Catherine de Clèves, duchesse de Guise
Catherine de Clèves (* 1548 ; † May 11, 1633 in Paris ) was Countess of Eu and, through her marriage to Henri I de Lorraine, Duchess of Guise from 1570 to 1588 .
After the murder of her husband, she actively supported the position of the Catholic side during the French wars of religion and asserted claims to the throne for her son Charles . After Henry IV's accession to the throne , she played a key role in ensuring that the family of the Catholic Dukes of Guise did not rebel against the former Protestant Heinrich.
Catherine died in Paris at the old age of 85 and had survived two husbands, eleven of their 14 children and all of their siblings.
family
Catherine was the second of three daughters and fourth surviving child to François I de Clèves , Duke of Nevers , and his first wife Marguerite de Bourbon . Through her mother, the older sister of King Antoine of Navarre , she was a cousin of the later French King Henry IV. She received her first name in honor of her godmother, the French Queen Catherine de Medici .
Catherine de Clèves was married twice. Her first husband was Antoine III. de Croÿ , Prince of Porcien († 1567). The marriage remained childless. In her second marriage she married Henri I de Lorraine, Duke of Guise. She had 14 children with him:
- Charles (* 1571; † 1640), Duke of Guise, Prince of Joinville , ⚭ 1611 Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse
- Henri (* 1572; † 1574)
- Catherine (* 1573; † 1573)
- Louis III (* 1575; † 1621), cardinal and archbishop of Reims , possibly ⚭ 1611 Charlotte des Essarts
- Charles (* 1576; † 1576)
- Marie (* 1577- † 1582)
- Claude (* 1578; † 1657), Duke of Chevreuse , ⚭ 1622 Marie de Rohan-Montbazon
- Catherine (* 1579; † young)
- Christine (* 1580; † 1580)
- François (* 1581; † 1582)
- Renée (* 1585; † 1626), abbess of the monastery of Saint Pierre in Reims
- Jeanne (* 1586; † 1638), abbess of Notre-Dame de Jouarre
- Louise-Marguerite (* 1588; † 1631), ⚭ 1) 1605 François de Bourbon , Prince of Conti , 2) François de Bassompierre , Marshal of France
- François-Alexandre Paris (* 1589; † 1614)
Life
Catherine grew up in Le Grand Jardin , the residence of her great-aunt Antoinette de Bourbon in Joinville . For political reasons, their parents married Antoine III in October 1560 at the age of only twelve. de Croÿ, Prince of Porcia. The marriage contract for this was signed on October 4, 1560 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye Castle in the presence of numerous French aristocrats . The marriage should seal the end of the dispute between the two families over the county of Beaufort , around Coulommiers and other lands. Antoine was a staunch Calvinist and induced his young wife to accept this belief too. With the death of her two older brothers, François II and Jacques de Clèves , she inherited the county of Eu after 1564 and brought the associated title to her husband. After his death in 1567, not only did the property revert to Catherine, but at the instigation of her godmother Katharina von Medici, she converted back to Catholicism in a solemn act in the castle chapel of Saint-Germain-en-Laye .
In the years that followed, the still young widow was a sought-after marriage candidate due to her parentage and wealth. On October 4, 1570, she married Henri I de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, after the two had signed the marriage contract three days earlier. The wedding took place in the presence of the entire royal family in the Hôtel de Guise in Paris. The bridegroom only entered into this connection under pressure from the French royal court. Due to previous ambitions to marry the king's sister, Margaret of Valois , he was with Charles IX. fallen out of favor and hoped that this marriage would appease the king's wrath.
During their marriage, Catherine began a love affair with the young Count of Saint-Mégrin, Paul Stuart de Caussade , a favorite of Henry III. After he was murdered on July 21, 1578, rumors circulated for a long time that Catherine's husband and his brother Charles , the Duke of Mayenne, were the masterminds and commissioners of this attack. However, the allegations have never been proven. Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer wrote in his Nouvelle biographie générale (see literature ) that Henri I de Lorraine had punished his wife for her infidelity by apparently giving her the choice between two types of suicide: drinking a blackish liquid or the dagger . After trying in vain to change her husband's mind, Catherine is said to have opted for the liquid - assuming it was poison. Only after an hour after ingestion of the liquid had still not had the expected effect did Henri de Lorraine tell his wife that the vial she had chosen contained not poison but the best consommé that could be made for her.
