years of age,
suddenly freed himself from tutelage, and with the help of the
favourite companion of his pastimes, Albert de Luynes, son of a
soldier of fortune, determined to rid himself of Concini. The
all-powerful Florentine, on 24th April 1617, was crossing the bridge
that spanned the eastern fosse of the Louvre, when the captain of the
royal Guards, who was accompanied by a score of gentlemen, touched him
on the shoulder and told him he was the king's prisoner. "I, a
prisoner!" exclaimed Concini, moving his hand towards his sword.
Before he could utter another word he fell dead, riddled with pistol
shots; Louis appeared at a window, and all the Louvre resounded with
cries of "_Vive le roi!_" Concini's wife, to whom he owed his
ascendency over the queen-mother, was accused of sorcery, beheaded and
burnt on the Place de Greve; Marie was packed off to Blois and
Richelieu exiled to his bishopric of Lucon. De Luynes, enriched by the
confiscated wealth of the Concini, now became supreme at Paris only to
demonstrate a pitiful incapacity. The nobles had risen and were
rallying round Marie; the Protestants were defying the state; but
Luynes was impotent, and soon went to a dishonoured grave, leaving
chaos behind him.

Richelieu's star was now in the ascendant. The king drew near to his
mother, and both turned to the one man who seemed able to knit
together the distracted state. A cardinal's hat was obtained for him
from Rome, and the illustrious churchman ruled in Paris for eighteen
years. Everything went down before his commanding genius, his iron
will and his indefatigable industry. "I reflect long," said he,
"before making a decision, but once my mind is made up, I go straight
to the goal. I mow down all before me, and cover all with my scarlet
robe." The Huguenots, backed by the English, aimed at founding an
independent republic: Richelieu captured La Rochelle[133] and wiped
them out as a political party. The great nobles sought to divide power
with the crown: he demolished their fortresses, made them bow their
necks to the royal yoke or chopped off their heads. They defied the
king's edict against duelling: the Count of Bouteville, the most
notorious duellist of his time, and the Count of Les Chapelles were
sent to the scaffold for having defiantly fought duels in the Place
Royale in open noonday, at which the Marquis of Buffy was killed. The
execution made a profound impression, for the Count was a Montmorency,
and