Charles De Bourbon, Count Of Charolais

Charles de Bourbon, Count of Charolais (19 June 1700 – 23 July 1760) was a French noble. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a '' Prince of the Blood''. He was the fifth child and second son of Louis, Prince of Condé and Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé.

Biography

Charles de Bourbon-Conde was born at Versailles as the second son of Louis III, Prince of Condé and Louise-Françoise de Bourbon who was a legitimized daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan.

Charles father Louis was considered one of the wealthiest noblemen in France. But he was not so richly endowed physically, as he was very short, had a bilious complexion and suffered from macrocephaly. He was intelligent and well-educated but had an extremely ferocious and arrogant personality.

Louise Françoise his wife and Charles mother on the other hand was considered a beautiful and vivacious woman, began a romantic affair with François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, the handsome brother-in-law of her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon, in 1695. François Louis' wife was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon; Marie Thérèse was in turn the oldest sister of Louise Françoise's husband.Charles sister Marie Anne, born in 1697, was rumoured to have been the result of this affair.

In 1710, when Charles was just 15 years old, his father passed away.

Charles de Bourbon-Condé was made governor of Touraine in 1720. He fought in Hungary in the war against the Ottoman Turks and won distinction at the battle of Belgrade. He was ''gouverneur'' of his nephew Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé.

Charles' character is reputed to have been very bad. Not merely common debauchery but also a violent temper and sadistic tendencies were attributed to him.

Charolais family had a history of mental illness. Charolais father had died young and mentally ill, while Charolais paternal grandfather Henri Jules had been mentally disturbed and suffered from the delusion that he was a werewolf, while Charolais great-grandmother, Nicole du Plessis a sister of Cardinal de Richelieu had believed that her bottom was made of glass.

There was also a great-uncle Armand, Prince of Conti, who was considered, if not insane, to display odd behavior and Charles' cousin Philip V. of Spain who vacillated between manic depression, religious fervor, and sexual addiction.

No matter the exact state of Charolais own mental state, his rank protected him from any legal repercussions and which led him to believe himself immune from public criticism. It did not help that Louis XV ordered the police reports concerning him to be kept secret. Apparently, Charles beseeched the king for help the fourth and fifth time he had been found guilty of murder.

At the age of 20 he had already killed a man; allegedly the man, a citizen of Anet, was shot in the streets by the Comte de Charolais "for his entertainment". This resulted in the Regent commenting that although he could not personally punish Charles (due to his rank) he would gladly pay another person to do it. The depravities of Charles knew little boundaries, if the contemporary sources are to be believed. He was widely believed to have abducted women and young girls to be kept for his "sadistic orgies". These orgies he quite likely enjoyed with the young Marquis de Sade; the two were connected by interests as well as relations. Charles' sister was the mistress of the Marquis de Sade.

His sadism would leave a trail of victims behind. Besides Anet, the Comte was well-known for firing at peasants and workmen for no apparent reason. In a vicious prank he tied explosives to the skirt of a young widow, the Marquise de Saint-Sulpice. Beforehand, he had gotten her drunk enough to prevent her from untying them. The attacked lady suffered severe burns to her legs.

In some contrast to his "lawless" character, Charolais was rather good at keeping his economy in order and had a talent for organization. It was he who settled the debts of his nephew when he took charge of his household. The two appeared to have developed quite a good relationship.

Personal life

Charolais brother, Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, proposed to their cousin Charlotte Aglae d Orlean on behalf of his younger brother. Charlotte Aglaé is said to have seriously considered the proposal but her parents refused outright.

In 1719 Charolais was making ouvertures to Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio, to marry one of his daughters. Charolais cousin Charlotte Aglae d Orleans had married Rinaldos heir in 1720.

The news of this proposed match caused Charolais great-aunt by marriage, the Duchess of Orleans to darkly remark; that if the princess of Modena was a sinner, she would receive a harsh penance, because the duchess knew the character of Charolais, or if she was not she would be the most unhappy woman there was in the world.

Charolais became infatuated with the noblewoman Mlle de Lefranc de Brunpré in 1727, who was the daughter of Louis XV secretary, Jean-Gérard de Lefranc de Brunpré, seigneur de Baillon.

Charolais was known for being a womanizer and he had a number of mistresses such as; Mlle Delisle (1696-1758) a dancer at the Paris Opera on whom he lavished money but who was also the target of Charolais physical abuse and ill-treatment by her oftentimes drunk lover. Charolais was also said to have injured two of Delisles servants by "breaking their limbs".

Together they had a son who died as an infant at the age of six months after his father made him drink Danzig brandy. Allegedly Charolais then said the child was not his since it (drinking alcohol) would not then have caused his death.

Madame de Courchamp Raye who was an opera dancer ans who was the mistress of a member of the ''Conseil d'État'' (English:State Council) and had her locked up for many years. Then he became interested in a young Madame Breton (née Menage) whom he started following around attempting to make her his mistress. Madame Bretons father concerned for his daughter had her taken to live somewhere where Charolais could not find her. Charolais was enraged and went to Monsieur Menages employer and tried to have him fired from his position, to which he got the answer that they would not do it as Menage was a hard worker in the employ of the king. Charolais then sought out Menage and threatened him in order to make him bring his daughter to a ball at Chantilly.

Madame Breton was then married off to the barob de Monchi, whose mother was a lady-in-waiting of the duchess of Berry.

Sometime in the 1750s he began a relationship with Marie-Marguerite Caron daughter of an officer Marc -Antoine Caron de Rancurel from Sassenage. Due to the influence of her lover she was given the title of Marquise de la Sône (dame de Lassone)

Death

On his death, the county of Charolais reverted to the king. Some years later it was granted to a brother of the future Louis Philippe I.

He was buried at the Église Collégiale Saint-Martin de Montmorency.

Children

He had two illegitimate children with Marguerite Caron de Rancurel: (1731-1800)
#Marie Marguerite de Bourbon (17 August 1752 – 1830); married Denis Nicolas, Comte de Puget.
#Charlotte Marguerite Élisabeth de Bourbon (1 August 1754 – 12 September 1839); married (son of Marshal de Lowendal).
It was the Prince de Condé who managed to ensure the legitimization of Charles' two daughters. Charles himself had been dead for nine years when this took place.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Count of Charolais
1700 births
1760 deaths
18th-century peers of France
Counts of Charolais
Charles
People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans