The truth is, that my brother the keeper of the seals and I have always been the servants of the queen-mother; she must have had the worst of it, and Cardinal Richelieu has won the day against her and her servants." [_Memoires de Puy-Seyur._] Thus arrested in the very midst of the army he commanded, Marshal Marillac was taken to the castle of St.Menehould and thence to Verdun, where a court of justice extraordinary sat upon his case.

It was cleared of any political accusation: the marshal was prosecuted for peculation and extortion, common crimes at that time with many generals, and always odious to the nation, which regarded their punishment with favor.

"It is a very strange thing," said Marillac, "to prosecute me as they do; my trial is a mere question of hay, straw, wood, stones, and lime; there is not case enough for whipping a lackey." There was case enough for sentencing to death a marshal of France.

The proceedings lasted eighteen months; the commission was transferred from Verdun to Ruel, to the very house of the cardinal.

Marillac was found guilty by a majority of one only.