After the murder of her husband in Blois Castle in December 1588 , Catherine filed an indictment in the Paris Parliament , in which she told Henry III. publicly accused of murder and treason and demanded satisfaction for the act. However, she was not granted the latter. From then on she made claims to the succession for her son Charles for the time after the death of Henry III. valid and supported the Catholic League during the Huguenot Wars to the best of its ability. She thus entered into open opposition to her Protestant cousin Heinrich von Navarre in two ways. A reconciliation between the two did not take place until Henry IV converted to Catholicism. After his accession to the throne, Catherine was able to gain his trust and favor and thus had a great influence at court. In 1594 she gave her younger children into the care of the king so that they were brought up at court. Their advocacy and influence owed their firstborn Charles that he was appointed governor of Provence in 1595 as compensation after he had previously had to resign from the governorship of Champagne . But the countess was not only a factor of power that should not be underestimated at court, her influence within the ducal family of Guise was also extremely great. The fact that its members did not rebel against Henry IV after his accession to the throne, but rather submitted to his government, was largely thanks to Catherine.
At the end of 1595, after the death of her niece Catherine de Bourbon, Marquise d'Isle, the daughter of her sister Marie, she inherited the County of Beaufort, but had to sell it in order to cover the large debts that had been left to her by her husband Henri I. to be able to settle. The buyer was the French crown.
Catherine held the influential position of first lady of honor in the entourage of Henry's second wife Maria de 'Medici and went with her to Blois , when she was given by her son Louis XIII. 1617 was exiled there. She died on May 11, 1633 at the age of 85 in the Hôtel de Clèves in Paris, which she had built. The official death ceremony took place on May 23, before her body was transferred to Eu and buried in the chapel of the Jesuit college there. Her second husband was already buried there. Her heart found its final resting place in the collegiate church of Saint-Laurent in Eu, where it was placed on a black marble column with a memorial inscription.
Construction activities
Catherine de Clèves was remembered after her death through her numerous construction and founding activities.
So she left during the reigns of Henry IV and his son Louis XIII. build the Hôtel de Clèves (also known as the Hôtel d'Eu) near the Louvre . It was particularly known for a picture gallery commissioned by them, which showed the portraits of well-known members of the Lorraine, Guise, Nevers and Kleve families.
Together with her second husband, she began to rebuild Eu Castle as early as 1575 , which was completed in 1665 under the Grande Mademoiselle Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans .
Catherine was also the founder of several churches and chapels, such as the Ursuline Church and the Church of the Local Capuchins in Eu. The Jesuit college there also goes back to her as the founder. In the chapel there are the graves of Catherines and Henri I de Lorraine with elaborately designed grave monuments made of marble, which the Countess von Eu had commissioned during her lifetime.
literature
- Hilarion de Coste: Caterine de Clèves duchesse de Guyse et Comtesse d'Eu, Pair de France . In: 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, 2nd edition. Sébastien et Gabriel Cramoisy, Paris 1647, pp. 292-303 ( digitized ).
- Charles Gavard: Galeries historiques du Palais de Versailles . Volume 9. Imprimerie royale, Paris 1848, pp. 132-133 ( digitized version ).
- Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer : Nouvelle biography générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours . Volume 22. Firmin Didot, Paris 1843, column 787-788 ( digitized version ).
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ Catherine de Nevers on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.
- ↑ This second marriage has not been proven beyond doubt.
- ^ Henry Dwight Sedgwick: The House of Guise . Bobbs-Merrill, New York 1938, p. 202 ( digitized ).
- ^ H. de Coste: Caterine de Clèves duchesse de Guyse et Comtesse d'Eu, Pair de France . P. 293.
- ^ H. de Coste: Caterine de Clèves duchesse de Guyse et Comtesse d'Eu, Pair de France . P. 294.
- ^ H. de Coste: Caterine de Clèves duchesse de Guyse et Comtesse d'Eu, Pair de France . P. 295.
- ^ Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine: Les amours du Grand Alcandre . Volume 1. Didot l'aîné, Paris 1786, p. 127 ( digitized ).
- ^ Louise-Marguerite de Lorraine: Les amours du Grand Alcandre . Volume 1. Didot l'aîné, Paris 1786, p. 128 ( digitized version ).
- ^ William Duckett: Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture . 2nd Edition. Michel Lévy, Paris 1855, p. 661 ( digitized ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clèves, Catherine de, duchesse de Guise |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nevers, Catherine de; Kleve, Katharina von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duchess of Guise and Countess of Eu |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1548 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 11, 1633 |
| Place of death | Paris |