Antoinette de Bourbon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Antoinette de Bourbons by Léonard Limosin

Antoinette de Bourbon (* December 25, 1494 in Ham ; † January 22, 1583 at Le Grand Jardin Castle in Joinville ), sometimes also called Antoinette de Bourbon-Vendôme , was the first Duchess of Guise from 1528 through her marriage to Claude de Lorraine . So she was nicknamed "  mère of Guise  " (German: " (master) mother of Guise ").

family

Origin and marriage

Antoinette came from the French noble house of the Bourbons and was the second youngest child of François de Bourbons , Duke of Vendôme , and his wife Marie de Luxembourg . She was able to trace her family tree back to Louis the Saint via Robert de Clermont and was thus a distant relative of the French king. Through her daughter Marie , she was also the grandmother of the Scottish Queen Maria Stuart . By marrying Claude de Lorraine, his family succeeded in establishing family ties with the French royal family. The couple is considered to be the first parents of the House of Guise, which subsequently rose to become one of the most powerful aristocratic families in France and whose members exerted significant influence in the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion .

progeny

The marriage to Claude de Lorraine had twelve children:

Your influence within the family

Antoinette de Bourbon was considered a headstrong and energetic person, whose strong personality shaped the character of many of the members of the Guise family who grew up under her supervision in Joinville and raised them. She has been described as an extraordinary woman with a dry sense of humor and was instrumental in influencing the religious beliefs of her children, grandchildren, and husband. Among the protégés who grew up in her care were, for example, Maria Stuart, Catherine de Clèves, duchesse de Guise , Marie de Lorraine (later abbess of Chelles ) and Charles I. de Lorraine, duc d'Elbeuf , one of the most determined opponents of the Protestant King Henry IV

Family members were happy to get advice from her and, in the event of disputes, asked her for mediation. For example, François I de Clèves , Duke of Nevers , and Antoine III asked . de Croÿ , Prince of Porcien , asked the Duchess to settle her dispute over the county of Beaufort .

Life

Little is known of Antoinette's childhood. When she was two years old, she lost her father, so that her older brother Charles became head of the family. Through her mother Marie she received a "solid education" in the sense of the Catholic faith .

In 1513 she accompanied Claude de France to a meeting with her fiancé, the future French King Francis I , in the Parisian Hôtel des Tournelles . It was there that the 19-year-old met Claude de Lorraine, Count von Aumale, who was about two years her junior and who was part of Francis I's entourage. A little later, Francis I called on Antoinette's brother in Claude's name and asked for her hand. He agreed and enabled his sister to have a very advantageous relationship for her, because despite her noble ancestry, she was not particularly rich and did not have to expect a very high dowry. On June 9, 1513, the marriage contract between the two was signed. A few days later, Antoinette married in the Paris church of Saint-Paul. The subsequent wedding festivities took place in the Hôtel d'Étampes (later called Hôtel de Mazarin).

Antoinette de Bourbon spent her first years of marriage in the castle of Bar-le-Duc and managed it alone from August 1515, because her husband accompanied the French king on his Italian campaign. There she gave birth to her firstborn Marie in November 1515, in the absence of Claude. Their second child, François, was also born there. When her mother-in-law Philippa von Geldern retired to a monastery in December 1519, they moved to Joinville, whose castle, Le Grand Jardin, Philippine had previously used as a residence. Antoinette's household there subsequently comprised more than 100 people.

In 1528 Francis I created the title of Duke of Guise, who was associated with a peerage , for his childhood friend Claude , and thus elevated Antoinette to the rank of Duchess . Due to Claude's numerous offices and duties at court, he spent most of his time in Paris or in the king's entourage , so that Antoinette was responsible for the administration and management of his extensive estates. She showed an extraordinarily great talent in administrative and financial matters. All of their related activities successfully aimed to strengthen and expand the influence and power of the Guise family in France.

