Charles II, Duke of Bourbon
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Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
de Moulins
Moulins, Allier
Moulins is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department.Among its many tourist attractions are the Maison Mantin the Anne de Beaujeu Museum.-History:...
, 1434–September 13, 1488, Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
), the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon
Charles I, Duke of Bourbon
Charles de Bourbon was the oldest son of John I, Duke of Bourbon and Marie, Duchess of Auvergne.He was Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis from 1424, and Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1434 to his death, although due to the imprisonment of his father after the Battle of Agincourt, he acquired...
and Agnes of Burgundy
Agnes of Burgundy
Agnes of Burgundy was the daughter of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria. Her maternal grandparents were Albert I, Duke of Bavaria and Margaret of Brieg.-Marriage and issue:...
, was a member of the House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
. Elected Archbishop of Lyon at the age of 10 through his family connections, and later made a Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, he was also Duke of Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon
Duke of Bourbon is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon...
and Auvergne
Rulers of Auvergne
-History:In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom of Aquitaine...
for a short period of time in April 1488, succeeding his elder brother, John II
John II, Duke of Bourbon
John de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon , sometimes referred to as John the Good and The Scourge of the English, was a son of Charles I of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy...
.
A younger son, Charles had been placed in the church by his family at an early age; he himself had no vocation for the high honours to which he rose, and was noted more for his improprieties (he had an illegitimate daughter) than his piety. He was, however, a noted patron of the arts, lavishing money on Lyons cathedral - the Bourbon chapel there, which he sponsored from 1486 (it was continued after his death by his brother, Peter II of Bourbon
Peter II, Duke of Bourbon
Peter II, Duke of Bourbon was the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and a member of the House of Bourbon...
) was described as "one of the marvels of decorative art in the 15th century"). As for his aforementioned improprieties, Charles not only sired an illegitimate daughter, but also several sons whom he had attempted to have quietly put away for fear of further public embarrassment. One of the sons, Luke, survived without knowledge of his father's identity and did not learn it until his mid twenties, when they met and crossed swords at Besançon. Luke survived, though, he lost a hand in the fight.
When Charles' elder brother, John II, Duke of Bourbon, died on 1 April 1488, Charles - as John's nearest heir - made a claim for the family inheritance in the Bourbonnais
Bourbonnais
Bourbonnais was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponded to the modern département of Allier, along with part of the département of Cher. Its capital was Moulins.-History:...
and Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
. This claim was not tolerated by his younger brother, Peter, and Peter's wife, Anne of France
Anne of France
Anne of France was the eldest daughter of Louis XI of France and his second wife, Charlotte of Savoy. Anne was the sister of King Charles VIII of France, for whom she acted as regent during his minority; and of Joan of France, who was briefly queen consort to Louis XII...
, the latter immediately taking possession of the Bourbon lands by force on 10 April. On 15 April, members of the King's Council sent by Anne to "console the Cardinal on the occasion of his brother's death", forced him to sign a renunciation of any claims to the Bourbon lands, in exchange for a financial settlement. Charles then died later in the same year in mysterious circumstances, following a sudden collapse in a private house in Lyons. His brief tenure of the title during the period 1 April-15 April would, however, be posthumously confirmed in 1505, when Charles de Montpensier
Charles III, Duke of Bourbon
Charles III, Duke of Bourbon was a French military leader, the Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne. He commanded the Imperial troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in what became known as the Sack of Rome in 1527, where he was killed.-Biography:Charles was born at Montpensier...
acceded to the Duchy as Charles III.