René II, Duke of Lorraine
Encyclopedia
Counts and dukes of Bar
Bar was a historic duchy of both the Holy Roman Empire and the crown of France, though later totally incorporated with Lorraine into France in 1766. The duchy of Bar includes the "pays" of Barrois.- History :...
from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
and the County of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
as the Duke of Calabria
Duke of Calabria
Duke of Calabria was the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu of the royal title....
1480–1493 and as King of Naples and Jerusalem
Kings of Jerusalem
This is a list of kings of Jerusalem, from 1099 to 1291, as well as claimants to the title up to the present day.-Kings of Jerusalem :...
1493–1508. He succeeded his uncle John of Vaudémont
John of Vaudémont
John VI of Harcourt was a count of Harcourt. He was son of John V of Harcourt and Blanche of Ponthieu who was the sister of Jeanne of Ponthieu....
as Count of Harcourt in 1473, exchanging it for the county of Aumale in 1495. He succeeded as Count of Guise in 1504.
Life
He was born in AngersAngers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, the son of Yolande of Lorraine and Frederick, Count of Vaudémont
Frederick II of Vaudémont
Frederick II of Vaudémont , also known as Frederick II of Lorraine, was Count of Vaudémont and Lord of Joinville from 1458 to 1470. He was son of Antoine of Lorraine, Count of Vaudémont and Lord of Joinville and Marie, Countess of Aumale and Baroness of Elbeuf...
.
René spent his youth in the court of his grandfather René I of Anjou
René I of Naples
René of Anjou , also known as René I of Naples and Good King René , was Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence , Count of Piedmont, Duke of Bar , Duke of Lorraine , King of Naples , titular King of Jerusalem...
between Angers and Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
, succeeding to his father in Vaudémont in 1470 and, three years later, to his uncle as captain of Angers, senechal and governor of Anjou. In the same year he became Duke of Lorraine, which was at the time under the pressure of both Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
and Charles the Bold of Burgundy, with whom he initially allied. When the latter began to establish garrisons in Lorraine, however, René secretly allied with Louis (1474). Charles invaded the duchy and René was forced to quit Nancy (30 November 1475). He regained the city on 5 October the following year and moved to Switzerland to hire an army of Swiss mercenaries
Swiss mercenaries
Swiss mercenaries were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially the armies of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Later Middle Ages into the Age of the European Enlightenment...
; with this force René defeated Charles at the Battle of Nancy
Battle of Nancy
The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and René II, Duke of Lorraine...
(5 January 1477). In 1476, upon the death of his grandmother, he became sole Count of Harcourt and Baron of Elbeuf.
Later, René got to bad terms with Louis, who had taken most of his heritage. He moved to Italy and defeated the Duke of Ferrara in the Battle of Adria as an ally of the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
.
When his mother Yolande died in 1483, he succeeded as Duke of Bar
Counts and dukes of Bar
Bar was a historic duchy of both the Holy Roman Empire and the crown of France, though later totally incorporated with Lorraine into France in 1766. The duchy of Bar includes the "pays" of Barrois.- History :...
, and in her claims to the kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem.
In 1485 René took part in the first phase of the so called "Mad War
Mad War
The Mad War , also known as the War of the Public Weal, was a late Medieval conflict between a coalition of feudal lords and the French monarchy. It occurred during the regency of Anne of Beaujeu in the period after the death of Louis XI and before the majority of the young king Charles VIII...
", but prudentially retired after a while. In 1488 the Neapolitans offered him the crown of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, and René set an expedition to gain possession of the realm; he was however halted by the new French king, Charles VIII
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
, who intended to claim the realm himself.
In 1495, to settle a dispute with his second cousin, Jean IV de Rieux, over their grandmothers' inheritance, he ceded to Jean the county of Harcourt and its appurtenances, retaining only Elbeuf
Lords, Marquesses and Dukes of Elbeuf
The Seigneurie of Elbeuf, later a marquisate, dukedom and peerage, was based on the territory of Elbeuf in the Vexin, possessed first by the Counts of Valois and then the Counts of Meulan before passing to the House of Harcourt. In 1265, it was erected into a seigneurie for them...
and Brionne
Brionne
Brionne is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.-Population:-Sights:The keep, built in the 11th century was one of the rare Norman squareshaped defensive keeps, reminding of British architecture. It was destroyed in the 18th century.The church Saint-Martin has a...
