Prince of Sedan

The Château de Sedan, seat of the Lords, and later Princes, of Sedan.

The Prince of Sedan (Fr.: prince de Sedan) was the ruler of the independent Principality of Sedan (Fr.: Principauté de Sedan), a Renaissance state centered on modern Sedan, Ardennes.

History

Inside the fortifications of the Château de Sedan.

The Protestant church in Sedan, later Catholicized and re-dedicated to Charles Borromeo.

The history of Sedan begins in 1424, when Eberhard II von der Mark (1364–1440) (son of Eberhard I von der Mark and grandson of Engelbert II of the Mark, ruler of the County of Mark) began construction of the Château de Sedan in the vicinity of the Benedictine Abbey of Mouzon. Erard II von der Mark was the first ruler to style himself Lord of Sedan (Fr.: seigneur de Sedan). In the following years, the town of Sedan grew up in the area between the Château de Sedan and the Meuse.

In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Henri Robert de la Marck (de la Marck) and his wife Françoise de Bourbon-Vendôme were attracted to the Huguenot movement. In 1560, they declared Sedan's independence from the Kingdom of France. Particularly in the wake of the 1562 Massacre of Vassy, Sedan became one of the leading refuges for French speaking Protestants. The Academy of Sedan, founded in 1579, became one of the chief Huguenot academies.

With the death of Guillaume Robert de la Marck in 1588, the principality passed to his daughter, Charlotte de La Marck. In 1591, she married Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, who thereupon assumed her titles, becoming Prince of Sedan and Duke of Bouillon. As such, the principality passed from the House of La Marck to the House of La Tour d'Auvergne. Charlotte died childless in 1594, and the principality was ultimately inherited by Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne's son by his second marriage.

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne was accused of participating in the 1602 plot to assassinate Henry IV of France led by Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron and the 1604 intrigues involving Henry IV's former mistress, Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues. In 1604, Henry IV declared Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne's lands forfeit to the crown of France and led an expedition to Sedan in 1606. He also participated in a 1613 noble revolt against the king. Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne's son, Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, shared his father's antipathy to royal power. In 1630, he participated in a revolt led by Gaston, Duke of Orléans.

Sedan finally lost its independence during the Thirty Years' War. In spite of a victory over French royal forces at the Battle of La Marfée, held 6 July 1641, it soon became obvious that Sedan could no longer resist the forces of Louis XIII of France. In 1642, Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne participated in the failed conspiracy led by Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars; in the wake of Cinq-Mars' execution, Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne struck a deal with Louis XIII, who agreed to spare his life and give him a commission in the French army in Italy in exchange for the relinquishment of Sedan's sovereignty. Sedan was thus annexed to the French crown in 1642. Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne's younger brother, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne would go on to achieve fame as France's leading general. In 1709, at the request of Lord Chancellor of France Henri François d'Aguesseau, the Parlement of Paris passed a decree reaffirming the French crown's sovereignty over Sedan.

Geography

The following villages were located in the Principality of Sedan: Illy, Givonne, Douzy, Pouru-Saint-Remy, Rubécourt-et-Lamécourt, Balan, Fleigneux, Bazeilles, La Chapelle, La Moncelle, Villers-Cernay, Raucourt-et-Flaba, Noyers-Pont-Maugis, Wadelincourt, Haraucourt, Thelonne, Bulson, and Angecourt.

List of Lords of Sedan, 1424—1560

Robert Fleuranges III de La Marck, Lord of Sedan 1536–37.

List of Princes of Sedan, 1560—1642

Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, the last Prince of Sedan, 1623–42.

A Protestant Principality

Interior of the Protestant church in Sedan.

Protestant Pastors of Sedan

• Guido de Bres, 1562
• Pierre Du Moulin, 1621–58
• Pierre Jurieu, 1675–81

The Princes of Sedan founded the Academy of Sedan for the training of Protestant pastors.

Protestant Refugees in the Principality of Sedan

• Nicasius le Febure
• Philippe de Mornay
• Anne d'Alègre and her son Guy XX de Laval
• Elisabeth de Hauteville, wife of Odet de Coligny
• the daughters of Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully
• Jean Errard
• Pierre Pithou
• Louis, Count of Soissons
• Frederick V, Elector Palatine

Famous burials

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, Prince of Sedan 1591–1623, who was buried in the Protestant church in Sedan.

The Protestant Princes of Sedan were buried in the Protestant church in Sedan. Burials in the church include:

• Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1623)
• Louis Hanau (1627) son of Countess Catharina Belgica of Nassau
• Julienne Catherine de la Tour d'Auvergne (1637)
• Countess Elisabeth of Nassau (1642)
• John Philip Frederick of the Palatinate (1650), son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine
• Henri de Roye de La Rochefoucauld (1656), vidame of Laon, son of Julienne Catherine de la Tour d'Auvergne
• Guy de Roye de La Rochefoucauld (1684), vidame of Laon, younger son of Julienne Catherine de la Tour

Other Famous Residents

• Bernard Palissy, famous potter

Notes

1. ↑ Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne became Prince of Sedan and Duke of Bouillon upon marrying Charlotte de la Marck in 1591. Charlotte de la Marck remained Princess of Sedan and Duchess of Bouillon until her death in 1594.
2. ↑ Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne was still a minor when his father died, so his mother, Countess Elisabeth of Nassau, served as regent from 1623 to 1626.