#duc de mercoeur

[histoireettralala]

Anne of Austria and Mazarin: a more nuanced reading.

The question of the queen mother’s relationship with Mazarin has been the stuff of historical speculation since the mazarinades first spread notions of illicit sexual relations, secret marriage, and the cardinal’s ‘bewitching’ of the queen. Since then, slightly more decorous historical discussion has sought to establish the nature of the relationship, with the obvious underlying question of how emotionally dependent Anne was on Mazarin. Much of this relies on reading meanings into letters from Mazarin to Anne whose tone and expression could encompass the possibilities of frustrated physical passion, heightened seventeenth-century notions of sentiment and friendship, calculated emotional manipulation, and a great deal in between these three. The relevant question in this context is whether the queen mother could contemplate abandoning Mazarin and leaving him in permanent exile, either because the emotional ties were less strong than Mazarin wished to believe, or because Anne calculated, on behalf of her son, that the political price —or political risk— of restoring the cardinal was too high. Here the only real source, given the queen’s own silence, are the memoirs of contemporaries around her at court, and opinions in these are divided. If some of these writers assert that Anne would never abandon Mazarin, others were quite prepared to argue that the queen’s affections were conditional and perceptibly diminishing as Mazarin’s absence continued. A third group did not doubt Anne’s affection for the cardinal, but were more sceptical of her resolution and commitment to him in the face of persuasion and contrary arguments advanced by those in her entourage and in the council.

Some of the shrewdest commentary can be found in the memoirs of Marie d’Orléans, duchesse de Nemours, who was not an intimate of Anne like Mme de Motteville, but no enemy of the queen either. Nemours’ memoirs assert that commentators had been so obsessed with the notion that the queen was entirely controlled by Mazarin that they had failed to note just how little correspondence there was between the two of them, and the amount of mutual misunderstanding that grew up during Mazarin’s exile. The queen mother, she argued, had little taste for the work of government and little confidence that she could handle it well; despite this, Nemours adds, she had a good sense of political judgement based on scepticism about the motives of everyone. So it suited the queen to allow Mazarin to take responsibility for government, but when he was not present she was prepared to take the advice of others around her, even when this cut across the actions and policies that she had previously agreed with the cardinal. This interpretation of the queen’s motivation was not good news for Mazarin’s aim to shape Anne’s actions on the basis of his intermittent correspondence. And it was echoed by two of Mazarin’s strongest advocates at court: his nephew by marriage, the duc de Mercoeur, and his military ally, the maréchal du Plessis-Praslin. Both stressed that the queen was, in Mercoeur’s words, ‘susceptible to being pressured’ by those ministers and courtiers with whom she was more immediately in contact.

These pessimistic judgements were not fully accepted by Mazarin, but he was certainly concerned that Anne might get used to managing affairs of state without him. It was not possible to insulate the queen mother from those around her, and many of them were either his undeclared enemies or those who believed that Mazarin’s return would complicate an already precarious political situation. His response, as we have seen, was to keep his return as the unremitting focus of all his letters, while simultaneously expecting his allies and appointees in the council and at court to maintain the pressure on the queen by stressing the miseries of his exile and the benefits that would be brought by his presence.

All of this took its toll: Mazarin was prepared to confront the queen directly about the extent of her commitment to him, and his replies suggest that he received some written reassurances from Anne in return. But he was no less aware that even the most detailed and painstakingly written account of the political situation and the role she should play was less immediately influential than direct conversation with the queen. Unless he could count on those around Anne to remain ‘on message’, his letters could easily be forgotten; and many of these courtiers saw Mazarin’s stock as having fallen to the point where his concerns could be ignored with impunity. An additional hazard in trying to build up a group of cheerleaders around the queen came from Anne’s suspicions that Mazarin’s letters to others in the court circle may have offered different perspectives and information from those sent to her personally. The duc de Mercoeur explained in a letter to Mazarin that the queen insisted that all those at the court who received letters from Mazarin should read them out to her in her apartments. Mercoeur recognized that this had the potential to embarrass Mazarin, if not worse, and suggested that the cardinal should send information that he did not want disclosed to the queen in separate, additional notes that could be kept apart from the letter for public consumption.

