Louis de Lorraine, cardinal de Guise et prince-évêque de Metz (21 October 1527, in
Joinville
Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the Southern Brazil, Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitib ...
, Champagne – 29 March 1578, 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 ...
) was a French Roman Catholic cardinal and Bishop during the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...
and
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
. The third son of
Claude, Duke of Guise
Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise (20 October 1496 – 12 April 1550) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528.
He was a highly effective general for the French crown. His children and grandchildren were to ...
and
Antoinette de Bourbon he was destined from a young age for a church career. At the age of 18 he was appointed
Bishop of Troyes
The Diocese of Troyes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Trecensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Troyes'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Troyes, France. The diocese now comprises the ''département'' of Aube. Erecte ...
, a position he could only serve in an administrative capacity as he would not reach the
Canonical Age for another 9 years. Having served in this position for 5 years, he transferred to become
Bishop of Albi, staying in this role until 1561, when he was replaced due to his lethargic suppression of 'heresy'. From here he moved to become
Archbishop of Sens
The Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis''; French language, French: ''Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre'') is a Latin Church, Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese co ...
, a see he would hold from 1561 to 1562, during which time a massacre of Protestants would occur in the city. By 1562 he decided to retire from active episcopal involvement. Nevertheless, he would become Prince-Bishop of Metz in 1568, an office he would hold until his death a decade later. While he lacked much interest in spiritual matters and was renowned for his drinking, he built up a considerable empire of abbeys during his life, which he passed on to his nephew Claude, chevalier d'Aumale.
In 1562 he travelled with his brothers to
Saverne
Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...
for a meeting with
the Duke of Württemberg at which the family discussed converting to Lutheranism, a prospect that would be destroyed by the
Massacre of Wassy
The Massacre of Vassy () was the murder of Huguenot worshippers and citizens in an armed action by troops of the Duke of Guise, in Wassy, France on 1 March 1562. The massacre is identified as the first major event in the French Wars of Religio ...
perpetrated by
François, Duke of Guise
François de Lorraine, 2nd Duke of Guise, 1st Prince of Joinville, and 1st Duke of Aumale (17 February 1519 – 24 February 1563), was a French general and statesman. A prominent leader during the Italian War of 1551–1559 and French Wars of Re ...
on his return to France. At the
death of the Duke the following year, he and
Aumale engineered his final days to be conservatively orthodox. In the years of peace that followed the first war of religion, he was the only member of his family who remained at court, representing the militant Catholic cause, something he would continue to do after the
Peace of Longjumeau while other counsellors were trying to secure the peace. He crowned
Henri III in 1575, and continued to advocate for committed prosecution of the civil wars in his final years, before dying in 1578.
Early life and family
Siblings
Louis de Lorraine was born in 1527 the fourth son of
Claude, Duke of Guise
Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise (20 October 1496 – 12 April 1550) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528.
He was a highly effective general for the French crown. His children and grandchildren were to ...
and
Antoinette de Bourbon. His brothers
François, Duke of Guise
François de Lorraine, 2nd Duke of Guise, 1st Prince of Joinville, and 1st Duke of Aumale (17 February 1519 – 24 February 1563), was a French general and statesman. A prominent leader during the Italian War of 1551–1559 and French Wars of Re ...
,
Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine,
Claude, Duke of Aumale,
François de Lorraine, Grand Prior and
René, Marquis of Elbeuf were born in 1519, 1524, 1526, 1534 and 1536 respectively. Meanwhile, his sister
Marie de Guise, mother of
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legit ...
was born in 1515. To avoid a fracturing of the families inheritance, Louis was destined for a career in the church.
Ecclesiastic empire
While Cardinal Guise could not claim the same number of benefices as his older brother, he was not without many abbeys, and together they formed a large ecclesiastical empire. Guise for his part controlled the abbey of Notre Dame des Trois Fontaines, Saint-Pierre and Saint-Thierri in Champagne alone. With his elevation to Cardinal in 1553, the family could boast of having two Cardinals in the same generation. To maintain the families ecclesiastical empire more effectively, they engaged in benefice juggling. Cardinal Guise bequeathed several abbeys ''in commendam'' to his nephew Claude, Chevalier d'Aumale. In total these provided revenues of 40,000 ''livres'' to the young chevalier. Just one of these abbey's, which Guise resigned in 1572, that of Bec, had annual revenues of 24,000 ''livres'' which was twice the revenues provided by his brothers' duchy of Aumale. Upon Cardinal Guise's death in 1578, the chevalier acquired many more of his abbeys.
