Charlotte de Laval
Encyclopedia
Charlotte de Laval, Dame de Châtillon (1530 – 3 March 1568), was a French noblewoman from one of the most powerful families in Brittany
. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny
, Seigneur de Châtillon, Admiral of France
and a prominent Huguenot
leader during the French Wars of Religion
. She was the mother of Louise de Coligny
, the fourth wife of William the Silent
, Prince of Orange
. The present British Royal Family
directly descends from her.
, France in 1530, the daughter of Guy XVI de Laval, Count of Laval, head of one of Brittany's most powerful noble families, and Antoinette d'Aillon. Her paternal grandparents were Jean de Laval and Jeanne du Perrier, and her maternal grandparents were Jacques d'Aillon and Jeanne Madeleine de Vendôme, Dame d'Illiers. She was a descendant of King Charles VI of France
and Isabeau of Bavaria
through their daughter Jeanne, Duchess of Brittany
. Charlotte's great-aunt was Jeanne de Laval
, the second wife of René I of Anjou and stepmother of English Queen consort Margaret of Anjou
.
She had a half-sister, Anne de Laval
from her father's first marriage to Charlotte of Naples
. She had a half-brother Guy XVII de Laval, Count of Laval, from her father's second marriage to Anne de Montmorency. Charlotte's father died on 20 May 1531 when she was about a year old. In addition to his many noble titles, he also held the positions of Lieutenant-General and Governor of Brittany
, and Admiral of Brittany. Her mother died on 19 April 1538, leaving Charlotte an orphan at the age of eight.
On 15 October 1547 at Fontainebleau
, Charlotte married as his first wife, Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon who would be appointed Admiral of France in 1552. He succeeded Claude d'Annebault
as admiral following the latter's death. Their principal residence was the Chateau de Châtillon-Coligny. Gaspard and Charlotte had three children:
Charlotte's husband was taken prisoner at the Battle of Saint-Quentin
in 1557, and was released two years later. It was during his imprisonment in the fortress of L'Ecluse that he avidly read the works of John Calvin
and by his release in 1559 he had become a fervent Huguenot.
She died on 3 March 1568 in Orléans
at the age of thirty-eight. In 1571, Gaspard married secondly Jacqueline de Montbel, by whom he had a posthumous daughter Beatrix, born on 21 December 1572. He had been assassinated four months earlier by paid assassins of Henry I, Duke of Guise
allegedly acting under the orders of the French queen mother Catherine de Medici. Immediately upon his death, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre commenced, in which Charlotte's son-in-law Charles de Téligny also lost his life.
Through her daughter Louise, Charlotte was the ancestress of King William III of England
, Frederick the Great, and the present British Royal Family also directly descends from her.
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny
Gaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
, Seigneur de Châtillon, Admiral of France
Admiral of France
The title Admiral of France is one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, the naval equivalent of Marshal of France.The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, during the Eighth Crusade. At the time it was equivalent to the office of Constable of France. The Admiral was responsible...
and a prominent Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
leader during the French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
. She was the mother of Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny
Louise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
, the fourth wife of William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
. The present British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
directly descends from her.
Family
Charlotte was born in BrittanyBrittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, France in 1530, the daughter of Guy XVI de Laval, Count of Laval, head of one of Brittany's most powerful noble families, and Antoinette d'Aillon. Her paternal grandparents were Jean de Laval and Jeanne du Perrier, and her maternal grandparents were Jacques d'Aillon and Jeanne Madeleine de Vendôme, Dame d'Illiers. She was a descendant of King Charles VI of France
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
and Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria was Queen consort of France as spouse of King Charles VI of France, a member of the Valois Dynasty...
through their daughter Jeanne, Duchess of Brittany
Joan of France (1391-1433)
Joan of France was a daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. Her most notable siblings were King Charles VII of France, Catherine of Valois , Isabella of Valois and Michelle of Valois, who...
