From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Renée of Bourbon

Duchess consort of Lorraine

Summary

Duchess consort of Lorraine

Field	Value
name	Renée of Bourbon
title	Duchess of Lorraine
image	File:54. Antoine, duc de Lorraine, et son épouse Renée de Bourbon-Montpensier.jpg
noble family	Bourbon-Montpensier
father	Gilbert, Count of Montpensier
mother	Clara Gonzaga
issue	Francis I, Duke of Lorraine
Nicholas, Duke of Mercœur
Anna, Princess of Orange
spouse
birth_date	1494
death_date
death_place	Nancy

Nicholas, Duke of Mercœur Anna, Princess of Orange (aged 45) Renée of Bourbon, Duchess of Lorraine (1494 – 26 May 1539), also called Renée, Lady of Mercœur, was a Duchess consort of Lorraine. She was a daughter of Gilbert de Bourbon, Count of Montpensier by Clara Gonzaga, and sister of Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon.

Life

Renée was brought up with her cousins, the princesses of France. On 26 June 1515 she married Antoine, Duke of Lorraine in Amboise. The marriage was arranged by the French King, Francis. Francis had promised Antoine marriage to the French queen dowager, Mary Tudor of England, but when Mary chose another spouse, Francis replaced her with Renée.

Renee's entry to Nancy was described in a chronicle. She arrived at Nancy from Bar-le-Duc at the start of May 1516. First she stopped short of the town at a village called Laixou. After enjoying a magnificent picnic for six hours, she came to the gates of Nancy and was met by a choir on a scaffold singing in her honour, accompanied by cannon fire from the ramparts.

Renée, reportedly, did not have the force of character to exert any political influence in Lorraine. However, she became known for her cultivated Italian taste, and was said to have brought "the graces and refinement of the Mantuan Court" to Lorraine. The blossoming of the arts which took place in Nancy from the reign of Antoine has been attributed to her.

In August 1538, Renée was commanded to court at Compiègne to meet Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary. In March 1539 she travelled to Neufchâteau to meet Antoine who had stomach trouble and they returned to Nancy. Renée died at Nancy of dysentery on 26 May 1539.

Issue

Renee and Antoine had:

Francis I, Duke of Lorraine (1517–1545), first the Marquis de Pont-à-Mousson.
Anna (1522–1568), married firstly René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, and secondly Philip II, Duke of Aerschot (1496–1549)
Nicolas, Duke of Mercœur (1524–1577), first Bishop of Verdun and Metz, then in 1548, Count of Vaudemont.

References

Sources

References

[https://books.google.com/books?id=nQdBAAAAcAAJ ''Les Archives de Nancy'', Henri Lepage, vol. 1 (1865)] 56-60.
Julia Cartwright: Christina of Denmark. Duchess of Milan and Lorraine. 1522-1590, New York, 1913
Wood, Marguerite, ''Balcares Papers'', vol. 1 (1923), 11-12, 22, 25, 26-29.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

house-of-bourbon-montpensier duchesses-of-lorraine 1494-births 1539-deaths 16th-century-french-women 16th-century-french-people mothers-of-french-monarchs

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Renée of Bourbon — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report