Charlotte de Laval
Charlotte de Laval (1530- 3 March 1568), was a French noblewoman. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny, 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 descend directly from her.
Family
Charlotte was born in Brittany, France in 1530, the daughter of Guy XVI de Laval, Count of Laval and Antoinette de Daillon. Her paternal grandparents were Jean de Laval and Jeanne u Perrier. Her maternal grandparents were Jacques d'Aillon and Jeanne d'Illiers. She was a descendant of King Charles VI of France through his daughter Jeanne.
Marriage and children
On 15October 1547 at Fontainbleu, Charlotte married as his first wife, Gaspard de Coligny, who would be appointed Admiral of France in 1552. He succeeded Claude d'Annebault as admiral following the latter's death. Gaspard and Charlotte had three children:
- François de Chatillon, Admiral Of Guienne, 1555- 1591)
- Louise de Coligny (23 September 1555- 13 November 1620), married firstly Charles de Teligny, who was killed in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 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, Federick Henry, Prince of Orange (29 January 1584- 14 March 1647)
- Charles de Coligny, Marquis d'Andolet (1564- 1632)
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 that he avidly read the works of John Calvin and by his release in 1559 he had become a fervent Huguenot.[1]
She died on 3 March 1638 at the age of thirty-eight. In 1571, Gaspard maried 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 the orders of Catherine de Medici.[2]
References
- www.thePeerage.com
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