Catherine of Cleves

Catherine de Clèves or de Nevers (1548 - 11 May 1633) was the wife of Henry, Duke of Guise, and matriarch of the numerous and influential House of Guise. By marriage she was Duchess of Guise from 1570 to 1588, and Dowager Duchess of Guise thereafter. She was Countess of Eu in her own right from 1564.

Catherine was the second daughter of François I de Clèves, Duke of Nevers and Marguerite de Bourbon, elder sister of Antoine de Bourbon. She was the first cousin of Henry of Navarre, sister-in-law of Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, and great aunt of Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, Queen of Poland.

At the age of twelve, Catherine married Antoine de Croÿ, Prince de Porcien (or Porcean), who died seven years later. After the conventional three years of mourning, on 4 October 1570, she married Henry I, Duke of Guise, who was two years her junior. They had fourteen children, including Charles, Duke of Guise and Louis III, Cardinal of Guise. She had a widely publicised affair with a young nobleman, Saint-Mégrin, who was killed by her husband. The event is dramatised in the Alexandre Dumas play "Henri III et sa cour" (1829).

Henry of Guise was the leader of the fervently Catholic faction in the French Wars of Religion. From 1584, the conflict among factions led by Henry of Guise, Henry of Navarre, and Henry III of France was known as the War of the Three Henrys. In 1588, Henry of Guise was assassinated on the orders of King Henry III.

Catherine never forgave Henry III of France (who kept taunting her as "la maîtresse de Saint Megrin") for his part in the assassination of her husband. She took a keen interest in the intrigues of the Catholic League and encouraged Henry's assassination in 1589. At the conclusion of the War of the Three Henrys she was mindful of the interests of her large family and supported her son Charles as a candidate for the French throne.

Catherine's reconciliation with her cousin, Henry IV, was not effected until his conversion to Catholicism. She immediately moved to Paris and obtained a very honorable position in the retinue of his wife, Marie de' Medici. The Guises continued to support the Queen throughout the regency, and Catherine followed Marie into exile in Blois after Louis XIII assumed the reins of government.

After returning to the Louvre, the Dowager Duchess - anxious to promote the interests of the House of Guise - resumed plotting against Cardinal Richelieu. The death of her youngest daughter, the princesse de Conti (who had been implicated in the Day of the Dupes conspiracy), proved a blow to her spirits. She retired to her château d'Eu, where she died aged 85. She was buried at the château next to her husband's ornate tomb.

References

* Forneron, Henri. "Les ducs de Guise et leur époque: étude historique sur la seizième siècle". Paris, 1877.
* Réné de Bouillé. "Histoire de ducs de Guise." Amyot, 1850.