Cardinal des bouteilles
Cardinal Guise acquired in his lifetime the derisive moniker of 'cardinal des bouteilles' due to his reputed fondness for drinking. He acquired great wealth during his lifetime, and was the longest living of all the Guise brothers of his generation. However he lacked the capacity or inclination to be a leader in the way his brothers Lorraine and
Guise had been in the previous decade.
His nephew was
Louis II, Cardinal of Guise
Louis II de Lorraine, cardinal de Guise (6 July 1555, Dampierre – 24 December 1588, Château de Blois) was a French prelate, Cardinal and politician during the latter French Wars of Religion. The third son of François de Lorraine, duke of Gui ...
(made cardinal, 1578). His great-nephew was
Louis III, Cardinal of Guise (made cardinal, 1615).
Reign of Henri II
Troyes and Albi
Guise was made
Bishop of Troyes
The Diocese of Troyes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Trecensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Troyes'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Troyes, France. The diocese now comprises the ''département'' of Aube. Erecte ...
on 11 May 1545, at the age of 18, a position he had to hold as administrator until he reached the
canonical age of 27. Upon the death of
François I in 1547, Cardinal Guise had reached an age at which he could participate actively in court life. During 1550 in his capacity as bishop of Troyes, he had been sent 5 suspects who had been accused of blasphemy and heresy. They had originally been sent to the ''Parlement'' of Paris for trial, but the ''Parlement'' simply sent them back for Cardinal Guise to hold in the local prison, without any further punishment. The most severe punishment the ''Parlement'' gave to a member of his diocese was a combination of banishment, confiscation of property and several days of public flogging. No suspected heretics in his diocese were killed in the ''chambre ardente'' during his tenure.
He was transferred to the
see of Albi on 27 June 1550. After ceasing to be bishop of Albi in 1561, he was granted a pension of 10,000 ''livres''. He maintained this pension through the next three bishops that succeeded him to the post, at the end of his life in 1578
Giulio de Medici was fruitlessly trying to get the Pope to cancel it. Alongside these revenues, he received 6000 ''livres'' from
Condom
A condom is a sheath-shaped Barrier contraception, barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a Sexually transmitted disease, sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condo ...
and half of the revenues of
Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...
. This was despite the fact he had never served as bishop of Condom or Sens. Guise was created
cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to
* Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
by
Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III (; ; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1550 to his death, in March 1555.
After a career as a disting ...
on 22 December 1553.
Italian wars
During the 1554 campaign season of the
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the House of Valois, Valois kings o ...
, the French achieved a surprise victory at the
Battle of Renty, the king personally witnessed the battle from nearby, in the company of the Cardinal Guise. Shortly thereafter the spoils of the battle were presented to him.
By 1558, the Guise rival for political authority was a prisoner of the Spanish, and they enjoyed the fruits, a marriage secured between their
niece
In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...
and the
dauphin. At the festivities, the Cardinals
Bourbon, Lorraine, Guise,
Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...
,
Meudon
Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...
and
Lenoncourt proceeded the dauphin who was brought forth by
Navarre
Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
.
Reign of Charles IX
Sens
Cardinal Guise was relieved of his authority over Albi in 1561, as it was felt that he lacked the energy to sufficiently prosecute a war against heresy in his diocese. He was replaced by
Lorenzo Strozzi
Lorenzo Strozzi (3 December 1523 – 14 December 1571) was an Italian abbot and cardinal. He was the son of Filippo Strozzi, a member of the powerful Strozzi family of Florence, and Clarice de' Medici.
Early life
Lorenzo Strozzi was born in F ...
, who had called royal troops in to crush suspected heretics in his previous residence at
Béziers
Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...
