Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine
Charles IV ( born April 5, 1604 Nancy, † September 18, 1675 in Allenbach ) was the rightful Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1625 to 1675, but in fact only 1625-1634, 1641 and 1659-1670, he was the son. of Duke Francis II and Christine of Salm.
Biography
Charles spent his childhood at the French court, where he was a playmate of the good two years older than Louis XIII .. Upon his return to Lorraine, he announced that he was - according to the will of the Duke René II, according to which only the male succession possible was - look at as the heir of Lorraine. The hostility of his uncle Henry II, who wanted to leave the duchy of his daughter Nicole, led him to leave the country again. He entered the military service of the Emperor, for he in the Battle of White Mountain (8 November 1620) was fighting.
After long negotiations he married in 1621 his cousin Nicole, but with the provision that he get his authority over Lorraine only by his wife. Henry II died on 31 July 1624th Karl, however, was not with the position as Prince Consort satisfied. In November 1625 claimed Francis of Vaudémont, Karl's father, with reference to René's Testament, the Duchy for himself. The Estates-General of Lorraine accepted his claim, so that Francis of Vaudémont was Francis II Duke of Lorraine on November 21, 1625. Five days later, he resigned in favor of his son, who ascended the throne as Charles IV and his wife had thus supplanted by the government.
The events surrounding the change of government worsened relations between France and Lorraine, as Louis XIII. was not willing to accept Charles' approach. In addition, Karl secretly supported the enemies of Cardinal Richelieu and hid them from the grasp of French justice. And finally, the French policy was aimed at advancing the eastern border of the Kingdom of the Rhine, which the acquisition of Lorraine next to the presupposed the Franche- Comté and Alsace. Charles IV was now in search of allies broke - after he was disappointed by the support of Bavaria and Austria - with the ultra-Catholic policies of his predecessors, and found his allies in the French Huguenots, England and Savoy. In September 1629 Jean -Baptiste Gaston de Bourbon fled, duc d' Orléans, brother of the king, according to Lorraine, and married there - without the consent of Louis XIII. - Margaret, sister of Charles.
In the spring of 1631 the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus landed with his troops in Germany, after which Charles sent an army to support the Emperor. In June 1632, Louis XIII had. then his army Lorraine occupy, so that Karl was forced to sign a contract he but then reneged. In September 1633 the French troops fell again in Lorraine, which Charles IV on January 19, 1634 to put in favor of his brother Nicholas Franz abdicate. Charles the imperial troops joined them and fought with little success against the Swedes and later against the French.
1635 he tried in vain to regain his duchy, but was in the years 1638 to 1640, despite the lax attitude of his Bavarian and Austrian allies some victories that - what led him to re-enter negotiations with France, which to him by the Treaty of Saint- Germain -en- Laye his duchy returned by April 2, 1641 as a French protectorate, under the condition that he keep away from alliances with Austria. But when he continued to work against Richelieu and the conspiracy Louis de Bourbon- Condé covered, he should, after the Cardinal had taken the conspirators, are also arrested. In July 1641, he succeeded to the to escape by flight. He entered again into the military service and took part in other at the Battle of Tuttlingen in November 1643 in which he defeated the French, together with Francis of Mercy and Johann von Werth.
The Peace of Westphalia placed the three Lorraine bishoprics ( Toul, Metz, Verdun → Trois- Évêchés ) officially the French crown. Charles IV, who was not involved here, and its negotiations with Cardinal Mazarin failed, hostilities resumed in 1652 and threatened even Paris. However, he playful and the advantages gained his credibility when he then simultaneously led discussions with Mazarin and the Fronde of the Princes. Spain accused him of being the cause of the failure of the uprising, and had him arrested in Brussels and bring in the Alcázar of Toledo on January 25, 1654. The intervention and the success of his brother Nicholas Francis brought him on October 15, 1659, the freedom and the Treaty of Vincennes on February 28, 1661 even his duchy back.
But when he refused in 1669 to make the request of Louis XIV after a dissolution of his army consequence, French troops invaded in the summer of 1670 again in Lorraine. Charles IV was forced to flee once more, but increased again in the service of the Emperor to fight the French on. On August 11, 1675 he fought along with Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick- Lüneburg against Marshal François de Bonne de Créqui in the Battle of the Bridge concerts. A little later he became seriously ill and died on 18 September in Allenbach at Wirschweiler between Birkenfeld and Bernkastel.
Marriages and descendants
He married on 23 May 1621 his first marriage Nicole of Lorraine (* 1608, † 1657), daughter of his uncle Henry II and Margaret of Mantua. The marriage remained childless. 1631 he was with the aim to explain the marriage invalid, Melchior de la Vallée, the priest who had baptized Nicole, accuse of sorcery. 1635 finally he left her on the grounds that he had no free choice option at the wedding. The church denied the cancellation of such marriage.
Nevertheless he married on April 9, 1637 Beatrix de Cusance (* 1614, † 1663 ), but from which he parted again, after he had been excommunicated. After the death of Nicole, he married Beatrix by proxy (he was imprisoned at that time in Spain) in order to legitimize his children with her, but then took the couple live together no longer. The children from this second marriage are:
- Joseph (* 1637, † 1638)
- Anne (* 1639, † 1720), ∞ 1660 François Marie de Lorraine (* 1624, † 1694 ), prince de Lille Bonne
- Charles Henri ( * 1649, † 1723), Count and later Prince of Vaudémont
After the death of his second wife, he went in 1665 to Marie Louise d' Aspremont (* 1651, † 1692 ), a third marriage, which remained without issue also.