August 16, 1682: Birth of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, “Petit Dauphin” of France.

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Duke of Burgundy, Felipe V of Spain, Henry IV of France, King Charles I of England, Louis of Burgundy, Louis XIV, Louis XV of France., Philip of Anjou, War of the Spanish Succession

Louis, Duke of Burgundy (August 16, 1682 – February 18, 1712), was the eldest son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, and grandson of the reigning French monarch, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. He was known as the “Petit Dauphin” to distinguish him from his father, until his father died in April 1711. At that time he became the official Dauphin of France. He died in 1712 before his grandfather, the King. Upon the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the Duke of Burgundy’s son became King Louis XV.

Louis, Duke of Burgundy, “Petit Dauphin” of France

Louis was born in the Palace of Versailles, the eldest son of the young 21-year-old Dauphin, Louis, who would later be called le Grand Dauphin, and his wife, Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, the eldest daughter of Ferdinand-Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife Princess Henriette-Adelaide of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Victor-Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy and Christine-Marie of France, the second daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, thus her husband the dauphin was her second cousin.

Louis’s father was the eldest son of King Louis XIV of France, by then at the height of his powers at age 44. At birth, he received the title of Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne). In addition, as the son of the Dauphin and grandson to the king, he was a fils de France and also second in the line of succession to his grandfather, Louis XIV after his father.

Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre. (Grandfather)

Louis grew up with his younger brothers: Philippe, Duke of Anjou, who became King Felipe V of Spain; and Charles, Duke of Berry, under the supervision of the royal governess Louise de Prie. He lost his mother when he was eight. His father, viewed as lazy and dull, never played a major role in politics.

At the age of 15, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, was married to Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy (December 6, 1685 – February 12, 1712) the eldest daughter of Victor-Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and of Anne-Marie d’Orléans. Anne-Marie d’Orléans was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Henrietta of England. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans was the younger brother of Louis XIV. Henrietta of England was the youngest daughter of Charles I of England and Henrietta-Maria of France who was the youngest daughter of Henri IV of France (Henri III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici.

Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy

This made Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy were second cousins. This match had been decided as part of the Treaty of Turin, which ended Franco-Savoyard conflicts during the Nine Years’ War. The wedding took place on December 7, 1697 at the Palace of Versailles.

Military career and politics

In 1702, at the age of twenty, Louis was admitted by his grandfather King Louis XIV to the Conseil d’en haut (High Council), which was in charge of state secrets regarding religion, diplomacy and war. His father had been admitted only at the age of thirty.

In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis was given command of the army in Flanders, with the experienced soldier Louis-Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, (great-grandson of Henri IV of France via an illegitimate line) serving under him. The uncertainty as to which of the two should truly command the army led to delays and the need to refer decisions to Louis XIV.

Continued indecision led to French inactivity as messages travelled between the front and Versailles; the Allies were then able to take the initiative. The culmination of this was the Battle of Oudenarde, where Louis’s mistaken choices and reluctance to support Vendôme led to a decisive defeat for the French. In the aftermath of the defeat, his hesitation to relieve the Siege of Lille led to the loss of the city and thereby allowed the Allies to make their first incursions onto French soil.

Louis, le Grand Dauphin. (Father)

Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (Mother)

Louis was influenced by the dévots and was surrounded by a circle of people known as the faction de Bourgogne (Burgundy’s faction), which was most notably made up of his old tutor François Fénelon, his old governor Paul de Beauvilliers, Duke of Saint-Aignan and his brother-in-law Charles Honoré d’Albert, Duke of Chevreuse, as well as the renowned memorialist, Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon.

These high-ranking aristocrats sought a return to a monarchy less absolute and less centralised, with more powers granted to the individual provinces. Their view was that government should work through councils and intermediary organs between the king and the people. These intermediary councils were to be made up not by commoners from the bourgeoisie (like the ministers appointed by Louis XIV) but by aristocrats who perceived themselves as the representatives of the people and would assist the king in governance and the exercise of power. Had Louis succeeded to the throne, he might have applied this concept of monarchy.

Death and legacy

Louis became Dauphin of France upon the death of his father in 1711. In February 1712, his wife contracted measles and died on February 12. Louis himself, who dearly loved his wife and who had stayed by her side throughout the fatal illness, caught the disease and died six days after her at the Château de Marly on February 18, aged 29. Both of his sons also became infected. The elder, Louis, Duke of Brittany, the latest in a series of Dauphins, succumbed to the disease on March 8, leaving his brother, the two-year-old Louis, Duke of Anjou, who was later to succeed to the throne as Louis XV.

