Charles III de Bourbon-Montpensier

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Charles de Bourbon-Montpensier, engraving by Thomas de Leu

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon-Montpensier (born February 17, 1490 ; † May 6, 1527 in Rome ), known as the " Connétable of Bourbon", was a French politician and successful military leader.

Life

Charles was the second son of Gilbert of Bourbon , Count of Montpensier . After the death of his brother Louis II, he became Duke of Montpensier in 1501 . In 1505, through his marriage to Suzanne de Bourbon-Beaujeu , daughter of his uncle Peter II , he became the eighth Duke of Bourbon and heir to the great estates of two branches of the Bourbon family.

For his in the battles of Agnadello and Marignano (where he had commanded the vanguard) in 1515 demonstrated bravery made him Francis I of Constable of France and governor of Milan . However, the king was dissatisfied with his appearance and soon called him back to France; the Connétable, for his part, was annoyed because the king preferred his stepbrother, Charles IV of Alençon , in the campaigns in the Netherlands .

The death of his wife Suzanne in 1521 led to the final break with Franz I: the queen mother Luise of Savoy claimed (legally unlawful) the riches of the Bourbon family due to her relationship with Suzanne. In order to end the argument, she proposed to marry the Connétable; However, when the latter refused this request, Luise persuaded her son that his hereditary property was withheld from the Connétable in favor of the crown and that other privileges were withdrawn - even before the dispute could be settled in court.

Embittered by this, Charles went over to Emperor Charles V , who promised him Provence and Dauphiné in connection with Bourbonnais and Auvergne as a separate kingdom as well as his sister Eleonore , who owned Portugal as a widow's estate , as his wife. In fact, this secret plan - in which King Henry VIII of England was also involved - would have led to the partition of France. On the news of this, King Francis hurried to Moulins , offered Charles reconciliation and restitution of his goods and asked him to move with him to Italy. The Connétable escaped in disguise to Franche-Comté and from there (September 1523) to the Spanish in Italy. This represented a clear betrayal, but Charles was in fact pushed into an untenable political situation by Franz and Luise. The title of Connétable was stripped from him and all of his property was confiscated. In contemporary reports, the guilt for the defection of Bourbon was heavily blamed on the king, who had repeatedly insulted and humiliated Bourbon's class consciousness.

Because of his talent as a general, he fought against his compatriots in the battle of Gatinara in 1524 and led the Spanish army to France in June with the Marchese of Pescara , who was also given to him for control, where he besieged Marseille in vain. Thereupon he won the battle of Pavia in February 1525 at the head of the imperial forces.

However, he felt badly treated by Karl; Despite the promises made in the Peace of Madrid (1526), ​​he did not get his property back, and the emperor's sister Eleanor was betrothed to Francis I. In 1526 put off to the Duchy of Milan and appointed by the Emperor as General Supreme Commander in Italy (but not equipped with the necessary funds), he captured the Citadel of Milan on July 24th. In February 1527 he marched against Rome to punish Pope Clement VII , who had brought about the outbreak of the war, and to win the back wages for the mercenaries by plundering the rich city.

Banished by the Pope, he arrived at Rome on May 5th, and his mercenaries began to storm the city on the morning of May 6th. In this attack he was killed - allegedly by a bullet from the hand of the goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini . The Soldateska could no longer be controlled, followed by the infamous Sacco di Roma . When the army withdrew from Rome two months later, Bourbon's body was taken away and buried in Gaeta.

Dynastic meaning

Since none of his children lived to be more than a year old, the older branch of the Bourbon family died out with the Konnetabel . After his betrayal, the king had already transferred the primogeniture to the next in line, Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme . As a result, his grandson Heinrich von Navarra later became heir apparent and finally King of France in 1589/1598.

literature

Web links

Commons : Charles III. de Bourbon-Montpensier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ René Guerdan: Francis I. King of the Renaissance. Frankfurt a. M. 1978, pp. 145ff.
  2. ↑ René Guerdan: Francis I. King of the Renaissance. Frankfurt a. M. 1978, p. 156f.
personal data
SURNAME Bourbon-Montpensier, Charles III. de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bourbon-Montpensier, Charles III. Duke of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French military leader; Duke of Bourbon-Montpensier
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1490
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1527
Place of death Rome