Details
ORLÉANS, Jean Baptiste Gaston, Duke of (1608-1660). Series of sixteen autograph letters signed ('Gaston') to his brother, Louis XIII, Alzonne, Béziers, Blois, La Bourdaisière, Bourbon, Chambord and n.p., 31 January 1631 - 20 December 1642, together approximately 20 pages, 4to, contemporary dockets, address leaves, seals (several integral leaves removed, trace of stitches, occasional browning, one letter spotted, traces of guards or former mounting). Provenance: Collection of L.A. Barbet (1932).
Letters declaring his loyalty and devotion to his brother the King, several after his unsuccesful rebellion of 1632 when he was obliged to flee to Brussels, and revealing his unreliability and capacity for intrigue: 'Le plus grand deplaisir que je puisse jamais avoir au monde est celuy davoir depleu at vostre majeste je la suplie tres humblement de me le vouloir pardonner et de ne sen jamais souvenir (18 September 1632). 'Je ne puis ases tesmoygner a vostre majeste mon extreme deplaisir davoir este si malheureux que de mestre separe delle de mestre retire en pais estrangers et destre entre en armes dans son royaume (29 September 1632). In the same letter Gaston renounces forthwith all actions in or outside France 'qui pourront donner le moindre ombrage ou estre desagreables a v[ot]re ma[jes]te'.
Exiled until 1634, Gaston resumes in the following year with several conciliatory letters on the arrangements of his court, and with continued expressions of loyalty (which were rewarded with the command of the army of Champagne). In one letter he denounces the Marquis de Cinq-Mars (who had conspired with Gaston against Richelieu and was executed in 1642): 'Le plus coupable de tous les hommes est M[onsieu]r Le Grand de sestre rendu indigne de tant de graces et de biens faits quil a receus de lextreme bonte de vostre majeste'. The last of the series expresses 'lexes de la douleur' which he suffers from his situation with the King.
Gaston, known as the Duc d'Anjou until 1626, was the third son of Henry IV by his marriage to Marie de Medici. He was an inveterate intriguer, and plotted to get rid of Cardinal Richelieu and also of his mother. While in Brussels he married Marguerite de Lorraine, sister of Louis XIII's enemy. In 1635 he was reconciled with his brother, but was forced to flee again on account of his conspiracy against Richelieu in 1642. He played a leading part in the activities of the Fronde in 1651. (22)
Letters declaring his loyalty and devotion to his brother the King, several after his unsuccesful rebellion of 1632 when he was obliged to flee to Brussels, and revealing his unreliability and capacity for intrigue: 'Le plus grand deplaisir que je puisse jamais avoir au monde est celuy davoir depleu at vostre majeste je la suplie tres humblement de me le vouloir pardonner et de ne sen jamais souvenir (18 September 1632). 'Je ne puis ases tesmoygner a vostre majeste mon extreme deplaisir davoir este si malheureux que de mestre separe delle de mestre retire en pais estrangers et destre entre en armes dans son royaume (29 September 1632). In the same letter Gaston renounces forthwith all actions in or outside France 'qui pourront donner le moindre ombrage ou estre desagreables a v[ot]re ma[jes]te'.
Exiled until 1634, Gaston resumes in the following year with several conciliatory letters on the arrangements of his court, and with continued expressions of loyalty (which were rewarded with the command of the army of Champagne). In one letter he denounces the Marquis de Cinq-Mars (who had conspired with Gaston against Richelieu and was executed in 1642): 'Le plus coupable de tous les hommes est M[onsieu]r Le Grand de sestre rendu indigne de tant de graces et de biens faits quil a receus de lextreme bonte de vostre majeste'. The last of the series expresses 'lexes de la douleur' which he suffers from his situation with the King.
Gaston, known as the Duc d'Anjou until 1626, was the third son of Henry IV by his marriage to Marie de Medici. He was an inveterate intriguer, and plotted to get rid of Cardinal Richelieu and also of his mother. While in Brussels he married Marguerite de Lorraine, sister of Louis XIII's enemy. In 1635 he was reconciled with his brother, but was forced to flee again on account of his conspiracy against Richelieu in 1642. He played a leading part in the activities of the Fronde in 1651. (22)
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