Conde, the name of a younger branch of the Bourbon family, the successive heads of which have played important parts in French history. I. Louis I. de Bourbon, prince de, born at Vend6me, May 7,1530, died March 13,1569. The youngest brother of Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and uncle of Henry IV., he early distinguished himself by his gallantry during the wars against Charles V. and Philip II. of Spain. He adopted the faith of Calvin, like the rest of his family, and became the chief of the Protestant party. The rival of the Guise family, he took a secret part in the conspiracy of Amboise in 1560, and was arrested at Orleans a few weeks later, sentenced to death, and saved only by the accession of Charles IX. to the throne, which put an end to the Guise influence. After the slaughter of Vassy in 1562, he took up arms, was defeated, and taken prisoner at Dreux by Francois de Guise. Being liberated by the edict of Amboise in 1563, he again revolted, and in 1567 nearly succeeded in overtaking the king and the court at Meaux, but was shortly after defeated at St. Denis, near Paris. He was amnestied by the peace of Longjumeau in 1568; but being aware of the designs of the court against him, he renewed the civil war, fought at Jarnac with undaunted courage, although he had been severely wounded, and was taken prisoner and shot by Montesquiou, an officer of the duke of Anjou. II. Henri I. de Bourbon, prince de, son of the preceding, born at Ferte-sous-Jouarre in December, 1552, died at St. Jean d'Angely, March 5, 1588. After the death of his father he joined the Protestant army, then led by Coligni. He escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew by promising to abjure Protestantism; but eluding his keepers, he fled to Germany, whence he wrote to Henry III. demanding the free exercise of his religion.

Collecting a military force, he repaired to the camp of the duke of Alengon, now the leader of the Protestants. In 1585 he was excommunicated by Pope Sixtus V. together with the king of Navarre. He died of poison administered by his servants. His wife, Catherine de la Tremouille, was suspected of having instigated the crime, and proceedings were instituted against her; but Henry IV. threw the papers into the fire, and the parliament of Paris pronounced her innocent. Suspicion has, however, attached to her memory. It has been said that she committed the crime in order to conceal the consequences of an intrigue with a page, according to some, but according to others with Henry IV. himself. III. Henri II. de Bourbon, prince de, son of the preceding, born at St. Jean d'Angely, Sept. 1, 1588, died in Paris, in December, 1646. He was born six months after the death of his father, was taken to court at the age of seven years, and brought up a Catholic. In 1609 Henry IV. caused him to be married to Marguerite de Montmorency, with whom he was himself enamored.

Conde, perceiving the attentions which the king paid to his wife, fled with her to Brussels; and Henry complained to the Spanish court on account of the favorable reception given to a prince of the blood royal who had left the kingdom without permission. Conde continued his flight to Italy, and did not return to Paris until after the death of Henry. He then joined the malcontents, and, having put forth a fierce manifesto against the government, left the court. He and his adherents were declared guilty of high treason. The treaty of Loudun (1616) between the queen and Conde restored him to his estates; but he continued his intrigues. He was arrested, thrown into the Bas-tile, and afterward imprisoned at Vincennes, where he remained three years. He then asked to be set at liberty, and appointed to a command against the Protestants. His request was granted, and in 1636 he entered Franche-Oomte, and after capturing several places laid siege to D61e. The town made a vigorous resistance, and Conde was forced to raise the siege.

He was equally unsuccessful at the siege of Fuenterrabia in 1638, but took Salces in 1639, and Elne in 1642. After the death of Louis XIII. he was admitted to the council of regency, in which he rendered signal services. ' " But his greatest glory," says Voltaire, "was to be the father of the great Conde." IV. Louis II. de Bonrbon, the great Conde, son of the preceding, born in the castle of Vincennes, Sept. 8, 1621, died at Chantilly, Dec. 11, 1686. After receiving a thorough education, he entered the military service and signalized himself by unusual intrepidity and fierceness of temper. When only 22 years old, and known as the duke d'Enghien, he was placed in command of the French army in Flanders. Contrary to the advice of the old generals who served under his orders, he gave battle to the Spaniards at Rocroy, May 19, 1643, and through skilful manoeuvres, and the impetuosity of his attacks, overpowered them; thus inaugurating by a brilliant victory the reign of Louis XIV. In 1644, being sent to Germany, he fought for three days in succession against the Bavarian Gen. Mercy, near Freiburg, and forced him to retreat.

