René de Villequier

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René de Villequier († September 27, 1590 in Ivry ) was Baron de Clervaux (or Clairvaux), one of the Mignons of the French King Henry III. (r. 1574–1589), whose premier Gentilhomme de la Chambre , and governor of Paris and Île-de-France .

biography

René de Villequier was the son of Jean-Baptiste de Villequier, Baron de Villequier, and Anne de Rochechouart-Mortemart.

He was treasurer and chamberlain of Heinrich III. when he was King of Poland (1573/74) and helped him escape from the Wawel Castle in Krakow on the night of June 18, 1574 after he had heard of the death of his brother Charles IX. on May 30, 1574.

René de Villequier married Françoise de La Marck (see below), whom he murdered in Poitiers in September 1577 while the court was there: “Villequier stabbed his wife to death while she was in her bed. After the crime was investigated by the Prévôt de l'Hôtel, Villequier received royal pardon on the grounds that his wife was dissolute and tried to poison him. Villequier's daughter declared that "the king's favor was entirely with said Sieur de Villequier". Public opinion was outraged that the murder of a pregnant woman in the king's lodgings should go unpunished. A servant who was afraid of Villequier's violence threw herself out of a window and injured herself. Soon the rumor spread that Henry III. with her husband's consent, she was the victim's lover and ordered the murder after she spoke ill of him. He certainly did not mourn the loss. In a letter to Souvré he called her a whore ("putain de fame") to congratulate Villequier on getting rid of her. "

René de Villequier was named Mignon Heinrich III. not prosecuted for this act, on the contrary:

  • He is one of the first knights of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit after it was founded by the king: on December 21, 1578 he was awarded membership, on December 31 he was formally admitted.
  • On November 9, 1579, he became Governor of Paris (his son-in-law François d'O succeeded him on January 2, 1586).
  • In 1580 he acquired the two domains of Clairvaux ( Scorbé-Clairvaux ) and raised his property to a county.

marriage and family

René de Villequier's first wife was Françoise de La Marck, daughter of Guillaume bâtard de La Marck ( House of Mark ). Your only child is

  • Charlotte-Catherine de Villequier (* 1562, † around 1610), who first married François d'O , Seigneur d'O († 1594) in 1585 , and in 1599 her second marriage was Jacques d'Aumont, Baron de Chappes († 14 July 1614). They are the parents of Antoine d'Aumont de Rochebaron (1601–1669), who was Marshal of France in 1651 and Duc d'Aumont and Pair de France in 1665.

René de Villequier married Louise de Savonnières, daughter of Jean de Savonniéres and Guyonne de Beauvau, for the second time; The marriage contract was concluded on July 8, 1586 in the Château de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés . Her only son was

  • Claude de Villequier, † 1607, Comte de La Guerche and Chevalier de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit

René de Villequier died in his home in Ivry , Louise de Savonnières on December 20, 1625 in 1590 .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Le Roux, La Faveur du roi, p. 269
  2. ^ Robert J. Knecht after: Pierre de L'Estoile , Registre-Journal , Volume 2, p. 127f
personal data
SURNAME Villequier, René de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baron de Clervaux
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French nobleman, governor of Paris
DATE OF BIRTH 16th Century
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 1590
Place of death Ivry-sur-Seine