Grand Master Paul I and Grand Prior Louis-Joseph Condé. Prince of conde
Louis II, Louis de Bourbon was born on September 8, 1621 in Paris. He descended from the old Bourbon family, former kings France in 1589-1792, 1814-1830. He became so famous that his contemporaries named him Conde the Great.
He got married quite early for those times - at the age of twenty. His wife was the niece of the all-powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The first period of Louis's reign fell on the time of the prospective heyday of economics and politics, the time of the brilliance of the royal court, the time of unprecedented festivities and entertainment on a scale.
Military career
The prince of Condé's talent as a leader manifested itself even then, at the very beginning of his adulthood... At the age of twenty-two, the prince, surrounded by musketeers, already enters the city of Rocroix that he has taken. The banners of the defeated enemy bent at the feet of the winner. This battle immediately went down in the history of military art as an example of military leadership talent. And from this battle, Prince Condé was recognized as great. At twenty-two!
In the same 1643, the Prince of Condé ended the military campaign of the year with the capture of Thionville and a number of other cities. And Condé began the next military campaign as the commander of all French troops in Germany and won a resounding victory in the battle of Freiburg, defeating the army of the Bavarian general Mercy. For this victory, the French king Louis XIV awarded the prince with the rank of generalissimo.
Conde justified his high military rank in the military campaign of 1645, when he took Mainz, Philippsburg without any special losses and efforts, won the battle at Nördlingen, and once again won the bloody battle at Freiburg.
In 1646 Kondé, after a series of successful military operations, captured Dunkirchen. Then the king transferred him to Catalonia. But here Conde was waiting for an unsuccessful siege of the fortress of Lleidu. Well, greats have failures too.
A year later, the Spaniards tried to take revenge in the Netherlands for the victories of the French troops under the command of the Prince of Condé. But this attempt also ended for them with another defeat from Conde, who won a very impressive victory in the battle of Lance. The victory was so serious that it and the entry of the Fronde led to the conclusion of peace in 1648.
"Parliamentary" period in the history of the Fronde
The history of the Fronde is divided into two stages - the "parliamentary" (1648-1649) and "Fronde of the princes" (1650-1653).
The Paris parliament was against the financial burden of the nobility, and the example of England was before my eyes, so the parliament spoke out on May 13, 1648 against the financial edicts of Cardinal Mazarin, who replaced Cardinal Richelieu as the first person of France. Thus began the first Fronde.
Parliament at that time was only a judicial institution, which had only the right to register new laws. Therefore, the parliament chose the only Possible Solution within the framework of his powers, he refused to register these edicts.
Also, the parliament decided to expand its own powers, carrying out a number of reforms: new taxes are introduced only with the approval of parliament, a ban on arrest, prosecution without approval, the abolition of intendants.
In response, Mazarin, taking advantage of the rise in the authority of the government after the victory of the Prince of Conde in the Battle of Lens, decided to attack the Fronde and ordered the arrest of two of the most influential members of parliament. The Parisian population responded with barricades. Was signed soon Peace of Westphalia, then the government and the court had no choice but to flee from Paris.
When Condé the Great returned to Paris, he immediately began a siege of the rebellious city. Parliament and Parisians prepared to fight to the end. The war requires money, then the parliament seized the property of the supporters of the court and, using the proceeds, capuil weapons for the defenders of the city. The Parisians were able to hold out for three months against the trained and experienced troops of the Prince of Condé.
During the siege, class divisions arose between ordinary Parisians and the bourgeois. The poor demanded drastic measures against the grain speculators, and with this they seriously frightened the bourgeoisie. In Paris, the smell of revolution "according to the English model." Therefore, the bourgeoisie considered it best to conclude an armistice and the royal court again entered Paris.
The period of the "Fronde of Princes"
In 1650, the second period began - the "Fronde of Princes". High-ranking nobles decided, out of personal selfish motives, to take advantage of the popular discontent, offended by Cardinal Mazarin. The Prince of Condé also joined the Fronde and paid for fighting against Paris. Mazarin arrested him in response.
The people stood up for the rebellious generalissimo and freed him. Frightened, Mazarin fled the capital for the second time, and the parliament, following him, under pressure from the people, declared the royal court outlawed.
In many provinces of France, unrest began again. And again, disturbed by the scale of the performances, the nobles rushed to bow to Mazarin. Together they were able to drown the unrest in blood, and on October 12, 1652, Mazarin returned to Paris again. Nevertheless, he had to satisfy Fronda's demands.
However, the Prince of Condé was not satisfied and decided to continue the fight. Then Mazarin threw against him the army of Marshal Tureni, loyal to the king, and in 1653 the troops of the prince were defeated, and he himself had to flee to Spain. But he had no luck here. He began to serve the Spanish king and fought against his homeland. In this Franco-Spanish war of 1655-1659, France defeated Spain, and along with the latter, the Prince of Condé was defeated.
After the defeat of the second Fronde, Conde the Great reconciled with the French king Louis XIV solemnly and sincerely. And he was forgiven. But if the king forgave, then his courtiers harbored enmity.
Election of Condé the Great to the Polish throne
Conde the Great returned to military service... France at this time was shaken by a number of serious peasant unrest - in 1664 in Gascon, in 1666 in Roussillon, in 1670 in Languedoc ... Condé participated in the suppression of some of them.
During the War of Devolution, the Prince of Condé conquered Franche-Comté in two weeks in 1668. At the same time, he achieved his election to the Polish throne, in which the French court was extremely interested. Moreover, there was a tradition - in 1573, the first French generalissimo Henri of Anjou was the king of Poland.
After Conde the Great received the Polish crown, he approved the so-called "Henry's article". This article established the order allowing the participation of the entire Polish gentry in the election of kings.
The king was obliged to regularly convene the Diet, without the consent of the Diet he could not declare war or conclude a peace treaty. However, Conde miscalculated: he was unpopular among the gentry and the Polish people. As a result, in 1674 another king took the Polish throne, from the Poles - Jan Sobieski, and Condé returned to the royal military service in France.
Return of Condé to France
In 1672-1675, Generalissimo Condé successfully led the military operations of the French troops in the Netherlands and Alsace. His victories ensured the power of France in Europe.
In 1675, the Generalissimo retired, leaving an opinion of himself in the history of military art as a brilliant tactician and strategist. He spent the last years of his life at the Chantilly estate, surrounded by the most enlightened minds of France. Died Condé the Great on December 11, 1686 at Fontainebleau.
The last French prince of Condé is a unique representative of royal blood, who died not from poison added to wine, not from infection in early childhood, and not even from a conspirator's dagger, but during a perverted sexual act, and even at an advanced age.