. Charlotte's great-aunt was Jeanne de Laval
Jeanne de Laval
-Sources:*Accounts of John Legay, fundraiser for the Queen of Sicily, the manuscript of the library of Angers, published in the History Anjou in 1900.*King Lecoy by René de la Marche.*Conduct of King René J. Levron....
, the second wife of René I of Anjou and stepmother of English Queen consort Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...
.
She had a half-sister, Anne de Laval
Anne de Laval
Anne de Laval may refer to:*Anne de Laval , daughter of Guy XVI de Laval*Anne de Laval , wife of Guy XIII de Laval...
from her father's first marriage to Charlotte of Naples
Charlotte of Naples
Charlotte of Naples , also known as Charlotte of Aragon and Princess of Taranto, was the eldest daughter and eventual heiress of Federigo IV, King of Naples...
. She had a half-brother Guy XVII de Laval, Count of Laval, from her father's second marriage to Anne de Montmorency. Charlotte's father died on 20 May 1531 when she was about a year old. In addition to his many noble titles, he also held the positions of Lieutenant-General and Governor of Brittany
Governor of Brittany
This page is a list of royal governors of Brittany during the Ancien Regime.*Nominoe, 9th century*Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy from 1380*Jean de Laval, husband of Françoise de Foix, 16th century*Louis III de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier 1569-1582...
, and Admiral of Brittany. Her mother died on 19 April 1538, leaving Charlotte an orphan at the age of eight.
Marriage and issue
Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
, Charlotte married as his first wife, Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon who would be appointed Admiral of France in 1552. He succeeded Claude d'Annebault
Claude d'Annebault
Claude d'Annebault was a French military officer; Marshall of France ; Admiral of France ; and Governor of Piedmont in 1541. He led the French invasion of the Isle of Wight in 1545...
as admiral following the latter's death. Their principal residence was the Chateau de Châtillon-Coligny. Gaspard and Charlotte had three children:
- Louise de ColignyLouise de ColignyLouise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
(23 September 1555 – 13 November 1620), married firstly on 26 May 1571 Charles de TélignyCharles de Téligny-Biography:De Téligny belonged to a respected Huguenot family of Rouerque, and received an excellent training in letters and arms at the house of Gaspard de Coligny....
, who was killed in the St. Bartholomew's Day MassacreSt. Bartholomew's Day massacreThe St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
in 1572; on 24 April 1583, she married secondly as his fourth wife William "The Silent", Prince of Orange. She had one son by her last marriage, Frederick Henry, Prince of OrangeFrederick Henry, Prince of OrangeFrederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...
(29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) - François de ColignyFrançois de ColignyFrançois de Coligny comte de Coligny and seigeur de Châtillon-sur-Loing was a French Protestant general of the Wars of Religion. He was the son of Gaspard II de Coligny , Admiral of France .-Military career:...
, Count of Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon-sur-Loing (28 April 1557 – 8 October 1591), married Marguerite d'Ailly, by whom he had issue. - Charles de Coligny, Marquis d'Andolet (1564–1632)
Charlotte's husband was taken prisoner at the Battle of Saint-Quentin
Battle of St. Quentin (1557)
The Battle of Saint-Quentin of 1557 was fought during the Franco-Habsburg War . The Spanish, who had regained the support of the English, won a significant victory over the French at Saint-Quentin, in northern France.- Battle :...
in 1557, and was released two years later. It was during his imprisonment in the fortress of L'Ecluse that he avidly read the works of John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
and by his release in 1559 he had become a fervent Huguenot.
She died on 3 March 1568 in Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
at the age of thirty-eight. In 1571, Gaspard married secondly Jacqueline de Montbel, by whom he had a posthumous daughter Beatrix, born on 21 December 1572. He had been assassinated four months earlier by paid assassins of Henry I, Duke of Guise
Henry I, Duke of Guise
Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este...
allegedly acting under the orders of the French queen mother Catherine de Medici. Immediately upon his death, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre commenced, in which Charlotte's son-in-law Charles de Téligny also lost his life.
Through her daughter Louise, Charlotte was the ancestress of King William III of England
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, Frederick the Great, and the present British Royal Family also directly descends from her.