Louis de Lorraine known as the Cardinal de Guise (22 January 1575 – 21 June 1621, Saintes) was the second son of Henry I, Duke of Guise and Catherine of Cleves.[1]
Life
His ecclesiastical post was entirely a sinecure; he was never ordained,[2] and led a dissipated life. Nevertheless, he was made Archbishop of Reims in January 1605,[3] and created cardinal on December 2, 1615. He incurred the displeasure of Louis XIII, and was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1620.[2] He joined the royal campaign to besiege the Huguenot stronghold of Montauban in 1621, and there fell ill with scarlet fever and died.[4]
He married, in secret, Charlotte des Essarts,[2] Mademoiselle de La Haye in 1611. They had five children:
- Charles Louis (d. July 12, 1668, Auteuil), Abbot of Chaalis, Bishop of Condom[2]
- Achille (c. 1615–1648, Heraklion), Prince of Guise, Count of Romorantin, killed in the siege of Candia, married Anna Maria of Salm-Dhaun[5]
- Charlotte (d. bef. 1664), Abbess of St. Pierre, Lyon[5]
- Henri Hector (b. 1620)[3]
- Louise (d. July 5, 1662), married October 24, 1639 Claude Pot, Lord of Rhodes (d. August 3, 1642)[5]