Since, however, it was thought that the chances of survival of this frail child, now heir apparent to his seventy-three-year-old great grandfather, were minimal, a potential succession crisis loomed.

Moreover, overnight the broad hopes of the faction de Bourgogne were destroyed and its members would soon die of natural deaths. Nonetheless, some of their ideas were put into practice when, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as regent during Louis XV’s minority, created a form of government known as polysynody, where each ministry was replaced by a council composed of aristocrats. However, the absenteeism, ineptitude and squabbling of the aristocrats caused this system to fail, and it was soon abandoned in 1718 in favour of a return to absolute monarchy.
Issue

1. Louis, Duke of Brittany (June 25, 1704 – April 13, 1705) died of convulsions;
2. Louis, Duke of Brittany (January 9, 1707 – March 8, 1712) died of measles;
3. Louis XV of France (February 15, 1710 – 10 May 1774) first engaged to Infanta Mariana-Victoria of Spain; married Marie Leszczyńska and had issue; died of smallpox.

The Sancy Diamond

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Cardinal Mazarin, Charles I of England, Charles the Bold, Crown of Louis XV, Duke of Burgundy, fleur-de-lis, French Revolution, Henry IV of France, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Louis XV of France., Mazarin Diamonds, The Louvre, The Sancy Diamond

The Sancy Diamond, a pale yellow diamond of 55.23 carats (11.046 g), was once reputed to have belonged to the Mughals of antiquity, but it is more likely of Indian origin owing to its cut, which is unusual by Western standards.

The Sancy Diamond

The shield-shaped stone comprises two back-to-back crowns (the typical upper half of a stone) but lacks any semblance to a pavilion (the lower portion of a stone, below the girdle or midsection).

History

The Sancy’s known history began circa 1570. Several sources state it belonged to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477) In 1495 the diamond passed to Charles the Bold’s cousin King Manuel I of Portugal (1469-1521 When Portugal was threatened to come under Spanish rule, claimant António, Prior of Crato fled the country with the bulk of the Portuguese Crown Jewels. He spent his life trying to get allies to regain the Portuguese throne in the French and English courts, and sold the diamond to Nicolas de Harlay, Seignure de Sancy.

Other sources claim that the diamond was purchased in Constantinople by de Sancy. He was popular in the French Court and was later French Ambassador to Turkey. Something of a gem connoisseur, de Sancy used his knowledge to prosperous advantage.

Henri IV, King of France and Navarre

Henri III of France (1551-1589) suffered from premature baldness and tried to conceal this fact by wearing a cap. As diamonds were becoming increasingly fashionable at the time, Henri arranged to borrow de Sancy’s diamond to decorate his cap. Henri IV (1553-1610) also borrowed the stone, for the more practical purpose of using it as security for financing an army. Legend has it that a messenger carrying the jewel never reached his destination, but de Sancy (by then Superintendent of Finance) was convinced that the man was loyal and had a search conducted until the site of the messenger’s robbery and murder was found. When the body was disinterred, the jewel was found in the faithful man’s stomach.

De Sancy later sold the diamond to James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland (1566-1625) in March 1605 when it is thought the Sancy acquired its name. It weighed 53 carats and cost 60,000 French crowns. It was described in the Tower of London’s 1605 Inventory of Jewels as “…one fayre dyamonde, cut in fawcetts, bought of Sauncy.” James had it set into the Mirror of Great Britain, with diamonds from the Great H of Scotland.

James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

The Sancy was briefly possessed by Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1600-1649) and then by his third son James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1633-1701). Beleaguered after a devastating defeat, James took shelter under Louis XIV of France and Navarre (1638-1715) fickle host who tired of his exiled guest. Facing destitution, James had no choice but to sell the Sancy to Cardinal Mazarin in 1657 for the reported sum of £25,000. The cardinal bequeathed the diamond to the king upon his death in 1661.

The Sancy was thus domiciled in France. In 1722 a new crown was created for King Louis XV (1710-1774). It was used at his coronation and was embellished with diamonds from the Royal Collection. The new crown was made by Laurent Ronde, the French Crown jeweller.

Crown of Louis XV

It originally contained a collection of Mazarin Diamonds, Including the Sancy diamond in the fleur-de-lis at the top of the arches, and the famous ‘Regent’ diamond, which was set in the front of the crown, as well as hundreds of other precious diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Louis XV, King of France and Navarre

The Sancy Diamond disappeared during the French Revolution when brigands raided the Garde Meuble (Royal Treasury). As well as the Sancy, other treasures stolen were the Regent diamond, and the French Blue diamond which is known today as the Hope diamond.

The Sancy was in the collection of Vasiliy Rudanovsky until 1828 when purchased by Prince Demidoff for £80,000. It remained in the Demidov family collection until 1865 when sold to Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, an Indian prince, for £100,000. He sold it only a year later, creating another gap in its history. It reappeared in 1867, displayed at the Paris Exposition, carrying a price tag of one million francs; the gem then vanished again for forty years.

The Sancy Diamond with the French Crown Jewels

The Sancy next surfaced in 1906 when bought by William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, from famous Russian collector A.K.Rudanovsky. The prominent Astor family possessed it for 72 years until the 4th Viscount Astor sold it to the Louvre for $1 million in 1978. The Sancy now rests in the Apollo Gallery, sharing attention with the likes of the Regent and the Hortensia Diamonds.

May 17, 1590: Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen Consort of Scotland.

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Anne of Denmark, Antoine de Bourbon, Catherine de Bourbon, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Frederick II of Denmark, Henry IV of France, James VI of Scotland, king James I-VI of England and Scotland, kings and queens of Scotland, Oslo Norway

Anne of Denmark (December 12, 1574 – March 2, 1619) was Queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland by marriage to King James VI-I.

Anne of Denmark

Early life

Anne was born on December 12, 1574 at the castle of Skanderborg on the Jutland Peninsula in the Kingdom of Denmark to King Frederik II of Denmark and Norway (1534-1588) and Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1557-1631)was the daughter of Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Princess Elizabeth of Denmark (a daughter of Frederik I of Denmark and Norway and Sophie of Pomerania). Through her father, a grandson of Elizabeth of Oldenburg, she descended from King Hans of Denmark.

Frederik II, King of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Schleswig.

At Princess Anne’s birth King Frederik II needed of a male heir and had been hoping for a son. Queen Sofie did give birth to a son, Christian IV of Denmark, three years later.

Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

With her older sister, Elizabeth, Anne was sent to be raised at Güstrow in the Holy Roman Empire by her maternal grandparents, Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1527-1603) and Duchess Elizabeth of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Crown Prince Christian was also sent to be brought up at Güstrow but two years later, in 1579, his father the King wrote to his parents-in-law, to request the return of his sons, Christian and Ulrich, (probably, at the urging of the Rigsråd, the Danish Privy Council), and Anne and Elizabeth returned with him.

Elizabeth of Denmark, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Anne enjoyed a close, happy family upbringing in Denmark, thanks largely to Queen Sophie, who nursed the children through their illnesses herself. Suitors from all over Europe sought the hands of Anne and Elizabeth in marriage, including King James VI of Scotland, who favoured Denmark as a kingdom reformed in religion and a profitable trading partner.

King James VI in 1586, aged twenty, three years before his marriage to Anne. Falkland Palace, Fife.

James VI’s other serious marriage possibility, though eight years his senior, was Princess Catherine de Bourbon (1559-1604) daughter of Queen Jeanne III d’Albret (1528-1572) and Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, (1518-1562). Princess Catherine de Bourbon was the sister of the Huguenot King Henri III of Navarre (1553-1610), future Henri IV of France. A match between Catherine and James VI was favoured by Elizabeth I of England.

Catherine de Bourbon of Navarre

Scottish ambassadors in Denmark first concentrated their suit on the oldest daughter, Elizabeth (1573-1625), but Frederik II had betrothed her to Heinrich-Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg promising the Scots instead that “for the second [daughter] Anne, if the King did like her, he should have her.”

Betrothal and proxy marriage

The constitutional position of Sophie, Anne’s mother, became difficult after Frederik II’s death in 1588, when she found herself in a power struggle with the Rigsraad for control of her son King Christian IV. As a matchmaker, however, Sophie proved more diligent than Frederik II and, overcoming sticking points on the amount of the dowry and the status of Orkney, she sealed the agreement by July 1589.

Anne herself seems to have been thrilled with the match. On July 28, 1589, the English spy Thomas Fowler reported that Anne was “so far in love with the King’s Majesty as it were death to her to have it broken off and hath made good proof divers ways of her affection which his Majestie is apt enough to requite.” Fowler’s insinuation, that James VI preferred men to women, would have been hidden from the fourteen-year-old Anne, who devotedly embroidered shirts for her fiancé while 300 tailors worked on her wedding dress.

Anne of Denmark

Whatever the truth of the rumours, James VI required a royal match to preserve the Stuart line. “God is my witness”, he explained, “I could have abstained longer than the weal of my country could have permitted, [had not] my long delay bred in the breasts of many a great jealousy of my inability, as if I were a barren stock.” On August 20, 1589, Anne was married by proxy to James at Kronborg Castle, the ceremony ending with James’ representative, George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, sitting next to Anne on the bridal bed.

