Duc d'Angouleme

Duc d'Angouleme served as a lieutenant general in the royal army during the Siege of La Rochelle, a position that placed him at the center of a bitter command dispute that forced Cardinal Richelieu to restructure the entire besieging force. His role in the campaign was defined less by battlefield action than by the political maneuvering required to maintain his authority against rival marshals, making him a key figure in the internal power struggles that accompanied the military operations against the Huguenot stronghold.

Command and Rivalry

When the king arrived at the siege in early November 1627, he was delayed by dissensions that broke out between the marshals Bassompierre and Schomberg against the Duc d'Angouleme. Both Bassompierre and Schomberg were marshals of France and claimed their right of commanding the army under the king's orders. The cardinal, who feared that Bassompierre, a Huguenot at heart, might press but feebly against the English and Rochellais, his brothers in religion, supported the Duc d'Angouleme, whom the king, at his instigation, had named lieutenant general. To prevent Bassompierre and Schomberg from deserting the army, a separate command had to be given to each. Bassompierre took up his quarters on the north of the city, between Leu and Dompierre; the Duc d'Angouleme on the east, from Dompierre to Perigny; and Schomberg on the south, from Perigny to Angoutin. The quarters of Monsieur were at Dompierre; the king's quarters were sometimes at Estree, sometimes at Jarrie; the cardinal's quarters were upon the downs, at the bridge of La Pierre. So that Monsieur watched Bassompierre; the king, the Duc d'Angouleme; and the cardinal, Schomberg.

Role in the Siege

As soon as this organization was established, the army set about driving the English from the Isle of Re. The Duc d'Angouleme, as lieutenant general, was one of the three sector commanders responsible for the blockade of La Rochelle. The cardinal, who had to adjust matters for Bassompierre, who was embroiled with the Duc d'Angouleme, found himself managing the rivalries as much as the siege itself. The Duc d'Angouleme's position was thus a product of the cardinal's political calculation, and his command was exercised under the watchful eye of the king, who was quartered in a manner that allowed him to oversee the duke's sector.

Narrative Significance

The Duc d'Angouleme appears in the narrative primarily as a figure of administrative and political friction rather than as a dynamic character. His presence illustrates the factionalism that plagued the French high command, where personal ambition and religious sympathies complicated the prosecution of the war. The cardinal's decision to back the Duc d'Angouleme over the marshals reveals the minister's preference for loyal clients over independently powerful nobles, a pattern that runs throughout the novel. The duke's command, though real, is circumscribed by the cardinal's overarching control, and his role in the story is to embody the kind of aristocratic privilege that the cardinal both used and contained.