. He received the
archbishopric of Sens on 9 May 1561 but resigned it in 1562 to
Cardinal de Pellevée. During Cardinal Guise's tenure as Archbishop of Sens, the Protestants of the town were massacred by militant elements of the populace in April 1562. With his departure from Sens, he retired from active involvement in the episcopacy.
Saverne
In February 1562, he travelled to
Saverne
Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...
to meet with
the Duke of Württemberg, along with his brothers
the Duke of Guise, Lorraine and
the Grand Prior. Cardinal Guise and the Grand Prior would largely be a peripheral presence in the discussions that followed, with Guise and Lorraine exploring the possibility of converting to Lutheranism with the Protestant German duke. Lutheranism was a far more agreeable creed for the
Guise than the Calvinism which dominated French Protestantism. The meeting ended positively, with Lorraine opining that he would trade his red robe for a black one. However the initiative of the meeting would be destroyed on the duke of Guise's return to France, his troops massacring a Protestant service as they passed through
Wassy
Wassy () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Marne Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. Its population, as of 2019, is 2,819. Wassy has been Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with the German town of Eppingen i ...
.
Assassination of the Duke of Guise
After the
assassination of the Cardinal's brother, the duke of Guise in March 1563, Cardinal Guise and his brother
Claude, Duke of Aumale hurried to the scene to see their brother off, and ensure his exit was stage managed in a suitably hardline Catholic fashion. The death of
Antoine of Navarre
Antoine (, , 22 April 1518 – 17 November 1562), sometimes called Antoine of Bourbon, was King of Navarre from 1555 until his death in 1562 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Jeanne III. He was the first monarch of the House of Bourbon, of whi ...
, their cousin in October 1562 had been plagued with rumours of religious unorthodoxy. To this end, they selected an arch conservative confessor for him the Bishop of Riez. He reported that the duke enjoyed the
Epistle of James
The Epistle of James is a Catholic epistles, general epistle and one of the 21 epistles (didactic letters) in the New Testament. It was written originally in Koine Greek. The epistle aims to reach a wide Jewish audience. It survives in manusc ...
in his final moments, a controversial epistile, described by
Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
as an 'epistle of straw', and that the duke defended the
Real Presence
The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way.
Th ...
. Those who were with Riez at the duke's deathbed disputed much of what he said, however by this point the words were already circulating in print. Aumale and Cardinal Guise had succeeded in their objective.
Peace
With the first war of religion brought to a close by the
Peace of Amboise.
Catherine de Medici worked hard to secure the nobility was reconciled with each other. To this end she sort to rehabilitate
the Prince of Condé who had led the rebel army during the war. She proudly informed the
duchesse de Guise that Cardinal Guise and
Jacques, Duke of Nemours
Jacques de Savoie, duc de Nemours (12 October 153115 June 1585) was a French military commander, governor and Prince étranger, Prince Étranger. Having inherited his titles at a young age, Nemours fought for king Henri II of France, Henri II duri ...
were reconciled with the Prince.
In the years of peace that followed, Cardinal Guise would be a regular fixture on the ''conseil privé''. He and his brother Lorraine (after his return) represented the hardline Catholic position in the court, alongside
the Duke of Montpensier and
Nevers
Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...
. During the
royal tour
A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...
that circumnavigated the kingdom from 1564 to 1566, Cardinal Guise was the only member of his family who accompanied the court on its journey. The rest of his family, feeling the sting of royal displeasure having retreated to Joinville.
In 1565 he was among the notables who attended the
Conference of Bayonne. During the meeting the
Duke of Alba
Duke of Alba de Tormes (), commonly known as Duke of Alba, is a title of Spanish nobility that is accompanied by the dignity of Grandee of Spain. In 1472, the title of ''Count of Alba de Tormes'', inherited by García Álvarez de Toledo, wa ...
, negotiating for the Spanish complemented Cardinal Guise on his steadfast Catholicism. While the subject of the meeting was the fairly uncontroversial matter of marriage arrangements between the royal families of the two kingdoms. This was misinterpreted, deliberately or otherwise by leading Protestant nobles who were not present as a meeting to discuss the liquidation of French Protestants. This would be one of the impetuses for the
Protestant coup that started the second war of religion. That same year, he attempted to prosecute a 'heretical' curate in the town of
Courtenay, his efforts were however confounded when the seigneur de Courtenay seized the official that the Cardinal had sent, holding him as a hostage until the curate was released.
