Conde

Conde, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of, known during the lifetime of his father, Duc d'Enghien, as "the Great Conde," was born in 1621. In 1641 he was compelled to marry Claire Clemence de Maille Breze, a niece of Cardinal Richelieu. In 1643 he was appointed to the chief command of the French forces, and at Rocroi inflicted a severe defeat upon the Spanish army. Again in 1644 he was sent into Germany to the relief of Turenne, and met with his usual success, defeating the Comte de Mercy at Nordlingen, and in 1646 capturing Dunkirk. During the troubles of the Fronde he espoused at first the side of the court, and ultimately, at a conference between Mazarin and Mole at Ruel, peace was arranged. Conde now sought to assume almost regal power, and with Conti and Longueville was imprisoned in 1650 by Mazarin. Popular feeling, however, grew so strong in favour of the prisoners that they had to be liberated, and Conde at once put himself at the head of another Fronde and sought assistance from Spain. The war that now began was decided at the battle of the Dunes, near Dunkirk, when Turenne, with the aid of 6,000 of Cromwell's Ironsides, defeated Conde, and the peace of the Pyrenees, 1559, was entered into, whereby Louis restored Conde to his rank in France. His further achievements embraced the reduction of Franche-Comte in 1668, the defeat of the Prince of Orange in 1673 at Senef, and his successful generalship of the army of the Rhine, in which he overcame Montecuculi. Henceforth, worn out by the excesses of his life, he retired to Chantilly, where he spent the remaining eleven years of his life, and died in 1686.