After leading so many important missions, d’Artagnan was to be entrusted by the king a rather unexpected mission: that of jailer.
In contrast to this friend Besmaux, warden of the Bastille and jailer by trade, d’Artagnan would have to accomplish a task at the same time delicate and thankless as the jail-keeper of one of the most powerful seigneurs in the kingdom, a certain Monsieur Fouquet.
This job, though temporary, was to reveal a new side of his personality.
The “Fouquet affair” officially began on the 15th August 1661 with this famous parting phrase that the King gave to his superintendent of finances: “Monsieur Fouquet, you will be hearing from me…”
It was with these ominous words that Louis XIV bade farewell to his host who had just spent an evening entertaining His Majesty in luxury and refinement at his chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte.
The king was still mourning the loss of Mazarin, and two very different men were vying to succeed the defunct minister: Colbert and Fouquet who sought, each in his own way, to win the king’s favor.
Unfortunately for Fouquet, this reception dripping with luxury would have the opposite effect that he had hoped for and would precipitate him toward his fall from grace.
Who would now take the reigns of power? Fouquet or Colbert? We know that it didn’t take long for a bitter contest to break out between the two rivals. Adroitly, the taskmaster Colbert managed to get the king to listen to him and to make him jealous of Fouquet. He took advantage of every opportunity to point out to the king, who still lived in a poor, embryonic court that did not attain the level of luxury or refinement of that of the Valois, all the odious power and insolent wealth of his greatest treasurer. Fouquet thought he could win his sovereign’s good graces by throwing a splendid party in his honor at his manor of Vaux.
Jean-Christian Petitfils
(…) Fouquet, in his chateau Vaux, had a court whose brilliance eclipsed that of the royal court. Colbert took advantage of this to turn the king against him. Conspirator, liar… the accusations against the superintendent multiplied. Convinced of his minister’s dishonesty, Louis XIV decided to eliminate him. Blinded by his own power and despite the warnings of his friends, the superintendent continued to behave in the manner befitting the most power man in the kingdom. The famous party of 17th August 1661 at the chateau Vaux only served to aggravate his case in the king’s eyes.
Odile Bordaz
Louis XIV, exasperated by Fouquet’s attitude, finally decided to eliminate him.
But to arrest him, he would have to act with prudence and subtlety. He lacked experience before the superintendent, who could count on many friends in high places.
The fact that the king chose d’Artagnan to fulfill this delicate mission was proof of his great faith in him and of the serious responsibility with which he was entrusting him.
The superintendent’s arrest (…) was decided at the end of the year 1661. Colbert prepared the mission in secret, for which he considered taking advantage of the king’s journey to Nantes. Who would arrest Fouquet: Monsieur de Gesvres, First Chamberlain, or d’Artagnan, acting commander of the king’s musketeers? The king decided on the latter, known for his energy, his promptness, his disciplined spirit and his absolute devotion to the king’s person.
Charles Samaran
We could well be surprised by so many precautions for the arrest of only one man (…) The king, a slightly maladroit young man, had only just learned the political teachings of Cardinal Mazarin. He was still quite far from the model of the overpowering Sun King that would make his reign the symbol of the most absolute form of absolutism. Timid, slow to confide himself, he had not forgotten the chaos of the Fronde nor the humiliations of his childhood, the painful memory of his flight from Saint Germain in the middle of the night, the court’s misery and poverty (…). In such conditions, it was not a light task to arrest the most powerful man in the kingdom, who could at any moment freeze his accounts, starve the Court and rally supporters.
Jean-Christian Petitfils
Fouquet’s arrest constituted a sort of coup d’état. The risks of such an undertaking were considerable, because failure could spark a war. (…) To pull off this high-risk operation, it would be indispensable to call upon the able help of a man who had proven his devotion and his courage, a man “all his own”. His choice fell without hesitation on the sub-lieutenant of the Grand Musketeers: Charles de Batz Castelmore d’Artagnan.
Odile Bordaz
The arrest was planned in the greatest detail and d’Artagnan executed the mission more or less as planned.
He had decided that Fouquet’s arrest would happen during the King’s journey to Nantes. At the end of August, the King set out with his musketeers. Colbert, Le Tellier, and Fouquet each reached Nantes separately. But, no sooner arrived, Fouquet falls sick. D’Artagnan is himself afflicted with a high fever. Could the secret have gotten out and could this fever be nothing but a feint, the King asks himself, full of suspicion. He comes to see d’Artagnan and realizes that the fever is quite real. He has no choice, therefore, but to wait.
