Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1 September 1588 – 26 December 1646) was a French prince who was the head of the House of Bourbon-Condé, the senior-most cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. From the age of 2 to 12, Henri was the presumptive heir to the French throne. Henri was the father of general Louis, le Grand Condé.
Henri was a posthumous child, his father having died nearly six months before his birth. He became Prince of Condé within weeks of his birth, after being recognized and confirmed by the King of France.
Henri was born in prison after the arrest of his then-pregnant mother in the spring of 1588, following her husband's death, under suspicion that she may have poisoned him.[2] She and her children were released from their captivity after Jacques Auguste de Thou intervened on her behalf with King Henry IV, who was a relative of the young prince.
Henri was raised as a Catholic[4] at the insistence of Pope Clement VIII.[5] Henri's father and grandfather had been leaders of the Calvinist Huguenots.
Henri was raised at court but never regarded as a favorite, as he was regarded with suspicion for his potential claims to the throne. Henri grew into what his contemporary Bassompierre described as a "not amiable" young man who was quick to take offense.[6] He much preferred hunting and military life to being at court.[7]
His appearance and personality was described by a contemporary as:
Small and thin, he has very prominent facial features, as all those of the House of Bourbon usually do; he is blond and has the lively French temperament. I find him witty, but he is frivolous and often imprudent in the choice of his confidants. He speaks Latin and Italian, has Spanish and speaks it a little; he is well versed in sacred and secular letters, having had Nicolas le Febvre as his tutor, and pushes his zeal for the Catholic religion very far.
His position at court was further undermined by his relative poverty and much damaged by the court intrigues of his mother, which eventually resulted in her banishment from court.[8] Henri himself was made to deliver the news of the banishment to his mother.
In 1609, his marriage with Charlotte de Montmorency was arranged, allegedly because his uncle the king was infatuated with her and expected his nephew would allow Henry IV to take Charlotte as a mistress. Because both bride and groom were first cousins, a papal dispensation was needed. A dispensation was granted and the wedding took place at the bride's father's home in Chantilly.
Instead of bringing his wife to court as the king had demanded, Henri instead took Charlotte first to the Chateau de Breteuil and then to the Château de Muret-et-Crouttes, Henri's home in the country, where she remained under the supervision of her mother-in-law.[6] Charlotte wrote letters to her Montmorency relatives calling herself "la pauvre prisonnière" ("the poor prisoner").
The king continued to demand that Henri bring his wife to court. However, Henri instead went to Muret-et-Crouttes, where he arranged a carriage and escaped with his wife to Brussels, which was then part of the Spanish Netherlands.[9]
Some months later, in February 1610,[6] Henri relocated alone to Milan, where the Spanish government was more than happy to defy the French king's request to turn over the prince.[10] Henri took up residence in the palace of the Governor of Milan, Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes, who supplied him with a bodyguard.
Henry IV was assassinated on 14 May 1610. Finally free to return to France, Henri returned to Paris in July 1610 and was greeted by many nobles, the young king Louis XIII and the queen mother Marie de Medicis. Restored to grace, he was reinstated at court.
Condé was accused of wanting to become the king through a coup and although there was no concrete evidence to back this up, Richelieu had him arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille. He was joined by his wife who wanted to share her husband's captivity.[11]
Because of his bad health, the couple was transferred to the Chateau de Vincennes. They had a stillborn son during this time, and it was feared Charlotte would die too. The couple had two more children die at birth during their imprisonment, and they were not released until after the birth of their daughter Genevieve.
A portrait of Henri II, Prince of Condé.Henri II, Prince of Condé, Grand Veneur de France.
In 1609, Henri married Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency,[12] daughter of Henri I de Montmorency, Duke of Montmorency by his second wife, Louise de Budos.[13] In 1610, Marie de Médici, wife of King Henry IV, gave the Hôtel de Condé in Paris to Henri as part of a recompense for his agreeing to marry Charlotte. From then on, the Hôtel de Condé became the main residence of the Princes of Condé until 1764. Henri and Charlotte had six children, three of whom survived to adulthood and were all protagonists of the Fronde:
Henriette de Bourbon (3 June 1608 – 10 June 1608), died in infancy.
Jeanne de Bourbon (3 June 1608 – 10 June 1608), died in infancy.
Pierre de Bourbon (22 December 1618 – 24 December 1618), died in infancy.
Collins, James (2017). "Dynastic Instability, the Emergence of the French Monarchical Commonwealth and the Coming of the Rhetoric of "L'etat", 1360s to 1650s". In von Friedeburg, Robert; Morrill, John (eds.). Monarchy Transformed: Princes and their Elites in Early Modern Western Europe. Cambridge University Press.
Knecht, R.J. (1989). The French Wars of Religion, 1559-1598. Longman.
Pitts, Vincent J. (2009). Henri IV of France, his Reign and Age. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Pitts, Vincent J. (2000). La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627-1693. The Johns Hopkins University Press.271
Roche, Daniel (1967). "Aperçus sur la fortune et les revenus des princes de Condé à l'aube du XVIIIe siècle". Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine Année (in French). 14 (3).
Ward, A. W.; Prothero, G. W.; Leathes, Stanley, eds. (1911). The Cambridge Modern History. Cambridge University Press.
Williams, Hugh Noel (1912). The Love-affairs of the Condés: (1530-1740). Charles Scribner's Sons.
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