Marriage

Anne set sail for Scotland within 10 days, but her fleet under the command of Admiral Peder Munk was beset by a series of misadventures, finally being forced back to the coast of Norway, from where she travelled by land to Oslo for refuge, accompanied by the Earl Marischal and others of the Scottish and Danish embassies.

On September 12, Lord Dingwall had landed at Leith, reporting that “he had come in company with the Queen’s fleet three hundred miles, and was separated from them by a great storm: it was feared that the Queen was in danger upon the seas.” Alarmed, James called for national fasting and public prayers, and kept watch on the Firth of Forth for Anne’s arrival from Seton Palace, the home of his friend Lord Seton.

Informed by Anne’s own letters in October that she had abandoned the crossing for the winter, in what Willson calls “the one romantic episode of his life”, James sailed from Leith with a three-hundred-strong retinue to fetch his wife personally. He arrived in Oslo on November 19 after travelling by land from Flekkefjord via Tønsberg.

Anne of Denmark

Anne and James were formally married at the Old Bishop’s Palace in Oslo on November 23, 1589, “with all the splendour possible at that time and place.” So that both bride and groom could understand, Leith minister David Lindsay conducted the ceremony in French, describing Anne as “a Princess both godly and beautiful … she giveth great contentment to his Majesty.”

A month of celebrations followed; and on December 22, cutting his entourage to 50, James visited his new relations at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, where the newlyweds were greeted by Queen Sophie, 12 year-old King Christian IV, and Christian’s four regents.

The couple moved on to Copenhagen on March 7, and attended the wedding of Anne’s older sister Elizabeth to Heinrich-Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg April 19, sailing two days later for Scotland in a patched up “Gideon”. They arrived in the Water of Leith on May 17, After a welcoming speech in French by James Elphinstone, Anne stayed in the King’s Wark and James went alone to hear a sermon by Patrick Galloway in the Parish Church. Five days later, Anne made her state entry into Edinburgh in a solid silver coach brought over from Denmark, James riding alongside on horseback.

Anne of Denmark

Anne was crowned on May 17, 1590 in the Abbey Church at Holyrood, the first Protestant coronation in Scotland. During the seven-hour ceremony, her gown was opened by the Countess of Mar for presiding minister Robert Bruce to pour “a bonny quantity of oil” on “parts of her breast and arm”, so anointing her as queen. (Kirk ministers had objected vehemently to this element of the ceremony as a pagan and Jewish ritual, but James insisted that it dated from the Old Testament.)

The king handed the crown to Chancellor Maitland, who placed it on Anne’s head. She then affirmed an oath to defend the true religion and worship of God and to “withstand and despise all papistical superstitions, and whatsoever ceremonies and rites contrary to the word of God”.

May 10, 1774: Death of King Louis XV of France & Navarre. Part I.

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Emperor Peter I of Russia, Henry IV of France, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, King Louis XVI of France, King of Navarre, le Bien-Aimé, Louis XIII of France, Louis XV of France., Peter the Great, Philippe II Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, The Beloved

Louis XV (February 15, 1710 – May 10, 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France and Navarre from September 1, 1715 until his death on May 10, 1774.

Young Louis XV, King of France and Navarre.

Ancestry

Louis XV was the great-grandson of Louis XIV and the third son of the Louis, Duke of Burgundy (1682–1712), and his wife Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Duke Vittorio-Amedeo II of Savoy and of Anne-Marie d’Orléans. Louis XV’s mother Anne-Marie d’Orléans was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England. As the maternal grandmother of King Louis XV, Henrietta of England also brought in more blood from the House of Bourbon as the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, the youngest daughter of Henri IV of France (Henri III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici.

Louis, Duke of Burgundy, father of Louis XV.

Louis XV’s father, Louis, Duke of Burgundy was the eldest son of the young 21-year-old Dauphin, Louis, who would later be called le Grand Dauphin, and his wife, Maria-Anna-Victoria of Bavaria. Louis, le Grand Dauphin was the eldest son of Louis XIV of France and Navarre and his first wife, Infanta Maria-Theresa of Spain, born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial, she was the daughter of Felipe IV-III, King of Spain and Portugal and his wife Elisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Henri IV of France and his second spouse Marie de’ Medici.

Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, mother of Louis XV.

Maria-Anna-Victoria of Bavaria, the wife of Louis, le Grand Dauphin, was the eldest daughter of Ferdinand-Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wife Princess Henriette-Adelaide of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Vitoria-Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy and Christine-Marie of France, the second daughter of Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, thus her husband the dauphin was her second cousin.