During the Huguenot Wars , the Duchess took the side of her sons and supported the Catholics, which also meant that she made opponents of her Protestant nephews from the House of Bourbon. In religious matters she ruled the family property with an iron hand and fought Calvinism with all the means at her disposal. The Huguenot side called her based on her nickname "la Mere des Tyrans et des ennemis de l'Evangile" (German: "the mother of the tyrants and the enemies of the gospel").

When her husband died in April 1550, Antoinette's son François succeeded his father as head of the Guises. The administrative duties initially remained in the hands of the duke's widow, who withdrew to the castle of Joinville and only rarely stayed at the court in Paris because she hated its debauchery. There she spent much of the day in her oratorio praying and studying religious scriptures, and devoted herself to the education of her numerous grandchildren, many of whom grew up under her supervision in Joinville. Another task for her was to introduce her daughter-in-law Anna d'Este, with whom she got along exceptionally well, to the business of the family estate in the first half of the 1550s. When, after the murder of her husband in February 1563, she tried to bring the Protestant Gaspard II. De Coligny to justice, she was actively supported by her mother-in-law.

Antoinette de Bourbon died at the age of 89 after an illness on the night of January 22nd to 23rd, 1583 and was buried next to her husband and her eldest son François in the parish church of Joinville. She had outlived all of her children, with the exception of her daughter Renée.

Social and cultural engagement

"Foy montre, espérance monte, charité surmonte"

"Faith shows the way, hope transcends it, mercy transcends them all"

- Antoinette de Bourbons motto
The coat of arms at the Auditoire in Joinville shows Antoinette de Bourbon as the builder

Antoinette's life was heavily influenced by her religiosity and Catholic belief. Although she vigorously and resolutely fought Protestantism in her family's territory, she was also known for her charity and compassion towards fellow men of all denominations . During the wars of religion, for example, in 1700 Huguenot mercenaries who were on the verge of starvation were given new clothes and provisions, so that they could then return to their homeland unmolested. During a famine, she herself distributed food to her subjects and was supported by her granddaughters. The people therefore called her “la bonne Dame” (German: “the good mistress”).

Numerous building projects and foundations initiated by her in and around Joinville are also based on the duchess's piety. So go as the foundation of the Benedictine - Convention Notre-Dame de Pitié and the Minoritenkloster Sainte-Anne on her back. Together with her son Charles, she laid the foundation stone for a Holy Cross Hospital, and she financed the splendid furnishings of the Joinville parish church of Notre-Dame as well as that of the now defunct Sainte-Chapelle in Dijon . In addition to buildings with a religious aspect, Antoinette de Bourbon also took care of secular buildings that were destroyed or damaged by the effects of war. So she had a market hall and the court building called Auditoire built in Joinville . On the facade of the house, the combined coat of arms Guise-Bourbon-Vendôme still testifies to the owner of Antoinette.

In 1563 she engaged the French poet Rémy Belleau to educate her grandson Charles I. de Lorraine and maintained contact with Pierre de Ronsard , who wrote a sonnet in her honor :

Pareil plaisir la Mere Phrygienne,
Reçoit voyant ses fils auprés de soy,
Que tu reçois, ô Mere Guysienne,
Voiant tes fils tout à l'entour du Roy.

Antoinette's interest in the visual arts came, among other things expressed that they by Domenico del Barbieri after designs Primaticcio a monumental tomb in the collegiate was built by Saint-Laurent, which from then on as a family grave lay the Dukes of Guise acted, but during the French Revolution was destroyed .