According to an unproven at one time, but still not refuted version, Prince Condé was helped to die by his mistress, Baroness Sophie Dawes, who took away a considerable part of his fortune.
Servant career
Who knows what the fate of the daughter of the fisherman and smuggler Dawes, named Sophie, would have been, who from birth, despite her beauty, was destined for the fate of a servant or a cheap prostitute, if not for that fateful meeting with the prince.
At 15, Sophie is looking for better life left her native Portsmouth and went to London. She wanted to become a comedian, but her acting career did not work out. I had to look for at least some job. Without recommendations, it was unrealistic to get a job as a servant in a decent house, and the girl was content with working in a brothel on Piccadilly - serving prostitutes and their wealthy clients.
There, in 1811, she was seen by 55-year-old Louis-Henri, Duke de Bourbon, the last prince of the French family of Condé, who lived in emigration. A beautiful young maid immediately became the object of his desire, and the girl quickly realized that she had a chance to become a wealthy kept woman of this sexually preoccupied, middle-aged and wealthy nobleman. In a word, the interests coincided, Sophie gave herself up to the prince without hesitation and made the right decision! For her, it was a gift of fate - Sophie had previously tried to find a rich permanent lover, using her youth and beauty, but to no avail.
So, our Sophie settled in the luxurious mansion of Prince Condé. A talented girl successfully mastered the rules of behavior and good manners, learned foreign languages - she already dreamed of shining at the royal court! But her main task was to please the prince, to give him all kinds of sexual pleasures - the more perverted, the better. Sophie immediately realized that the aging Louis-Henri is obsessed with sex and this is her only opportunity to stay with him and live in abundance. Being depraved by nature, she not only herself in every possible way pleasing the prince in bed, but also arranged group orgies for him with the help of prostitutes from the brothel where she worked before. These orgies were essentially mini-performances entirely of pornographic content, in which the main roles were always given to the prince. For example, in the Loving Dog divertissement, the naked prince portrayed a dog rejoicing at the arrival of its mistress. He bounced on the floor, feigning joy, licking the naked bodies of Sophie and her assistants. And it was still the most modest scenario. In the divertissement "Bees Collecting Honey" naked Louis-Henri played the role of a rosebud, from which, to the sounds of a music box, six naked women "collected honey". Sophie picked up a library of pornographic prints and books for the prince. You could even say that she corrupted an already dissolute middle-aged man even more. Naturally, Conde could no longer live for an hour without Sophie and the pleasures she gave.
Baroness de Fescher
It seems that the prince himself realized the perniciousness of this passion of his, and during the years of the Restoration secretly left London for France, hoping to break with Sophie. But it was not there! Two weeks later, she appeared in Paris. The frustrated prince delicately explained that her presence in Paris was fraught with scandal and trouble. To which Sophie replied: "And you tell me that I am your illegitimate daughter!"
And the prince gave up. He yearned for her perverse caresses. True, to stay in Paris, Sophie had to get married. The prince himself found her a husband - the commander of the battalion of the royal guard, Adrian de Fescher, to whom King Louis XVIII immediately granted the title of baron. And Prince Condé took the newly made baron into his service.
De Fescher had not yet had time to rejoice at his luck, when they whispered to him that Sophie was not a daughter, but the prince's mistress and, in general, a very depraved woman. The prince reassured him: they say, they are jealous of your position and your beautiful wife, so they talk about anything. But de Fescher did not believe him, soon broke up with Sophie, and she openly began to cohabit with the 65-year-old prince.
Here, the baroness had a bare calculation, which was justified: in 1824 the Prince of Condé made a will, writing off the luxurious possessions of Boissy and Saint-Lee to Sophia. True, she had to try hard to persuade the prince to draw up this will. The blackmail was massive: both the threat to leave him, and hot caresses - everything was in progress.
And then all that remained was to wait for the death of the prince. However, it was hard to wait, so you can grow old yourself ...
One August morning in 1830, the 74-year-old Prince of Condé was found in his bedroom hanging from a window bolt in a loop of two kerchiefs. No one believed in suicide, and above all the Prince's personal physician, Dr. Bonn. While he was examining the body, Sophie de Fescher, sitting in an armchair, wringing her hands theatrically, uttered the phrase: “Oh, what a blessing that the prince died that way. If he died in his own bed, everyone would immediately begin to say that I poisoned him! "
The king ordered an investigation into the death of Louis-Henri, but in the end, the deliberative chamber of the court issued a conclusion that it was suicide, and the case was closed. Although the first version was murder, and Sophie de Fescher was suspected.
Sensational details were announced only in 1848 in a brochure by Victor Bouton. According to him, King Louis-Philippe himself was involved in the case! We will consider this version of a perfectly organized murder in the future.
Traces of lust
Back in 1827, fearing that the will of the prince after his death would be challenged by the direct heirs and she would be left with nothing, Baroness de Fescher made a cunning political combination. With the help of her patron, ex-Foreign Minister Talleyrand, she met Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans - the future king of France. And she offered him a deal: Sophie would persuade Prince Condé to bequeath her main property to the son of Louis Philippe, and the king, in gratitude, recognizes what would be bequeathed to her lawful. Louis-Philippe was delighted with this proposal - because under such a will he would have inherited 60 million gold francs!
However, the Prince of Condé, because of his family and political predilections, refused to sign the will. The author of the brochure wrote that the baroness even beat the prince, forcing him to sign the paper. And Conde surrendered, fearing forever losing the one that gave him the highest pleasure. He himself was already incapacitated as a man.
After the July Revolution of 1830, when Louis Philippe ascended the throne, the Prince of Condé intended to leave the country and secretly go to Switzerland, where Charles X lived in exile, who asked him to change his will in favor of his young son. Sophie immediately reported this to the king and heard from him: "We must at any cost prevent him from leaving!" It was a death sentence for Prince Conde.
This is not the first time Sophie practiced sadism during love affairs with the prince - he could get aroused and experience an orgasm only during a slight strangulation. That night, Sophie just slightly pushed the stool on which her annoying old lover stood, and the prince was gone. A young gendarme officer, Sophie's lover, helped her make the murder look like a suicide. And then Sophie de Fescher demanded from the king that the investigation did not particularly delve into the details of the incident. The king was forced to agree.
Victor Bouton, describing the details of the murder, referred to the archives of the police prefecture - the minutes of the interrogation of the servants of the Prince of Condé. The servants, as it turned out, were aware of what the depraved aging prince and the young baroness were doing. And they described in detail during interrogations all these love joys in the style of sado-maso. There was also a record of the death of the prince, signed by the magistrate. The protocol states that "traces of radiant voluptuousness" are still preserved at the feet of the deceased prince.