Louis, le Grand Dauphin, Grandfather of Louis XV.

Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, Grandmother of Louis XV.

Louis XV was a great-great-great grandson of the first French Bourbon King, Henri IV and a descendent through his eldest son Louis XIII. However, as we’ve seen, Louis XV also descended from Henri IV through all three of his daughters, Elisabeth, Christine-Marie and Henrietta-Maria.

Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre, great-grandfather of Louis XV.

Infanta Maria-Theresa of Spain and Portugal, Archduchess of Austria, great-grandmother of Louis XV.

Becoming Heir to the Throne

Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on February 15, 1710 during the reign of his great-grandfather, Louis XIV. When he was born, he was created the Duke of Anjou. The possibility of his becoming King seemed very remote; King Louis XIV’s oldest son and heir, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, Louis’s father (Louis, Duke of Burgundy) and his elder surviving brother (Louis, Duke of Brittany) were ahead of him in the succession.

However, the Grand Dauphin died of smallpox on April 14, 1711. On February 12, 1712 the mother of Louis, Marie-Adélaïde, was stricken with measles and died, followed on February 18, by Louis’s father, the former Duke of Burgundy, who was next in line for the throne. On March 7, it was found that both Louis and his older brother, (also named Louis) the former Duke of Brittany, who was now the new Dauphin, had the measles. The two brothers were treated in the traditional way, with bleeding. On the night of 8–9 March, the new Dauphin died from the combination of the disease and the treatment. The governess of Louis, Madame de Ventadour, would not allow the doctors to bleed Louis further; he was very ill but survived and was now the new dauphin and sole heir to his great-grandfather’s throne. When Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715, Louis, at the age of five, inherited the throne and became King Louis XV of France and Navarre.

Regency

The Ordinance of Vincennes from 1374 required that the kingdom be governed by a regent until Louis XV reached the age of thirteen. The title of Regent was given to his nearest relative, his cousin Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans, son of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, (brother of Louis XIV) and his wife, Elisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate, daughter of Charles I Ludwig, Elector Palatine of the Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel.

Philippe II, the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France

Elisabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate is directly related to several iconic European monarchs. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Stuart was a Scottish and later English princess, daughter of King James VI-I of England, Scotland and Ireland and she was the granddaughter of Mary I, Queen of Scots. Her first cousin became George I, the first Hanover King of Great Britain. Through her daughter, Élisabeth-Charlotte d’Orléans who married Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate was the great-grandmother of Archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria the wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

The Regent and Louis XV

In February 1717, when Louis XV reached the age of seven, he was taken from his governess Madame Ventadour and placed in the care of François de Villeroy, the 73-year-old Duke and Maréchal de France, named as his governor in Louis XIV’s will of August 1714. Villeroy instructed the young King in court etiquette, taught him how to review a regiment, and how to receive royal visitors.

Louis XV’s guests included the Russian Tsar Peter I the Great in 1717; contrary to ordinary protocol, the two-meter-tall Tsar picked up Louis and kissed him. Louis also learned the skills of horseback riding and hunting, which became the great passion of the young King. In 1720, following the example of Louis XIV, Villeroy had the young Louis dance in public in two ballets at the Tuileries Palace on February 24, 1720, and again in The Ballet des Elements on December 31, 1721. The shy Louis evidently did not enjoy the experience; he never danced in another ballet.

Tsar Peter I of Russia holding King Louis XV of France

End of the Regency

On June 15, 1722, as Louis XV approached his thirteenth birthday, the year of his majority, he left Paris and moved back to Versailles, where he had happy memories of his childhood, but where he was far from the reach of public opinion. On 25 October, Louis was crowned King at the Cathedral of Reims. On February 15, 1723, the king’s majority was declared by the Parlement of Paris, officially ending the regency. In the beginning of Louis’s reign, the Duke of Orleans continued to manage the government, and took the title of Prime Minister in August 1723, but while visiting his mistress, far from the court and medical care, Orleans died in December of the same year. Following the advice of his preceptor Fleury, Louis XV appointed his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, to replace the late Duke of Orléans as prime minister.

Young Louis XV, King of France and Navarre

April 28, 1573: Birth of Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême.

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Charles de Valois, Count d'Alais, Duc d’Angoulême, Henry III of France, Henry IV of France, Illegitimate, King Charles IX of France, Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Marie Touchet, The Bastille

Charles de Valois (April 28, 1573 – September 24, 1650) was a French royal bastard, Comte d’Auvergne, Duc d’Angoulême, and memoirist.