In 1645 he again met his rival Gen. Mercy at Nordlin-gen, and engaged in a terrific conflict, during which Mercy was killed, while Conde himself was wounded, but finally achieved another triumph. In 1646 he returned to Flanders, and took Dunkirk; but the following year, in Spain, he was foiled in the siege of Lerida, and his past exploits did not shield him against ridicule and satire. But these were soon silenced by another great success, Aug. 20,1648, at Lens in Flanders. There he completed the destruction of that formidable Spanish infantry which had received the first deadly blow at Rocroy; and a still more important object was gained, this victory bringing about the end of the thirty years' war, and the peace of Westphalia, signed by France Oct. 24, 1648. At the beginning of the war of the Fronde in the next year, he for a while sided with the court against the parliament and the lords, and after a three months' siege succeeded in reinstating the young king in Paris; but dissatisfied with the reward of this service, he acted with an overbearing superciliousness which was imitated by his followers, and caused them to be styled petits maitres.

Queen Anne of Austria and Mazarin, being resolved to get rid of so despotic an auxiliary, became reconciled for a while with the chiefs of the Fronde, and had the prince arrested, in company with his brother and brother-in-law, Conti and Longueville, Jan. 18, 1650. Liberated by Mazarin, who was obliged to leave the kingdom, he repaired to Bordeaux, which city had already revolted in his behalf. He was worsted by several royalist chiefs, and especially by Turenne. The first important engagement between the two great rivals took place April 7, 1652, near B1eneau on the Loire, where, notwithstanding the numerical inferiority of his troops, Turenne conquered. "You have for the second time placed the crown of France on the head of my son," said Anne of Austria, in congratulating him upon his success. Three months later, July 2, another battle was fought under the walls of Paris in the faubourg St. Antoine, and Conde' would have been entirely defeated had not the duchess de Montpensier, then in Paris, caused the gates of the metropolis to be opened, and the artillery of the Bastile to play upon the royal army. But Paris, the parliament, and nearly all the Frondeurs were tired of the protracted struggle; and it was in vain that Conde urged them to prolong their resistance.

They made their peace with the queen, and the prince had now no other alternative than to go over to the Spaniards in the Netherlands. The French hero was now seen in the ranks of those against whom he had been so fiercely arrayed, fighting against his own countrymen. But fortune seemed to have deserted him; he shared in the defeats inflicted by Turenne upon his allies at Arras in 1654, and near Dunkirk in 1658. On the conclusion of the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, he was pardoned and allowed to return to France, where he lived at his magnificent country seat of Chantilly. Eight years afterward he was recalled to active service, and early in 1668 conquered Franche-Comte within less than three weeks. This reinstated him with the king, but not sufficiently to make the latter support him as a candidate for the crown of Poland after the abdication of John Casimir. In 1672, on the outbreak of the war against the United Provinces, Conde was placed at the head of one of the armies which invaded the Netherlands, and was wounded in the arm at the crossing of the Rhine. He afterward opposed William of Orange, whom he fought at Senef, Aug. 11, 1674, with doubtful success.

The next year he was called to Alsace to command another French army which had been entirely disorganized by the death of Turenne; he restored order, and drove Montecuculi beyond the Rhine. This was his last triumph, the infirmities consequent upon his long campaigns forcing him to retire. He repaired to Chantilly, where he was surrounded by a crowd of followers; here also he frequently received the most illustrious poets of his time, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, and Boileau. In his latter years he was especially fond of the society of Bossuet, who was his spiritual adviser, and whose funeral oration describes in a most eloquent manner the military life and Christian death of the illustrious warrior. - See Essai sur la vie du grand Conde, by Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Conde (London, 1806); "Life of the Great Conde," by Lord Mahon (London, 1840); Histoire du grand Conde, by Lemercier (Tours, 1844); and Histoire du grand Conde, by Voivreuil (Tours, 1847). V. Henri Jules de Bourbon, prince de, son of the preceding, born in 1643, died April 1, 1709. In 1650, while his father was in prison, a royal order was received that the duchess and her son, then known as the duke d'Enghien, should be conveyed to Berry. A servant, personating her mistress, detained the royal messenger while the duke and his mother took flight to Bordeaux. After many adventures the duke in 1654 rejoined his father in the Netherlands, and commenced a brilliant career in arms.