, and receiving the county of Aumale.
René fell ill during a hunt in Fains
Fains
Fains is a commune in the Eure department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Population:...
, and died in December 1508.
Family and children
On his mother's side, he was a grandson of Isabella, Duchess of LorraineIsabella, Duchess of Lorraine
Isabella was suo jure Duchess of Lorraine, from 25 January 1431 to her death in 1453. She was the first wife of Duke Rene of Anjou, King of Naples, and the mother of his children, which included Margaret of Anjou, Queen consort of England as the wife of Henry VI.From 1435 to 1442, Isabella was...
. His father was a member of the Vaudémont family, a junior branch of the Lorraine ducal family, descending from John I, Duke of Lorraine
John I, Duke of Lorraine
John I was the duke of Lorraine from 1346 to his death. As an infant of six months, he succeeded his father, Rudolph, who was killed in the Battle of Crécy. His mother was Mary, daughter of Guy I of Blois....
. He was thus both heir-general and heir-male to the Duchy when he succeeded on the death of his cousin Nicholas
Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine
Nicholas of Anjou was the son of John II, Duke of Lorraine and Marie de Bourbon.He succeeded his father in 1470 as Duke of Lorraine, and assumed the titles of Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, Duke of Calabria, and Prince of Girona, as heir apparent of Bar, Naples, and Aragon respectively.He did not...
in 1473.
On 9 September 1471 he married Jeanne d'Harcourt (d. 1488), Countess of Tancarville
Tancarville
Tancarville is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Upper Normandy region of northern France.-Geography:Tancarville is a farming village surrounded by woodland, by the banks of the river Seine in the Pays de Caux, some east of Le Havre and near the junction of the D39, D982 and D910...
, but the marriage was annulled in 1485.
René married Phillipa of Guelders, daughter of Adolf, Duke of Guelders, 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...
on 1 September 1485 and had the following children:
- Charles (b. 17 August 1486, Nancy), d. young
- François (5 July 1487, Pont-à-MoussonPont-à-MoussonPont-à-Mousson is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.Population : 14,592 . It is an industrial town , situated on the Moselle River...
) (died at birth) - Antoine, Duke of LorraineAntoine, Duke of LorraineAntoine , known as the Good, was Duke of Lorraine from 1508 until his death in 1544.-Biography:Antoine was born at Bar-le-Duc, the son of René II, Duke of Lorraine and Philippa of Guelders...
(1489–1544) - Nicholas (9 April 1493, Nancy), d. young
- Claude, Duke of GuiseClaude, Duke of GuiseClaude de Lorraine, duc de Guise was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528....
(1496–1550), first Duke of Guise - John, Cardinal of LorraineJohn, Cardinal of LorraineJean de Lorraine was a French cardinal, who was archbishop of Reims, Lyon and Narbonne, bishop of Metz, Toul, Verdun, Thérouanne, Luçon, Albi, Valence, Nantes and Agen...
and Bishop of Metz (1498–1550) - Louis, Count of VaudémontLouis, Count of VaudémontLouis de Lorraine was a nobleman of Lorraine who attempted to claim the Kingdom of Naples. He was styled as the Count of Vaudémont....
(1500–1528) - FrancisFrancois de LorraineFrancois de Lorraine was the Lord of Lambesc, and a commander in the French army under Francis I of France. He was son of René II, Duke of Lorraine and Phillipa of Guelders. He commanded the Black Band of renegade Landsknechts at the Battle of Pavia, and in the bitter combat that ensued between...
, Count of Lambesc (1506–1525) - Anne (19 December 1490, Bar-le-DucBar-le-DucBar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...
– 1491) - Isabelle (2 November 1494, LunévilleLunévilleLunéville is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River.-History:...
– bef. 1508) - Claude and Catherine (twins) (24 November 1502, Bar-le-DucBar-le-DucBar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...
), d. young
Sources
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