After the acquittal, Sophie de Fescher took over the inheritance rights and demolished the castle of Saint-Lee, in which the murder of the prince was committed. His relatives tried to challenge the will in court, but lost the case. True, they were able to significantly tarnish the king's reputation. Sophie de Fescher herself had to leave France for London. She returned there as a wealthy lady and in 1840 she died a natural death. The last refuge of the great courtesan was the Kensal Green cemetery.
Meet: Louis II de Bourbon-Condé fr. Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, le Grand Condé
4th Prince of Condé, Duke of Enghien
Dates of life: December 26, 1646 - December 11, 1686
Very controversial reviews:
"... During the life of his father, Condé bore the title of Duke of Enghien. He was a prince of the blood, that is, a direct relative royal family... From an early age, the noblest of the noble aristocrats of France was distinguished by audacity, ambition and courage ... The prince began his military career at 17 ... at 22
the prince had already commanded the French royal forces in the war with the Spaniards, called the Thirty Years. In that war, on May 19, 1643, Condé won his first victory in the battle of Rocroix ...
In ... 1644, the prince stood at the head of the French royal army, replacing the experienced Viscount de Turenne in this post."
http://interpretive.ru/dictionary/967/word/lui-ii-burbon-konde-velikii-konde
Let me remind you that the young man was 23 years old.
Further: "... Victories ... strengthened the military leadership of Louis Condé. The army, inspired by victories over the Spaniards and the Bavarian army, literally idolized Condé. However, now many influential persons in France began to seriously fear the increased popularity of Condé, and in the next ten years he it took a lot of effort to pacify them ... "
The following lists and describes multiple battles, the meaning of which I do not really understand ...
The impression is that from 17 to 54 the prince only fought ... As we will see below, the impression is deceiving.
"... Having become one of the popular people in France, the prince found himself in the thick of the political struggle. In the war royal power with Fronde (this is the name in history received the internal turmoil in France in 1648-1658), he first took the side of the Italian cardinal Giulio Mazarin and Queen Anne of Austria, the regent of the son - the young crowned son of Louis ... But between the ambitious and arrogant commander Louis Condé and by the power-hungry first minister of France, a clash was inevitable ...
The Prince of Conde led the new Fronde (the so-called Fronde of Princes), intending to overthrow Cardinal Mazarin and even turn his considerable holdings into an independent state. His closest associate was his younger brother, Prince Conti ...
Anarchy in the French capital, strife between him and the rest of the leaders of the Fronde, the return to Paris of his enemy Cardinal Mazarin forced the prince to flee from his homeland to the Netherlands and surrender there in 1653 to the Spaniards, their recent enemies. In 1654, he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason in France.
Now Conde turned his weapon and military art against the fatherland ... But in this war, the prince rarely had luck - the French army trained and trained by him fought against him ... The civil war ended in 1659 (38 years old - my approx.) the conclusion of peace and the strengthening of royal power. Cardinal Mazarin made peace with Prince Louis II of Condé, to whom Spain decided to give up an independent principality on the northern French border. The death sentence in absentia to the prince for treason to France and its monarch Louis XIV, who married Maria Teresa, daughter of Spanish king Philip IV. Condé was reinstated in all his titles and rights, but for 8 years he remained out of work ...
Thanks to his leadership talent and political influence at the royal court, the Prince of Condé was able to once again become the commander of the French army ...
At the end of 1675, Condé resigned and last years spent his life in his possession of Chantilly. He died at Fonteblo.
In all the wars in which Prince Louis Condé participated, he demonstrated, above all, high tactical skill. Distinctive feature famous French commander were his famous "inspirations"... Thanks to this, he more than once defeated opponents who were superior to him in strength. But Condé's contemporaries rightly reproach that for the sake of a quick and strong onslaught, he did not spare people. Condé's troops in foreign territory became famous for robbery and violence."
I am reading about these numerous battles, exile, forgiveness ... you can write a novel. Next, I highlight the reviews about the Great Conda in blue. Very conflicting reviews.
Sculptor Kuazevox ( September 29, 1640 Lyon - October 10, 1720 ), portrait of Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Condé. Bronze bust. (Louvre)
"The bronze bust of the Prince of Condé has become a real masterpiece. Louis II Condé was distinguished by cruelty, blasphemy, rude behavior, even with his inner circle. He is one of those anti-patriotic people who turned his weapons against his country. Conde, a supporter of the Fronde, who fought against the king and cardinal Mazarin. Tse he devastated the northern regions of France, he was trying to create an independent principality in his lands. His youth was spent violently, being in prison and illness made him unpleasant and antipathy. Even after political reconciliation with the king and cardinal, he was suspended for eight years because he was not trusted. The sculptor was faced with the difficult task of creating a representative portrait of a patient (suffering from rheumatism) and an unpleasant but dangerous face. Kuazevox did the job with dignity, highlighting Condé's opulent attire and brilliant bronzes. This slightly overshadowed the boldly zmalvana, the truthful and irreplaceable characterization of the image. None of the portraits of Louis II Condé in colors convey the complexity of the character of the prince's crippled face. "
Undoubtedly a very expressive portrait. Another sculptural portrait:
Louis II, 4th Prince of Bourbon and Conde (1621-86), 1817 (plaster), David d "Angers, Pierre Jean 1788-1856 Musee des Beaux-Arts, Angers, Franc.
"... Contemporaries could love him or hate him, but despite his political miscalculations and personality traits, they still admired him. Perhaps the most striking characteristic was given to him in his memoirs by the famous fronder Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz:" Prince de Condé was born a commander ... Fate, having sent him to a warlike age, gave courage to unfold in all its splendor; parenting ... confined the mind too tightly. The prince was not instilled from an early age ... what is called consistency ... Already in his youth he was outstripped by the rapid development of great events and the skill for success ... possessing a naturally non-spiteful soul, he committed injustices possessing the courage of Alexander ... was not a stranger to weakness, possessing a wonderful mind, acted imprudently, possessing all the virtues ..., did not serve the state, as he should ... He did not manage to rise to his talents, but still he is great, he is beautiful...
François de La Rochefoucauld wrote in his memoirs that the Duke of Enghien "... stately, endowed with a large, clear, insightful and comprehensive mind, covered himself with the greatest glory... ". And the prosecutor-general of the Dijon parliament, Pierre Lenay, spoke about him like this:" He at satisfied the desires of his subordinates, ignoring many particulars... The prince gained a huge reputation, having fought at Rocroix, Freiburg, Nordlingen and Lance, taking Thionville, Philippsburg, reaching the heart of the Rhine-Koblenz, showing courage and generosity at Dunkirk ...
