Claude, Duke of Guise

Portrait of Claude, Duke of Guise by Jean Clouet.

Coat of arms of the Duke of Guise

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.

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.

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.

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.

Claude's issue

• Mary of Guise (1515–1560), married to king James V of Scotland
• Francis, Duke of Guise (1519–1563)
• Louise of Guise (10 January 1520, Bar-le-Duc – 18 October 1542), married Charles I, Duke of Arschot on 20 February 1541
• Renée of Guise (2 September 1522 – 3 April 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 (3 September 1529, Joinville – 24 September 1529, Joinville)
• Peter (b. 3 April 1530, Joinville), d. young
• Antoinette of Guise (31 August 1531, Joinville – 6 March 1561, Joinville), Abbess of Faremoutier
• Francis, Grand Prior of the Order of Malta (18 April 1534, Joinville – 6 March 1563)
• René, Marquis of Elbeuf (1536–1566)

See also

Kingdom of France portal

• Duke of Lorraine
• Dukes of Lorraine family tree

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Preceded by elevated from Barony	Marquis of Elbeuf 1528–1550	Succeeded by René
Preceded by René	Count of Aumale 1508–1547	Succeeded by Francis
	Count of Guise 1508–1528	Succeeded by elevated to Duke
Preceded by elevated from Count	Duke of Guise 1528–1550	Succeeded by Francis

Persondata
Name	Guise, Claude, Duke of
Alternative names
Short description	Duke of Guise
Date of birth	1496
Place of birth
Date of death	1550
Place of death