Henri Coiffier de Ruzé d'Effiat, marquis de Cinq-Mars

Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars (1620 – September 12, 1642) was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many conspiracies against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu.

Notes

In 1639, Louis had no favourite. Richelieu had introduced the young Cinq-Mars to Louis, hoping Louis would take Cinq-Mars as a lover[citation needed], apparently with success: Tallemant des Réaux in his Historiettes (chapter on Louis XIII) cites Fontrailles, who relates a scene where the king and his minion Cinq-Mars went to bed together.

The cardinal believed Cinq-Mars was easy to control. Instead, Cinq-Mars pressed the king for important favours, and tried to convince the king to have Richelieu executed.

Richelieu then had him imprisoned and beheaded in Lyon, Place des Terreaux. Tallemant relates that the king showed no emotions concerning the execution: he said --

"Je voudrais bien voir la grimace qu'il fait à cette heure sur cet échafaud" (I would like to see the face he is now making on that scaffold).

Multimedia

• Cinq Mars — Complete by Alfred de Vigny
• "Cinq-Mars" in Rathaus, Völklingen: Liliana Seyid-Boussonville, mezzo-soprano
• video
• google image search

Links

• http://www.eldacur.com/~brons/Maupin/MasterOfHorse.html
• http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Coiffier_de_Ruz%C3%A9_d%27Effiat (French)
• http://www.herodote.net/histoire/synthese.php?ID=146#CPF86618446

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