Louise Marguerite de Lorraine
Encyclopedia
Louise Marguerite of Lorraine (1588 – 30 April 1631) was a daughter of the Duke of Guise
and a member of the House of Lorraine
. She married François de Bourbon, titled the Prince of Conti
. As such, after her marriage she was the Princess of Conti
. She died without any surviving issue.
, present at Blois
outside Paris
. Her father was Henri of Lorraine
, Duke of Guise and member of the House of Lorraine. She was the penultimate child of fourteen; her brother Claude, Duke of Chevreuse
was the husband of Marie de Rohan, the famous Fronde
ur. Her oldest brother Charles
was the next Duke of Guise after the death of her father in 1588.
She was a member of the house of Guise
, a cadet branch of the house of Lorraine which was the ruling family of the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar. As a Lorraine, she was a Foreign Prince
ss at the French court.
She was named after her two godmothers; Louise
in honour of Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of France
and Marguerite
in honour of Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henry IV. She grew up in the care of her mother and paternal grandmother, Anna d'Este
.
Louise Marguerite was often considered to be a great beauty at court. She was also an intimate (as well as lover) of Henry IV of France
her future cousin by marriage.
Her husband to be was François de Bourbon, styled the Prince of Conti
. He was a son of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and his wife Eléanor de Roucy de Roye
. François was a widower having lost his first wife Jeanne de Coësmes in 1601; that marriage remained childless despite the union being for twenty years.
The couple were married at the Château de Meudon
outside Paris
on 24 July 1605 and had been used to tie together the House of Lorraine with that of the ruling House of Bourbon
. It had been said that Henry IV, the instigator of the marriage, had wanted to marry her himself but this is unlikely as when she came to court, Henry IV was already in love with Gabrielle d'Estrées
and thus is widely disputed.
On 8 May 1610, the Princess of Conti gave birth to a daughter, baptised Marie, at the Palais du Louvre
. This hild was to be the only infant born to the couple but the girl died of twelve days after birth; the child was buried at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
The death of François' on 2 August 1614 was Louise Marguerite became a widow at the age of 26. With great zeal, she became devoted to the study of literature as well as a patron of many writers of her time, including François de Malherbe
, Nicolas Renouard and Blaise de Vigenère
.
She was a lady-in-waiting
to Marie de' Medici
as well as Anne of Austria
.
She later married François de Bassompierre
in a secret ceremony. The couple are said to have had a child from their union but little information exists. Having married François, they lived together in disgrace, Louise Marguerite dying at the Château d'Eu
.
She was buried at the Collegiale Notre Dame et Saint Laurent, at Eu
, France.
She is referred to in the Histoire des amours de Henri IV, 1664, and d'Histoire des amours du grand Alcandre.
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...
and a member of the House of Lorraine
House of Lorraine
The House of Lorraine, the main and now only remaining line known as Habsburg-Lorraine, is one of the most important and was one of the longest-reigning royal houses in the history of Europe...
. She married François de Bourbon, titled the Prince of Conti
Prince of Conti
The title of Prince of Conti was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé. It was taken from Conty, a small town of northern France, c. 35 km southwest of Amiens, which came into the Condé family by the marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Condé,...
. As such, after her marriage she was the Princess of Conti
Princess of Conti
-First Creation:-Second Creation:...
. She died without any surviving issue.
Biography
Louise Marguerite was born at the Château de BloisChâteau de Blois
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her...
, present at Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
outside Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Her father was Henri of Lorraine
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...
, Duke of Guise and member of the House of Lorraine. She was the penultimate child of fourteen; her brother Claude, Duke of Chevreuse
Claude, Duke of Chevreuse
Claude de Lorraine , also called Claude de Guise, was a French noble and husband of Marie de Rohan. He was the Duke of Chevreuse, a title which is today used by the Duke of Luynes.-Biography:...
was the husband of Marie de Rohan, the famous Fronde
Fronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
ur. Her oldest brother Charles
Charles, Duke of Guise
Charles de Lorraine, 4th Duke of Guise was the son of Henry I, Duke of Guise and Catherine of Cleves.-Biography:...
was the next Duke of Guise after the death of her father in 1588.
She was a member of the house of Guise
House of Guise
The House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...
, a cadet branch of the house of Lorraine which was the ruling family of the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar. As a Lorraine, she was a Foreign Prince
Foreign Prince
Foreign Prince is the English translation of prince étranger, a high, though somewhat ambiguous, rank at the French royal court of the ancien régime.-Terminology:...
ss at the French court.
