ANST - FW: Musing on September 12th -- Cinquing Mars

[j'lynn yeates]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1


- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 11:25
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on September 12th -- Cinquing Mars


Dear Folk,

On September 12, 1642, a twenty-two year old boy-toy of the King of
France, who had been caught raising a revolution against his liege
lord, was shortened by the headsman’s ax.

Henri Coiffier de Ruze was born in 1620. He was the son of the
marshal
Antoine Coiffier-Ruze, marquis d’Effiat. The marshal was a good
friend
of one of the most powerful men of the Middle Ages, Cardinal
Richelieu.
When Antoine died in 1632, Richelieu took young Henri under his
protective wing. Come on, we all know that cardinals have nice red
wings, don’t we?

Henri became a very pretty young man. Richelieu introduced him to
France’s number one son, Louis XIII, and by 1639 Henri, at nineteen,
had become Louis’ favorite. Louis gave him the title "maître de la
garde robe" ("master of the robes") which you may assume meant that
he
helped Louis get dressed and undressed. You may also assume many more
things, you wicked readers, and are probably right. Louis was barely
thirty-eight at the time.

Louis XIII (born 1601) was the eldest son of King Henry IV and Marie
de
Medicis, Louis succeeded to the throne upon the assassination of his
father in May 1610. Remember the Battle of the Three Henries? The
Queen
Mom was regent until Louis came of age in 1614; but she continued to
govern for three years more. As part of her policy of allying France
with Spain, she arranged the marriage (November 1615) between Louis
and
Anne of Austria, daughter of the Spanish king Philip III. Isn’t that
interesting about how Ms. Blank of Austria seems somehow to be
daughter
of the kings of Spain? Those silly Habsburgs were everywhere. Yes, it
was an arranged marriage, as most were among the royalty. What can
one
say?

By 1617 young King Louis, resentful at being excluded from power, had
taken as his favorite the ambitious Charles d'Albert de Luynes, who
soon became the "one with whom to speak" in the government. Louis
exiled his mother to Blois; and in 1619-20 she raised two
unsuccessful
rebellions. Although Richelieu (who was not yet a cardinal), her
principal adviser, led a love-in between her and Louis in August
1620,
the relationship between the King and his mother remained one of
thinly
disguised hostility. Breakfasts were brutal, lunches were laughable,
teas were tense, and suppers sarcastic. Plus Louis insisted on having
those darned poodles and the even worse Charles d’Albert around
underfoot.

Dear Charles died in December 1621. Louis was alone and had to face a
Huguenot rebellion in the south. He actually went out to battle and
was
successful against a couple strongholds. He got some nice
understandings with the Protestant folk in October. See, he could be
king, Mother! Of course it was a strain. Louis was never in great
health. He needed guidance. Even though Richelieu had been mommy’s
guy,
he was pretty danged smart. In 1624 Louis made Richelieu has
principal
minister. It was a good move.

Richelieu built back the power of the French monarchy. He worked to
decrease the Spanish-Austrian Habsburg power. He led a war against
the
Huguenot rebels at La Rochelle which fell in October 1628. Remember
Buckingham and his attempts to rescue those folk? Another boy-toy of
a
king bites the dust. Heck, he even convinced Louis to lead an army
into
Italy in 1629. Richelieu also made the nobles of France give up their
country fortresses and move into court. Not bad, keep those folks
where
you can watch them.

During the dramatic episode known as the Day of the Dupes (Nov.
10-12,
1630), the Queen Mother demanded that Louis dismiss Richelieu. After
some headscratching and cogitating, the King decided to stand by his
minister. Marie de Médicis and Gaston, duc d'Orléans, Louis'
rebellious
brother, withdrew into exile. Louis adopted the Cardinal's merciless
methods in dealing with dissident nobles. Meanwhile, Anne of Austria,
who had long been treated with disdain by her husband, had given
birth
(September 1638) to their first child, the dauphin Louis . But I
digress and for a purpose or two which may become clearer in a
moment,
he said twirling his mustachieaux.

So we have the Queen Mom and Brother Orleans being cheesed off, the
Habsburgs roasting, Richelieu in the cat bird seat, and Louis with an
heir (do not ask how) but now infatuated with Henri Coiffier-Ruze,
Cinq-Mars. Although Louis was hung-up on Cinq-Mars, the fickle young
thing put him through too many changes. Okay, they always kissed and
made up but it was drama-queens with big hair everywhere. Cinq-Mars'
extravagance, arrogance, and libertine behavior soon alarmed
Richelieu.
Cinq-Mars, no dummy, recognized that the Cardinal intended to prevent
him from gaining political influence. Cinq-Mars decided that there
were
only so many places at the table for guys wearing dresses and that
red
was just so over. It was time to croak the cardinal.

Cinq-Mars first partnered up with the Count de Soissons in an
abortive
conspiracy against Richelieu in 1641. Lucky for him, Cinq-Mars
covered
his trail and did not fall when the coup went into the potty.
Figuring
that if you wanted something done right, you ought to do it yourself,
he then devised his own plot, involving the king's brother, Gaston,
Duke d'Orléans, and other high nobles interested in getting higher.
Gaston was in exile and was just mad enough to help. The ideas was to
start many confusing small revolts. While the King was occupied, the
Spanish "friends of order" would send a peacekeeping mission over the
border to help. Okay, Spain and France were technically at war with
each other right now. Maybe Louis would misconstrue such an action.

On March 13, 1642, Cinq-Mars signed with the Spanish king Philip IV a
secret treaty by which Philip promised to aid the rebellion with arms
and troops. In a terrible blunder a copy of the document fell into
Richelieu's hands on June 11. Students, write a three hundred word
essay on how you would feel as Richelieu with that document in your
hands. Now, write a five word one on how you as Henri Cinq-Mars would
feel when you found out Richelieu had it. Two days later Cinq-Mars
was
arrested.

The 22 year old King’s favorite was tried for treason. The document
was
damning. He was convicted and beheaded on September 12, 1642.
Richelieu
died in December of that year. Louis died of tuberculosis on May 14,
1643. He was succeeded by his son, Louis XIV, the Sun King.

What have we learned? Never write down damning evidence? Some
sycophants are only patting your back to get it ready for the dagger?
Sometimes if we are content to wait a few months, those who trouble
us
will go away? Cheesed off brothers are dangerous and should be
whacked?
How about "how sharper than a serpent’s tooth is an ungrateful
child?"
I stole that.

So if you are helping a king get undressed, walking your French
poodle,
styling your wig, or simply planning on disposing of a busy-body
cleric, and you want to forward these missives off to someone (maybe
the King of Spain, who knows?) please, keep my name and sig attached.

Where is that boy with my wig?
J. Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats


=====
SmileWeavers Astrology Charts

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com>

iQA/AwUBOb7Lrs50zdvN3Vp0EQJPlwCgzw3hBD+5nupNiMLZX6KPnAuBzx8An0s0
s3iHzd7pxTrb0i1h+35af0PH
=qIdS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.