Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency (11 May 1594 – 2 December 1650) was an heiress of one of France's leading

ducal Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

families, and

Princess de Condé Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

by her marriage to Henri de Bourbon. She almost became a mistress of

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

, but her husband escaped with her after the wedding and did not return to France until after King Henry's death.

Life

The daughter of Henri de Montmorency and his second wife, Louise de Budos, Charlotte lost her mother before she was five years of age. She was brought up under the care of her aunt Charlotte, widow of Charles, Duke d'Angoulême. In 1609, fifteen-year-old Charlotte-Marguerite wed the Prince of Condé in a glittering ceremony. The king had arranged Charlotte's marriage to Condé for his own convenience, in order to sleep with her himself when he pleased. To escape from this predicament, the couple fled to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. The king was enraged and threatened to march into

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

with an army unless the Habsburg governors returned Condé and his wife at once. At the time, he was also threatening war with the Habsburgs over the succession to the

United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg The so-called United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire between 1521 and 1666, formed from the personal union of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves and Berg. The name was resurrected after the Congress of Vienn ...

, so historians are unsure how crucial in itself Charlotte's return was as a reason for war. Condé continued to provoke Henry from Flanders. When asked to drink to the queen of France, he replied that there seemed to be more than one queen of France, maybe as many as four or five. Along with many other French nobles, her husband bitterly opposed the rule of Marshal d'Ancre, who abandoned the policy of the late King Henry IV. In September 1616, Condé and Charlotte-Marguerite were arrested and imprisoned at

Vincennes Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...

, where their daughter Anne Geneviève was conceived and born three years later, in 1619. In 1632, Charlotte-Marguerite's only brother, Henri, Duke de Montmorency was executed for intriguing against

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

. The title passed to her. She was buried at the Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, a

Carmelite convent The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmelo; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catho ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Children

Coat of Arms of Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency

Her children with the Prince de Condé were: # Anne Genevieve (1619-1679); married Henri d'Orléans, Duke de Longueville. # Louis, Prince of Condé, "le Grand Condé" (1621-1686); married

Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé Claire Clémence de Maillé (25 February 1628 – 16 April 1694) was a French noblewoman from the Brézé family and a niece of Cardinal Richelieu. She married Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as ''Le Grand Condé'' (The Great Con ...

. #

Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (11 October 162926 February 1666), was a French nobleman, the younger son of Henri II, Prince of Condé and Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of Henri I, Duke of Montmorency. He was the brother of ...

(1629-1666); married

Anne Marie Martinozzi Anne Marie Martinozzi, Princess of Conti (1637 – 4 February 1672) was a French aristocrat and court official. She was a niece of King Louis XIV of France's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, and the wife of Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. ...

Ancestry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte-Marguerite De Montmorency Montmorency, Charlotte Princesses of the Blood Montmorency, Charlotte Montmorency, Charlotte Dukes of Montmorency Princesses of Condé House of Bourbon Duchesses of Enghien House of Montmorency Burials at the Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques Montmorency, Duchess of, Charlotte Marguerite Peers created by Louis XIII Household of Marie de' Medici

Life

Children

Ancestry

See also

References

External links