André Laffargue
The recovery, which became like a duty of State, was not long in coming. On Sunday, 4th September, toward noon, the king led d’Artagnan into his office under the pretext of examining the company’s roster. In reality, he gave him, first orally, then in writing, the order to arrest Fouquet (…). The king’s order was thus conceived: “The king His Majesty, having resolved, for good reasons, to take into custody the person of Monsieur Fouquet, superintendent of finances, has ordered and orders Monsieur d’Artagnan, sub-lieutenant of the company of mounted musketeers, to arrest the afore-mentioned Fouquet and to escort him under sound and secure guard to the place designated by H.M. in order to correct him, assuring on his journey that said Monsieur Fouquet does not have any communication with any person whatsoever, neither spoken nor in writing. Enacted in Nantes, 4th September 1661.”
Charles Samaran
The next day, the 5th September, Fouquet arrives at the King’s Council shivering with fever. Did the King take a great interest in his health, as on previous days? Blasé, Fouquet still suspects nothing. He has no idea that his arrest has been planned to take place at his departure. And so, surrounded by solicitors at that moment, he is lost in the crowd. Has d’Artagnan failed in his mission? A moment of confusion ensues.
André Laffargue
In reality, it is not a tentative to flee; the superintendent returns home. What a relief for d’Artagnan when he finally catches sight of him at the place of the Cathedral! Without hesitation, he has him surrounded. The scene of the arrest is well known: the superintendent descends from his chair and raises his hat to the sub-lieutenant of musketeers, who wishes urgently to speak to him. Fouquet discovers the king’s letter. His face clouds for just an instant, betraying the violent emotions that are rising within him, but mastering himself he recovers and follows d’Artagnan without protest, who leads him not to the chateau, but to the nearest house.
Odile Bordaz
In any case, he did not stay there long: one of the king’s carriages, escorted by four of d’Artagnan’s subordinate officers, arrived at great speed and pulled up in front of the gate. The prisoner climbed in, accompanied by the Gascon, still surprised by the operation’s ease. And they were off! They made haste for Angers, without any major stops, passing through Mauves, Oudon and Ingrande, where Fouquet was imprisoned in the old chateau of King René.
Armand Praviel
But his mission did not end there, and d’Artagnan became Fouquet’s jailer, from Angers to Bastille, by way of Vincennes…
From that moment and for a number of years, d’Artagnan was to be Fouquet’s jailer, a role he would detest but that he would accomplish, paradoxically, to the satisfaction of both King and prisoner. And so we find Fouquet imprisoned in Angers under the guard of d’Artagnan: a stay of three months.
André Laffargue
Arriving at the chateau of King René, which the warden had just evacuated, d’Artagnan concerned himself with setting up his guard posts and decent lodging for his guests: Fouquet, his servant La Vallée and a newcomer, Pecquet, his doctor. The chateau of Angers, an old medieval fortress with its ten enormous towers truncated at the height of the crenellations, was by that time a dilapidated building without comfort and, for all intents and purposes, abandoned (…) Nothing had prepared it to become a prison. A way had to be found to lodge the prisoners in security and to give them facilities and comfort befitting their former status…
Jean-Christian Petitfils
From the king’s hired gun, from Musketeer serving the interests of the State, d’Artagnan would become, little by little, the jailer of the kingdom’s most famous prisoner of whom “the annihilation would impose the young monarch’s absolute power” (François Bluche). His letters to Colbert illustrate the tenants and logistical and financial means, as well as all the details of a mission of State that had only just begun and had to be brought to fruition…
Stéphane Beaumont
This new avatar contrasts sharply with the popular image that we have made of our hero. However, he pulled off his role marvelously, because he was serious and thoughtful (…) First of all, installed in the old chateau of Angers for all of autumn, our captain concerned himself with rendering this medieval structure less unworthy of its prisoner. As a delicate man and loyal soldier, he could not accept the idea of plunging Fouquet from the splendors of the existence to which he was accustomed into the bottom of a pit.
Armand Praviel
Alas, the poor d’Artagnan did not suspect that his career as a jailer was only just beginning. In Vincennes, where the superintendent had been transferred at the end of the year 1661, quarrels did not take long to spring up between the two officers assigned to guard him (…) These incidents led the king to call anew upon his loyal musketeer, with the mission to return incessantly to Vincennes in order to guard Fouquet and his servants as securely as he had done in Angers.
