The princesse de Condé at the head of the Fronde des Princes: modern Amazon or femme prétexte?
* The author is agrégée in History and an allocataire-monitrice in early modern History at the Université de Toulouse II -Le Mirail. She may be contacted at vergnes.s{at}wanadoo.fr. This article has been translated by Roger Mclure, with the assistance of Malcolm Crook
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Abstract |
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We are accustomed to the contrast drawn between the flamboyant Amazons de la Fronde—the duchesses de Montpensier, Longueville and Chevreuse–and other, duller, women, who seem to have simply acted as foils for the factions which they represented. The princesse de Condé is very often included in the latter category. However, a careful scrutiny of the texts produced on and about her involvement in the Fronde des Princes, from April to October 1650, proves that she was not simply a femme prétexte, or puppet, in the hands of those who headed the struggle for the liberation of the princes. As events transpired, she slipped out of the Amazon costume in which she had been decked out and forged a public persona for herself that was less conventional, more complex and closer to her own personality. With steely pragmatism the princess alternated, as the situation required, references to the highly aristocratic Amazon and those appealing to more popular images, such as the feeble woman in search of protection or the merciful Virgin.