#Collection Glatigny

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Ansichtskarte / Vintage Postcard / Carte Postale

349.02 BERCK-PLAGE La Plage et Jeux d'Enfants

Collection Glatigny

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Day of the Dupes

It all began on Sunday November 10, 1630 [...] Louis XIII [...] dedicated the beginning of the afternoon to wresting [from his brother] a public declaration of "friendship" for Richelieu. He then presided a restricted Council in Luxembourg, where it was decided to reject the peace of Regensburg and therefore to continue the war in Italy. To please the queen mother, Marshal de Marillac, who was there on the spot, was entrusted with the general command of the army. In vain! As soon as the Council was over, she took Richelieu aside and brutally informed him that she was withdrawing the management of her "house" from him, which involved the expulsion of the staff introduced by him - a palace revolution that would not go unnoticed! According to the English ambassadors, the scene took place in the presence of the king. Although it was a private contract that she was free to denounce as she pleased, he tried to reason with her. According to them, unable "to gain anything" from her, he dismissed Richelieu by ordering him to go the next morning to take from her his official leave and then join him in Versailles. Not a word had been said about his ministerial duties. But as soon as he had turned around, she re-entered the fray to demand, moreover, his dismissal. Louis XIII eluded and left. The private break between his mother and the cardinal annoyed him because it was going to cause a scandal at a time when France had to show a united front during negotiations on the affairs of Italy. He decided to get her to delay publication.

On Monday, November 11, he therefore went to her home, a little early, around half past ten in the morning. He found her at her vanity, more stubborn than ever. Far from yielding, she went further. If Richelieu attended the Council, she would leave it. She didn't want to see him anywhere anymore.

And this exclusion measure took effect the same day, on the occasion of his leave visit: he would not have come, the order was given to turn him away. Suddenly, in a dramatic turn of events, at just eleven o'clock, a door opened.

The cardinal emerged: "Your Majesties are talking about me, it appears." Amazed, she hesitated for a moment: "No ... Yes it is indeed of him that she spoke, as of the most ungrateful and the most malicious of men." How was this intrusion possible? Richelieu knew the castle inside out. Pushed back by the ushers, he borrowed on the ground floor one of these service stairs whose pillars and walls were riddled and emerged in the "little chapel", in other words the private oratory included in the apartments of the queen. The interior door which commanded access had no doubt escaped the instructions given by Marie, unless a compliant maid had reopened it.

Wondering about the route followed is good, but we sometimes forget to underline the extraordinary audacity that this intrusion shows. Forcibly entering the Queen's private apartment was indeed an extremely serious offense that only the King's previous invitation could excuse. It remained to be seen how he would endure the confrontation. The scene which followed had no witnesses - which did not prevent tongues from running and imaginations from embroidering. Diplomats and memorialists agree that it was very violent and that, under the torrent of insults vomited by Marie, Richelieu broke down. In tears he stooped, it is said, to beg her forgiveness on his knees. She sneered: this master actor knew how to cry on command.

According to the Florentine resident, he begged the dismayed king "to allow him to retire, since his person was odious to the queen mother." To which the latter replied "that he still wanted to keep him in his service", and advised him to "go to Pontoise for a few days while he settled things." All the unfortunate had to do was kiss the hem of his ex-protector's dress and get out. At the bottom of the main staircase, he waited, among the curious who had heard of the scandal. Louis XIII passed, his face closed, without a gesture, without a glance.

It was soon known that he would be leaving early in the afternoon for his Versailles hunting lodge. For the audience, there was no doubt that the cardinal's disgrace was complete. His niece, Madame de Combalet, the queen mother's lady-in-waiting, was already packing their bags. Marie de Médicis drew up her plans and proclaimed, radiant, that he was going to leave the court and would have as successor the Keeper of the Seals, Marillac.

Richelieu, devastated, had locked himself in the Petit-Luxembourg. At his side, one of his sure friends, the Cardinal de La Valette. What to do? To prevent an arrest, he considered taking refuge in the Place du Havre, of which he was governor - it was as good as putting the rope around his neck. It was better to obey the most recent instruction: a waiting time in Pontoise. But hadn't the king invited him to join him at Versailles the night before? No hesitation, said La Valette, it was necessary to go to Versailles. And right away, before the king was subjected to other influences! "Whoever leaves the game loses it."

Immediately said, immediately done. The speed of his reaction worked wonders. He found Louis XIII alone, who welcomed him with open arms. He was as humble as could be, blameless. He offered his resignation, which was refused. He refrained from making the mistake, which would have been a deal-breaker, of complaining about the queen. He insisted, as he should, on the duties of a son to his mother, on her foreseeable resistance, and the associated dangers. Louis XIII declared himself ready to face them.

Then the events sped up. He summoned the ministers and secretaries of state available - with the exception of Michel de Marillac, invited to go to his house in Glatigny. In the middle of the night, he held an improvised Council where, after recalling the intrigues carried out against the cardinal by the Keeper of the Seals, it was decided to dismiss him. His replacement was immediately provided for, and instructions aimed at his (Michel de Marillac) brother, Louis, immediately left for Italy. At dawn, Brienne came to collect the Seals from the hands of the unfortunate man, who expected it, but had not foreseen the scale of the disaster. He was given time to finish his morning mass, then he was handed over to an exempt, who embarked him for an unspecified destination. For his part, the Marshal in Italy received a letter in a few hours conferring on him the supreme command of the army, then another ordering his arrest.

In Paris, however, no one suspected the incredible upheavals that had occurred during the night. On this morning of November 12, Marie de Médicis was still sleeping, harbouring golden dreams. When she woke up she saw Brienne appear, who informed her of the king's decision, ordering her to submit to it. She shouted loudly, wanted to run to Versailles. He replied that she would not be received there. Informed of the fall of the Marillacs, she had to admit that she had lost the game.

The joy that reigned in the Luxembourg among her friends the day before turned into a concert of lamentations. Most of it took place over two days, November 10 and 11, nights included. But it was only on the following day 12 that the vanquished saw themselves deceived in their hopes. Their illusions barely caressed and already lost, they never saw it coming. Bautru, the cardinal's reknowned supplier in witty remarks, found one that made a fortune: it was "Dupes Day".

Contrary to what is sometimes said, Richelieu didn't change the king's mind: Marie, by her anger, her intransigence, her blindness, forced him to a rupture he would have preferred to avoid. She did not budge: "It will be Richelieu or me, an unfaithful servant or your mother." The response to such an ultimatum seemed self-evident. But he changed the terms of the alternative: it was between the State and his mother that he would decide.

Simone Bertière - Louis XIII et Richelieu, la Malentente.