recognition of the reformed religion. He was consequently condemned to
death, and was only saved by the decease of Francis II. At the accession
of the boy-king Charles IX., the policy of the court was changed, and
Conde received from Catherine de' Medici the government of Picardy. But
the struggle between the Catholics and the Huguenots soon began once
more, and henceforward the career of Conde is the story of the wars of
religion (see FRANCE: _HISTORY_). He was the military as well as the
political chief of the Huguenot party, and displayed the highest
generalship on many occasions, and notably at the battle of St Denis. At
the battle of Jarnac, with only 400 horsemen, Conde rashly charged the
whole Catholic army. Worn out with fighting, he at last gave up his
sword, and a Catholic officer named Montesquiou treacherously shot him
through the head on the 13th of March 1569.

CONDE, LOUIS II. DE BOURBON, PRINCE OF (1621-1686), called the Great
Conde, was the son of Henry, prince of Conde, and Charlotte Marguerite
de Montmorency, and was born at Paris on the 8th of September 1621. As a
boy, under his father's careful supervision, he studied diligently at
the Jesuits' College at Bourges, and at seventeen, in the absence of his
father, he governed Burgundy. The duc d'Enghien, as he was styled during
his father's lifetime, took part with distinction in the campaigns of
1640 and 1641 in northern France while yet under twenty years of age.

During the youth of Enghien all power in France was in the hands of
Richelieu; to him even the princes of the blood had to yield; and Henry
of Conde sought with the rest to win the cardinal's favour. Enghien was
forced to conform. He was already deeply in love with Mlle. Marthe du
Vigean, who in return was passionately devoted to him, yet, to flatter
the cardinal, he was compelled by his father, at the age of twenty, to
give his hand to Richelieu's niece, Claire Clemence de Maille-Breze, a
child of thirteen. He was present with Richelieu during the dangerous
plot of Cinq Mars, and afterwards fought in the siege of Perpignan
(1642).

In 1643 Enghien was appointed to command against the Spaniards in
northern France. He was opposed by experienced generals, and the
veterans of the Spanish army were accounted the finest soldiers in
Europe; on the other hand, the strength of the French army was placed at
his command, and under him were the best generals of the service. The
great battle