ABSTRACT
The return of the king to his capital, the flight of Condé, the departure of the Spanish from the Gironde estuary, the arrest of Gondi; each of these events can be chosen to represent the end of the Fronde. However its end was not as tidy as is indicated by such landmarks in the restoration of royal authority. The Fronde had a further life of some years as a continuing spirit of resistance, patchy but at times erupting in revolt; also as a general climate in which the crown had to work hard to consolidate its victory. There had to be elements of compromise. The restored monarchy was not that of the Declaration of Saint-Germain; nor however was it that envisaged by Richelieu and bequeathed by Louis XIII. The story of the Fronde will have made plain several of the reasons why that should be so; also why, when set against the aspirations of resisters and rebels, it can still properly be described as having failed.
