Marguerite of Lorraine
Encyclopedia
Marguerite of Lorraine was a duchess of Orléans and Alençon. She was born in Nancy, Lorraine
to Francis II, Duke of Lorraine
, and Countess Christina of Salm
. On 31 January 1632, she married Gaston, Duke of Orléans
, son of Henry IV of France
and Marie de' Medici
. After their re-marriage, Marguerite and Gaston had five children.
. After losing her mother in 1627, she was brought up by her aunt Catherine of Lorraine—the Abbess of Remiremont
.
from the wrath of the French prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu, Gaston de France, Duke of Orléans
, younger brother and heir presumptive
of Louis XIII of France
, fell in love at first sight with Marguerite. But as France and Lorraine were then enemies, he was refused the king's permission to marry with a sister of its duke, Charles III. Nonetheless Gaston fled again to Lorriane and, in a secret ceremony in the presence of her family at Nancy during the night of 2–3 January 1632, Gaston took the princess Marguerite as his wife. Because he had not obtained the prior permission of his elder brother—one of his many acts of defiance—the couple could not appear at the French court and the marriage was kept secret.
But in November of that year, the Duke of Montmorency
, on his way to the scaffold, betrayed his former co-conspirator, Monsieur Gaston, and the king and Richelieu learned of the elopement. The king had his brother's marriage declared null and void by the Parlement of Paris in September 1634 and, despite the Pope's protest, the Assembly of the French clergy
in September 1635 on the grounds that a prince du sang
, especially the heir to the throne, could only enter matrimony with permission of the king—consistent with French sovereignty and custom. Although Marguerite and Gaston had re-celebrated their marriage before the Archbishop of Malines, a French emissary persuaded the Pope not to publicly protest the matter, and Gaston formally accepted the nullity of his marriage. It was not until Louis XIII was on his death bed in May 1643 that he accepted his brother's plea for forgiveness and authorized his marriage to Marguerite, whereupon the couple undertook nuptials for the third time in July 1643 before the Archbishop of Paris at Meudon
, and the Duke and Duchess of Orléans were finally received at court.
By right of her marriage, Marguerite became known as Madame
at court. After the death of his mother in 1642, Gaston was bequeathed the Luxembourg Palace
, which became the couple's Parisian residence under the name Palais Orléans once they were restored to royal favor. They also sojourned at the Château de Blois
, in the Loire Valley
, where their first child was born in 1645.
against his nephew the young king Louis XIV (as had her stepdaughter Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, La Grande Mademoiselle), was exiled to his castle at Blois where he died in 1660. Some time after her husband's death, Louis XIV gave the dukedom of Orléans to his brother (and Gaston's nephew), Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans
, who became the new Monsieur. As "Dowager Duchess of Orléans", Marguerite continued to reside in the Palais Orléans where she died on 13 April 1672.
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
to Francis II, Duke of Lorraine
Francis II, Duke of Lorraine
Francis II , was the son of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and Claude of Valois. He was Duke of Lorraine briefly in 1624, quickly abdicating in favour of his son.-Biography:...
, and Countess Christina of Salm
House of Salm
The House of Salm was a noble family originating in the Belgian Ardennes and ruling Salm. It is above all known for the experiences of the branch which came to be located in the Vosges Mountains and over time came to rule over a principality whose capital was Badonviller then Senones.Its notable...
. On 31 January 1632, she married Gaston, Duke of Orléans
Gaston, Duke of Orléans
Gaston of France, , also known as Gaston d'Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his wife Marie de Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood...
, son of Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
and Marie de' Medici
Marie de' Medici
Marie de Médicis , Italian Maria de' Medici, was queen consort of France, as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She herself was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici...
. After their re-marriage, Marguerite and Gaston had five children.
Life
One of six children, she grew up in Nancy which was the capital of her father's duchyDuchy
A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...
. After losing her mother in 1627, she was brought up by her aunt Catherine of Lorraine—the Abbess of Remiremont
Remiremont Abbey
Remiremont Abbey was a Benedictine abbey near Remiremont, Vosges, France.-History:It was founded about 620 by Romaric, a lord at the court of Chlothar II, who, having been converted by Saint Ame, a monk of Luxeuil, took the habit at Luxeuil...
.
Marriage
While taking refugeSafety
Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...
from the wrath of the French prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu, Gaston de France, Duke of Orléans
Gaston, Duke of Orléans
Gaston of France, , also known as Gaston d'Orléans, was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his wife Marie de Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a Fils de France. He later acquired the title Duke of Orléans, by which he was generally known during his adulthood...
, younger brother and heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
of Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
, fell in love at first sight with Marguerite. But as France and Lorraine were then enemies, he was refused the king's permission to marry with a sister of its duke, Charles III. Nonetheless Gaston fled again to Lorriane and, in a secret ceremony in the presence of her family at Nancy during the night of 2–3 January 1632, Gaston took the princess Marguerite as his wife. Because he had not obtained the prior permission of his elder brother—one of his many acts of defiance—the couple could not appear at the French court and the marriage was kept secret.
But in November of that year, the Duke of Montmorency
Henri II de Montmorency
Henri II de Montmorency was a French nobleman and military commander.Born at Chantilly, Oise, he was the son of duke Henry I, whom he succeeded in 1614, having previously been made grand admiral...