Jean-Christian Petitfils
From then on, for many months, d’Artagnan was as close to Fouquet as his own shadow; he alone penetrated into the prisoner’s room who, for his main distraction, had to be content with listening to the mass in a small adjoining chamber.
Charles Samaran
In the meantime, the investigation continued. The prosecutor from the Chamber of Justice composed his act of indictment while Fouquet’s lawyers and the latter himself elaborated the arguments of the defense under the surveillance of d’Artagnan, who was under orders to observe and listen to everything.
André Laffargue
Lawyers, commissaries, scribes and clerk filed through the dungeon of Vincennes, all carefully watched by d’Artagnan, who had to wait things out. He had already been with his prisoners at the chateau of Vincennes for a year and a half when he received the order from the king to transfer them to the Bastille.
Odile Bordaz
Fouquet was transferred to the Bastille, of which Besmaux was the warden, on 20th June. [But] d’Artagnan still remained at his prisoner’s side. He was even given the responsibility of providing food, which amounted to stealing from Besmaux a client at a hundred pounds per day…
André Laffargue
The ex-superintendent had as his lodgings a room (which would be occupied a little later by Lauzun and the great Arnaud), with a wardrobe in the tower of the chapel and a little side chamber, where a few birds sung in their cage. He had a view of the moat on one side and on the Bastille square on the other.
Charles Samaran
… a jailer who showed himself scrupulous and full of integrity toward the king but also compassionate and even caring with his prisoner. He therefore pulled off a rather risky feat, that of attracting the respect and friendship of the two opposing camps.
D’Artagnan had many opportunities to show at the same time his generosity and the strength of his character, of which the scrupulous and truthful d’Ormesson (scribe for the trial) bore witness.
Charles Samaran
Everyone could count on him, on his unshakable integrity and on his benevolence. Not only did Fouquet’s lawyers concede that he was “as honest as possible”, but Fouquet himself paid tribute to his jailer’s discretion and attention.
Odile Bordaz
The more things advanced, the more public opinion began to take the side of the superintendent: women, who had always loved him, openly declared their support for him, under the influence of Madame de Sévigné. [The judges] were concerned about the flagrant irregularities in the trial; members of the Court rallied to his cause, out of hatred for Colbert whom they accused of avarice for his financial rigor (…) D’Artagnan , for his part, remained unassailable; he carried out his instructions with such diplomacy and such humanity that the two camps rendered him homage.
Armand Praviel
For three and a half years, d’Artagnan had to guard Fouquet and bend to instructions of the utmost rigor. A rather thankless task (…) But, while executing his mission with thoroughness and constancy, he managed to put a human face on it by allowing his sympathy and compassion to shine forth, by always looking after his prisoner’s welfare, even by treatment that certainly surpassed the spirit if not the letter of his instructions.
André Laffargue
From the Bastille to the dungeon of Pignerol, d’Artagnan was again solicited to escort his prisoner, after his trial, to his place of perpetual reclusion.
The 20th December 1664, after five days of deliberations, the trial finally came to an end. Fouquet was declared guilty of abuse of power and fraud. But, thanks to a skillful defense and the intervention of Monsieur d’Ormesson, to whom d’Artagnan paid his respects, Fouquet managed to save his own skin and was only condemned to permanent exile and the confiscation of all his property…
André Laffargue
Louis XIV had hoped for a death sentence.
He declared coldly, “If he had been condemned, I would have let him die!” However, disappointed as he was by the judges’ clemency, he did not dare send the superintendent to the scaffold.
Armand Praviel
In any case, the Chamber’s act was implacable. If Fouquet had been guarded up to this point in such luxury and with so many precautions, it was less out of fear of escape than because he knew, as Abbot Bouillau said, “the government’s secrets”. It was out of the question to exile a man who knew too much concerning certain subjects. And so, doubtlessly at the instigation of Michel de Tellier, the king commuted the banishment that had been pronounced by the Court of Justice to life imprisonment. Never in the memory of any magistrate had one seen such scandal.
Jean-Christian Petitfils
It was in the prison-fortress of Pignerol, near Turin, that the king decided to send Nicolas Fouquet. He would be imprisoned there for fifteen years, until his death in 1680. His family, exiled to Montluçon, would not be authorized to move near him until 1679.
Odile Bordaz
And so d’Artagnan had the order, at the head of one hundred musketeers, to lead the prisoner across the Alps to the dungeon of Pignerol. Upon exiting the Bastille and along his journey, Fouquet was greeted with acclaiming crowds: such demonstrations were not likely to merit, on the part of the king, a softening of his sentence.
