Henri Batard d'Angoulême

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Henri d'Angoulême, anonymous, Bibliothèque nationale de France

Henri bâtard d'Angoulême dit le Chevalier d'Angoulême (* 1551 in Aachen , † June 2, 1586 in Aix-en-Provence ) was a Legitimé de France , cleric and military commander during the Huguenot Wars .

biography

The Bâtard d'Angoulême was an illegitimate son of King Henry II and his mistress Jane Stuart (Lady Fleming), who in turn was an illegitimate daughter of the Scottish King James IV and served as governess of the young Maria Stuart . As the natural son of the king, Henri was preferred and legitimized; He was abbot of La Chaise-Dieu (from 1562), Grand Prior of the Order of Malta in France (from 1573), abbot of Saint-Pierre-de-Clairac (from 1568) on the clergy, and admiral of the Levante coast ( Chef et capitaine des galères et armées de mer du Levant , 1578/79) and governor of Provence (from 1579) on a secular level.

In 1570, the followers of Mary Queen of Scots, who was in exile in England, selected Henri as a potential leader of a French force that the Queen would use in her war against the followers of James VI. of Scotland should support. The Queen's followers believed Henri's Scottish and French royal ancestry would earn him respect in Scotland and England. You brought this thought to the Queen's Ambassador to France, John Leslie . The project was not implemented, neither French soldiers nor Henri were sent to Scotland.

In the St. Bartholomew's Day (the night of 23 to 24 August 1572) he plundered, like many other aristocrats also the houses of the Huguenots , but was primarily responsible for this is that the mutilated body of Admiral Coligny to the gallows of Montfaucon hanged has been.

As a military man, Henri played an important role in the two extensive military clashes against the Huguenot strongholds at the height of the French Wars of Religion. He took part in the siege of La Rochelle (1573) , which was led by the Duke of Anjou, the future King Henry III. , was organized and led the five-year siege of Ménerbes (1573-1578).

During his time as governor of Provence (from 1579) the poet François de Malherbe was his secretary. Henri himself wrote sonnets, one of which was set to music by Fabrice Caietain .

In 1586 Henri got into a dispute with Philippe Altovitis, Baron de Castellane and royal galley captain, because he had made negative comments about him. On June 1, 1586 he met this in the inn "La Tête-Noire" in the Rue des Grands-Carmes, where he pierced him with his sword and Altovitis in turn hit him in the abdomen with his dagger; both died in the confrontation, Henri not on the spot, but a few hours later.

The Chevalier d'Angoulême was buried in the Carmelite Church of Aix.

literature

  • Ambroise Roux-Alphéran, Duel sanglant de nobles (Aix-en-Provence, 1er juin 1586) , in: Les Rues d'Aix , Aubin, 1846, pp. 580f
  • Detlev Schwennicke , European Family Tables , Volume III.2, 1983, Plate 307
  • Fabrice Micaleff, Le Bâtard Royal. Henri d'Angoulême dans l'ombre des Valois, 1551–1586 , Geneva, Droz, 2018

Remarks

  1. ^ Robert J. Sealy, The Palace Academy of Henry III , Droz, p. 206
  2. ↑ Contrary to other reports, he was not made Duke of Angoulême, the "d'Angoulême" only refers to his belonging to the Angoulême line of the House of Valois.
  3. ↑ Annie Cameron (Eds.), Warrender Papers , Volume 1, T. and A. Constable Ltd, 1931, pp. 85-86
  4. ↑ Micaleff
  5. ↑ George Joseph, Maria Green, David Lee Rubin (eds.), La Poésie Française du Premier 17e siècle: Textes et Contextes: François Malherbe , Rookwood Press, 2004, p. 112
  6. ↑ Jeanice Brooks, Courtly song in late sixteenth-century France , The University of Chicago Press, 2000, p 124
  7. ^ Philippe Altovitis was the widower of Renée de Rieux, demoiselle de Châteauneuf , the former mistress (1564–1571) of the later (1574) King Henry III, who died in 1582.
  8. ↑ Roux-Alphéran; Micallef
personal data
SURNAME Henri Batard d'Angoulême
ALTERNATIVE NAMES le Chevalier d'Angoulême
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French nobleman, governor of the Provences
DATE OF BIRTH 1551
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1586
Place of death Aix-en-Provence