recapitulated the numerous alliances which had taken place between the royal families of France and Spain during several centuries as an explanation of the close friendship which existed between the two countries.[262] Meanwhile considerable difficulty was experienced in the equipment of the army which had been raised.  The royal treasury was exhausted, and in several provinces the revolted nobles had possessed themselves of the public monies; financial edicts were issued which created fresh murmurs among the citizens; the Princes assumed an attitude of stern and steady defiance; and the year 1616 closed amid apprehension, disaffection, and mistrust.

FOOTNOTES: 

[196] Armand Jean du Plessis, afterwards the celebrated Cardinal de Richelieu, was the third son of Francois du Plessis, Seigneur de Richelieu, Knight of the Orders of the King, and Grand Provost of France.  He was born in Paris, on the 5th of September 1585; and having been educated with great care, became an accomplished scholar.  At the age of twenty-two years he was received as a member of the Sorbonne; and having obtained a dispensation from Paul V for the bishopric of Lucon, was consecrated at Rome by the Cardinal de Givry, in 1607.  On his return to France he was introduced to the notice of Marie de Medicis by the Marquise de Guercheville and the Marechal d’Ancre.

[197] Bassompierre, Mem. p. 96.

[198] Richelieu, Hist. de la Mere et du Fils, vol. i. p. 334.

[199] Continuation of Mezeray. Hist. de France.

[200] Vie du Duc d’Epernon, book iii.

[201] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 439, 440.  Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 98, 99.  D’Estrees, Mem. p. 408.

[202] Nicolas Le Jay, Baron de Tilly, etc., Keeper of the Seals, and First President of the Parliament of Paris.  He rendered important services both to Henri IV and Louis XIII, and acquired great celebrity as a learned scholar and an upright minister.  He died in 1640.

[203] Richelieu, Mem. book vi. pp. 268-272.

[204] Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, p. 550.

[205] Fontenay-Mareuil, Mem. pp. 290-298.

[206] Henri, Duc de la Ferte de Senectere, Comte de Saint-Pol et de Chateauneuf, Vicomte de Lestrange et de Cheylard, Baron de Boulogne et de Privas, Seigneur de Saint-Marsal, de Ligny, de Dangu, de Precy, etc.

[207] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 348.

[208] Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 101, 102.  Le Vassor, vol. i. p. 464.

[209] The Duque d’Usseda was the son of the Duque de Lerma.

[210] Sismondi, vol. xxii. p. 351.

[211] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 352-354.

[212] Mercure Francais, 1615.  De Rohan, Mem. book i.  Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 105, 106.

[213] Le Vassor, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. Vie du Duc d’Epernon, book vii. Mercure Francais, 1616.  Bassompierre, Mem. p. 110.