In 1613, the Duke of Mantua dying without male issue, the Duke of Savoy, who had long wished to obtain that part of Italy, conceived that this would be a favourable moment for the accomplishment of his object. He there fore attempted to seize Montserrat, an appendage to Man tua, which was also claimed by the brother of the deceased Duke; the latter finding himself unable to resist his oppo nent, applied for assistance to the Queen of France, who, in conjunction with Spain and Venice, prepared to support him. The Duke of Savoy, tillable to withstand the force which they brought into the field, esteemed himself fortu nate.in obtaining a peace, by resigning his pretensions to Montserrat and Mantua.
This was the only instance of vigour which the court displayed for upwards of four years. In this interval, it was filled and occupied with the most shameful intrigues which discord and anarchy, their almost unavoidable conse quences, spread over the country. The princes of the blood perceiving that they were neglected, and sensible that their united power was so great as to be equal to that which a feeble court could wield, often raised the standard of revolt, and as frequently laid down their arms, whenever the Re gent, conscious of her weakness, offered them what they demanded In 1614, the States general were assembled, in compli ance with the wishes of the Italian faction ; but nothing of much importance occurred. The clergy, indeed, strongly urged that the decrees of the council of Trent should be published in France, but they were not successful. How ever, they opposed and rejected, as a rash attempt, a mo tion made by the third estate, that no temporal or spiritual power had a right to dispose of the kingdom, or to absolve the subjects from their oaths of allegiance. An arret of Parliament, which declared the independence of the crown to be among the fundamental laws of the kingdom, was afterwards repealed by the assembly.
In 1615, the parliament had the courage to remonstrate, in plain and strong terms, against the dissipation of the trea sure which had been left by Henry 1V ., only two millions of which remained ; and on the ruinous and unnecessary ex pences which were daily incurred. But an arret of coun cil was issued in reply, declaring that the parliament had no right to interfere in affairs of state; and afterwards, the King himself, on the representations and authority of the attorney general, gave this brief reply:" It is my pleasure, and also the queen's."
The king was now of age, but he still suffered himself to he under the guidance and authority of the queen and her favourites. In the following year, the embarrassments of the court were much increased by the conduct of the Prince of Conde, who had broke out into open rebellion, supported by the Calvinists. An army was assembled; but as there was no vigour nor plan in the councils of the court, the enterprise languished ; and had the Pi ince persevered, it is probable that Louis would have experienced consider able difficulty in reducing him to subjection; but after publishing a most violent manifesto, he permitted himself to be duped, laid down his arms, returned to court, and was arrested in the middle of the Louvre in 1616. The im prisonment of the Prince in the Bastile awakened the sus picions and alarms of the Dukes of Vendome, Mayence, Nevers, and Rohan, who, accompanied by a number of the nobility, retired from court, and prepared to take up arms. This was the signal for public discontents being loudly ex pressed; and it was farther increased by the dismissal from office Of secretary of state, of Villeroy, an old favourite and faithful servant of Henry IV., and by the promotion of the Bishop of Lucon, afterwards the celebrated Cardinal Richelieu, in his stead.
Scarcely had the Bishop taken his seat at the councils of Louis, before he infused talents and rigour into all the de partments of the state. Three armies were immediately raised, and took the field, to support the royal authority ; the first in Champagne, under the command of the Duke of Guise ; the second in the Nivernois, commanded by the Marshal Montigni ; and the third was entrusted to the Count D'Auvergne, whom the queen, drawing from the long confinement to which he had been sentenced by Hen ry, placed at the head of the royal forces in the Isle of France. The Duke of Guise reduced Chateau, Ponceau, and Rethel. The Marshal defeated and took prisoner the second son of the Duke of Nevers; and the Count sur prised and dispersed the scattered bodies of the confede rates, and shut up in Soissons the Duke of Mavence. This nobleman, son to the celebrated chief of the League in the reign of Henry, must have surrendered, had he not been preserved by an unexpected event.