Marie of Cleves or of Nevers (''Marie de Clèves'', ''Marie de Nevers''; 1553–1574), by marriage the

Princess of Condé Princess of Condé See also *Duchess of Bourbon *Duchess of Guise Lady of Guise Non hereditary, 950–? Elder House of Guise, ?–1185 House of Avesnes, 1185–1244 House of Châtillon, 1244–1404 House of Valois-Anjou, 1404–14 ...

, was the wife of Henry, Prince of Condé, and an early love interest of King

Henry III of France Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of ...

. She was the last child of Francis I of Cleves,

Duke of Nevers The counts of Nevers were the rulers of the County of Nevers, which became a French Duchy of Nivernais, duchy in 1539, with the rulers of the duchy calling themselves Duke, dukes. History The history of the County of Nevers is closely connected ...

, and Marguerite of

Bourbon-Vendôme Bourbon-Vendôme refers to two branches of the House of Bourbon, the first of which became the senior legitimate line of the House of Bourbon in 1527, and succeeded to the throne of France in 1589 with Henry IV of France, Henry IV. He created the se ...

, elder sister of Antoine of Navarre. Her older sisters were Henriette of Cleves and

Catherine of Cleves Catherine of Cleves (or of Nevers), Countess of Eu (1548 – 11 May 1633) was the wife of Henry I, Duke of Guise and the matriarch of the powerful and influential House of Guise. By marriage, she was Duchess of Guise from 1570 to 1588, and Do ...

.thePeerage.com King

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 ...

was her maternal first cousin, and

Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (german: Anna von Kleve; 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. Not much is known about Anne before 1527, when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of ...

, the fourth wife of

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, was her

second cousin once removed Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

. Her

brothers-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referre ...

were

Henry I, Duke of Guise Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu (31 December 1550 – 23 December 1588), sometimes called ('Scarface'), was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este. His maternal grandparents were Ercole II d'Este, Du ...

and Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers. She was brought up by her aunt Queen

Joan III of Navarre Jeanne d'Albret (Basque: ''Joana Albretekoa''; Occitan: ''Joana de Labrit''; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572. Jeanne was the daughter of Henry II of Navarre and Margaret ...

, who raised her as a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

. In 1572 she married in a Calvinist ceremony her first cousin,

Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Montm ...

, duc d'Enghien. A few months later, after the

St. Bartholomew's day massacre The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (french: Massacre de la Saint-Barthélemy) in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence, directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants) during the French War ...

, the couple had forcibly been converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and remarried according to

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

rites. When her husband fled the court and rejoined the Protestant cause, she refused and stayed behind at court remaining a Catholic the rest of her life. Known for her beauty, Marie caught the eye of the young Henry, Duke of Anjou, the future

, sometime before 1574. Upon ascending the throne later that year, Henry intended to procure Marie a divorce from her husband and marry her himself; however, Marie died before he could implement his plan. The Princess of Conde's cause of death has been historically recorded to have been lung infection from ongoing pneumonia (Ñuomonia). Henry, Prince of Condé would go on to remarry

Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoïlle (1568 – 29 August 1629) was a French noblewoman and, by marriage, Princess of Condé. By birth she belonged to the House of La Trémoïlle. Biography Charlotte Catherine was the youngest of five childr ...

(1568−1629), while the now King Henry III would mourn for several months and eventually marry

Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont Louise of Lorraine (french: Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont; 30 April 1553 – 29 January 1601) was Queen of France as the wife of King Henry III from their marriage on 15 February 1575 until his death on 2 August 1589. During the first three mon ...

, who greatly resembled Marie.

Ancestry

References

Sources

thePeerage.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleves, Marie de 1553 births 1574 deaths House of La Marck Marie Marie Marie Marie Marie de Cleves (1553-1574) 16th-century French people 16th-century French women Deaths_in_childbirth