She was named after her two godmothers; Louise
Louise
Louise or Luise may refer to:People with the given name Louise or Luise:* Louise - Arts :* Louise , opera by Gustave Charpentier* Louise , a 1939 French film based on the opera...
in honour of Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
and Marguerite
Marguerite
Marguerite is the French form of a female given name which derives from the Greek Μαργαρίτης meaning "pearl")...
in honour of Marguerite de Valois, first wife of Henry IV. She grew up in the care of her mother and paternal grandmother, Anna d'Este
Anna d'Este
Anna d'Este, also Anne d’Este was an important princess with considerable influence at the court of France and a central figure in the French Wars of Religion...
.
Louise Marguerite was often considered to be a great beauty at court. She was also an intimate (as well as lover) of Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
her future cousin by marriage.
Her husband to be was François de Bourbon, styled the Prince of Conti
Prince of Conti
The title of Prince of Conti was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé. It was taken from Conty, a small town of northern France, c. 35 km southwest of Amiens, which came into the Condé family by the marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Condé,...
. He was a son of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and his wife Eléanor de Roucy de Roye
Eléanor de Roucy de Roye
Eléanor de Roucy de Roye, princesse de Condé was the eldest daughter and heiress of Charles, seigneur de Roye and de Muret, comte de Roucy. Her mother, Madeleine de Mailly, dame de Conti, was the daughter of Louise de Montmorency and half-sister of Admiral Coligny, d'Andelot, and Cardinal de...
. François was a widower having lost his first wife Jeanne de Coësmes in 1601; that marriage remained childless despite the union being for twenty years.
The couple were married at the Château de Meudon
Château de Meudon
The former Château de Meudon, on a hill in Meudon, about 4 kilometres south-west of Paris, occupied the terraced steeply sloping site. It was acquired by Louis XIV, who greatly expanded its as a residence for Louis, le Grand Dauphin...
outside Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on 24 July 1605 and had been used to tie together the House of Lorraine with that of the ruling House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
. It had been said that Henry IV, the instigator of the marriage, had wanted to marry her himself but this is unlikely as when she came to court, Henry IV was already in love with Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées
Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux was a French mistress of King Henry IV of France, born at either the Château de la Bourdaisière in Montlouis-sur-Loire, in Touraine, or at the château de Cœuvres, in Picardy....
and thus is widely disputed.
On 8 May 1610, the Princess of Conti gave birth to a daughter, baptised Marie, at the Palais du Louvre
Palais du Louvre
The Louvre Palace , on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois...
. This hild was to be the only infant born to the couple but the girl died of twelve days after birth; the child was buried at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
The death of François' on 2 August 1614 was Louise Marguerite became a widow at the age of 26. With great zeal, she became devoted to the study of literature as well as a patron of many writers of her time, including François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe was a French poet, critic, and translator.-Life:Born in Le-Locheur , his family was of some position, though it seems not to have been able to establish to the satisfaction of heralds the claims which it made to nobility older than the 16th century.He was the eldest son of...
, Nicolas Renouard and Blaise de Vigenère
Blaise de Vigenère
Blaise de Vigenère was a French diplomat and cryptographer. The Vigenère cipher is so named due to the cipher being incorrectly attributed to him in the 19th century....
.
She was a lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
to Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
as well as Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...
.
She later married François de Bassompierre
François de Bassompierre
François de Bassompierre was a French courtier.The son of Christophe de Bassompierre , he was born at the castle of Haroué in Lorraine...
in a secret ceremony. The couple are said to have had a child from their union but little information exists. Having married François, they lived together in disgrace, Louise Marguerite dying at the Château d'Eu
Château d'Eu
The Château d'Eu is a former royal residence in the town of Eu, in the Seine-Maritime department of France, in Normandy.The château d'Eu stands at the centre of the town and was built in the 16th century to replace an earlier one purposely demolished in 1475 to prevent its capture by the English...
.
She was buried at the Collegiale Notre Dame et Saint Laurent, at Eu
Eu, Seine-Maritime
Eu is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.Eu is located near the coast in the eastern part of the department, near the border with Picardie.Its inhabitants are known as the Eudois.-Geography:...
, France.
She is referred to in the Histoire des amours de Henri IV, 1664, and d'Histoire des amours du grand Alcandre.
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 1588 – 24 July 1605 Her Highness Princess Louise Marguerite of Lorraine
- 24 July 1605 – 3 August 1614 Her Serene Highness the Princess of Conti
- 3 August 1614 – 30 April 1631 Her Serene Highness the Dowager Princess of Conti