Béatrix de Cusance

Béatrix
Madame de Lorraine
Spouse	Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine
Full name
Béatrix de Cusance
Father	Claude-François de Cusance
Mother	Ernestine van Witthem
Born	1614
Died	1663

Béatrix de Cusance (1614–1663) was the second wife of Charles IV, former reigning Duke of Lorraine. She was a correspondent of Constantijn Huygens.

She was the daughter of Claude-François de Cusance (1590–1627), baron de Belvoir and de Saint-Julien, an officer in the Spanish Netherlands, and of Ernestine van Witthem (1592–1642).

She was raised in Besançon and at the Brussels court of Isabella Clara Eugenia, regent of the Spanish Netherlands.

In 1634, she became the mistress of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, who was at the time in the service of Spain. To avoid a scandal, her mother arranged a marriage to Leopold-Eugène Perrenot de Granvelle, prince de Cantecroix (1615–1637), whom she married in 1635. In 1637, nine days after the death of her first husband, she married Charles IV. Shortly after the ceremony she gave birth to a daughter, whom Charles acknowledged.

Béatrix accompanied Charles on his military campaigns, wearing armour over her dress.^[1]

His marriage to Béatrix de Cusance was not deemed valid by the Roman Catholic church, which had not authorised his divorce from Nicole. The couple separated in April 1642 following his excommunication, which was the consequence of his second marriage; it was also the month in which she bore a son whom Charles recognised. Although the excommunication was soon lifted, the couple was ordered to remain separated until the matter was solved by the Catholic church.

Béatrix lived in Brussels, where she hosted a salon and arranged concerts as one of the city's leading social figures. In 1652 she became acquainted with Constantijn Huygens, who dedicated to her some of his work and with whom she corresponded. In 1652–1660, she lived in the Dutch Republic. She is described as a witty beauty, and Pope Alexander VII referred to her as the most beautiful woman of the century.^[2]

In 1654, Charles IV was imprisoned in Spain. When he returned to Lorraine in 1659, Béatrix left the Netherlands to join him. However, he did not wish to see her and they did not resume their relationship.

More than 20 years after their separation, on 20 May 1663, Charles married Béatrix de Cusance a second time, to allow legitimation of their children. She died two weeks after this second marriage.

Charles married a fourth time at the age of 61. The bride was Marie Louise d'Aspremont (1652–1692), the eighteen-year-old daughter of Charles d'Aspremont-Lynden, Count of Rekem, and Marie Françoise de Mailly. They had no children and in 1679, a widow, she married Count Heinrich Franz von Mansfeld, Prince di Fondi, by whom she had two daughters.

Issue

• Francois de Lorraine (1637-1638);
• Anne de Lorraine (1639-1720), married her cousin François Marie de Lorraine-Elbeuf, Prince de Lislebonne (1624-1694), Prince de Lillebonne in 1660, had issue;
• Charles Henri de Lorraine, Prince de Vaudémont, Prince de Commercy (1649-1723).

References and notes

• http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/Cusance