FRANCOIS DE

See also:

• VENDOME
• VENDOME, LOUIS JOSEPH

VENDOME

See also:

• BEAUFORT
• FRANCOIS DE VENDOME BEAUFORT
• BEAUFORT, HENRY (c. 1377–1447)
• BEAUFORT, LOUIS DE (d. 1795)

BEAUFORT  , Duc DE (1616–1669), a picturesque figure in French history of the 17th century, was the second son of Cesar de Vendome, and grandson of Henry IV., by Gabrielle d'Estrees . He began his career in the army and served in the first campaigns of the Thirty Years' War, but his ambitions and unscrupulous character soon found a more congenial field in the intrigues of the court . In 1642 he joined in the conspiracy of Cinq Mars against Richelieu, and upon its failure was obliged to live in exile in England until Richelieu's death . Returning to France, he became the centre of a group, known as the " Importants," in which court ladies predominated, especially the duchess of Chevreuse and the duchess ofMontbazon . For an instant after the king's death, this group seemed likely to prevail, and Beaufort to be the head of the new government . But Mazarin gained the office, and Beaufort, accused of a plot to murder Mazarin, was imprisoned in Vincennes, in September 1643 . He escaped on the 31st of May 1648, just in time to join the Fronde, which began in August 1648 . He was then with the parlement and the princes, against Mazarin . His personal appearance, his affectation of popular manners, his quality of grandson (legitimized), of Henry IV., rendered him a favouriteof the Parisians, who acclaimed him everywhere . He was known as the Roi des Halles (" king of the markets "), and popular subscriptions were opened to pay his debts . He had hopes of becoming prime minister . But among the members of the parlement and the other leaders of the Fronde, he was regarded as merely a tool .

His intelligence was but mediocre, and he showed no

talent during the war . Mazarin, on his return to Paris, exiled him in October 1652; and he was only allowed to return in 1654, when the cardinal had no longer any reason to fear him . Henceforth Beaufort no longer intrigued . In 1658 he was named general superintendent of navigation, or chief of the naval army, and faithfully served the king in naval wars from that on . In 1664 he directed the expedition against the pirates of Algiers . In 1669 he led the French troops defending Candia against the Turks, and was killed in a night sortie, on the 15th of June 1669 . His body was brought back to France with great pomp, and official honours rendered it . See the memoirs of the time, notably those of La Rochefoucauld, the Cardinal de Retz, and Madame de Motteville . Also D'Avenel, Richelieu et la monarchie absolue (1884); Cheruel, La France sous le ministere de Mazarin (1879) ; and La France sous la minorite de Louis XIV (1882) .