Charles III (Lorraine)
Charles III of Lorraine (also called the Great ) (* February 18, 1543 in Nancy , † May 14, 1608 in Nancy) was Duke of Lorraine and Mercœur .
Life
Karl was born as the first son of Duke Franz I and his wife, Princess Christina of Denmark .
On June 12, 1545 he succeeded his late father in the ducal office. However, since he was not yet of legal age, his mother took over the reign for him. Charles's guardian was his uncle Nicolas de Vaudémont until he came of age in 1559.
Christina pursued - due to her kinship with the Habsburgs - a policy that was friendly to Spain and was thus able to assert herself against the French royal family for a long time. On March 13, 1552, however, the French King Henry II had Lorraine and the Trois-Évêchés , the dioceses of Metz , Toul and Verdun , occupied. Nicolas de Lorraine-Mercœur was appointed regent in place of Karl's mother . Karl himself, only 9 years old, was brought to the French royal court in Paris.
There he married Claudia von Valois , daughter of Heinrich II, on January 22nd, 1559. With her he had nine children:
- Henry II (1563–1624), Duke of Lorraine
- Christine (1565–1636), married to Ferdinand I of Medici , Grand Duke of Tuscany
- Charles (1567–1607), Bishop of Strasbourg
- Antonie (1568–1610), married in 1599 to Duke Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg
- Anna (1569–1576)
- Francis II (1572–1632), Duke of Lorraine
- Katharina (1573–1648), Abbess of Remiremont
- Elisabeth (1574–1635), married to Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
- Claudia (1575–1576)
Associated with the wedding was a return of the Lorraine territories to Charles III, but he did not return to Nancy until October 1559 to rule his duchy himself.
government
Although raised at the French royal court and thus deeply Catholic, Charles III seized. no party for a long time during the wars of religion in France. But from 1584 he supported the Catholic League under Henri de Guise to his brother-in-law, King Henry III. to overthrow. For this reason, German Protestants devastated the duchy on their way to support Henry IV's troops , and Henry IV himself declared war on Lorraine in 1592.
After Henry IV converted to Catholicism, Charles III closed. 1594 Peace with the French royal family, which was underpinned by the marriage of his son Henry II to Catherine de Bourbon , a sister of Henry IV.
The reign of Charles III. has been considered particularly progressive and economically successful in the history of Lorraine. In addition to territorial gains such as Bitche , Phalsbourg and Marsal , which he was able to record , he reformed the judicial and financial systems of his duchy during his reign and supported the sciences (foundation of the University of Pont-à-Mousson ) and the arts. He thus continued the domestic policy that his mother had already started.
literature
- Walter Mohr: The history of the Duchy of Lorraine . Volume IV. Verlag d. Akad. Buchhandlung Interbook, Trier 1986, ISBN 3-88915-028-4 , pp. 196-198, 201.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Julia Cartwright: Christina of Denmark. Duchess of Milan and Lorraine 1522-1590 . Reprint of the 1913 edition. AMS Press, New York 1973, p. 462.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Franz I. |
Duke of Lorraine 1545–1608 |
Henry II |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Charles III |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Charlemagne |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Duke of Lorraine |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1543 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nancy |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 14, 1608 |
| Place of death | Nancy |