François-Hercule de Valois, duc d'Alençon
Francis, Duke of Anjou , also Franz Hercules (* 18 March 1555 home in Saint-Germain-en-Laye , † 10. June 1584 in Château-Thierry ) was the king's youngest son Henry II. From the House of Valois and Catherine de Medici . All other sons became kings of France or, as in one case, died as children.
François-Hercule had numerous titles: he was Prince of France and Duke of Alençon and Château-Thierry , Count of Le Perche , Mantes , Meulan (1566–1584), Duke of Evreux and Count of Dreux (1569–1584), Count of Maine , Duke of Anjou , Touraine and Berry (1576–1584), Count of Flanders (1582–1583) and seven-time peer of France .
Life
Originally a pretty child and named after the demigod Hercules , at the age of eight he fell ill with the leaves , the scars of which disfigured his face. In addition, his spine was slightly deformed. He later gave himself the name François in honor of his brother King Francis II . 1574, after the accession of his brother Heinrich III. he was appointed heir to the throne - but fled the royal court a short time later.
During the French Civil War he negotiated the Peace of Beaulieu ( Edict of Beaulieu ) in 1576 , which is why dissatisfied groups rallied around him in the winter of the same year, including Henry of Navarre , who had also fled and became the leader of the Huguenots . Finally he was initially satisfied with a comprehensive apanage and the Duchy of Anjou . In 1577 he was appointed Lieutenant-General of the French Army.
In 1579 he was encouraged by William the Silent to lead the United Dutch Provinces as Hereditary Sovereign, and on September 29, 1580 the States General (with the exception of the provinces of Zealand and Holland) signed the Treaty of Plessis-lès-Tours , the François-Hercule the title "Protector of the freedom of the Netherlands" and thus the de facto sovereignty and the governorate over the Duchy of Brabant granted.
In 1581 preparations began for a marriage to Queen Elizabeth of England and François-Hercule was the only one of the many candidates who could ever vacate Elizabeth personally. Both had a very close relationship in which plans for marriage became very concrete. However, these efforts failed due to the resistance of the English, who probably had an aversion to a prince consort who came from the hated France, and François-Hercule returned to the Netherlands on February 10, 1582, where he was officially received by Wilhelm in Vlissingen .
In the Netherlands , too, the Catholic François-Hercule failed to gain great sympathy or even popularity among the Protestant residents, and Zeeland and Holland continued to refuse to recognize him as their sovereign. Wilhelm also received severe criticism because of his pro-French politics. But when François-Hercules French troops arrived in the Netherlands at the end of 1582, it became clear that Wilhelm's plan to gain the upper hand against the Spaniards under the Duke of Parma seemed to be working.
François-Hercule, however, was dissatisfied with the limited power that was granted to him and he took Antwerp by military force on January 18, 1583, which ended in disaster, as the citizens doggedly defended their city against the French, thereby making it it became impossible for François-Hercule to maintain his political situation. He finally returned to France in June of that year.
His early death at the age of 29, unmarried and childless, led to the succession of the throne to Henry of Navarre.
François-Hercule was buried in the Saint-Denis basilica .
literature
- Th. Juste: ALENÇON, François de Valois, duc D ' , In: Biographie nationale de Belgique (French)
- Francis de Crue: Le Parti des Politiques au lendemain de la Saint-Barthélemy. La Molle et Coconat , Paris, Librairie Plon, 1892, 368 p., On archive.org (French)
- Ivan Cloulas: «La diplomatie pontificale médiatrice entre la France et l'Espagne. La mission de l'archevêque de Nazareth auprès de François d'Anjou (1578) » , in: Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez , Tome V, 1969, pp. 451–459, on persee.fr (PDF, French)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alençon, François-Hercule de Valois, duc d ' |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alençon, François-Hercule de Valois-Angoulême, duc d '; Franz Hercules of France |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Son of the French King Henry II and French general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 18, 1555 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | uncertain: Saint-Germain-en-Laye |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 10, 1584 |
| Place of death | Château-Thierry |