, on his way to the scaffold, betrayed his former co-conspirator, Monsieur Gaston, and the king and Richelieu learned of the elopement. The king had his brother's marriage declared null and void by the Parlement of Paris in September 1634 and, despite the Pope's protest, the Assembly of the French clergy
Assembly of the French clergy
The Assembly of the French Clergy was in its origins a representative meeting of the Catholic clergy of France, held every five years, for the purpose of apportioning the financial burdens laid upon the clergy of the French Catholic Church by the kings of France...
in September 1635 on the grounds that a prince du sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
, especially the heir to the throne, could only enter matrimony with permission of the king—consistent with French sovereignty and custom. Although Marguerite and Gaston had re-celebrated their marriage before the Archbishop of Malines, a French emissary persuaded the Pope not to publicly protest the matter, and Gaston formally accepted the nullity of his marriage. It was not until Louis XIII was on his death bed in May 1643 that he accepted his brother's plea for forgiveness and authorized his marriage to Marguerite, whereupon the couple undertook nuptials for the third time in July 1643 before the Archbishop of Paris at Meudon
Meudon
Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:...
, and the Duke and Duchess of Orléans were finally received at court.
By right of her marriage, Marguerite became known as Madame
Fils de France
Fils de France was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France .The children of the dauphin, who was the king's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his...
at court. After the death of his mother in 1642, Gaston was bequeathed the Luxembourg Palace
Luxembourg Palace
The Luxembourg Palace in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, north of the Luxembourg Garden , is the seat of the French Senate.The formal Luxembourg Garden presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and provided with large basins of water where children sail model...
, which became the couple's Parisian residence under the name Palais Orléans once they were restored to royal favor. They also sojourned at the Château de Blois
Château de Blois
The Royal Château de Blois is located in the Loir-et-Cher département in the Loire Valley, in France, in the center of the city of Blois. The residence of several French kings, it is also the place where Joan of Arc went in 1429 to be blessed by the Archbishop of Reims before departing with her...
, in the Loire Valley
Loire Valley
The Loire Valley , spanning , is located in the middle stretch of the Loire River in central France. Its area comprises approximately . It is referred to as the Cradle of the French Language, and the Garden of France due to the abundance of vineyards, fruit orchards, and artichoke, asparagus, and...
, where their first child was born in 1645.
Children
Marguerite and Gaston d'Orléans had five children; three of them survived into adulthood:- Marguerite Louise d'Orléans (28 July 1645 – 17 September 1721),
- married in FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
on 20 June 1661 Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of TuscanyCosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of TuscanyCosimo III de' Medici was the penultimate Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. Cosimo's 53-year long reign, the longest in Tuscan history, was marked by a series of ultra-reactionary laws which regulated prostitution and...
(separated 1675);
- married in Florence
- Élisabeth Marguerite d'OrléansÉlisabeth Marguerite of OrléansÉlisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans. , known as Isabelle d'Orléans, was the Duchess of Alençon and, during her husband's lifetime, Duchess of Angoulême. She was a daughter of Gaston d'Orléans and a first cousin of Louis XIV of France. She has no descendants today...
(26 December 1646 – 17 March 1696),- married at Saint-Germain-en-LayeSaint-Germain-en-LayeSaint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
on 15 May 1667 Louis Joseph de Lorraine, duc de GuiseLouis Joseph, Duke of GuiseLouis Joseph de Lorraine Duke of Guise and Duke of Angoulême, was the only son of Louis, Duke of Joyeuse and Marie Françoise de Valois, the only daughter of the Count of Alès, Governor of Provence and son of Charles de Valois Duke of Angoulême, a bastard of Charles IX of France.-Biography:He was...
;
- married at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
- Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans (13 October 1648 – 14 January 1664),
- married her cousin Duke Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy, on 4 March 1663, no issue;
- Jean Gaston d'Orléans (Paris, 17 August 1650 – Paris, 10 August 1652), duc de Valois.
- Marie Anne d'OrléansMarie Anne d'OrléansMarie Anne d'Orléans, petite-fille de France was a French Princess and youngest daughter of Gaston d'Orléans. She held the rank of Grand daughter of France...
(Paris, 9 November 1652 – Blois, 17 August 1656), Mademoiselle de Chartres.
Widowhood
Marguerite's husband, who had played a major part in the FrondeFronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
against his nephew the young king Louis XIV (as had her stepdaughter Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, La Grande Mademoiselle), was exiled to his castle at Blois where he died in 1660. Some time after her husband's death, Louis XIV gave the dukedom of Orléans to his brother (and Gaston's nephew), Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Philippe of France was the youngest son of Louis XIII of France and his queen consort Anne of Austria. His older brother was the famous Louis XIV, le roi soleil. Styled Duke of Anjou from birth, Philippe became Duke of Orléans upon the death of his uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans...
, who became the new Monsieur. As "Dowager Duchess of Orléans", Marguerite continued to reside in the Palais Orléans where she died on 13 April 1672.
Titles and Styles
- 22 July 1615 – 3 January 1632 Her Highness Princess Marguerite of Lorraine
- 3 January 1632 – 2 February 1660 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Orléans
- 2 February 1660 – 13 April 1672 Her Royal Highness the Dowager Duchess of Orléans