Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine

Nicole ( born October 3, 1608 Nancy, † February 2nd 1657 in Paris) was Duchess of Lorraine and Bar from 1 August 1624 to the November 21, 1625 She was the daughter of Duke Henry II and Margarita Gonzaga..

As her father had no sons, he intended to leave the duchy Nicole, what was contrary to the will of his predecessor, Duke René II, in which the male succession was prescribed. His nephew Charles of Vaudémont, son of his brother Francis of Vaudémont, thus claimed the succession for himself. After negotiations, it was agreed to marry Nicole and Karl together; the marriage took place on 23 May 1621 remained childless. Before Henry II accepted this solution, he had tried to make one of his favorites, Louis de Guise, baron d' Ancerville, an extramarital members of the house of Guise to Nicole's husband, however, was with this project at the resistance of the Lorraine nobility failed ( Louis was then with Henriette of Vaudémont, a niece of Henry, and the title of Prince of Pfalz castle and Lixheim compensated ).

Nicole's situation was complicated by her father's death on July 31, 1624. Henry's final provisions laid stated that Charles of Vaudémont will as husband Nicole Duke only. In November 1625, however, Francis of Vaudémont stepped in front of the Lorraine Estates-General, claimed the Duchy for himself and got it awarded on November 21, 1625. Five days later, he resigned in favor of Charles, who was now his wife and pushed aside as the sole Duke acted in its own right. Charles IV in 1631 then tried to have explain his marriage to be invalid by letting accuse of sorcery the priest who had baptized Nicole, Melchior de la Vallée. 1634 Nicole was the only member of the ducal family, which remained after the invasion of the French in the Duchy. She was arrested and taken to Fontainebleau on April 21, 1634. 1635 separated Charles IV of her on the pretext that he did not act out of free will upon marriage, but the Pope refused him even now the annulment of the marriage. Nicole spent her last years in Paris, where she died on February 2, 1657.