Charles de Valois, Duc d’Angoulême

Charles de Valois was the illegitimate son of King Charles IX of France and Marie Touchet. He was born at the Château de Fayet in Dauphiné in 1573. His father, dying in the following year, commended him to the care and favour of his younger brother and successor, King Henri III of France who faithfully fulfilled the charge.

His mother then married François de Balzac, marquis d’Entragues. One of their daughters (Charles’s half-sister) named Catherine Henriette afterwards became the mistress of King Henri IV of France and Navarre, first French King of the House of Bourbon.

Marie Touchet, mother of Charles de Valois

Charles de Valois was carefully educated and was destined for the Knights of Malta. At the early age of sixteen he attained one of the highest dignities of the order, being made Grand Prior of France. Shortly after he came into possession of large estates left by his paternal grandmother Catherine de’ Medici, from one of which he took his title of count of Auvergne.

King Charles IX of France, father of Charles de Valois

In 1589 Henri III was assassinated, but on his deathbed he commended Charles to the good-will of his successor Henri IV. Under King Henri IV, Charles de Valois was made colonel of horse, and in that capacity served in the campaigns during the early part of the reign. But the connection between the king and Madame de Verneuil appears to have been very displeasing to Charles, and in 1601 he engaged in the conspiracy formed by the Dukes of Savoy, Biron and Monsieur de Turenne, one of the objects of which was to force Henri to repudiate his wife and marry the marchioness.

The conspiracy was discovered; Biron and Bouillon were arrested and Biron was executed. Charles was released after a few months’ imprisonment, chiefly through the influence of his half-sister, his aunt, the Duchess of Angoulême and his father-in-law.

Charles de Valois then entered into fresh intrigues with the court of Felipe III of Spain, acting in concert with Madame de Verneuil and her father d’Entragues. In 1604 d’Entragues and he were arrested and condemned to death; at the same time the marchioness was condemned to perpetual imprisonment in a convent. She easily obtained pardon, and the sentence of death against the other two was commuted into perpetual imprisonment. Charles remained in the Bastille for eleven years, from 1605 to 1616. A decree of the parlement (1606), obtained by Marguerite de Valois, deprived him of nearly all his possessions, including Auvergne, though he still retained the title.

The Bastille (Painting from the French Revolution)

In 1616 charles was released, was restored to his rank of colonel-general of horse, and dispatched against one of the disaffected nobles, the duke of Longueville, who had taken Péronne. Next year he commanded the forces collected in the Île-de-France, and obtained some successes.

In 1619 he received by bequest, ratified in 1620 by royal grant, the duchy of Angoulême. Soon after he was engaged on an important embassy to the Holy Roman Empire, the result of which was the treaty of Ulm, signed July 1620. In 1627 he commanded the large forces assembled at the siege of La Rochelle; and some years after in 1635, during the Thirty Years’ War, he was general of the French army in Lorraine. In 1636 he was made lieutenant-general of the army. He appears to have retired from public life shortly after the death of Richelieu in 1643.

Personal life

In 1591 he obtained a dispensation from the vows of the Order of Malta, and married Charlotte, daughter of Henri, maréchal d’Amville, afterwards Duke of Montmorency and his first wife. They had had three children:
* Henri
* Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Count d’Alais, who succeeded his father as duke of Angoulême and was colonel-general of light cavalry and governor of Provence; his daughter Marie Françoise de Valois married Louis, Duke of Joyeuse;
* François, who died in 1622.

His first wife died in 1636, and in 1644 he married Françoise de Narbonne, daughter of Charles, baron of Mareuil. She had no children and survived her husband until 1713.

Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Count d’Alais

The Duke was the author of the following works:

Mémoires, from the assassination of Henri III. to the battle of Arques (1589–1593) published at Paris by Boneau, and reprinted by Buchon in his Choix de chroniques (1836) and by Petitot in his Mémoires (1st series, vol. xliv.)
Les Harangues, prononcées en assemblée de MM. les princes protestants d’Allemagne, par Monseigneur le duc d’ Angoulême (1620). A translation of a Spanish work by Diego de Torres.

To him has also been ascribed the work, La générale et fidèle Relation de tout ce qui s’est passé en l’Isle de Ré, envoyée par le Roy à la Royne sa mère (Paris, 1627).

Charles de Valois, Duc d’Angoulême died aged 77 on September 24, 1650.

This date in history: December 24, 1660. Death of Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange.

