Henri-Robert de La Marck

Henri-Robert de La Marck ( February 7, 1539 - December 2, 1574 ) was the second Duke of Bouillon and first Prince of Sedan . He was also governor of Normandy .

Life

He came from a French line of the House of Mark . The father was Robert IV. De La Marck and the mother Françoise de Brézé, Countess of Maulévrier .

While his father was in captivity, he commanded the Hundertschweizer Guard . He was also the governor of Normandy. After his father's death in 1556, he inherited his property. This also included the county of Braine .

Henri-Robert de La Marck married Françoise de Bourbon in 1559 . This was daughter of Louis III. de Bourbon, duc de Montpensier . The duke probably converted to Calvinism in connection with his marriage . As a result, he lost command of the Hundertschweizer company. In the same year he had to cede the Bouillon castle and the northern part of the duchy to Henry II . In the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, he had previously had to consent to the disputed area being returned to the diocese of Liège . The king promised compensation for the loss. The cession weakened the family very much and in 1562 the duke had to sell the barony of Bec Bresien to his uncle Claude, duc d'Aumale .

He called himself Prince of Sedan after the loss of Bouillon. The Principality of Sedan became a haven for Protestants. So the duke took the fortress builder Jean Errard de Bar-le-Duc into his service. In the principality of Sedan de la Marck tried to reduce the influence of the estates.

Overall, the duke's attitude was determined more by dynastic and political goals than by denomination. He tried to expand the independence of his territories and at the same time to get a position at the court. In the 1560s, he stayed away from the militant Hungenottes.

For a long time he rarely visited Normandy. In 1558 he was sent to Dieppe to improve the defense . He failed to create supporters in the region. In Normandy, Rouen and part of the country turned against him on religious grounds in 1562 . His influence was essentially limited to Caen . However, a large part of the nobility supported him. There were civil war-like clashes with corresponding atrocities before royal troops restored order in 1562. The duke begged the king's forbearance, but had to vacate the castle of Caen. Although he remained nominally governor, he lost all power in Normandy. Out of consideration for the duke's father-in-law, the king refrained from further punishments. In 1566, the father-in-law held a religious talk, not least in order to win his daughter and the duke back to Catholicism. He later fought on the side of the king and was involved in the siege of La Rochelle in 1573 .

After his death, it was rumored in Protestant circles that he had been murdered by poison, possibly at the instigation of Caterina de 'Medici . There is no evidence.

His wife had six children. The eldest son died young. Heir was Guillaume-Robert de La Marck . The daughter Charlotte de La Marck married Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon . When her brother died, she became the heir to the duchy. Through her the property came to the house of La Tour d'Auvergne .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hartmut Kretzer: Calvinism and French monarchy in the 17th century. Berlin, 1975 p. 63, history of Sedan
2. ↑ Mark W. Konnert: Local Politics in the French Wars of Religion: The Towns of Champagne, the, the Duc de guise and the Catholic League 1560-1595. Aldershot, 2006 p. 30
3. ^ Stuart Carroll: Noble Power during the French Wars of Religion: The Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy. Cambridge, 1998 51f.
4. ^ Hugh Trevor-Rope: Europe's Physician: The Various Life of Theodore de Mayerne. Yale, 2006 384

literature

• Christian von Stramberg: The banks of the Rhine from Coblenz to Bonn. Vol. 1. Koblenz, 1853 pp. 632-635