David Parrott - 1652: The Cardinal, the Prince, and the Crisis of the Fronde

[percehaies]

Portrait du duc de Mercoeur, Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, 1558-1602

[redacmcloriquet]

[VLS] Le voyage à Nantes, une autre façon de (re)découvrir la ville

Suivez la ligne verte et laissez-vous surprendre par les œuvres d’art semées le long de cet itinéraire. Ce chemin passe aussi devant des éléments incontournables du patrimoine nantais, autant historiques que contemporains. Soyez les bienvenus au Voyage, qui s’installe à Nantes du 27 juin au 31 août.

Inspirés par la Coupe du Monde, venez jouer au “Footcheball” Quai François-Mitterrand, dans l’espace créé par l’agence d’architecture nantaise Guinée*Potin. Ce terrain de foot d’un nouveau genre est à mi-chemin entre la chaumière et le baby-foot. Station n° 44 Palais de Justice ou n° 77 Ecole d’architecture.

Au Château des ducs de Bretagne, station bicloo n° 50, 2 rue des Etats, l’artiste local Pierrick Sorin propose un «portrait de ville», où il raconte Nantes au fil de la Loire, en se mettant en scène, comme à son habitude.

Dans le square Elisa Mercoeur, au pied du Château, les enfants disposent d’une aire de jeux pas ordinaire. Elle est sortie de l’imagination de l’architecte et artiste japonais Kinya Maruyama et met en scène un monstre prêt à jouer avec les petits aventuriers.

Le canal Saint-Félix est le décor que l’artiste Ange Leccia a choisi pour son installation « Nymphéa ». La nymphe contemporaine évolue dans un décor aquatique. A voir à la nuit tombée. Station n° 61 - Lieu Unique ou n° 59 Stade Saupin.

Le 32e étage de la Tour Bretagne sert de nid à un grand oiseau mi-cigogne, mi-héron signé Jean Jullien. Allongé sur le ventre, il veille sur la ville, tout en invitant les visiteurs à se reposer et à se rafraîchir. Les jeudis à partir de 22h, birdy party soirée DJ et les dimanches à partir de 19h30, Sundy concert acoustique. Station n° 6, Place du Cirque.

Le passage Pommeraye est remarquable par son architecture du 19e siècle et a inspiré cinéastes et dessinateurs. Il a fait l’objet d’une importante rénovation depuis 2012. Station n° 32 Rubens.

Plus d’info

Le site du Voyage

Rédigé par Marie-Caroline Loriquet pour bicloo - Juin 2014

[francarcher-bretagne]

Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine (1558-1602), duc de Mercoeur et marquis de Nomeny, duc de Penthièvre et prince de Martigues par son mariage avec Marie de Luxembourg. Il est fait gouverneur de Bretagne en 1582 et combat le parti protestant. A la mort d’Henri III en 1589, il se fait le chef du parti de la Ligue en Bretagne, et lutte contre Henri de Montpensier avec l’aide de troupes espagnoles que Philippe II a envoyé dans la presqu’île de Crozon et au Blavet. Le duc de Mercoeur ne se soumet à Henri IV qu’en 1598, après avoir perdu le soutien espagnol, et scelle la paix en fiançant sa fille Françoise de Mercoeur à César de Vendôme, bâtard du roi.

Henri IV lui ayant versé une importante somme pour sa soumission, le duc de Mercoeur emploiera cette fortune en allant faire la guerre contre les Turcs en Hongrie pour le comte de l’empereur Rodolphe II : il défend Esztergom en 1599, et reprend Székesfehérvár en 1601, inquiétant même le sultan Mehmed III, sur la base d’une prophétie “qui porte que l’épée des Français chassera les Turcs de l’Europe et renversera leur empire”. Il mourut toutefois de fièvre maligne à Nuremberg en 1602.

Philippe-Emmanuel of Lorraine (1558-1602), duke of Mercoeur and marquis of Nomeny, duke of Penthièvre and prince of Martigues after marrying Marie of Luxembourg. He was appointed governor of Brittany in 1582 and became the leader of the Catholic League in the province after Henry III’s death, fighting Henry IV’s supporters with the help of Spanish troops. He only submitted to the new king in 1598, after losing Philip II of Spain’s support. He had to marry his daughter to Henry IV’s bastard son, but received important funds in exchange, which he used to wage war in Hungary against the Ottomans, on behalf of emperor Rudolf II, defending Esztergom in 1599 and taking Székesfehérvár in 1601. He frightened Mehmed II’s troops who believed in a prophecy saying the sword of the French would drive the Turks out of Europe and destroy their empire, but died the following year in Nuremberg.