Chalais conspiracy

Gaston, encouraged by his governor Jean-Baptiste d'Ornano, did not want to marry this rich heiress, and a party of "aversion to marriage" gathered around him.

[1] D'Ornano had already been imprisoned based on false accusations by Charles de La Vieuville, Superintendent of Finances; although released and named Marshal of France, his resentment prompted him to support thwarting the king’s plan.

Queen Anne of Austria was interested in preventing Gaston’s marriage, because she wanted the royal line to consist only of her issue with the king.

[2] Marie de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse, a great enemy of the cardinal, and Superintendent of the Queen's household, also took part in the early intrigues of this group.

[6]: 191  He had grown close to Gaston following the support the prince and his friends had shown in 1623 when, in a duel, he had killed a man who claimed to be his wife’s lover.

Gaston himself was harshly reprimanded, and on 31 May he was obliged to sign a document attesting to his loyalty and obedience to the king and his mother Marie de Medicis; on the same day, the Prince of Condé abandoned the conspiracy.

[7] Gaston was hauled in before the king, Richelieu, the queen mother and the new Keeper of the Seals Marillac, and confessed to the whole affair, implicating his former accomplices.

[6]: 191  Louis XIII charged the Keeper of the Seals with conducting a judicial investigation and Chalais was tried in the Cordeliers convent in Nantes, where the court had moved during the Estates of Brittany.

[4] His wife died in childbirth the following year, leaving only one daughter, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, allowing the intrigues around him to resume shortly after.