François de Bourbon-Vendôme, duc de Beaufort
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François de Bourbon, Duke of Beaufort , called Le Roi des Halles (born June 6, 1616 in Paris , † June 25, 1669 off Crete ) was a French aristocrat from the House of Bourbon-Vendôme .
François de Vendôme was the son of César de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme and Françoise de Lorraine , a grandson of King Henry IV. Like his siblings Louis I and Elisabeth, he did not have the family name de Bourbon or - like his father - Bâtard de Bourbon but de Vendôme . With the death of his father in 1665 he became the third Duke of Beaufort and Peer of France .
At the age of twelve he took part in the campaign to Savoy in 1628 . He later distinguished himself at the sieges of Corbie , Hesdin and Arras .
As an adult, he followed his father's example and stood up - also through conspiracies - first against Cardinal Richelieu , from whom he had to flee to England, and later against Jules Mazarin . In 1643 he was the head of one of the most important actions against Mazarin, the Cabale des Importants . The regent Anna of Austria had him arrested and locked up in the donjon of Vincennes . After five years in prison, he managed to escape in 1648. He hid first in the Chenonceau castle , later in the Vendômois . Despite these circumstances, he played an important role in the Fronde in 1649 - the Parisians called him Roi des Halles (King of the Market Halls).
After he had submitted, he was reconciled with the crown in 1653 and was subsequently entrusted with a number of military offices and duties. As Grand Master and General Director of the Merchant and Navy, he commanded the French fleet in 1662 in the fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean. In 1665 he beat the Algerians twice. In 1669 he came to the aid of the Venetians in the war for Crete against the Ottomans and commanded the French troops in the defense of Crete in the siege of Candia . He was killed in a Turkish assault.
François de Vendôme remained single and died without descendants. The Duchy of Beaufort passed directly to his nephew Louis II Joseph , although his brother Louis I was still alive - presumably because the news of his death came after Louis I had also died on August 6, 1669.
François de Vendôme in literature
The Duke of Beaufort appears in Vingt ans après by Alexandre Dumas the Elder, as well as in the Vicomte de Bragelonne (German: The Man in the Iron Mask ). Following the playwright François Joseph de Lagrange-Chancel , he could even be equated with the prisoner. Furthermore, there are publications in which it is suggested that the Duke of Beaufort was the biological father of Louis XIV .
Individual evidence
- ↑ z. For example: Marcel Pagnol , "The Iron Mask - The Sun King and the Secret of the Great Unknown" , Unabridged paperback edition Piper Verlag GmbH, Munich April 1999, ISBN 3-492-22775-9
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bourbon-Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, François de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Le Roi des Halles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Third Duke of Beaufort and Peer of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 6, 1616 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 25, 1669 |
| Place of death | before Crete |