l of Conde. Zealous for his country and
careless of personal slights, he marched without complaint under the
command of his rival; and his magnanimity was rewarded at the battle
of Nordlingen, in 1645, where the centre and right wing having failed
in their attack, Turenne, with the left wing, broke the enemy's right,
and falling on his centre in flank, threw it into utter confusion. For
this service he received the most cordial and ample acknowledgments
from Conde, both on the field and in his despatches to the Queen
Regent. Soon after, Conde, who was wounded in the battle, resigned his
command into the hands of Turenne. The following campaigns of
1646-47-48 exhibited a series of successes, by means of which he drove
the Duke of Bavaria from his dominions, and reduced the emperor to
seek for peace. This was concluded at Munster in 1648, and to
Turenne's exertions the termination of the Thirty Years' War is mainly
to be ascribed.

The repose of France was soon broken by civil war. Mazarin's
administration, oppressive in all respects, but especially in fiscal
matters, had produced no small discontent throughout the country, and
especially in Paris, where the Parliament openly espoused the cause of
the people against the minister, and was joined by several of the
highest nobility, urged by various motives of private interest or
personal pique. Among these were the Prince of Conti, the Duc de
Longueville, and the Duc de Bouillon. Mazarin, in alarm, endeavored to
enlist the ambition of Turenne in his favor, by offering the
government of Alsace, and the hand of his own niece, as the price of
his adherence to the Court. The viscount, pressed by both parties,
avoided declaring his adhesion to either; but he unequivocally
expressed his disapprobation of the cardinal's proceedings, and, being
superseded in his command, retired peaceably to Holland. There he
remained till the convention of Ruel effected a hollow and insincere
reconciliation between the Court and one of the jarring parties of
which the Fronde was composed. That reconciliation was soon broken by
the sudden arrest of Conde, Conti, and the Duc de Longueville. Turenne
then threw himself into the arms of the Fronde, and, at the head of
eight thousand men, found himself obliged to encounter the royal army,
twenty thousand strong. In the battle which ensued, he distinguished
his personal bravery in several desperate charges; but the disparity
was too great; and this defe