Antoine of Navarre

Infobox Monarch
name=Antoine
title=King of Navarre


caption=
date of birth=22 April 1518
place of birth=La Fère, Picardie, France
date of death=17 November 1562
place of death=Les Andelys, Eure
place of burial=
reign=25 May, 1555–17 November 1562
coronation=
royal house=House of Bourbon
father=Charles, Duke of Vendôme
mother=Francoise d'Alencon
consort=Joan III
issue = Henry III
Catherine, Duchess of Lorraine
predecessor = Henry II
successor = Joan III

Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (22 April 1518 – 17 November 1562), was head of the House of Bourbon from 1537 to 1562, and King Consort of Navarre from 1555 to 1562.

He was born at La Fère, Picardie, France, the son of Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (1489-1537) and his wife, Francoise d'Alencon (d. 1550). He was the older brother of Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé.

On 20 October 1548 at Moulins he married Jeanne d'Albret, Queen regnant of Navarre, daughter of Henri d'Albret (Henri II of Navarre) and his wife Margaret of Angoulême. By his marriage, he became Count of Foix, of Bigorre, of Armagnac, of Perigord, and Viscount of Béarn. The Kingdom of Navarre had been occupied by the Spanish since 1512, and Antoine tried to re-establish it. He was ready to sacrifice anything to his political interests.

He had no real religious conviction and changed religions several times. His reconversion to Catholicism separated him from his wife. He had an affair with Louise de la Béraudière, "la belle Rouet," with whom he had a son in 1555.

Although his brother was the head of the Protestant faction, he spent most of his life fighting for the King of France. Catherine de' Medici, regent for her son Charles IX of France, named him lieutenant general of the kingdom in 1561. When his wife allowed the Huguenots to sack the chapel of Vendôme and the churches of the town in 1562, he threatened to send her to a convent. She took refuge in Béarn.

Antoine was vain and unstable. He often disappointed his followers and was manipulated by his superiors and out-witted by his adversaries.

He laid siege to Rouen and was mortally wounded on November 13, 1562. He died at Les Andelys, Eure.

Issue

* Henry (1551–1553), Duke of Beaumont
* Henri IV, King of France (1553–1610)
* Louis (1555–1557), Count of Marle
* Madeleine (1556)
* Catherine of Navarre, Duchess of Lorraine (1559–1604). Married Henry I, Duke of Lorraine in 1599.

Ancestors

ahnentafel-compact5
style=font-size: 110%; line-height: 110%;
border=1
boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= 1. Antoine of Navarre
2= 2. Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme
3= 3. Françoise of Alençon
4= 4. François, Count of Vendôme
5= 5. Marie de Luxembourg
6= 6. René of Alençon
7= 7. Marguerite of Lorraine
8= 8. Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme
9= 9. Isabelle de Beauvau
10= 10. Pierre II of Luxembourg
11= 11. Margaret of Savoy
12= 12. John II of Alençon
13= 13. Marie of Armagnac
14= 14. Frederic VI de Vaudemont
15= 15. Yolande d'Anjou
16= 16. Louis, Count of Vendôme
17= 17. Jeanne de Laval
18= 18. Louis de Beauvau, Seneschal of Anjou
19= 19. Marguerite de Chambley
20= 20. Louis de Luxembourg
21= 21. Jeanne de Bar
22= 22. Louis, Duke of Savoy
23= 23. Anne of Cyprus
24= 24. John I of Alençon
25= 25. Marie of Brittany
26= 26. Jean IV d'Armagnac
27= 27. Isabella de Navarre
28= 28. Antoine de Lorraine
29= 29. Marie d'Harcourt
30= 30. René d'Anjou
31= 31. Isabel de Lorraine