Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège

Louis de Bourbon (1438-1482) was Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1456. He was brought up and educated by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who supported him for ten years at the University of Louvain [Richard Vaughan (1970), "Philip the Good", p. 123.] .

Conflict over the bishopric

Philip then secured for him the bishopric [ Vaughan, p. 223.] , by influence with Pope Callixtus III, pushing out the 69-year-old Jean de Heinsberg [ [http://www.vertetente.be/histoire/15ligne.htm] , in French.] . This was however a poor choice, given the strategic position of Liège almost enclosed by Burgundian possessions, and quickly turned out badly, permitting French meddling [According to Paul Murray Kendall, "Louis XI", p. 256, Louis "lacked both religious and administrative talents". According to [http://www.vki.ac.be/~bottin/liege/lg_hist.html] , "greedy, absent-minded and awkward".] .

The citizens rejected the new bishop, and Louis was exiled to Maastricht. [Vaughan p. 274.] The dispute was made a pretext for a 1461 attack on the Duchy of Limburg [ [http://users.skynet.be/retour_aux_sources/chateau.htm Le château de Franchimont ] ] .

Marc de Bade was put in place by the Liégeois [ [http://perso.infonie.be/liege06/09neuf0.htm] , in French; describes Louis as "Homme maladroit, faible et frivole", i.e. clumsy, weak and frivolous. Marc de Bade (Baden) was well-connected, of a German family, and was appointed as "mambour", a secular post implying military protection [http://membres.lycos.fr/decouverteliege/historique.php] .] , who fought under Raes van Heers [ [http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/flags/be-vlihe.html] , [http://www.medievalproductions.nl/compagnie_de_ordonnance/timeline.html] ] , but military force from Burgundy prevailed, in 1465. The resulting Peace of Saint-Trond [ [http://perso.infonie.be/liege06/09neufi.htm] , in French.] restored the bishop, but Liège lost sovereignty.

In summer 1468 Louis was back in his prince-bishopric, after a papal legate had intervened, but was captured at Tongeren by a raiding party from Liège, at that time again asserting independence of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. [Kendall, p. 262; [http://www.fotw.net/flags/be-wlgth.html] .] , despite defeat in 1467 at the Battle of Brustem. An unlikely alliance of Charles with Louis XI, who in 1465 had helped the Liégeois against the Bishop, saw Bishop Louis released [He was supposed to make peace; Charles and Louis the king and Louis the bishop conferred at the Château de Fallais [http://www.castles.nl/eur/be/fa/fa.html] .] , but Liège taken [Kendall p. 268-271.] , and sacked [ [http://perso.infonie.be/liege06/09neufnnn.htm] , in French.] . [In gratitude Louis gave Charles the Horn of St Hubert, now in the Wallace Collection [http://www.gardenvisit.com/travel/london/wallacecollection.htm] ; see [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-6287(195006)92%3A567%3C161%3ATHOSH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R] .]

Later life

In 1471 Condé, Antoing and Leuze came to the bishopric, from Richilde de Hainaut. Of these, Louis sold Condé and Leuze to Marie de Montmorency [ [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/be-whtlz.html Leuze-en-Hainaut (Municipality, Province of Hainaut, Belgium) ] ] .

In 1477 the Peace of Saint-Jacques consolidated the bishop's position, and led to neutrality for Liège. [ [http://www.inreallife.be/Articles/175HabsLiege.php] , in French.] He was at this time amongst advisers of Mary of Burgundy, heiress of Charles the Bold, who wanted her to marry the future Charles VIII of France, then Dauphin of France [Kendall, p. 390.] .

His death was an assassination, on behalf of William de la Marck [ [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/bouillon.htm History of the duchy of Bouillon ] ] , an adventurer who from 1478 had been operating against the territory from the castle of Logne [ [http://www.belgiancastles.be/logne.html belgian castles ] ] .

Family

He was the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, his mother being Agnes of Burgundy, sister of Philip the Good.

It has been said that he married, in secret in 1464, Catherina, daughter of Arnold, Duke of Gelderland. Their son, who may however have been instead a son of a mistress of Louis, founded the Bourbon-Busset family. [These claims may date only from the seventeenth century; see [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BOURBON.htm#_ftn13] .] Three children of Louis were: Pierre de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège; Louis de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège; Jacques de Bourbon, bâtard de Liège [ [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/BOURBON.htm] ; [http://genroy.free.fr/bourbon.html] in French.] .

In literature

The murder of Louis occurs in the novel "Quentin Durward" by Sir Walter Scott; but the historical details are far from accurate. [Scott's own introduction admits this: "In assigning the present date to the murder of the Bishop of Liege, Louis de Bourbon, history has been violated. It is true that the Bishop was made prisoner by the insurgents of that city. It is also true that the report of the insurrection came to Charles with a rumour that the Bishop was slain, which excited his indignation against Louis, who was then in his power. But these things happened in 1468, and the Bishop's murder did not take place till 1482." [http://www.infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext05/qntdr10.htm Gutenberg text] .]

Primary sources

There are numerous contemporary accounts [See [http://perso.infonie.be/liege06/09neufz.htm] , in French.] .

Notes

External links

* [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/military/15cen/liege1468.html Burgundian War on the Princebishopric of Liege, 1465-1468]