In 1663 he married Anne of Bavaria, princess palatine of the Rhine. He served in the army of Flanders in 1667, in Franche-Comte in 1668, and in Holland in 1672. In 1674 he saved the life of his father at Senef, and in 1675 captured Limburg. In his later years he manifested strange humors; his avarice and the excessive care which he took of his health rendered him the laughingstock of the court. VI. Louis III. de Bourbon, duke de Bourbon-Conde son of the preceding, born in 1668, died in Paris, March 4, 1710. He was grand master of the royal household, governor of Burgundy, and manifested military capacity equal to that of his grandfather, the great Conde; but he never held the chief command of an army. He took part in the siege of Philippsburg under the orders of the dauphin, in that of Mons under the king, and in that of Namur in 1692. He distinguished himself at the battles of Steenkerke, 1692, and Neerwinden, 1693, and in the campaign of Flanders in 1694. He died suddenly. VII. Louis Henri de Bourbon, duke de Bourbon and Enghien, son of the preceding.

See Bourbon, Louis Henri. VIII. Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Conde, son of the preceding, born at Chantilly, Aug. 9, 1736, died in Paris, May 13, 1818. He was three years old when his father, the duke de Bourbon, late minister of Louis XV., left him an orphan. He distinguished himself during the seven years' war, especially at the battle of Johannisberg, Aug. 30, 1762. His life at the commencement of the revolution was marked by many acts of munificence and liberality; but after the taking of the Bastile he was among those who at once emigrated, and, with the count d'Artois, organized on the banks of the Rhine the French army of emigrants, afterward styled armee de Conde. This body, in concert with the Austrian army with which it was incorporated, took an active part in the campaign of 1793 on the banks of the Rhine. In 1795 the prince entered into secret negotiations with Pichegru, who was in command of the republican French army, but without success. The army of Conde, increased to 10,000 men in 1796, received their pay from England, although continuing to operate with the Austrian troops.

After the peace of Campo Formio in 1797, Conde repaired to Russia, and took part with the Russians in the campaign of 1799 in Switzerland; afterward with the Austrians in that of 1800; and finally retired to England in June, 1801. On the restoration he returned to France with Louis XVIIL, who appointed him colonel general of the infantry and grand master of the royal household. He resided at Paris in the Palais Bourbon, but more frequently at Chantilly. He wrote Essai sur la vie du grand Conde (London, 1806), reprinted in the Memoir'es de la maison de Conde, published by Sevelinges in 1820. IX. Louis Henri Joseph de Bourbon, duke de Bourbon, and the last prince de Conde, son of the preceding. See Bourbon, Louis Henri Joseph. X. Louise Adelaide de Bourbon, sister of the preceding, distinguished for her piety, born at Chantilly, Oct. 5, 1757, died in Paris, March 10, 1824. Having emigrated with her family during the revolution, she became an inmate of the Carmelite nunnery of Turin, and took the veil, Sept. 27, 1797, at a convent in Switzerland. On the arrival of the republican army in that country she fled to Russia, and eventually found a refuge at Warsaw. When she heard of the death of her nephew the duke d'Enghien, she repaired to England to comfort his father; and from 1815 to the time of her death she resided in Paris, where the king presented her with the maison du Temple. She established here the religious order of the adoration perpetuelle, of which she had been a member during her stay at Warsaw, under the name of Marie Louise de la Misericorde. The letters written by her in 1786-7, to M. de la Gervaisais (an officer for whom in her early days she had conceived a Platonic love), were published by M. Ballanche in 1834. - See Histoire des princes de Conde, by the duke d'Au-male (2 vols., Paris, 1869), translated into English by Robert Brown-Borthwick (2 vols., London, 1872).