Charles, Count of Marsan

Charles
Count of Marsan
Spouse Catherine de Goyon de Matignon
Issue
Detail
Charles Louis, Count of Marsan
Jacques Henri, Chevalier de Lorraine
Full name
Charles de Lorraine
Father Henri de Lorraine
Mother Marguerite Philippe du Cambout
Born 8 April 1648[1]
Died 13 November 1708 (aged 60)
Paris, France

Charles de Lorraine (8 April 1648 – 13 November 1708) was the Count of Marsan. He was the youngest son of the Count of Harcourt and brother of the Chevalier de Lorraine.

Biography

Charles was the youngest son of Henri de Lorraine, Count of Harcourt and Marguerite Philippe du Cambout. As a member of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine, he was a Foreign Prince at the Court of France. The youngest son, he was given an appanage in the form of the County of Marsan at birth. At his death, it was given to his eldest son Charles Louis. The latter was also known as the Prince of Pons.[1]

The youngest of six children, five sons and one daughter, his siblings included Louis, Count of Armagnac, Grand Squire of France and the bisexual Chevalier de Lorraine, lover of both the Duke and his wife the Duchess of Orléans. His other brothers were Abbots of Royaumont (Alfonse Louis) and Faron de Meaux (Raimond Bérenger).

Madame de Sévigné referred to him as le petit Marsan.[2]

At the age of 35, he married "Catherine" Thérèse de Goyon de Matignon a daughter of Henri Goyon and Marie Françoise Le Tellier, herself a sister of François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois. She was an aunt of Jacques I, Prince of Monaco. Madame de Sévigné noted that he married Catherine for the fortune she had been left by her later husband.[2]

Catherine was previously married to Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Seignelay, son of Jean Baptiste Colbert, and was already the mother of four children. The couple were married on 22 September 1696 and had three children, two of whom survived infancy. Catherine died in childbirth with her last child, a daughter named Marie who died some 9 days after birth. Charles never married again.[1]

He was created a knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the most prestigious military knighthood of the Ancien Régime, on 31 December 1688 at Versailles. His two brothers, Louis and Philippe, were also created members of the order on the same day.[1]

Charles died in Paris at the age of 60.

His last male line descendant was Camille, Prince of Marsan, brother of the last Count of Marsan. His last female line descendant, through his granddaughter "Louise" Henriette Gabrielle (Duchess of Bouillon by marriage) was her only surviving son Jacques Léopold de La Tour d'Auvergne, the last Duke of Bouillon. He has no known descendants.

Issue

Ancestry

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

References and notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 van de Pas, Leo. "Charles de Lorraine, Count of Marsan". Genealogics .org. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Oeuvres de La Bruyère, Volume 1. Googlebooks.org. Retrieved 2010-07-21.