Antoinette de Bourbon

Antoinette
Duchess of Guise
Portrait of Antoinette by Léonard Limousin
Spouse Claude, Duke of Guise
Issue
Marie, Queen of Scotland
Francis, Duke of Guise
Renée, Abbess of St. Pierre
Charles Archbishop of Reims
Claude, Duke of Aumale
Louis I, Cardinal of Guise
Antoinette, Abbess of Faremoutier
Francis, Grand Prior of the Order of Malta
René, Marquis of Elbeuf
Full name
Antoinette de Bourbon
Father François, Count of Vendôme
Mother Marie de Luxembourg
Born December 25, 1493(1493-12-25)
Chateau de Ham, Somme department, Picardy, France
Died January 22, 1583(1583-01-22) (aged 89)
Chateau de Joinville

Antoinette de Bourbon (25 December 1493 – 22 January 1583) was a French noblewoman of the House of Bourbon. She was the wife of Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise. Through her eldest daughter, Mary of Guise, Queen consort of King James V of Scotland, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots, which makes her a distant ancestor of the present British Royal Family.

Contents

Family and marriage

Antoinette was born on 25 December 1493 at the Chateau de Ham, in the Somme department, Picardy, France. She was the child of Francis, Count of Vendôme and Marie de Luxembourg. Her paternal grandparents were John VIII, Count of Vendôme and Isabelle de Beauveau, and her maternal grandparents were Peter II, Count of Saint-Pol, and Margaret of Savoy.

She married Claude of Lorraine on 9 June 1513 and they had 12 children.

Issue

Domestic Affairs

Antoinette was described as having been a remarkable woman, combining a strong sense of family pride with a wry sense of humour. She exhibited considerable administrative talent at domestic economy as well as in the running of the vast Guise dominions surrounding their chateau of Joinville.[1]

She exerted a powerful influence on the childhood of her granddaughter Mary, Queen of Scots, during the latter's thirteen-year sojourn in France,[2] and was one of her principal advisors. Antoinette acted as proxy for her daughter, Mary of Guise, during the betrothal ceremony of the Queen of Scots and the Dauphin Francis in 1558.[3]

Antoinette de Bourbon died on 22 January 1583 at the Chateau de Joinville. She was eighty-nine years of age, having outlived all of her children save her daughter Reneé, Abbess of St. Pierre. Her cherished granddaughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed four years after her death.

Notes

  1. ^ Fraser, p. 43
  2. ^ Fraser, p. 42
  3. ^ Fraser, p. 75

References

See also

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Antoinette_de_Bourbon Antoinette de Bourbon] at Wikimedia Commons

The French Wikipedia article of Antoinette de Bourbon