Claude, Duke of Aumale

Claude of Lorraine ( born August 18, 1526 Joinville, † March 3, 1573 at the siege of La Rochelle ) was Margrave of Mayenne and from 1550 Duke of Aumale. He was the third son of Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise and Aumale, and Antoinette de Bourbon. From 1548 he was Colonel Général of the French cavalry.

He fought since 1544 in the army of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and participated in the siege of Boulogne in 1545 as part as the campaign in Piedmont in 1551 and 1552 in the fight against the imperial troops in their attempt, the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun ( Trois- Évêchés ) recapture. He was taken prisoner by Albrecht II Alcibiades on the Plass castle, from which he was only released after 1555. On January 8, 1558, he participated in the conquest of Calais.

Under King Henry II was the governor of Burgundy. He played through the support of his nephew Henri I de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, a crucial role in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.

He accompanied in 1573 the then Duke of Anjou and later Henry III. of France at the siege of La Rochelle, where he was killed.

On August 1, 1547, he married Louise de Brézé ( 1521-1577 ), daughter of Diane de Poitiers ' and Louis de Brézés, Count of Maulévrier and Großseneschall Normandy. The couple had eleven children: