retired to his estate at Chantilly. There he devoted himself to religious exercises varied by the pursuit of literature and the society of his friends. He was intimate with Molière, Racine, Boileau, Bossuet, and La Bruyère. He died at Fontainebleau on Dec. 11, 1686, and his friend Bossuet pronounced the now famous Oraison funèbre over his bier. Though proud, and acting always from motives of selfish ambition. Condé was without doubt one of the greatest men of his time. The only surviving son of the Great Condé, Henri Jules (1643-1709), inherited some of the ability of his father, while his grandson, the Duke de Bourbon, known as Monsieur le Duc, was a prominent figure at the time of the regency.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. V (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 712-713.