Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Soissons (May 1604 – 6 July 1641) was the son of Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and his wife, Anne de Montafié, Countess of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis. 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 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 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, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, son of Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and his wife, Anne de Montafié. Louis was made governor of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, 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 ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, 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, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

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

and depose the King, but the plot failed. The King's mother,

Marie de' Medici Marie de' Medici (; ; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as rege ...

, 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 (

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. The ...

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. 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 ...

, in the French province of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. The county of Soissons was passed onto his only surviving sister Marie de Bourbon, Princess of Carignano and wife of Thomas Francis of Savoy, 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 ( ) 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 (died 1455), ''sei ...

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

Biography

Issue

Ancestors

See also

References

Sources