Louis Joseph de Lorraine ''Duke of Guise'' and Duke of Angoulême, (7 August 1650 – 30 July 1671) was the only son of

Louis, Duke of Joyeuse Louis de Lorraine, Duke of Joyeuse (11 January 1622 – 27 September 1654, Paris) was a younger son of Charles, Duke of Guise and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse. Life He was appointed Grand Chamberlain of France in 1644, shortly after the Guises ...

and Marie Françoise de Valois, the only daughter of Louis-Emmanuel d'Angoulême, Count of Alès, Governor of Provence and son of Charles de Valois Duke of Angoulême, a bastard of

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II in 1560, and as such was the penultimate monarch of the ...

Biography

He was born at the Hôtel de Guise, present

Hôtel de Soubise The Hôtel de Soubise () is a city mansion '' entre cour et jardin'' (), located at 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. History The Hôtel de Soubise was built for the Prince and Princess de Soubise on the sit ...

. His mother having been confined to the abbey of

Essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

for "imbecility" (that is, mental illness), Louis Joseph was raised by his aunt and legal guardian, Marie de Lorraine, known as "''Mademoiselle de Guise''." Upon the death of his uncle

Henry II, Duke of Guise Henry II de Lorraine, 5th Duke of Guise (4 April 1614, in Paris – 2 June 1664, in Paris) was a French aristocrat and archbishop, the second son of Charles, Duke of Guise and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse. Life At the age of fifteen, he became ...

, Louis Joseph succeeded him as head of the

House of Guise The House of Guise (pronunciation: �ɥiz Dutch: ''Wieze, German: Wiese'') was a prominent French noble family, that was involved heavily in the French Wars of Religion. The House of Guise was the founding house of the Principality of Joinvill ...

. Mlle de Guise promptly ordered extensive renovations to the family's stately residence, known as the "Hôtel de Guise." In October 1663, the young duke and his aunt were received in great pomp in his duchy of Joinville. He received an excellent education, under the guidance of Mlle de Guise's protégé,

Philippe Goibaut Philippe Goibaut des Bois La Grugère (; 22? March 1629 – 1 July 1694), known to his contemporaries as Monsieur Du Bois (), was a translator of St. Augustine, member of the Académie Française and director of Mademoiselle de Guise's musical ens ...

, and his skills as a horseman were honed by

François Roger de Gaignières François Roger de Gaignières (30 December 1642, Entrains-sur-Nohain – 1715, Paris), was a French genealogist, antiquary and collector. Life He was the grandson of a merchant at Lyon and the son of Aimé de Gaignières, secretary to the Coun ...

, his ''écuyer''. On 15 June 1667, the young Duke married

Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans (26 December 1646 - 17 March 1696), known as Isabelle d'Orléans, was the Duchess of Alençon and, during her husband's lifetime, Duchess of Angoulême. She was a daughter of Gaston d'Orléans and a first cousin o ...

, duchesse d'Alençon, daughter of

Gaston, Duke of Orléans '' Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a '' Fils de France''. He lat ...

, at

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...

. As she was a ''

petite-fille de France ''Fils de France'' (, ''Son of France'') was the style and rank held by the sons of the kings and dauphins of France. A daughter was known as a fille de France (, ''Daughter of France''). The children of the dauphin (a title reserved for the ki ...

'', the marriage was considered a ''coup'' for the House of Guise, for the bridegroom was a mere ''

prince étranger ''Prince étranger'' (English: "foreign prince") was a high, though somewhat ambiguous, rank at the French royal court of the ''Ancien Régime''. Terminology In medieval Europe, a nobleman bore the title of prince as an indication of sovereignty, ...

'': Saint-Simon noted that she was a stickler for receiving the honours due her

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

, even at the expense of her husband's dignity at the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

, inasmuch as he "was only entitled to a folding stool." Mademoiselle de Guise carefully trained her nephew to receive Italian nobles and ambassadors who were passing through Paris, and it doubtlessly was in order to add additional luster to the couple's little court that Mlle de Guise invited

Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'', ''Marche en rondeau''. This theme is still us ...

to move into an apartment at the Hôtel de Guise and compose for the young couple's chapel. The couple had one son: * Francis Joseph de Lorraine, Duke of Alençon (1670–1675) The young Duke was winning the approval of

and was given the honor of being at the King's side in military reviews. Then disaster struck. Returning from a visit to the court of

Charles II, king of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

, he fell ill with

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

on 18 July 1671, and died twelve days later. The music for his funeral was composed by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. His body was carried to

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

to be buried near his ancestors, and his heart was buried at the abbey of Montmartre.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorraine, Louis Joseph Guise, Louis Joseph, Duc de Guise, Louis Joseph, Duc de Guise, Louis Joseph, Duke of 106 Counts of Eu Louis Joseph Princes of Joinville Infectious disease deaths in France French music Princes of Lorraine 17th-century French people