CONDÉ, LOUIS II DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE

1621–86, French general, called the Great Condé; son of Henri II de Condé. Among his early victories in the Thirty Years War were those of Rocroi (1643), Freiburg (1644), Nördlingen (1645), and Lens (1648). In the series of outbreaks known as the Fronde he was at first loyal to the court, but his later intrigues and ambitions caused his arrest in 1650. This precipitated the Fronde of the Princes against Cardinal Mazarin, chief councillor of state during the regency of Anne of Austria. The nobles forced Mazarin to release Condé (1651), who became leader of the rebellious army of the princes and allied himself with Spain against France. After the disintegration of the Fronde and the return to power of Mazarin, Condé was (1653–58) commander of Spanish forces against France. In the final stage of the war he was defeated (1658) in the Battle of the Dunes (see Dunes, Battle of the). After the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) between France and Spain, he was pardoned and returned to court. He fought in the Dutch War for King Louis XIV, defeating William of Orange at Seneff (1674) and forcing Raimondo Montecucculi to retreat from the Rhine (1675). His last years were spent in retirement at Chantilly.

See W. FitzPatrick, The Great Condé (1873).

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