Religion Roman Catholicism Name Claude, of | ||
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Father Rene II, Duke of Lorraine Born 20 October 1496Chateau de Conde-sur-Moselle ( 1496-10-20 ) Children Mary of Guise, Francis, Duke of Guise Parents Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, Philippa of Guelders Similar People Mary of Guise, Antoinette de Bourbon, Charles - Cardinal of Lorraine, Henry I - Duke of Guise, James V of Scotland | ||
Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise (20 October 1496, Château de Condé-sur-Moselle, – 12 April 1550, Château de Joinville) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528.
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Biography
He was the second son of René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Philippa of Guelders. He 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.
Military service
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 Capetian House of Anjou, claimed precedence over the Bourbon princes of Condé and Conti.
Marriage and issue
Claude married Antoinette de Bourbon, daughter of François, Count of Vendôme and Marie de Luxembourg, on 9 June 1513; they had 12 children: