Margherita Gonzaga (2 October 1591 – 7 February 1632) was
Duchess of Lorraine
The royal consorts of the rulers of the Lorraine region have held varying titles, over a region that has varied in scope since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established r ...
from 1606 until 1624 by marriage to
Henry II, Duke of Lorraine
Henry II ( French: ''Henri II''; 8 November 1563 – 31 July 1624), known as "the Good (''le Bon'')", was Duke of Lorraine from 1608 until his death. Leaving no sons, both of his daughters became Duchesses of Lorraine by marriage. He was a brother ...
. She was an agent of Pro-French and anti Protestant policy in Lorraine, and are most known for her support of her daughter Nicole's right to the Duchy of Lorraine. She also claimed her right to Monferrato during the Mantuan war of succession.
Life
She was born in
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
, the eldest daughter of
Vincenzo I Gonzaga
Vincenzo Ι Gonzaga (21 September 1562 – 9 February 1612) was ruler of the Duchy of Mantua and the Duchy of Montferrat from 1587 to 1612.
Biography
Vincenzo was the only son of Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Archduchess Eleanor of Aust ...
and
Eleonora de' Medici
Eleanor de' Medici (28 February 1567 – 9 September 1611) was a Duchess of Mantua by marriage to Vincenzo I Gonzaga. She served as regent of Mantua 1595, 1597 and 1601, when Vincenzo served in the Austrian campaign in Hungary, and in 1602, whe ...
; she was also a sister of
Francesco IV Gonzaga
Francesco IV Gonzaga (7 May 1586 – 22 December 1612), was Duke of Mantua and (as Francesco II) Duke of Montferrat between 9 February and 22 December 1612.
Biography
Born in Mantua, he was the eldest son of Duke Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medi ...
,
Ferdinando I Gonzaga
Ferdinand I Gonzaga (26 April 1587 – 29 October 1626) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1612 until his death.
Biography
Born in Mantua, he was the son of Vincenzo I and Eleonora de' Medici.
He was appointed a cardinal at the age ...
,
Vincenzo II Gonzaga
Vincenzo II Gonzaga (7 January 1594 – 25 December 1627) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1626 until his death.
Vincenzo was the son of Duke Vincent I and Eleonora de' Medici and inherited the duchy upon the death of his elder ...
and
Eleonora Gonzaga. Her brothers all succeeded their father as
Duke of Mantua
During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.
From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...
and Eleonora became
Holy Roman Empress
The Holy Roman Empress or Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (''Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches'') was the wife or widow of the Holy Roman Emperor. The elective dignity of Holy Roman emperor was restricted to males only, but some empresse ...
by her marriage to
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II (9 July 1578 – 15 February 1637) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, Hungary, and List of Croatian monarchs, Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Charles II, Archduke of Austria, Archd ...
.
Marriage
She married
Henry II, Duke of Lorraine
Henry II ( French: ''Henri II''; 8 November 1563 – 31 July 1624), known as "the Good (''le Bon'')", was Duke of Lorraine from 1608 until his death. Leaving no sons, both of his daughters became Duchesses of Lorraine by marriage. He was a brother ...
on 24 April 1606. He had previously been married to
Catherine of Navarre
Catherine ( eu, Katalina, oc, Catarina; 1468 – 12 February 1517), Queen of Navarre, reigned from 1483 until 1517. She was also Duchess of Gandia, Montblanc, and Peñafiel, Countess of Foix, Bigorre, and Ribagorza, and Viscountess of Béar ...
, sister of King Henry IV of France, but the marriage was childless (Catherine was forty years old at the time of her marriage).
A marriage between Henry II and Margherita Gonzaga, her being the niece of the new Queen of France (Marie de Medici), would ally the Lorraine not only with the House of Gonzaga but also work as a proxy alliance between Lorraine and France, and that is how it was perceived at the French royal court as well. In September 1605, Henry IV of France and Vincenzo I Gonzaga agreed to make a mutual alliance with Lorraine through Margherita, and in February 1606 the marriage contract was signed in Paris by the agents of the bride and groom. A wedding by proxy took place in Mantova in April 1606, followed by the wedding in Nancy in June.
Duchess of Lorraine
In May 1608 Henry II succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine and Margherita Gonzaga became Duchess. She was described as unattractive with a heavy chin and a big nose and was said to look older than her years, but also as strong and healthy. She was a spendthrift who loved luxury and reportedly loved to give expensive gifts, bought twelve shoes every months and continued to expand her stable with new horses; she was an enthusiastic hostess who preferred to stay in the Ducal Palace of Nancy, were she often arranged balls.