In a speech delivered at Notre Dame Cathedral on March 10, 1687 on the occasion of the death of the Prince de Condé, Bishop Meaux, the eminent historian and educator of the Dauphin Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, not only introduced him to statesman, but also placed above the other great commander of the century - Henri de Turenne. A distinctive feature of the military genius of the commander, the bishop called the speed of the plan that descended on him in the midst of the battle - his famous "inspirations." And Louis XIV after the death of Conde said: "I have lost" greatest man in my kingdom ...
On the whole, Condé is rightly reproached for the fact that for the sake of a quick and strong onslaught that could lead to victory, he shed streams of blood, and his army was distinguished by robbery and violence. His style consisted of audacity and aggressive attacks ... At the same time, Condé is called a true military intellectual, gifted and independent. "
The created image makes it possible to feel the scope and passionarity of the personality ... but it is perceived all the same, VERY one-sided ... IT'S TIME TO EXPAND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE IMAGE:
Artist Juste d'Egmont (1601-1674), Musée de l'Armée.
Taken from here: http://www.danielbibb.com/content/exhibits/detail1.php?itemID=30006
I liked the portrait very much and, in my opinion, it most of all looks like a child's.
Work attributed to the artist Louis Elle Ferdinand
Taken from here: http://www.danielbibb.com/content/exhibits/detail1.php?itemID=30006
This portrait raises my doubts, not very similar to the painting of that era.
"... Louis II de Bourbon Prince de Condé was born on September 8, 1621 in Paris. His parents were Henri II Bourbon (1588-1646), Prince de Condé, and Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency (1594-1650), Princess de Conde and the godmother Louis XIV..."
FatherHenri II Bourbon (1588 - 1646)Prince de Condé:
I was surprised that no more of his portraits came across.
MamaCharlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency (1594 - 1650), Princess de Condé:
"... The education of the young Duke of Enghien was traditional for his class. In 1630 - 1636 he studied Latin classics, philosophy of Aristotle, mathematics, codes of Justinian and political history at school Jesuits in Bourges. He was not a particularly diligent student, however, he mastered Latin, rhetoric and philosophy with great success. For a long time he was considered a freethinker on religious issues. His education was completed at the Royal Military Academy in Paris, where he showed excellent results. Already at the age of 17, his father sent Louis to act as governor of Burgundy ... "
"... At the insistence of Henri Condé, on February 9, 1641, the young man married Claire-Clemence de Mayer-Brese (1628-1694), daughter of Jurbin de Maye, Marquis de Brese, and Nicole du Plessis, Richelieu's niece. However, politically and economically The profitable alliance (the bride brought Louis a dowry of 600 thousand livres and a number of land holdings) was personally unsuccessful, for the sake of which he had to leave his beloved Mademoiselle du Vigean (Martha Poissard, daughter of the royal bed-room François Poissard, Baron du Vigeant). three children were born - the sons of Henri III Jules (1643-1709), Prince de Condé, Louis (16 52
- 1653
) and the daughter of Mademoiselle de Bourbon (16 57
- 1660
)..."
Wife:
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BB%D1%8D%D1%80-%D0%9A%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5% D0% BD% D1% 81_% D0% B4% D0% B5_% D0% 9C% D0% B0% D0% B9% D0% B5
Great Condé and his son Henry III Bourbon Condé:
She did not find a portrait of Mademoiselle du Vigeant.
"... his beloved in 1647 was sent to the monastery of the Carmelites ..."
http://svitoc.ru/index.php?showtopic=556
Further: "The last 11 years of his life the Great Conde spent in his possession Chantilly 49 km from Paris. The castle was located among dense oak forests and towered on a huge rock surrounded on all sides by water .... it was the Great Condé who commissioned the royal architect Le Nôtre to lay out a magnificent park with fountains around the castle. The king took part in one of the holidays arranged in it, which was recorded in her letters to Madame de Sevigne. The Chantilly fountains are still one of the most beautiful in France. No wonder Louis XIV, when building Versailles, took them as a model. (it turns out :) the Great Conde had good taste and desire to create- my comment.) Imitating Italian palace architecture, the prince ordered to decorate the facade of the castle with balustrades and columns, and it turned out that it combined elements of the Gothic (powerful bastion walls, pointed spiers, gutters in the form of serpentine monsters) and the Baroque design of the facades. In fact, Chantilly turned from a castle into a luxurious palace and became a symbol of the transition of the aristocracy from military campaigns to festivities, patronage and collecting works of art. But the entrance to Chantilly, decorated in a Renaissance style and protected by cast iron bars and pikes, reflected the owner's "profession". ..
Have it was attended by commanders, ministers, big bourgeois and, of course, the most enlightened minds of France. As a fan and patron of the arts, Condé invited famous artists to his castle. Even during his stay out of business after the Iberian Peace, the prince spent time there in the brilliant company of such geniuses as Moliere, Racine, Boileau, La Fontaine, Mansart, Le Nôtre, Bossuet and many others. Once the poet Vincent Vuatur remarked to Condé: "If you had ever deigned to lift any siege, we, your fans, could have a little rest and come to our senses, as this would have brought some variety to the course of events." The first performance of Jean-Baptiste Moliere's "Tartuffe" took place in Chantilly, which the author read for the first time in the salon of Ninon de Lanclos in 1664. In honor of the guests of the Prince, Le Nôtre broke the Alley of Philosophers in the park, which may serve as proof that The great Condé not only followed the aristocratic fashion of that time, but also really appreciated the beautiful..."
So, and how does this agree with the negative characteristics given to him above? Almost nothing.
"... This extraordinary man was exceptionally rich by the standards of the 17th century. His enormous fortune was second only to the wealth of Cardinals Mazarin (40 million livres) and Richelieu (20 million livres) and was estimated at 14 million livres. Like other politicians and generals of that time he collected works of art, old books and manuscripts, concentrated primarily in Chantilly. The Duke of Omalsky, who received the castle together with the title in 1830, bequeathed it together with the richest library and picture gallery to the French Institute. In the Condé Museum, in addition to the personal belongings of the princes of the blood, artistic treasures are also exhibited - hundreds of handwritten and early printed books (including the Bible by Johannes Gutenberg), a rare collection of porcelain and the "Magnificent Hourly Book of the Duke of Berry" - the famous illustrated manuscript of the 15th century, numerous prints and paintings by Botticelli , Clouet, Poussin. It is there that today there are Raphael's "Three Graces", "The Massacre of the Babies" by Poussin, "Saint Jerome" by Durer and other famous canvases. The prince was the owner of one of the most famous diamonds in history, weighing 9.01 carats, which adorned the top of his cane - "Pink Conde" or "Great Conde", received from Louis XIV for military merit ... "
But how is this consistent with the above characteristics ?:
“In 1685, the only grandson of the commander, Louis de Bourbon, married Louise-Françoise, Mademoiselle de Nantes, the eldest daughter of the king and Madame de Montespan. In the middle of 1686 Louise-Françoise, while in Fontainebleau, contracted smallpox. It was the prince who brought her back to life, spending days near her bed and feeding her from a spoon. Louise-Françoise survived and continued the Condé family, giving her husband 10 children, but Condé himself became infected from her ..."
