Louis II, Prince de Condé

Louis II, Prince de Condé, called the Great Condé (1621-86), French general, who led the nobles against the Crown in the last revolt of the so-called Fronde.

Condé was born in Paris on September 8, 1621, the great-grandson of Prince Louis I. Until the death of his father, his title was duc d'Enghien. He was trained from youth in military affairs, and in 1643, during the Thirty Years' War, he won a great victory over the Spanish at Rocroi. In 1645 he defeated an army of the Holy Roman Empire at Nördlingen, Germany. He also defeated the Spanish at Dunkerque, France, in 1646 and at Lens, France, in 1648. In 1646 Louis succeeded his father as prince de Condé. His military fame and his power, as lord of the provinces of Burgundy, Berry, and large parts of Lorraine, alarmed Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the powerful French Prime Minister. In 1648, during the Fronde, Condé led the royal forces. His brother Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti, and his brother-in-law, the duc de Longueville, supported the Frondeurs, and following the truce of 1649 Condé also sided with them. The three nobles were arrested in 1650 and liberated the following year after a new outbreak by the Frondeurs. Condé thereafter fought against the king on the side of Spain until he was defeated by Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, near Dunkerque in 1658. The following year Condé was pardoned by Louis XIV and retired. Condé later re-entered the service of Louis; he conquered the territory of the Franche Comté in 1668 and fought in the Dutch Wars. Condé was made commander of the French army in 1675. His last appearance on the battlefield was against the army of the Holy Roman Empire on the Rhine front in the same year. He died at Fontainebleau on December 11, 1686.