Charles de Melun

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Coat of arms of Charles de Melun

Charles de Melun († August 22, 1468 in Le Petit-Andely ), called Charles I, was Seigneur of Normanville and Lumigny , Baron of Les Landes and advisor and chamberlain to the French king . From 1465 to 1468 he held the office of Grand Master of France .

family

The Melun family was a very old French aristocratic family . The first member of the house attested by documents from the year 991 was the Viscount Salon de Melun.

Charles de Melun was the firstborn son of Philippe de Melun († 1471) and his wife Jeanne de Nantouillet . He had a brother, Louis de Melun, who was Bishop of Meaux , and two half-brothers, Jean de Melun, Seigneur of Lezay and Antoine de Melun, Seigneur of La Motte-Saint-Florentin.

Charles was married twice. His first wife was Anne-Philippe de la Rochefoucauld († around 1465), whom he married on January 21, 1453. He married his second wife Philippe de Montmorency († November 20, 1516, see list of the Montmorency tribe ) on March 23, 1465.

The first marriage had six children: a son named Louis and his five daughters Arethuse, Prégente, Ambroise, Marie and Louise.

Life

Ascent

Antoine de Chabannes fell to Louis XI in 1463 . disgraced for having helped expose the praguerie . He was charged and Melun was appointed curator of Chabannes' goods during the trial . Chabannes was convicted and most of his lands were given to Melun.

In addition, Melun became Lieutenant-General in Paris and Île-de-France in 1463 and Grand Master of France in 1465 . The Bastille was under his control . For a time he commanded the entire French army and held the title of Connétable of France .

Charles de Melun and Jean de La Balue had known each other since 1462. They were good friends until shortly after the Battle of Montlhéry on July 16, 1465. Melun stated in the records of his trial that he and Balue were in love with the same young woman, which is why their friendship turned into hate. Melun fell through a plot by Jean de La Balue and Antoine de Chabannes with King Louis XI. in disgrace. Balue accused him of conspiracy with the "enemies of the state".

process

The ruins of Château-Gaillard, where Charles de Melun was imprisoned

Tristan l'Hermite, the king's profoss , acted as judge . Melun was charged with sabotaging the Battle of Montlhéry by failing to order Marshal Joachim Rouault to fall with 200 lancers in the rear of the enemy army. He said he left the city gate of the Bastille on Rue Saint-Antoine open while Paris was besieged by the Ligue du Bien public , so that the citizens and the bishop of Paris could negotiate freely with the members of the Ligue. He also did too much trade with the Ligue.

Under torture , he admitted to having seen the members of the Ligue twice, given Francis II a horse and Charles the Bold a mule . He had divided 36 sesters of wine between Francis II, Charles the Bold and Jean II de Bourbon , which Marshal Rouault had brought. After the first visit to the Ligue, Louis XI. expressed his displeasure with the visit and Melun only went there once to deliver an answer. He denied having written letters to Charles de Valois , the king's brother. He had negotiated with Valois on behalf of the king, but Louis XI. claimed never to have charged Melun with such negotiations. Melun also admitted receiving 500 livres from Charles IV for helping in a lawsuit. Charles IV had fallen from grace because he had fled at the battle of Montlhéry.

Then L'Hermite sent a priest to Melun and had him locked up in the Château-Gaillard near Le Petit-Andely . Melun was beheaded there on Tuesday, August 22, 1468, between eight and nine in the morning, and most of his possessions were confiscated.

Two of the confiscated fiefs of Melun were given to Antoine de Chabannes, who regained his old reputation and titles. After Chabanne's death, King Charles VIII rehabilitated Charles de Melun, and his heirs received back the two fiefs that had gone to Chabannes. Melun's son Louis, who was Louis XI. had sponsored him, became Baron von Les Landes.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franck Beaumont, Philippe Seydoux: Gentilhommières des pays de l'Eure. Editions de la Morande, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-902091-31-2 , pp. 24-25
  2. ↑ a b c d Nicolas Viton de Saint-Allais : Nobiliaire universel de France, ou Recueil général des généalogies historiques des maisons nobles de ce royaume. tape 1 . Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris, p. 263, 268-269 ( Gallica - 1872-1878).
  3. ↑ a b Etienne Pattou: famille de Melun. (PDF; 1.1 MB) 2004, p. 14 , accessed on May 7, 2009 (French).
  4. ^ A b c Simon Hirsch Cuttler: The Law of Treason and Treason Trials in Later Medieval France . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 978-0-521-52643-2 , pp. 36, 128, 137-139 ( Google Books ).
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Johann Samuelansch: General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts in alphabetical order of the mentioned scripts edited and edited by JS Ed and JG Gruber . J. f. Gleditsch, 1842, p. 19-20 ( Google Books ).
  6. ↑ Henri Forgeot: Jean Balue cardinal d'Angers, 1421 -1491? . E. Bouillon, Paris 1895, p. 46-47 ( Gallica ).
  7. ^ Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde Sismondi: Histoire des Français . Dumont, 1837, p. 5 ( Google Books ).
  8. ↑ Philippe de Commynes , Nicolas Lenglet Dufresnoy, Denis Godefroy: Memoires de Messire Philippe de Comines, seigneur d'Argenton, où l'on trouve l'histoire des rois de France Louis XI. & Charles VIII . Chez Rollin, fils, 1747, p. 14-17 ( Google Books ).
personal data
SURNAME Melun, Charles de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melun, Charles I. de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French nobleman, Grand Master of France (1465–1468)
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1468
Place of death Le Petit-Andely , Normandy , France