Many thanks to Hatamoto:
Prince. French commander.
During his father's lifetime, Condé held the title of Duke of Enghien. He was a "prince of the blood", that is, a direct relative of the royal family. He married the niece of the most powerful Duke Richelieu Maye-Brese. From an early age, the most noble of the noble aristocrats of France was distinguished by audacity, ambition and courage.
The prince began his military career at the age of 17; his noble birth guaranteed him a brilliant career. At 22, the prince was already in command of the French royal troops in the war with the Spaniards, called the Thirty Years. In that war, on May 19, 1643, Condé won his first victory at the battle of Rocroix.
This battle was attended by a 22,000-strong French army under the command of Prince Louis II of Condé, liberating Rocroix, and a 26,000-strong Spanish army under the banner of Don Francisco de Melo. The battle was extremely fierce. Initially, the French failed - the Spanish infantry, despite the fire of enemy guns, in the attacks crushed their center and pressed the left flank of the Bourbon army. However, the lack of cavalry did not allow Don Francisco de Melo to develop the emerging success.
Condé managed to restore order in his disorganized ranks, restored the order of battle of the royal army, his more numerous cavalry defeated the enemy's cavalry. The losses of the Spaniards were estimated at 8 thousand people, including 6 thousand infantrymen, who were the color of the army. The French command announced the loss of only 2 thousand people, clearly hiding from everyone the actual number of losses in the battle won.
The great victory in the Battle of Rocroix over the superior forces of the Spaniards inspired Condé to further exploits. In the same year, he took several cities of the opposite side, including taking possession of the well-fortified city of Thionville.
The following year, 1644, the prince became the head of the French royal army, replacing the experienced Viscount de Turenne in this post. Louis II Condé went to command the troops in Germany, where the Bavarians were about to launch an invasion of Alsace. One of the most significant battles of the Thirty Years' War took place near the city of Freiburg. It lasted three days - August 3, 5 and 9. 20 thousand Frenchmen were commanded by the Prince of Condé and the Viscount of Turenne, 15 thousand Bavarians - by the Comte de Mercy.
On the first day of the battle, Turenne, after a long withdrawal, decided to attack the Bavarians in the flank. On the same day, Prince Condé in the evening hit the enemy in the front. When it finally got dark, the French allowed the Bavarians to retreat, and at night the Comte de Mercy withdrew to a new position, convenient for conducting a defensive battle. Here, on the second day of the battle, the Bavarian army was subjected to stubborn attacks by the French, who were unsuccessful. Moreover, the attackers suffered twice as many losses as the opposing side.
For the next two days, the opponents did nothing against each other, conducting only reconnaissance. On August 9, the Comte de Mercy decided to retreat from Freiburg. Prince Condé learned about the beginning of the withdrawal of the Bavarian army in time and sent the French cavalry in pursuit. The Bavarians almost defeated it, but the royal commander who arrived in time with the main forces fell on them and threw away the enemy army, capturing all his artillery and baggage.
After this victory, the French, under the command of Prince Condé, took the cities of Mainz and Philippsburg from the battle. On August 3, 1645, the opponents met again - in a battle near Nördlingen. Only this time, the Duke of Enghien and the Viscount Turenne had an army of 15,000 under their banners, and Field Marshal de Mercy had 12,000. The Bavarians fortified in the village of Allerheim, giving the French every opportunity to attack them. After a fierce battle, the Bavarians, having lost half of their troops in killed, wounded and prisoners in a day, fled from the battlefield. They left almost all their cannons victorious. The Bavarian commander-in-chief, Count de Mercy, was killed in the battle.
In 1646, the royal army of France, after a series of military operations, then decisively advancing, then successfully maneuvering on German soil, won another victory. The troops of Prince Condé captured the city of Dunkirchen and many booty.
The victories over the Bavarians strengthened the leadership of Louis Condé. Now at the royal palace they did not even think of continuing the war on the border of France. The army, inspired by victories over the Spaniards and the Bavarian army, literally idolized Condé.
However, now the "prince of blood" among the Parisian aristocracy has numerous enemies. Many influential people in France began to seriously fear the increased popularity of Condé, and over the next ten years he had to work hard to appease them.
In 1647, Condé, at the head of the French troops, set out on a campaign for the Pyrenees mountains, to Catalonia. Although he managed to occupy this large province of Spain, here he suffered one of the few failures in his military leadership biography. The French laid siege to the city of Lleida, but could not take it.
Lleida was staunchly defended by a 4,000-strong Spanish garrison under the command of Don Jorge Britta. On May 12, the French army laid siege to the fortified city, which stood at a crossroads. The defenders fought bravely, making frequent forays behind the fortress walls. However, in mid-June, a large Spanish army began to concentrate near Fraga. The Prince of Condé was faced with a choice: either to attack Lleida, inevitably suffering heavy losses, or to lift the siege. He decided on the second - on June 17 the siege was lifted and the royal commander withdrew his troops from the city to a more convenient position.
Prince Conde did not have to fight for a long time on Spanish soil. In 1648 he was recalled from Catalonia and sent to the Netherlands and Flanders. The last battle of the Thirty Years' War took place near the city of Lance on August 20, 1648. Here the French commander, at the head of 14 thousand French, fought with the Austrians, commanded by the Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm.
To lure the enemy out of his fortified lines, Conde pretended to retreat. The Austrians fell for this trick and followed the French. They made an unexpected maneuver and fell on the Austrians, who were outside the fortifications. Taking advantage of the confusion in the ranks of the enemy army, Conde inflicted a crushing defeat on them, skillfully disposing of his infantry, cavalry and artillery on the battlefield.
The losses of the army of Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm were enormous for that war: 4 thousand killed and 6 thousand prisoners. The Austrians lost all their artillery and the entire train during the flight. The Battle of Lance is also known for the fact that the remnants of the Spanish infantry that were on Dutch territory and were at that time part of the Austrian army were destroyed there.
In October 1648, the Peace of Westphalia was concluded, according to which Spain declared itself defeated along with its allies. Under this peace treaty, the French kingdom received considerable benefits, primarily thanks to the victories of Louis Condé.
