Claude, Duke of Guise

Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise (20 October 1496, Château de Condé-sur-Moselle, – 12 April 1550, Château de Joinville) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528.

Claude de Lorraine
Duc de Guise
Portrait by Jean Clouet
Born(1496-10-20)20 October 1496
Château de Condé-sur-Moselle
Died12 April 1550(1550-04-12) (aged 53)
Château de Joinville
Noble familyLorraine
Spouse(s)
(m. 1513)
Issue
FatherRené II, Duke of Lorraine
MotherPhilippa of Guelders
Coat of arms of the Duke of Guise

He was a highly effective general for the French crown. His children and grandchildren were to lead the Catholic party in the French Wars of Religion.

Biography

He was the second son of René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Philippa of Guelders.[1] He was educated at the French court of Francis I. On 9 June 1513, at the age of sixteen, Claude married Antoinette de Bourbon (1493–1583),[1] daughter of François, Count of Vendôme.

Military service

Claude distinguished himself at the Battle of Marignano (1515),[2] and was long in recovering from the twenty-two wounds he received in the battle. In 1521, he fought at Fuenterrabia, and Louise of Savoy ascribed the capture of the place to his efforts. In 1523, he became governor of Champagne and Burgundy, after defeating at Neufchâteau the imperial troops who had invaded this province. In 1525, Claude defeated a peasant army near Saverne (Zabern).[3] On the return of Francis I from captivity in 1528, Claude was made Duke of Guise in the peerage of France, though up to this time only princes of the royal house had held the title of duke and peer of France. The Guises, as cadets of the sovereign House of Lorraine and descendants of the Capetian House of Anjou, claimed precedence over the Bourbon princes of Condé and Conti.

Marriage and issue

Claude married Antoinette de Bourbon,[4] daughter of François, Count of Vendôme and Marie de Luxembourg, on 9 June 1513; they had 12 children:

Ancestry

See also

  • Duke of Lorraine
  • Dukes of Lorraine family tree

Notes

  1. Wellman 2013, p. 236.
  2. Spangler 2009, p. 64.
  3. Carroll 2009, p. 35.
  4. Bell 2004, p. 127.
  5. Carroll 2009, p. 57.

References

  • Bell, Susan G. (2004). The Lost Tapestries of the City of Ladies. University of California Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Carroll, Stuart (2009). Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe. Oxford University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Spangler, Jonathan (2009). The Society of Princes: The Lorraine-Guise and the Conservation of Power and Wealth in Seventeenth-Century France. Ashgate Publishing Limited.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wellman, Kathleen (2013). Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France. Yale University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Guise, House of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 699–703.
Claude, Duke of Guise
Born: 20 October 1496  Died: 12 April 1550
Preceded by
René
Count of Guise
Lord of Elbeuf

1508–1528
Elevation
Count of Aumale
1508–1547
Succeeded by
Francis
New title
Elevation
Duke of Guise
1528–1550
Marquis of Elbeuf
1528–1550
Succeeded by
René
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