François De Vendôme, Duc De Beaufort
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François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort (16 January 1616 – 25 June 1669) was the son of
César, Duke of Vendôme César de Bourbon, ''Légitimé de France'' (June 1594 – 22 October 1665) was the illegitimate son of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées, and founder of the Bourbon-Vendome, House of Bourbon-Vendome. He held the titles o ...
, and Françoise de Lorraine. He was a prominent figure in the
Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in the Kingdom of France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The government of the young King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition ...
, and later went on to fight in the Mediterranean. He is sometimes called ''François de Vendôme'', though he was born into the
House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...
, Vendôme coming from his father's title of
Duke of Vendôme Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...
. In March 1665 he led a small fleet which defeated a small Algerian fleet near the Goletta, Tunisia ( Action of March 1665). In 1669 he led the newly arrived French troops defending Candia against the
Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
, and was presumed to have been killed in a night
sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...
, on 25 June 1669. His body was brought back to France for a state funeral.


Biography

François was the second son of César de Vendôme and Françoise of Lorrain-Mercoeur. His father was an illegitimate son of King
Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...
by his mistress,
Gabrielle d'Estrées Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux (; 157310 April 1599) was a mistress, confidante and adviser of Henry IV of France. She is noted for her role in ending the religious civil wars that plagued France ...
. He began his career in the army and served in the first campaigns of the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
, but his ambitions and unscrupulous character soon found a more congenial field in the intrigues of the court. In 1642 he joined in the conspiracy of Cinq Mars against
Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
, and upon its failure was obliged to live in exile in England until Richelieu's death. Returning to France, Beaufort became the centre of a group, known as the "
cabale des Importants The Cabale des Importants (Cabal of the Important, or Conjuration of the Important) is the name given to a plot organized in the last days of August 1643Philippe Delorme, ''Anne d'Autriche'', Pygmalion 1999, p.228 by François_de_Vendôme,_duc_de ...
", in which court ladies predominated, especially the Duchess of Chevreuse and the . For an instant after the king's death, this group seemed likely to prevail, and Beaufort to be the head of the new government.
Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...
gained the office, and Beaufort, accused of a plot to murder Mazarin, was imprisoned in Vincennes, in September 1643. Beaufort escaped from prison on 31 May 1648, just in time to join
the Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in the Kingdom of France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The government of the young King Louis XIV c ...
, which began in August 1648. He was then with Parliament and the princes, against Mazarin. His personal appearance, his affectation of popular manners, and his status as a grandson (legitimized) of Henry IV rendered him a favourite of the Parisians, who acclaimed him everywhere. He was known as the ''Roi des Halles'' ("king of the markets"), and popular subscriptions were opened to pay his debts. He had hopes of becoming prime minister. But among the members of Parliament and the other leaders of the Fronde, he was regarded as merely a tool. His intelligence was but mediocre, and he showed no talent during the war. He killed his sister's husband, Charles-Amédée of Savoy, in a duel in 1652."Born Marie de Savoie-Nemours on June 21, 1646; died on December 27, 1683; daughter of Charles Amedee of Savoy (who was killed in a celebrated duel with his brother-in-law, Francois de Vendome, duke of Beaufort)... " . Mazarin, on his return to Paris, exiled Beaufort in October 1652; and he was only allowed to return in 1654, when the cardinal had no longer any reason to fear him. Thenceforth Beaufort no longer intrigued. In 1658 he was named general superintendent of navigation, or chief of the naval army, and faithfully served the king in naval wars from that on. In 1664 he directed the expedition against the pirates of Algiers. In 1669, during the
siege of Candia The siege of Candia (now Heraklion, Crete) was a military conflict in which Ottoman forces besieged the Venetian-ruled capital city of the Kingdom of Candia. It lasted from 1648 to 1669 (a total of 21 years) and is one of the longest sieges in ...
he led the French troops defending Candia against the Turks, and was killed in a night sortie, on 25 June 1669. His body was brought back to France with great pomp, and official honours rendered it.


Depictions in fiction

Beaufort is one of the characters of ''
Twenty Years After ''Twenty Years After'' () is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized from January to August 1845. A book of '' The d'Artagnan Romances'', it is a sequel to ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844) and precedes the 1847–1850 novel '' The Vicomte de ...
'' and ''
The Vicomte de Bragelonne ''The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later'' ( ) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is the third and last of '' The d'Artagnan Romances'', following ''The Three Musketeers'' and '' Twenty Years After''. It appeared first in serial form between 1 ...
'',
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
's sequels to ''
The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...
''. The first book chronicles his escape on Whitsunday - plotted by Athos - and lampoons his tendency to utter
malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...
s. He also appears in '' Le Roi Soleil'', a French musical which opened in Paris in 2005 where he was played by
Merwan Rim Merwan Rim (born 13 July 1977 in Sarcelles, France) is a French actor and singer-songwriter. Biography At the age of 17, Merwan Rim started to learn and instruments as an autodidact. Realizing his gift in musical arts, Merwan decided to become ...
. Beaufort is also one of the main characters in the trilogy ''Secret d'État'', by French novelist Juliette Benzoni.


Ancestry


Notes


References

* * * Attribution: * Endnotes: ** See the memoirs of the time, notably those of La Rochefoucauld, the Cardinal de Retz, and Madame de Motteville. ** D'Avenel Richelieu ''et la monarchie absolue'' (1884); ** Chéruel, ''La France sous le ministère de Mazarin'' (1879) ** La France ''sous la minorité de Louis XIV'' (1882). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourbon, Francois De, Duke Of Beaufort Francois Dukes of Beaufort (France) Beaufort, Francois de Beaufort, Francois de 17th-century French military personnel Francois Nobility from Paris People of the Cretan War (1645–1669) Military personnel from Paris People of the Fronde Man in the Iron Mask People from the Province of Picardy