Having become one of the most popular people in France, the prince found himself in the thick of the political struggle. In the war of the royal power with the Fronde (such a name in history received the internal turmoil in France in 1648-1658), he first took the side of the Italian cardinal Giulio Mazarin and Queen Anne of the Austrian regent's son - the young crowned son of Louis. In January - February 1649, at the head of the troops loyal to him, Condé moved to the capital, captured the Charenton fortress and captured Paris.
The rebellious Parisian parliament disbanded its army and concluded the Peace of Ruail with the royal court. Cardinal Giulio Mazarin was reinstated as first minister. Queen Anne of Austria announced a general amnesty. But between the ambitious and arrogant military leader Louis Condé and the power-hungry first minister of France, a clash was inevitable.
By order of Mazarin, the Prince of Condé was imprisoned in the Vincennes castle, from where he was released a year later. The cardinal also orders the arrest of the younger brother of Condé, the Prince of Conti, his brother-in-law Henri II of Orleans, and the Duke de Longueville. The leaders of the Fronde became implacable enemies.
Prince Condé led a new fronda (the so-called frond of princes), intending to overthrow Cardinal Mazarin and even turn his considerable holdings into an independent state. His closest associate was his younger brother, Prince Conti. In September 1651, Louis Condé gathered in the south of the country, in the city of Bordeaux, a noble militia, subjugated all the southern provinces and intended to seize the capital of France. Many French aristocrats rose under his banner. In addition, Condé made an alliance with Spain.
However, his recent ally in the Thirty Years War, the Viscount de Turenne, defending the royal court from the rebel, came out to meet him and defeated the 5-thousand army of Condé insurgents in a battle at the Saint-Antoine gate of Paris. The prince's supporters fought off the royal soldiers on the arranged barricades, which on July 2, 1652 changed hands several times. After being seriously wounded by his closest assistants, the Duke de Nemour and the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, the head of the rebellious front abandoned the idea of entering Paris and retreated with heavy losses. Condé managed to escape by hiding with adherents in Paris itself.
The great commander turned out to be a less skillful politician. Anarchy in the French capital, strife between him and the rest of the leaders of the Fronde, the return to Paris of his enemy Cardinal Mazarin forced the prince to flee from his homeland to the Netherlands and there in 1653 surrender to the Spaniards, their recent enemies. In 1654, he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason in France.
Now Condé turned his weapons and martial arts against the fatherland. At the head of the Spanish army (he became the commander - generalissimo), he devastated the northern provinces of France. But in this war, the prince rarely had good luck - the French army trained and trained by him fought against him.
In August 1654, Spanish troops under the command of Condé laid siege to the city of Arras. The army, which came to the rescue of his garrison, under the command of Marshal Viscount de Turenne, attacked the Spaniards and put them to flight. Their losses amounted to about 30 thousand people. Condé, with great difficulty, managed to collect the remnants of his troops and withdraw them to Cambrai.
In June 1656, the city of Valencienne, in which the Spanish garrison was located, was besieged by the French army of Marshal de Turenne and General Laferte. The French split into two columns on the opposite bank of the Scheldt River. But when the city garrison was about to surrender, Laferte's column was attacked by an approaching 20,000-strong Spanish detachment under the command of Prince Conde. Before Marshal Turenne could come to the rescue, the troops of General Laferte were defeated, and the losses of the French amounted to 400 and 4 thousand soldiers. This defeat forced Turenne to lift the siege of Valencienne.
On June 14, 1658, the Battle of the Dunes took place. Near Dunkirk, 14 thousand Spaniards under the command of Don Juan of Austria and Prince of Condé fought with the army of Marshal de Turenne of approximately the same size (the French troops included British infantry). The outcome of the battle was decided by the landing from the English ships, which supported the French, and the flanking attack of Turenne's cavalry, which skillfully took advantage of the ebb tide. The Spanish troops, having lost 4 thousand people, were completely defeated. The besieged Spanish garrison of Dunkirk capitulated, and the city went to England, which in 1662 sold this port to the French king.
The civil war ended in 1659 with the conclusion of peace and the strengthening of royal power. Cardinal Mazarin made peace with Prince Louis II of Condé, to whom Spain decided to give up an independent principality on the northern French border. The death sentence in absentia was also canceled to the prince for treason to France and its monarch Louis XIV, who married Maria Theresa, daughter of the Spanish king Philip IV. Condé was reinstated in all his titles and rights, but remained out of work for 8 years.
During these years, the prince found himself embroiled in the struggle for the Polish throne in 1660-1669. However, the French king Louis XIV, who at first supported the candidacy of Condé, later inclined to the candidacy of the Duke of Neuburg, although in Poland itself the name of the prince-commander was very popular and the local aristocracy associated certain hopes with the new Polish monarch in his person.
Thanks to his leadership talent and political influence at the royal court, the Prince of Condé was able to once again become the commander of the French army. In 1669, on behalf of King Louis XIV, he conquered Franche-Comté in just 14 days. In 1672-1673 he commanded French troops in the Spanish Netherlands, but without special success, although he had victories over the Dutch.
Condé had a chance to fight with the no less famous commander of that era, Prince William III of Orange, at Seneffe on August 8, 1674. The French army numbered 45 thousand, the Flemish-Spanish army - 50 thousand people. The Prince of Orange, finding the enemy's position inconvenient for attack, began to retreat to Le Quene, opening his flank. The experienced Condé immediately took advantage of this mistake and scattered part of the allied forces of the Flemings and Spaniards in the attack. However, the Prince of Orange entrenched himself in Seneffe, from where the French could not knock him out. The prolonged 17-hour battle never revealed a winner.
However, the Battle of Seneff had the most favorable consequences for France. The allies, who lost about 30 thousand people in it killed, wounded and captured, soon retreated to Holland. William of Orange's plan to invade northern France was thwarted.
The last military campaign in his military leader's biography, Prince Louis Condé spent in 1675, fighting in Alsace. There he managed to push back the famous commander of the Holy Roman Empire, Count Montecuculi, beyond the Rhine. After the death of Marshal de Turenne and the capture of another French marshal, François de Crequi, Condé assumed command of their forces.
He was already an elderly man suffering from rheumatism, so he still had to relinquish further command of the royal troops. At the end of 1675, Condé resigned and spent the last years of his life in his possession of Chantilly. He died at Fontainebleau.
In all the wars in which Prince Louis Condé participated, he demonstrated, above all, high tactical skill. A distinctive feature of the famous French commander was his famous "inspirations". Thanks to this, he more than once defeated opponents who were superior to him in strength. But Condé's contemporaries rightly reproach that for the sake of a quick and strong onslaught, he did not spare people. He did not take care of his soldiers in the war. Condé's troops in foreign territory became famous for robbery and violence.
Alexey Shishov. 100 great generals
To the 200th anniversary of being accepted into the Russian service
Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Sovereign Emperor Pavel Petrovich, as part of the Russian Imperial Army a very unusual military formation appeared - the French White émigré corps.
The founder and commander of this corps was Prince Louis-Joseph of Conde of Bourbon, the great-grandson of the famous French commander of the 17th century Louis II of Conde of Bourbon, nicknamed by his contemporaries the Great.
Prince Louis-Joseph of Condé was born in 1736 and, like his great ancestor, in his youth, showed outstanding talent for military affairs. He especially distinguished himself during the Seven Years War of 1756-1763, defeating the Germans in the battle of Johannesberg. When the revolution broke out in France in 1789, the Prince of Condé was one of the first to emigrate from the country and subsequently, settling on the banks of the Rhine, in the city of Koblenz, formed a counter-revolutionary white army, the backbone of which was made up of volunteers - ideological adherents of the old monarchical and religious France.
Unlike the white army of the famous Vendée, which consisted of royalist peasants, the army of the Prince of Condé was predominantly noble-officer, and was characterized by a large excess of officers and generals. In noble regiments, positions from company commanders and above, as a rule, were held by former generals The French Royal Army, and the platoons were commanded by colonels. As for the junior officers, many of them became ordinary soldiers in the ranks. The noble regiments showed exceptional courage in battles, but the discipline in them was peculiar: the nobles, who were very scrupulous in matters of honor, were not accustomed to playing the role of privates. “What do you want,” said the Prince of the End, “these are not soldiers, but officers without soldiers. They were brave officers, and if I had thirty thousand soldiers with them, we would have done miracles. I know that under all circumstances I can always count on them: they have preserved their honor. "
In addition to the émigré nobles, who formed the basis of the Prince of Condé's army, there were also representatives of the third estate in its ranks, including a certain number of soldiers of the old Royal Army. To replenish the ranks of his troops, the Prince of Condé also resorted to the creation of mercenary units, in which, in addition to the French, foreigners also served. The age composition of the army was very heterogeneous. Among the "kondeans" one could meet both fourteen-year-old youths and warriors of a very old age.
By the end of 1792, the army of the Prince of the End already numbered five thousand six hundred people, of whom more than two thousand were in the noble formations. This army, along with other armies of emigrants and troops European monarchs took part in a campaign against revolutionary France. But the campaign of 1792 ended in failure for the counter-revolutionary forces, and many emigre formations were disbanded, since their leaders no longer had money to support their troops.
It should be noted that the leaders of the French white emigration created their military formations at their own expense. So, the Prince of Condé, in addition to a considerable sum of money, donated even his precious insignia for the maintenance of the troops.
Wanting to save his army from disbandment, Prince Condé turned to the Russian Empress Catherine II for help. The latter, as you know, was an ardent opponent of the revolution. At the end of 1792, the Empress sent to the Prince of the End Duke A.E. Duplessy de Richelieu (the future governor of Odessa and the Novorossiysk Territory) with two barrels of gold and a proposal ... to move to the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov and establish a French military-agricultural colony there. However, such a turn of affairs could not suit the white emigrants rushing into battle, and they preferred to evade the offer. Russian Empress.
For several years, the army of the Prince of Condé, receiving support first from Austria and then from England, continued to fight, but, alas, unfortunately for the "Condeans", in 1797 the Vienna court made peace with the French Republic. The first counter-revolutionary coalition of the European powers disintegrated. The life of Prince Condé's émigré army hung in the balance. The only hope of the "kondeans" remained the new Russian Emperor Paul I, whose knightly nobility and generosity were well known.
Emperor Pavel Petrovich favored French emigres deprived of their homeland and even gave refuge in Russia to the French King Louis XVIII, placing at his disposal the castle in Mitava. The Sovereign had a long-standing personal acquaintance and mutual sympathy with the Prince of Condé: in 1782, while still the Grand Duke, Pavel Petrovich stayed in France and stayed in a magnificent castle, known as Versailles Condé, in Chantilly ...
So, the Prince of Condé sends Baron La Rochefoucauld to Petersburg with a petition to the Emperor to accept his army into Russian service. The French King Louis XVIII also negotiated with the Russian Court about the fate of the "kondeans".
Finally, on July 20, 1797, the Russian envoy M.M. Alopeus, who gave the Prince the consent of Emperor Paul I. In August of the same year, the Emperor wrote to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, Count A.K. Razumovsky: “By our kindred generosity, We could not fail to heed the Prince's request to accept the troops under his command into Our service, and as a result We decided to give shelter to these people who sacrificed themselves in loyalty to the lawful Emperor.”
In October 1797, leaving their apartments on the shores of Lake Baden, the "Condeans" moved to Russia. By this time, there were five thousand three hundred people in their ranks. According to the terms of the transition to the Russian Imperial Service, the corps, while retaining its previous organization, had to go for quartering in the vicinity of the district town of Vladimir-Volynsky. The corps was subordinated directly to the Tsar. All of his ranks were allowed to freely profess their religion, but they pledged to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian Emperor and follow the statutes of the Russian Army.
On January 1, 1798, the Prince of Condé's corps crossed the Bug River and was met at Russian territory authorized officers and a Cossack escort. On the same day, the French emigrants on the banks of the Bug were solemnly sworn in to Emperor Pavel Petrovich.
Prince Condé was graciously received by the Tsar in St. Petersburg, bestowed with the highest Russian order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle and promoted to the rank of lieutenant general of the Russian Imperial Service. The chiefs of the regiments of the Prince of Condé corps were promoted to major generals.
To the great chagrin of the "kondeans", now they had to part with their French uniforms and put on a foreign Russian military uniform: in the Russian service, the corps of Prince Condé received uniforms and weapons that were exactly the same as the regiments of the Russian infantry and cavalry. True, the corps was awarded special banners and standards, on which, by the Highest command, along with the symbols Russian Empire there were also images of golden lilies - the emblem of the French Royal House.
Until the spring of 1799, the corps of Prince Conde served in the Volyn province, being quartered on the territory of Vladimir, Lutsk and Kovel provinces. In total, the corps consisted of five regiments:
1. French infantry noble Prince of Condé (his banner platoon consisted exclusively of knights of the French Royal Military Order of St. Louis);
2. Grenadier Duke of Bourbon;
3. German infantry of the Duke of Hohenlohe (later Colonel Durand);
4. Noble Dragoon Duke de Berry;
5. Dragoon Duke of Enghien.
The last of the named regiments was commanded by the young Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Enghien (1772-1804), Prince of the French Royal House and grandson of the Prince of Condé, who was subsequently shot at the behest of Napoleon Bonaparte in the moat of the Vincennes prison castle.
