Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Soissons (May 1604 – 6 July 1641) was the son of Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and Anne de Montafié. A second cousin of

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

he was a '' prince du Sang'', those considered part of the Royal family. Part of the faction who opposed Cardinal Richelieu and his policy of war with Spain, he was killed leading a revolt at the Battle of La Marfée in 1641.

Biography

Born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, son of

Charles, Count of Soissons Charles de Bourbon (3 November 1566 – 1 November 1612) was a French '' prince du sang'' and military commander during the struggles over religion and the throne in late 16th century France. A first cousin of King Henry IV of France, he was the s ...

and Anne de Montafié. Louis was made governor of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

(1612), an office inherited at the death of his father, and later governor of the

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...

province (1631). Around 1612, he was made the Grand Master of France, the head of the royal household. In 1636, Louis conspired with his cousin Gaston d'Orléans and the count of Montrésor with the intention to murder Cardinal Richelieu and depose the King, but the plot failed. The King's mother, Marie de' Medici, had tried as well on numerous occasions to remove the Cardinal as well as once trying to depose the King in favor of her younger son Gaston. For this she was placed under house arrest for the remainder of her life. Taking refuge in Sedan with the

Duke of Bouillon The Duchy of Bouillon (french: Duché de Bouillon) was a duchy comprising Bouillon and adjacent towns and villages in present-day Belgium. The state originated in the 10th century as property of the Lords of Bouillon, owners of Bouillon Cast ...

(

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

of the independent

principality of Sedan The Principality of Sedan (French: ''Principauté de Sedan'') was an independent Protestant state centered on the Château de Sedan (now the city of Sedan) in the Ardennes. It was ruled by the Prince of Sedan (''prince de Sedan''), who belong ...

), Louis again conspired against Richelieu, and the Duke of Bouillon obtained the military support of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Louis's army was engaged by a royal French army under Gaspard de Coligny, Marshal Châtillon at Sedan, but Coligny was routed at the Battle of La Marfée outside of Sedan on 6 July 1641. Of the King's 11,000 force, 600 were killed, 5500 were taken prisoner, while the Count of Soissons' forces suffered nominal losses. This was due to the late slow arrival of the King's forces through muddy roads and the surprise cavalry attack from their flank from behind a hill. The Count of Soissons, however, was killed after the battle by one officer whose identity was never ascertained, possibly in the employ of Cardinal Richelieu. According to some sources, the Count died by accident while lifting the visor of his helmet with a loaded pistol, shooting himself in the head. He was buried in the Soissons family tomb at the ''Chartreuse de Bourbon-lez-Gaillon'' in

Gaillon Gaillon () is a commune in the Eure department in northern France. History The origins of Gaillon are not really known. In 892, Rollo, a Viking chief, might have ravaged Gaillon and the region, before he became the first prince of the Normans an ...

, in the French province of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The county of Soissons was passed onto his only surviving sister Marie de Bourbon,

Princess of Carignano The ''Princess of Carignano'' was a woman married to the Prince of Carignano of the House of Savoy. The list ends with Charles Albert, in 1831, after he became King of Sardinia. But the Queens of Sardinia and later Italy used the title "Princess of ...

and wife of

Thomas Francis of Savoy Thomas Francis of Savoy, 1st Prince of Carignano (; ; 21 December 1596 – 22 January 1656) was an Italian military commander and the founder of the Carignano branch of the House of Savoy, which reigned as kings of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 ...

, a famous general.

Issue

*Louis Henri de Bourbon, ''bâtard de Soissons'', Count of Noyers and of Dunois, Prince of Neuchâtel (August 1640 – 8 February 1703) illegitimate son of Louis and Élisabeth des Hayes. Line continues in the

Dukes of Luynes The Duke of Luynes (french: duc de Luynes ) is a territorial name belonging to the noble French house d'Albert. Luynes is, today, a commune of the Indre-et-Loire ''département'' in France. The family of Albert, which sprang from Thomas Alberti (d ...

family. Married Angelique Cunegonde de Montmorency-Luxembourg, daughter of François Henri de Montmorency.

Ancestors

References

Sources

* * * * {{Authority control Grand Masters of France House of Bourbon-Condé 1604 births 1641 deaths Counts of Soissons Counts of Dreux Louis XIII Nobility from Paris 17th-century peers of France Military personnel of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) French military personnel killed in action Firearm accident victims Deaths by firearm in France Accidental deaths in France