Margherita Gonzaga did have some political influence. Described as a Catholic fanatic, she supported Henry's persecution of the huguenots in Lorraine, and supported his decree in which all Protestants were ordered to leave Lorrain before 20 April 1617. She supported a Pro-French policy and successfully prevented the marriage of her daughter to a Spanish prince and instead supported (this time unsuccessful) her marriage to the French Dauphin.
In the absence of a son, Margherita and Henry attempted to secure the inheritance of Lorraine and Bar for their eldest daughter Nicole. They arranged a marriage between Nicole and Louis de Guise, son of cardinal Louis II of Lorraine. However, Henry II's younger brother Francois de Guise, comte de Vaudemont, refused Nicole's right by claiming that the
Salic law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
applied in Lorraine, a conflict which was not settled until Nicole was married to Francois de Guise's son Charles.
Later life
On 13 July 1624 Henry died and was succeeded by his daughter Nicole with the support of Margherita Gonzaga. In 1625, Nicole's rights were challenged by her father-in-law Francois de Guise and her husband. Margherita Gonzaga travelled to the French royal court in Paris and successfully asked Louis XIII of France to send a French army to support her daughters right and duchess regnant of Lorraine. When Louis XIII sent an army under Louis de Marillac to the Duchy, however, Francois de Guise managed to win over the support of the Lorraine Estates, who were afraid of France, and be declared Francis II of Lorraine, deposing Nicole; he soon abdicated in favor of his son, who became Charles IV of Lorraine. After this event, France retracted their military support to Margherita Gonzaga and Nicole; Margherita Gonzaga made repeated attempts to secure French support for her daughter, but France was unwilling to engage further, although it did give Margherita support in words.
I December 1627 Margherita's brother died, and a war broke out over the Mantuan succession. Margherita Gonzaga pressed her own right to Monferrato, which in contrast to Mantua had female succession; a theory is that she wanted to give her daughter Nicole a realm from her mother, since she had been deprived of her fathers realm. However, Margherita was not able to secure any support for her claim, particularly since her closest ally France supported Charles of Nevers. In the Regensburg Treaty of October 1630 she was given the right to compensation for having given of her claims (against her will).
In 1631, Margherita Gonzaga defended her daughter Nicole when her son-in-law tried to divorce Nicole with an annulment by accusing the vicar who performed their marriage ceremony,
Melchior de La Vallee
Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations.
As a first name
* Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide
* ...
, for witchcraft.
[Tabacchi St. Margherita Gonzaga, duchessa di Lorena (итал.). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani — Volume 70 (2008). www.treccani.it.]
Issue
Henry and Margherita had four daughters, two of whom survived infancy:
* Stillborn daughter (February 1607);
*
Nicole of Lorraine (3 October 1608 – 23 February 1657), married her cousin,
Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine
Charles IV (5 April 1604, Nancy – 18 September 1675, Allenbach) was Duke of Lorraine from 1624 until his death in 1675, with a brief interruption in 1634, when he abdicated under French pressure in favor of his younger brother, Nicholas Franc ...
, separated in 1635;
* A daughter (10 February 1611 – 11 February 1611);
*
Claude of Lorraine (15 October 1612 – 2 August 1648), married her cousin,
Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine
Nicholas Francis (French: ''Nicolas François de Lorraine''; 6 December 1609 – 25 January 1670), also known as Nicholas II, was briefly Duke of Lorraine and Duke of Bar for a few months in 1634, spanning the time between the abdication of his o ...
Both of Margherita's two daughters married their cousins, who were Henry's successors due to the fact that he and Margherita did not have a son to inherit his estates.
Death
Margherita died in
Nancy in 1632 at the age of forty. She had been a widow since 1624.
Ancestry
References
Sources
*
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Margherita
1591 births
1632 deaths
Nobility of Mantua
Margherita Gonzaga
Margherita
Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy".
Given name
As a name, it may refer to:
*Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma
*Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...
Margherita
Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy".
Given name
As a name, it may refer to:
*Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma
*Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...
16th-century Italian nobility
16th-century Italian women
17th-century Italian nobility
17th-century Italian women
17th-century French nobility
17th-century French women
Margherita
Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy".
Given name
As a name, it may refer to:
*Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma
*Margherita de' Medici (1612 ...