Third war of religion
At a council meeting in May 1568, the majority of the councillors present pre-occupied themselves with how best to ensure that the recent
Peace of Longjumeau was properly enforced, proposing various methods by which the king could make his authority on the matter clear. For Cardinal Guise and Lorraine there was a different priority. They spent the meeting discussing how it was important for the Protestants to be brought back to Catholicism, and that until such time as that could be achieved, they must be kept under armed guard. For the moment their advice was ignored. Cardinal Guise was among those in the procession 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 ...
in 1568 at the outset of the third war of religion.
Charles IX had just recovered from a grave illness, and as such the symbols of monarchical authority were carried through the streets by clergyman. On 5 October 1568 he was made
Bishop of Metz
This is a list of bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Metz, which now lies in eastern France.
To 500
* Clement of Metz (c. 280–300)
* Celestius
* Felix I
* Patient
* Victor I 344–346
* Victor II
* Simeon
* Sambace
* Rufus of Metz
* Ad ...
. That same month, he and Lorraine travelled to
Étampes
Étampes () is a Communes of France, commune in the functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a Subprefectures in ...
in the company of the lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the king's brother,
Anjou who had set out to campaign against the Protestants. During the war he would be dispatched to
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 ...
to secure reinforcements for the crown from
Philip II. Catherine wrote frustratedly to him in June, inquiring as to why the troops had not yet arrived.
At this time,
the Duke of Nevers had emerged as the leading adviser to Anjou, who would one day be king as Henri III. Nevers counselled Anjou that Cardinal Guise was a dullard, who had no place on the ''conseil privé'' due to lacking the intelligence for matters of state.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
As a mechanism to secure the
Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Catherine de Medici desired to establish a marriage between her daughter
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois (, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as , was Queen of Navarre from 1572 to 1599 and Queen of France from 1589 to 1599 as the consort of Henry IV of France and III of Navarre.
Margaret was the daughter of King ...
and the Protestant
King of Navarre
This is a list of the kings and queens of kingdom of Pamplona, Pamplona, later kingdom of Navarre, Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Kingdom of Aragon, Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial desig ...
. This was theologically difficult as such a marriage would require Papal blessing, due to involving a Protestant and Catholic. It proved impossible for the crown to acquire such dispensation. As a result, it was decided to do it on the authority of the king. To ensure this went over smoothly in the French church, pressure was applied to Cardinals
Bourbon, Lorraine, Guise and
Sens
Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km southeast from Paris.
Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second la ...
. All of them were eventually pressured into consenting.
Reign of Henri III
He crowned
Henry III of France
Henry III (; ; ; 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 Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.
As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he ...
at
Reims
Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
on 13 February 1575. In early 1576, the Italian ambassador Morosini reported that Cardinal Guise had joined a faction of nobles, determined to resist any attempts to bring the fifth war of religion to a close without a total victory. Morosini also suggested
the Duke of Guise,
Nevers
Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...
and
Nemours
Nemours () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France.
Geography
Nemours is located on the Loing and its canal, c. south of M ...
as being party to this plot. Cardinal Guise again found himself in the war faction in 1577, at the outbreak of the sixth war of religion, aimed at delivering a harsher peace than that of the
Peace of Monsieur, Cardinal Guise, the duke of Guise,
Charles, Duke of Mayenne
Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne (26 March 1554 –3 October 1611) was a French noble, governor, military commander and rebel during the latter French Wars of Religion. Born in 1554, the second son of François, Duke of Guise, François d ...
and Nevers all advocated for making war on the Protestants, despite the
Estates General having refused to finance the effort. He died in 1578.
See also
*
House of Guise
References
Sources
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External links
Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church Louis I de Guise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guise, Louis I, Cardinal of
1527 births
1578 deaths
16th-century French cardinals
French untitled nobility
Bishops of Albi
Archbishops of Sens
Bishops of Troyes
Bishops of Metz
Abbots of Melrose
French people of the French Wars of Religion
16th-century Christian abbots