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Charles I of England, Charles II of England, Elector of Brandenburg, Elector of Hanover, Frederick William I of Brandenburg, George I of Great Britain, Henry IV of France, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Mary of England, Prince of Orange, Princess Royal, Republic of the Netherlands, Restoration, Stadthouder of the Netherlands, William II of Orange

Mary, Princess Royal (Mary Henrietta; November 4, 1631 – December 24, 1660) was Countess of Nassau by marriage to Prince Willem II of Orange and co-regent for her son during his minority as Sovereign Prince of Orange from 1651 to 1660.

Mary Henrietta was born at St. James’s Palace, London to Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, the eldest daughter of the youngest daughter of King Henri IV of France (Henri III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de’ Medici.

Mary, Princess Royal

Princess Mary was named after her mother. Her father, King Charles I, liked to call his wife Henrietta Maria simply “Maria”, with the English people calling her “Queen Mary.”

Charles I designated Mary Princess Royal in 1642, thus establishing the tradition that the eldest daughter of the British sovereign might bear this title. The title came into being when Queen Henrietta Maria, the daughter of Henri IV of France to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the French king was styled (Madame Royale). Until that time, the eldest daughters of English and Scottish kings were variously titled lady or princess (The younger daughters of British sovereigns were not consistently titled Princess of England/Scotland or Great Britain with the style Royal Highness until the accession of George I in 1714). George I of Great Britain codified styles and titles using the German system and this code is still in effect today.

Betrothal portrait of Princess Mary and Prince Willem of Orange

Her father, Charles I, wished that Mary should marry her first cousin Balthasar Carlos, Prince of Asturias, the son of Felipe IV of Spain. The Prince of the Asturias died on October 9, 1646 (aged 16) before succeeding to the throne. Mary’s first cousin, Charles I Ludwig, Elector Palatine, was also a suitor for her hand. Both proposals fell through and she was betrothed to Willem of Orange, the son and heir of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces, and of Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. The marriage took place on May 2, 1641 at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London.

The Prince and Princess of Orange

The marriage was reputedly not consummated for several years because the bride was nine years old. In 1642, Mary moved to the Dutch Republic with her mother, Queen Henrietta Maria, and in 1644, as the daughter-in-law of the stadtholder, Frederik Hendrik she became more engaged in courtly and public events.

In March 1647, Mary’s husband, Willem II, succeeded his father as stadholder. However, in November 1650, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam from his political opponents, he died of smallpox.

Co-regency

The couple’s only child, Willem III Prince of Orange and Stadthouder of the Netherlands (later William III of England, Scotland and Ireland), was born two weeks after his father’s death. Mary, now a Dowager, was obliged to share the guardianship of her infant son with her mother-in-law, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, and brother-in-law, Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg. They had more power over the young Prince’s affairs than she, as evidenced by his being christened Willem, and not Charles as she had desired.

Prince Willem II of Orange, Stadthouder of the Netherlands

She was unpopular with the Dutch because of her sympathies with her own family, the Stuarts. She lived in the palace of the Stadthouder at the Binnenhof in the Hague, the building complex that now houses the Senate of the Netherlands. Her boudoir is still intact. At length, public opinion having been further angered by the hospitality that she showed to her brothers, the exiled Charles II and the Duke of York (later James II-VII) she was forbidden to receive her relatives.

Her moral reputation was damaged by rumours that she was having an affair with (or had been secretly married to) Henry Jermyn, a member of her brother James’ household. The rumours were probably untrue, but Charles II took them seriously, and tried to prevent any further contact between Jermyn and Mary. From 1654 to 1657, Mary was usually not in Holland. In 1657, she became regent on behalf of her son for the principality of Orange, but the difficulties of her position led her to implore the assistance of her first cousin Louis XIV of France and Navarre.

Death

The restoration of Mary’s brother, Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position of the Princess of Orange and her son in Holland. In September 1660, she returned to England. She died of smallpox on December 24, 1660, at Whitehall Palace, London and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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On this date in History: May 30, 1574. Death of King Charles IX of France.

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Charles IX of France, Duke of Anjou, Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth of Austria, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Henry III of France, Henry IV of France, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Poland, Kings and Queens of France, Mary Queen of Scots, Philip II of Spain

On this date in History: May 30, 1574. Death of King Charles IX of France and the accession of his brother, the Duke of Anjou, as King Henri III of France.

King Charles IX of France

Born Prince Charles Maximilian de Valois, third son of King Henri II of France and Catherine de’ Medici, in the royal chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and styled Duke of Angoulêm from birth, he was created Duke of Orléans after the death of his older brother Louis, his parents’ second son, who had died in infancy on October 24, 1560.

