Gaston, Duke of Orléans

Gaston
Duke of Orléans
Gaston in 1634
Spouse Marie de Bourbon
Marguerite de Lorraine
Issue
Anne Marie Louise, Duchess of Montpensier
Marguerite Louise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Élisabeth, Duchess of Guise
Françoise Madeleine, Duchess of Savoy
Jean Gaston, Duke of Valois
Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Chartres
Full name
Gaston Jean Baptiste de France
House House of Bourbon
Father Henry IV of France
Mother Marie de' Medici
Born 25 April 1608(1608-04-25)
Palace of Fontainebleau, France
Died 2 February 1660(1660-02-02) (aged 51)
Château de Blois, Blois, France
Burial Basilica of St Denis, France

Gaston de France, fils de France, Duke of Orléans, (25 April 1608 – 2 February 1660, Blois), was the third son of the king of France Henry IV and of his wife Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was a Fils de France. As the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific of Monsieur.

Contents

Early life

Gaston d'Orléans was born at the Palace of Fontainebleau and was given at birth the title of duc d'Anjou. In 1626, at the time of his marriage to the young duchesse de Montpensier, he received in appanage (with their respective titles) the dukedoms of Orléans[1] and Chartres, and the county of Blois[2]. He had nominal command of the army which besieged La Rochelle in 1628[3][4], having already entered upon that course of political intrigue which would occupy the remainder of his life. He was the heir presumptive to the throne of France from his birth until the birth of his elder brother's first son in 1638.

On two occasions he had to leave France for conspiring against the government of his mother and of Cardinal Richelieu; and after waging an unsuccessful war in Languedoc leading to the Battle of Castelnaudary in 1632, he took refuge in Flanders.

Reconciled with his brother Louis XIII, he plotted against Richelieu in 1635, fled from the country, and then submitted to the king and the cardinal.

Soon afterwards the same process repeated itself. Orléans stirred up Cinq-Mars to attempt Richelieu's murder, and then deserted his unfortunate accomplice (1642). In 1643, on the death of Louis XIII, Gaston became lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and fought against Spain on the northern frontiers of France; he was created duc d'Alençon in 1646. However, during the wars of the Fronde (1648–1653), he passed with great facility from one side to the other.

Marriages

Gaston first married on 6 August 1626, at Nantes, Marie de Bourbon, duchesse de Montpensier (1605-1627)[5], daughter and heiress of Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier. One daughter was born to the couple nine months after the marriage and a few days later, Marie died. Their daughter was:

Elopement

While taking refuge from the wrath of the French prime minister, Cardinal Richelieu, Gaston fell in love at first sight with Marguerite, the sister of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine.[6] But as France and Lorraine were then enemies, he was refused the king's permission to marry with a sister of its duke. 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. [6] 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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6]

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.

Marguerite and Gaston d'Orléans had five children; three of them survived into adulthood:

Gaston had an illegitimate daughter by Marie Porcher:

He also had an illegitimate son by Louise-Roger de La Marbelière:

Later life

After the death of his brother Louis XIII in 1643, Gaston's nephew became Monsieur. To differentiate the older "Monsieur" from the younger, Gaston, the uncle, was called Le Grand Monsieur and Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, his nephew and brother of the new king Louis XIV, was called Le Petit Monsieur.

After the Fronde, Gaston was exiled by Mazarin to Blois in 1652, and remained there until his death. On his death, all his Orléans titles went to his nephew, the new and only Monsieur.

Ancestors

Gaston's ancestors in three generations
Gaston, Duke of Orléans Father:
Henry IV of France		 Paternal Grandfather:
Antoine of Navarre		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Françoise d'Alençon
Paternal Grandmother:
Jeanne III of Navarre		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Henry II of Navarre
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Marguerite de Navarre
Mother:
Marie de' Medici		 Maternal Grandfather:
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Eleonora di Toledo
Maternal Grandmother:
Johanna of Austria		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Anna of Bohemia and Hungary

References

  1. ↑ Moote, A. Lloyd, "Louis XIII, The Just", P192. Published 1991, University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06485-2
  2. ↑ Pitts, Vincent Joseph. "La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627-1693", P3. Published 2000. JHU Press. ISBN 0801864666
  3. ↑ Patmore, Katherine. "The Court of Louis XIII", P144. Published 1909, Methuen & Co.
  4. ↑ Chisolm, Hugh. "Encyclopedia Britannica", P284. Published 1911.
  5. ↑ Pitts, Vincent Joseph. "La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France", P2. Published 2000, JHU Press. ISBN 0801864666
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Velde, Francois. Heraldica.org. Morganatic and Secret Marriages in the French Royal Family. Royal Consent: the case of Gaston d'Orléans. Retrieved 27 February 2010

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

French royalty
Preceded by
Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orléans		 Heir to the Throne
as Heir presumptive
17 November 1611 — 5 September 1638		 Succeeded by
Louis, Dauphin of France
Dukes of Anjou
Hereditary Dukes
Louis  · Louis  · Louis  · René  · Charles
Blason duche fr Anjou (moderne).svg
Appanage of Anjou
Louise  · Alexandre Édouard  · Hercule François  · Gaston  · Philippe  · Philippe Charles  · Louis François  · Philippe  · Louis  · Philippe  · Louis Stanislas Xavier
Courtesy title
Infante Jamie  · Infante Alfonso Carlos  · Infante Jaime  · Infante Alfonso
Currant claimants
Charles Philippe  · Louis Alphonse
House of Bourbon
Notes: *also an Infante or Infanta of Spain · **also an Archduchess of Austria · ***both · +Philip was the first Bourbon king of Spain, the country's present ruling house