
Claude, Duke of Guise

Coat of arms of the Duke of Guise
'Claude of Lorraine' (
October 20 1496,
Château de
Condé-sur-Moselle, –
April 12 1550, Château de
Joinville) was the first
Duke of Guise, from
1528 to his death.
He was the second son of
René II,
Duke of Lorraine and was educated at the French court of Francis I. At seventeen, Claude made an alliance to the royal house of France by a marriage with
Antoinette de Bourbon (
1493–
1583), daughter of
François, Count of Vendôme.
Claude distinguished himself at the
battle of Marignano (
1515), and was long in recovering from the twenty-two wounds he received in the battle. In
1521 he fought at
Fuenterrabia, and
Louise of Savoy ascribed the capture of the place to his efforts. In
1523 he became governor of
Champagne and
Burgundy, after defeating at
Neufchâteau the
imperial troops who had invaded this province. In
1525 he destroyed the
Anabaptist peasant army, which was overrunning
Lorraine, at
Lupstein, near
Saverne (Zabern).
On the return of Francis I from captivity in
1528, Claude was made
Duke of Guise in the
peerage of France, though up to this time only princes of the royal house had held the title of duke and peer of France. The Guises, as cadets of the sovereign house of Lorraine and descendants of the
house of Anjou, claimed precedence of the
Bourbon princes of
Condé and
Conti.
Their pretensions and ambitions inspired distrust in Francis I, although he rewarded Guise's services by substantial gifts in land and money. The duke distinguished himself in the
Luxembourg campaign in
1542, but for some years before his death he effaced himself before the growing fortunes of his sons.
Ancestors
Claude's issue
★
Mary of Guise (
1515–
1560), married to king
James V of Scotland
★
Francis, Duke of Guise (
1519–
1563)
★ Louise of Guise (
January 10,
1520,
Bar-le-Duc –
October 18,
1542), married
Charles I, Duke of Arschot on
February 20,
1541
★ Renée of Guise (
September 2,
1522 –
April 3,
1602), Abbess of St. Pierre,
Reims
★
Charles, Duke of Chevreuse, Archbishop of Reims and Cardinal of Guise (
1524–
1574)
★
Claude, Duke of Aumale (
1526–
1573)
★
Louis I, Cardinal of Guise (
1527–
1578)
★ Philip (
September 3,
1529, Joinville –
September 24,
1529, Joinville)
★ Peter (b.
April 3,
1530, Joinville), d. young
★ Antoinette of Guise (
August 31,
1531, Joinville –
March 6,
1561, Joinville), Abbess of Faremoutier
★ Francis, Grand
Prior of the
Order of Malta (
April 18,
1534, Joinville –
March 6,
1563)
★
René, Marquis of Elbeuf (
1536–
1566)
See also
★
Duke of Lorraine
★
Dukes of Lorraine family tree
★
Dukes of Guise family tree
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★