On the 2nd of September the duke presented himself at the Louvre as usual.  After speaking with him for a few minutes, the queen left the room with Mazarin, and Guibaut, captain of the Guards, at once came forward and arrested him.  He was kept at the Louvre that night, and next day was taken to the castle of Vincennes.  Two companies of Swiss guards marched first, followed by a royal carriage containing the duke and Guibaut.  The carriage was surrounded by the royal musketeers.  A body of light cavalry followed, and the two companies of the Poitou regiment brought up the rear.  Thus the people of Paris were shown that the queen had both the will and the power to punish, and the fickle population, who would the day before have shouted in honour of Beaufort, were delighted at seeing that the royal authority was once again paramount in Paris.  The other members of the party of Importants either fled or were arrested.  The Campions, Beaupuis, and others, succeeded in making their escape from France.  The Marquis of Chateauneuf, governor of Touraine, was ordered back to his province.  La Chatres, colonel general, was dismissed from his post; the Duc de Vendome was forced to leave France; and the ambitious Bishop of Beauvais and several other prelates were commanded to return to their dioceses.  All the members of the Vendome family were exiled to the chateau of Annette.  Madame de Chevreuse, de Hautefort, and a large number of other members of the party were ordered to leave Paris.  Thus the party of the Importants ceased to exist.

The people of Paris seemed greatly pleased at what appeared to them the end of the troubles, and they exclaimed that Richelieu was not dead, but that he had simply changed his appearance, and had become twenty years younger.  Mazarin chose a number of soldiers belonging to his own regiment, and several officers who belonged to Richelieu’s own guard.  These were at all times to follow him wherever he went.  He selected a number of noblemen, all of distinguished merit and influence, and created five of them dukes, and thus secured to himself a party that would to some extent balance the power of his adversaries.

He also made an effort to bring about a union between the Duke of Orleans and the Condes, but failed, owing to the enormous demands that each put forward.  Conde demanded the government of Languedoc for himself, of Burgundy for Enghien, and Normandy for the Duc de Longueville, and the entire domains of his late brother-in-law, Henry of Montmorency.  Orleans on his part demanded the province of Champagne, the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the town and castle of Sedan.  As these demands, if granted, would have rendered the two families all powerful, Mazarin gave up the attempt, and decided that the best plan to prevent troubles was to let these dangerous families continue to be hostile to each other.

As soon as he had finished his work of crushing the Importants, Mazarin sent for Hector.