Principality of Sedan
The principality of Sedan was an independent principality within the borders of France during the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries. The center of the principality was Sedan Castle . The territory of the principality is now in northeastern France, on the border with Belgium.
The principality was ruled by Reformed Protestants .
independence
In the Middle Ages Sedan was dependent on the Mouzon fiefdom , which was owned by the King of France , so the lords of Sedan were their vassals . After the bloodbath of Wassy in 1562 and during the First Huguenot War that followed , Henri Robert de la Marck , Duke of Bouillon , and his wife Françoise de Bourbon, daughter of Louis III. de Montpensier , both Protestants , Sedan's independence and becoming princes.
The Principality of Sedan and Raucourt (that's the full name) consisted of the following towns: Illy , Givonne , Douzy , Pouru-Saint-Remy , Rubécourt-et-Lamécourt , Balan , Fleigneux , Daigny , Francheval , Bazeilles , La Chapelle , La Moncelle , Villers-Cernay , Raucourt-et-Flaba , Noyers-Pont-Maugis , Wadelincourt , Haraucourt , Thelonne , Bulson and Angecourt .
Princes of Sedan
- Henri I. Robert de La Marck (1539–1574) 1st Prince of Sedan, since 1556 Duke of Bouillon; ⚭ 1559 Françoise de Bourbon
- Guillaume Robert de La Marck (1563–1588) 2nd Prince of Sedan 1580–1588, Duke of Bouillon
- Charlotte de La Marck (1574–1594) 3rd Princess of Sedan 1588–1594, Duchess of Bouillon; ⚭ 1591 Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne
- Charles Robert de La Marck (1541–1622), Count of Maulévrier and Braine , second son of Robert IV. De La Marck , Duke of Bouillon; as a Catholic, was excluded from the succession at the death of Charlotte, his niece
- Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1555–1623), 4th Prince of Sedan 1591–1623, ⚭ 1) Charlotte de la Marck; ⚭ 2) Elisabeth von Oranien-Nassau, daughter of Wilhelm the Schweigers
- Elisabeth of Orange-Nassau , 1623–1626 as regent
- Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (1605–1652) 5th Prince of Sedan 1626–1642, Duke of Bouillon; ⚭ Eléonore-Fébronie de Bergh
Prince Frédéric-Maurice took part in the Cinq Mars Conspiracy in 1642 and had to cede the principality to France in return for his pardon. In 1651 he received it back as a French fief .