On his return to Paris, after his interview with the Queen-mother, Louis bestowed the government of Picardy upon De Luynes, who resigned that of the Isle of France, which he had previously held, to the Due de Montbazon his father-in-law.  The two brothers of the favourite were created Marshals of France; Brantes by the title of Duc de Piney-Luxembourg—­the heiress of that princely house having, by command of the King, bestowed her hand upon him, to the disgust of all the great nobles, who considered this ill-assorted alliance an insult to themselves and to their order—­while Cadenet, in order that he might in his turn be enabled to aspire to the promised union with the widowed Princess of Orange, was created Duc de Chaulnes.  The latter marriage was not, however, destined to be accomplished, Eleonore de Bourbon rejecting with disdain a proposition by which she felt herself dishonoured; nor can any doubt exist that her resistance was tacitly encouraged by Conde:  who, once more free, could have little inclination to ally himself so closely with a family of adventurers, whose antecedents were at once obscure and equivocal.  This mortification was, however, lessened to the discomfited favourite by the servility of the Archduke Albert, the sovereign of the Low Countries; who, being anxious to secure the support of the French king, offered to De Luynes the heiress of the ancient family of Piquigny in Picardy, who had been brought up at the Court of Brussels, as a bride for his younger brother.  Despairing, despite all his arrogance, of effecting the alliance of Cadenet with a Princess of the Blood, the favourite gladly accepted the proffered alliance; and M. de Chaulnes was appointed Lieutenant-General in Picardy, of which province De Luynes was the governor, and where he possessed numerous fine estates.

FOOTNOTES: 

[24] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 449, 450.  Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 172.  Matthieu, Hist, des Derniers Troubles, book iii. p. 626.

[25] Le Vassor, vol. ii. pp. 71, 72.  Mezeray, vol. xi. pp. 172, 173.

[26] Sismondi, vol. xxii. pp. 451, 452.  Mezeray, vol. xi. p. 174.  Bassompierre, Mem. p. 129.  Matthieu, Hist. des Derniers Troubles, book iii. p. 621.

[27] Pierre de Berulle, the descendant of an ancient and noble family of Champagne, was born on the 14th of February 1575, and soon became remarkable for his virtue and science.  He was the friend of St. Francois de Sales, the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory in France, and was promoted to the conclave by Urban VIII in 1627.  He did not, however, long enjoy his new dignity, having died at the altar while saying mass on the 2nd of October 1629, before he had attained his fifty-sixth year.  He was the author of several theological works.  An ably-written life of the Cardinal de Berulle is due to the pen of M. Hubert de Cerisy.

[28] Rohan, Mem. book i. pp. 116, 117.  Richelieu, Hist, de la Mere et du Fils, vol. ii. pp. 353, 354.  Le Vassor, vol. ii. p. 77. Mercure Francais, 1619.