King Henri II died on July 10, 1559, and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Francis II (who married Mary I, Queen of Scots on April 6, 1558). After Francis II’s short rule, (Francis II died December 5, 1560) the ten-year-old Charles Maximilian was immediately proclaimed King Charles IX of France. When Francis II died, the Privy Council appointed his mother, Catherine de’ Medici, as governor of France (gouvernante de France), with sweeping powers, at first acting as regent for her young son. On May 15, 1561, Charles IX was consecrated in the cathedral at Reims. Prince Antoine of Bourbon, himself in line to the French throne and husband to Queen Joan III of Navarre, was appointed Lieutenant-General of France.

On November 26, 1570 Charles IX married Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Maria of Spain (daughter of Carl V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, and Isabella of Portugal). With her flawless white skin, long blond hair and perfect physique, Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria was considered one of the great beauties of the era. She was also regarded as demure, pious, and warmhearted but naive and intensely innocent because of her sheltered upbringing.

Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria

Very early, around 1559, a match between Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria and the future King Charles IX of France was suggested. In 1562, the Maréchal de Vieilleville, a member of the French delegation sent to Vienna, after seeing the eight-year-old princess, exclaimed: “Your Majesty, this is the Queen of France!“. Although Vieilleville was not entitled to make an offer, Elisabeth’s grandfather, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, appeared interested: gifts were exchanged and contacts initiated between the two courts — but no one bothered to teach French to the young princess.

In 1559, after the failure of marriage plans with King Frederik II of Denmark and Prince Sebastian of Portugal, the French offer was seriously considered. Catherine de’ Medici, mother of Charles IX, and the power behind the throne, initially preferred Elisabeth’s elder sister Anna; but the latter was already chosen as the new wife of her uncle King Felipe II of Spain. Catherine de’ Medici finally agreed to the marriage with the younger Elisabeth, as France absolutely needed a Catholic marriage in order to combat the Protestant party, the Huguenots, as well as to cement an alliance between the Habsburg and the French Crown. Charles IX and Elizabeth of Austria failed to produce a male heir and the king and queen produced one daughter on October 27, 1572, born in the Louvre Palace. The child was named Marie Elisabeth after her grandmother, Empress Maria, and Queen Elizabeth I of England, who were her godmothers. In 1573, Charles IX fathered an illegitimate son, Charles, Duke of Angoulême, with his mistress, Marie Touchet.

Most of Charles IX ‘s nearly fourteen year reign was dominated by religious wars. After decades of tension, war broke out between Protestants and Catholics after the massacre of Vassy in 1562. In 1572, after several unsuccessful peace attempts, Charles ordered the marriage of his sister Margaret of Valois to King Henri III of Navarre (the future King Henri IV of France), a major Protestant nobleman who was in the line of succession to the French throne, in a last desperate bid to reconcile his people. Facing popular hostility against this policy of appeasement, Charles allowed the massacre of all Huguenot leaders who gathered in Paris for the royal wedding at the instigation of his mother Catherine de’ Medici. This event, known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, was a significant blow to the Huguenot movement, though religious civil warfare soon began anew. Charles sought to take advantage of the disarray of the Huguenots by ordering the Siege of La Rochelle, but was unable to take the Protestant stronghold.

In the aftermath of the massacre, the king’s fragile mental and physical constitution weakened drastically. His moods swung from boasting about the extremity of the massacre to exclamations that the screams of the murdered Huguenots kept ringing in his ears. Frantically, he blamed alternately himself – “What blood shed! What murders!”, he cried to his nurse. “What evil counsel I have followed! O my God, forgive me… I am lost! I am lost!” – or his mother – “Who but you is the cause of all of this? God’s blood, you are the cause of it all!” Catherine responded by declaring she had a lunatic for a son.

Charles’ physical condition, tending towards tuberculosis, deteriorated to the point where, by spring of 1574, his hoarse coughing turned bloody and his hemorrhages grew more violent.

On his last day, Charles IX called for King Henri III of Navarre, embraced him, and said, “Brother, you are losing a good friend. Had I believed all that I was told, you would not be alive. But I always loved you… I trust you alone to look after my wife and son. Pray God for me. Farewell.”

King Henri III of France

The previous year, May 16, 1573, Polish nobles chose Henri, Duke of Anjou, brother of King Charles IX, as the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania). Charles IX died on May 30, 1574, at the Château de Vincennes, aged twenty-three years and was succeeded by his brother as King Henri III of France. upon learning of the death of his brother Henri left Poland and headed back to France. Henri’s absence provoked a constitutional crisis that the Polish Parliament attempted to resolve by notifying Henri hat his throne would be lost if he did not return from France by May 12, 1575. His failure to return to Poland caused Parliament to declare his throne vacant.