1642: Henri Coiffier de Ruze, Marquis of Cinq-Mars
September 12th, 2012 Headsman
On this date in 1642, with the last words “Mon Dieu! Qu’est-ce que ce monde?”, 22-year-old former royal favorite Cinq-Mars was beheaded at Lyon’s Place des Terreaux.
Henri Coiffier de Ruze (English Wikipedia page | French) had been under Cardinal Richelieu’s protection since the boy’s father died in 1632; in 1639, the Red Eminence introduced the then-19-year-old whippersnapper to Louis XIII as a prospective royal favorite (read: lover).
Though the king did indeed take to the youth, Cinq-Mars, in the age-old custom of sullen teenagers everywhere, soon found the luxurious profligacy of the favorite’s life rather overbalanced by irritation at both of his sickly, aging patrons.
Tart talk to intimates graduated to something more serious after Richelieu rudely put the kibosh on Cinq-Mars’s (unrealistic) designs on a wealthy noblewoman — which was also a bid to parlay his tenuous favorite gig into some lasting power.
Now considering himself personally begrudged of the Cardinal, Cinq-Mars fell into the conspiracies (French link) to depose, assassinate, or otherwise replace him.
Eventually Cinq-Mars would go so far as a real blockbuster (French again): he signed a secret pact with the Spanish king to support a noble revolt in exchange for handing over French possessions, a seditious plan also backed by perennial plotter Gaston d’Orleans, the king’s scheming brother.
Our angry moppet had more than met his match in Richelieu, however: the cardinal’s agents intercepted (more French) the treasonable correspondence and had Cinq-Mars dispatched this date along with his confederate de Thou.
Execution of Cinq-Mars and De Thou in Paris (1642), engraving by Johann Luyken, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (via)
Richelieu himself was already dying as he undid this last conspiracy against him. The cardinal succumbed on December 4, 1642 … with Louis following him into the grave the next May.
While Richelieu’s name is fixed in the firmament of history and
On this day..
- 2020: Navid Afkari - 2020
- 1917: Private John Abigail - 2019
- 1869: An Dehai, beloved eunuch - 2018
- 1862: Not Finnigan, miner's court survivee - 2017
- 1835: Francisco Ruiz, prostrated pirate - 2016
- 1879: Pocket, on the Hallettsville hanging tree - 2015
- 2007: Daryl Holton, wanted dead - 2014
- 1864: George Nelson, Indiana Jones rapist - 2013
- 1823: Abram Antoine, revenger - 2011
- 1772: The Marquis de Sade and his servant, in effigy - 2010
- 1914: A French soldier, "yours also is a way of dying for France" - 2009
- 1860: (William) Walker, Nicaragua Ranger - 2008
Entry Filed under: 17th Century,Arts and Literature,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,France,History,Nobility,Notable for their Victims,Public Executions,Treason
Tags: 1640s, 1642, alfred de vigny, cardinal richelieu, charles gounod, cinq-mars, francois auguste de thou, gaston d'orleans, henri coiffier de ruze, literature, louis xiii, lyon, lyons, novels, opera, philip iv, revenge
looks to me like the cardinal was just a pimp, using the body of his good friends child to please his king. give me a break.cinq-mars was no fool, he was caught in a world of deceit and politics. richelieu may have had the interests of king & country. but he had a disgusting way of using his power.
Cinq-Mars was a fool! He really thought he could throw down a challenge to the all powerful Cardinal and he lost. Being the favourite of Louis XIII would not save him as in spite of of his personal dislike of Richelieu, he knew he had the best interests of France and the monarchy at heart.