Cinq-Mars, Marquis de

Cinq-Mars, Marquis de

 

(Henri Coiffier de Ruzé). Born 1620; died Sept. 12, 1642, in Lyon. Favorite of King Louis XIII of France.

A son of the marshal Antoine d’Effiat, Cinq-Mars was appointed chief equerry by the king in 1639. His political pretensions aroused the opposition of Cardinal Richelieu, and Cinq-Mars organized a conspiracy to kill the cardinal. The conspirators, who also included F. de Thou, a friend of Cinq-Mars, the duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIII and the duke of Bouillon, obtained a written promise of assistance from the king of Spain in March 1642. When this document fell into the hands of Richelieu, the conspiracy was exposed. Cinq-Mars and de Thou were subsequently tried and beheaded. Cinq-Mars’ conspiracy inspired A. de Vigny’s novel Cinq-Mars (1826) and C. Gounod’s opera of the same name (1877).