literature

  • Hilarion de Coste: Les Eloges et vies des reynes, princesses, dames et damoiselles illustres en piété, courage et doctrine, qui ont fleury de nostre temps, et du temps de nos peres . Volume 1. Sébastien et Gabriel Cramoisy, Paris 1647, pp. 136-147 ( online ).
  • Camille Grand-Dewyse: Le triomphe d'une mater familias. Antoinette de Bourbon, duchesse de Guise, et une plaque émaillée de Léonard Limosin . In: Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier (ed.): Patronnes et mécènes en France à la Renaissance . Publications de l'Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne 2007, ISBN 978-2-86272-443-0 ( L'école du genre. Nouvelles recherches . Volume 2), pp. 419-431.
  • Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott: Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise. 1494-1583 . In: The Month. A Catholic magazine . Volume 103. Longmans, Green, and Co., London 1904, pp. 176-188.
  • Jessica Munns, Penny Richards: Antoinette de Bourbon, première duchesse de Guise, et Rémy Belleau. Construction d'un tombeau, creation d'un mythe . In: Kathleen Wilson-Chevalier (ed.): Patronnes et mécènes en France à la Renaissance . Publications de l'Université de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne 2007, ISBN 978-2-86272-443-0 ( L'école du genre. Nouvelles recherches . Volume 2), pp. 401-417.
  • Gabriel de Rarécourt de La Vallée, marquis de Pimodan: La mère des Guises. Antoinette de Bourbon, 1494-1583 . Honoré Champion, Paris 1889.
  • Georges Viard: La religion d'Antoinette de Bourbon, duchesse de Guise . In: Les Cahiers Haut-Marnais . No. 188/189, 1990, ISSN  0008-025X , pp. 1-11.

Web links

Commons : Antoinette de Bourbon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ Some publications incorrectly state January 20, 1583 as the date of death.
  2. ↑ Paul Martin Bondois: Gabriel de Pimodan. La mère des Guises, Antoinette de Bourbon, 1494-1583 . In: Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes . No. 87, 1926, ISSN  1953-8138 , p. 196 ( online ).
  3. ^ A b Antonia Fraser: Mary, Queen of Scots . 1st edition. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1969, ISBN 0-297-17773-7 , p. 43.
  4. ^ Stuart Carroll: Noble power during the French wars of religion: the Guise affinity and the Catholic cause in Normandy . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, ISBN 0-521-62404-5 , p. 254 ( online )
  5. ^ Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott: Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise , p. 176.
  6. ^ Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott: Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise , p. 177.
  7. ^ A b Mary Monica Maxwell-Scott: Antoinette de Bourbon, Duchesse de Guise , p. 178.
  8. ↑ Cf. Alexandre Eckhardt: Remy Belleau. Sa vie - Sa «Bergerie» . Joseph Németh, Budapest 1917, pp. 74-75 ( online ).
  9. ^ H. de Coste: Les Eloges et vies des reynes [...] , p. 142.
  10. ↑ Alexandre Eckhardt: Remy Belleau. Sa vie - Sa «Bergerie» . Joseph Németh, Budapest 1917, p. 81 ( online ).
  11. ↑ a b H. de Coste: Les Eloges et vies des reynes […] , p. 145.
  12. ^ Christiane Coester: Beautiful as Venus, courageous as Mars: Anna d'Este, Duchess of Guise and of Nemours (1531–1607) . Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58028-0 , p. 133 ( online ).
  13. ^ Christiane Coester: Beautiful as Venus, courageous as Mars: Anna d'Este, Duchess of Guise and of Nemours (1531–1607) . Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58028-0 , p. 139 ( online ).
  14. ↑ Cf. Christiane Coester: Beautiful as Venus, courageous as Mars: Anna d'Este, Duchess of Guise and of Nemours (1531–1607) . Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58028-0 , p. 189 ( online ).
  15. ↑ H. de Coste: Les Eloges et vies des reynes […] , p. 147.
  16. ↑ Quoted from H. de Coste: Les Eloges et vies des reynes […] , p. 139.
personal data
SURNAME Bourbon, Antoinette de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bourbon-Vendôme, Antoinette de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first Duchess of Guise by marriage
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1494
PLACE OF BIRTH Ham
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1583
Place of death Joinville