In addition, the corps included several small auxiliary units and artillery.
In the spring of 1799, the corps, having survived an unusually harsh winter for the French in Volhynia, received the long-awaited order to march: he was to, together with the troops of Lieutenant General A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov to go to Switzerland and, having entered the command of Field Marshal, Count A.V. Suvorov-Rymniksky, take part in the campaign against the Helvetian army French Republic.
Suvorov himself was a principled opponent of the French revolution that "rejected Christ and trampled on the legal government", and as early as 1795 he asked Empress Catherine II to allow the Russian Army to "go against the French", but he did not receive the Empress's consent. At the same time, in October 1795, Suvorov wrote a well-known enthusiastic appeal to one of the main leaders of the Vendée, Charette de la Contra (1763–1796), in which he expressed his admiration for the struggle of the Vendées who rebelled against the revolution and their leader. It is also known that, setting off on the Italian campaign, Suvorov visited Louis XVIII in Mitava and expressed his full support to the exiled king in the following words: ".
In the summer of 1799, the Prince of Condé's corps with the Russian Hussar General Bour's regiment attached to it (later the 2nd Life-Hussar Pavlograd Emperor Alexander III regiment) left Russia and, passing through Bohemia and Bavaria, concentrated near the Swiss city of Constanta on the shores of Lake Baden.
“I am convinced in advance,” Suvorov wrote to Prince Conde at this time, “that such a venerable corps as the one commanded by Your Royal Highness will render invaluable services, especially under such zealous and respectable command. I will have the utmost pleasure to see the Army reinforced by such brave warriors. "
On October 7, 1799, abandoned by the Austrians in an extremely uncomfortable position in Constance, the Prince of Condé's corps was suddenly attacked by the superior forces of the French Republicans and surrounded. However, being in such an unenviable position, the French emigrants showed extraordinary courage and bravery, and the Duke of Bourbon's Grenadier Regiment even managed to recapture the banner of the first battalion of the 53rd semi-brigade of the Republican army from the enemy. True, the corps of the Prince of Condé lost one of its banners in this battle. This happened under the following circumstances.
One of the corps bannermen, surrounded by the republicans with the banner, tore off the banner from the flagstaff and, wrapping himself in it, rushed into the waters of Lake Baden, where he drowned, saving the banner bestowed by the Russian Emperor at the cost of his life ...
After this battle, Lieutenant General, Prince Louis-Joseph Conde reported in a report to Suvorov: “We did everything that could be done in that impossible position in which they put me, and from which I retreated only after the loss of killed, wounded and taken in captivity (the latter are very few) about 250 people, of which 25 officers. "
Among those killed in the battle of Constance was the seventy-year-old Comte de Salgue, who commanded the Duke of Bourbon's Grenadier regiment that suffered the greatest losses. As for the captured "kondeans", the republicans decided to recognize them, as wearing the Russian uniform, prisoners of war, and not traitors to France.
In reward for the merits of the Duke of Grenadier of the Bourbon Regiment, who distinguished himself most in the battle at Constance, Emperor Paul I bestowed on him new banners with the inscription: "For taking the banner from the French at Constance in 1799". Thus, the French émigré regiment was one of the first in the history of the Russian Imperial Army to receive the banners awarded for military distinction! And non-commissioned officer Wolfer, who seized the banner from the Republicans, was promoted by the Tsar to the rank of second lieutenant.
On October 21, 1799, Emperor Paul I, wishing to strengthen the small corps of Prince Conde, ordered Suvorov to transfer the regiment to the subordination of the Prince of Jaegers, Major General Titov. But to participate in hostilities under the Russian banners "kondeytsy" no longer had a chance ...
On November 9, Suvorov informed Prince of Condé about His Imperial Majesty's decision to withdraw all Russian troops from Switzerland to Russia. However, it turned out that the corps of the Prince of Condé did not return to Russia at the end of the military campaign. The British government reached an agreement with the Russian court on the transfer of the corps under the auspices of England. As a sign of the Highest goodwill for the service of the "kondeans", Emperor Paul I left their banners, weapons and all their property to the corps.
But for the French royalists, the corps of the Prince of Condé has forever remained a symbol of preserved honor and loyalty. Even their enemies admired their bravery and loyalty to duty. So, the Emperor of the French Napoleon I once said about the “condeans”: “They were the mercenaries of our enemies - that's true, but they were them or considered it necessary to be so for the sake of their King. France ruined their cause and mourned their bravery. All devotion is heroism. "
Speaking about the history of the Corps of the Prince of Condé, it is difficult not to note the amazing parallel of fate between him and another military formation - the Russian Corps, formed in the Balkans in 1941. However, it has long been noted that the history of the French and Russian revolutions are in many ways similar. It was not for nothing that Lenin called on the Bolsheviks to "imitate the Jacobins of 1793 in everything." And, indeed, they imitated: they killed the Tsar with all the Family, launched the "red terror" according to the Jacobin model, organized persecutions against the Church ...
Of course, one shouldn't get too carried away with historical parallels. The political situation at the end of the eighteenth century cannot be directly compared with either 1917 or 1941, and the Russian White movement itself was fundamentally different from white movement in France.
Nevertheless, the fates of the volunteers of the emigrant corps - French and Russian - are surprisingly similar. Participants of both, being the military elite of their states, left their homeland as a result of the revolutionary turmoil; both those and others, fighting for the liberation of their Fatherland, were forced to receive weapons from the hands of foreigners; both of them went through the bitterness of military defeat ...
Finally, both of them, with their dedication and heroism, undoubtedly, have earned the respect and memory of their descendants.
Sources and Literature:
1. Vasiliev A.A. Royalist émigré corps of the Prince of Condé in the Russian Empire (1798–1799). - In collection: The Great French Revolution and Russia. M., 1989. S. 314–329.
2. The life of Suvorov himself described or a collection of letters and writings of him, published with notes by Sergei Glinka. M., 1819.
3. Historical description clothing and weapons Russian troops, with pictures, drawn up by the Highest command. SPb., 1900. h. 9, pp. 35–36, 116–120.
4. Milyutin D.A. The history of the war between Russia and France during the reign of Emperor Paul I in 1799 St. Petersburg, 1853. v. 4, part VI.
5. Correspondence between Suvorov and Prince Condé. // Military-Historical Bulletin ". Paris, 1972. No. 39. S. 3-10.
6. Trubetskoy N., book. Banners and Standards of the Army of the Prince of Condé, bestowed upon it by Emperor Paul I. // Military Historical Bulletin. Paris, 1957. No. 9. S. 3-5.
7. Shchepkina E.M. The Royalist Army in Russia. // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. 1889. h. CCLXI.