André Laffargue
D’Artagnan accomplished this last task to the satisfaction not only of the king, who sent him his congratulations through Tellier, but also to the satisfaction of Fouquet for whom, according to Madame de Sévigné, he was his “only consolation” during that terrible journey (…). The thankful Sévigné was moved and remembered the musketeer’s generosity and humanity until her death.
Charles Samaran
Having turned Fouquet over to Saint-Mars, warden of the fortress, d’Artagnan could now return to his former life: his task as jailer was over, or at least that’s what he believed.
André Laffargue
As Nicolas Fouquet’s jailer, responsible for the security of a rather extraordinary prisoner of State, d’Artagnan had just lived a great adventure. Hapless, he had found himself propelled into the very heart of one of the most important affairs of Louis XIV’s reign and one of the great trials of the century. Having accomplished his delicate mission to perfection, he garnered only praise, admiration and respect from everyone, starting with the king himself.
Odile Bordaz
In the spring of 1665, d’Artagnan returned to Paris. He resumed his military career, with honors, at the head of the Company of Musketeers until receiving another delicate mission in 1671: that of temporary jailer (again)!
Lauzun, Louis XIV’s favorite and suitor of the king’s niece, the “Grande Mademoiselle”, fell suddenly into disgrace for reasons which are still rather obscure. He was arrested and d’Artagnan found himself once more in charge of a prisoner…
It is sometimes bothersome to have accomplished a mission too well: d’Artagnan would have the opportunity to verify the truth of this paradox.
André Laffargue
A new mission in the service of His Majesty awaited the lieutenant-captain of the First Company of Musketeers during that year 1671, a mission that would bring back memories for him… When a particularly delicate affair arose, the king didn’t hesitate: he called upon d’Artagnan. And here, Louis XIV had just ordered the arrest of Antonin Nompar de Caumont, Count of Lauzun.
Odile Bordaz
D’Artagnan’s career –I am speaking of his real and historical career– had the curious particularity, among others, of being mixed up with the lives of two men whose destinies could be considered among the most extraordinary of their century, [and] at infinitely grave and serious moments… I mean Nicolas Fouquet and Antonin Nompar de Caumont (…) Lauzun, plunged from the heights of his ambitious hopes, had a heavy fall, and it was d’Artagnan who received the delicate mission of carrying out for Lauzun, as he had done for Fouquet, the king’s severe orders.
Charles Samaran
It is probable that we will never know the truth behind this strange disgrace which brought its unhappy victim ten years of hard captivity. What we can say for sure is that Lauzun, of a brutal and hot-headed character, had managed to alienate just about the entire Court and Madame de Montespan and Louvois in particular. His arrest and internment at Pignerol were the logical consequences of a comportment that was maladroit and inconsistent.
Jean-Christian Petitfils
On Wednesday, 25th November, Monsieur de Lauzun was arrested and made prisoner at Saint Germain by Monsieur de Rochefort, his coffers confiscated, and led away to Pignerol the next day by Monsieur d’Artagnan and a hundred musketeers. I learned this news at the home of Monsieur Le Nain on Thursday morning; the reason for this is not known.
Olivier Lefèvre d’Ormesson
Though of short duration, this mission would be yet another opportunity for d’Artagnan to show his humanity.
As he did for Fouquet, he made Lauzun’s journey to Pignerol more bearable, and he again accomplished his mission while keeping the respect of his superiors and his prisoner alike.
In this bad situation, as in the previous one, d’Artagnan managed to conduct himself adroitly to everyone’s satisfaction: Lauzun, the aggrieved Mademoiselle and the king himself. Besides, if he had been chosen again this time, it was certainly because one had not forgotten the tact with which he had watched over his first prisoner, earning at the same time his trust and his thanks.
Charles Samaran
Full of attention for his prisoner, as he had been with Fouquet, d’Artagnan asked him everyday what time he wished to set out and how long a journey he wished to make. Docile, Lauzun always deferred the decision to d’Artagnan. As the latter worried that his traveling companions’ continual chatting might indispose the prisoner, the former would reassure him, telling him that, far from bothering him, these conversations comforted him…
Odile Bordaz
Thus, one more time, d’Artagnan loyally accomplished the mission with which he had been entrusted, without forgetting to add, as always, that delicate touch of humanity that characterized him.
Jean-Christian Petitfils