CONTI, PRINCES OF. The title of prince of Conti, assumed by a younger branch of the house of Conde, was taken from Conti-sur-Selles, a small town about aom. S.W. of Amiens, which came into the Conde family by the marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Conde, with Eleanor de Roye in 1551.
FuANcoIs (1558-1614), the third son of this marriage, was made marquis de Conti, and between 1581 and 1597 received princely rank. Conti appears to have taken no part in the wars of religion until 1587, when he declared in favour of Henry of Navarre, afterwards King Henry IV. of France. He signed the declaration recognizing Henry IV. as king, and he continued to support Henry, although on the death of Charles, cardinal de Bourbon, in 1590 he himself was mentioned as a candidate for the throne. In 16o5 Conti married, as his second wife, the beauti ful and witty Louise Marguerite (1574-1631), daughter of Henry duke of Guise and Catherine of Cleves, whom, but for the influ ence of his mistress Gabrielle d' Estrees, Henry IV. would have made his queen. Conti died in 1614. His widow was secretly married to Francois de Bassompierre (q.v.) who joined her in conspiring against Cardinal Richelieu. Upon the exposure of the plot the cardinal exiled her to her estate at Eu, near Amiens, where she died. The princess wrote Aventures de la cour de Perse, in which, under the veil of fictitious scenes and names, she tells the history of her own time.
In 1629 .the title of prince de Conti was revived in favour of ARMAND DE BOURBON (1629-1666), second son of Henry II. of Bourbon, prince of Conde, and brother of Louis, the great Conde. He played a conspicuous part in the two Frondes, and then fought in the Italian and Spanish campaigns, but after his defeat before Alessandria in 1657 retired to Languedoc, where he devoted him self to study and mysticism until his death. At Clermont, Conti had been a fellow-student of Moliere's for whom he secured an introduction to the court of Louis XIV.