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 128 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. duke, and was the last Constable of France. He was as rapacious as Concini, and was only less hated because, as he was a native noble, his power was less galling than that of a low-born stranger. Besides, under his guidance the king showed some spirit ; he took the part of Savoy against Spain with good effect, and gave his sister Chris- tina in marriage to the Prince of Piedmont. The Hugue- not* had meantime arranged an union of all their congregations in different provinces, their affairs being managed by a central council. Such a network was felt by government to be perilous, and was held to transgress the conditions of the Edict of Nantes. Lewis was there- fore led by Luynes to take steps against them. The counties of Foix and B&rn had been placed under the system of Calvin by Joan of Navarre ; but her grandson Lewis required the re-establishment of the Catholic Church and the restoration of all the alienated ecclesiastical property. He went in person to make the change, nor does he seem to have met with any resistance. No sooner however had he returned, than, contrary to the king's command and to all good counsel, an assembly was held by the Huguenot chiefs at Rochelle. The king now held that the conditions of Nantes were broken, and took to arms. Rochelle was blockaded by the Duke of Epernon, and Montauban by Lewis himself with the constable. Both sieges were lengthy ; fever came with autumn, and Lewis was forced to retreat, not, however, till Luynes sickened and died at the age of thirty-two, in December, 1 62 1. The next year the royal army under Condd took Monipellicr, and the Huguenots were forced to submit to the loss of all their cities, except Rochelle and Montau- ban. They were now forbidden to hold meetings for any cause save matters of religious discipline. 27. Cardinal de Richelieu, 1624. — The king was so dull and feeble that he could not live without some one to act for him, and yet he was sure to chafe against any one who had the mastery over him. For a few years there was a struggle between Mary de' Medici and the Prince of Cond(^, till at last the power was grasped by the far stronger hands of Armand Duplessis de Richelieu. This man, who was then Bishop of Lu^on, and had been lately created a cardinal, was the ablest states- man in Europe. His force of character made him as powerful as any despotic monarch, and he wielded^ his might for the aggrandizement of his country abroad and