Title of French nobility
Duke of Orleans
(
French
:
Duc d'Orleans
) was a French royal title usually granted by the
King of France
to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in
1344
by King
Philip VI
for his younger son
Philip
,
[1]
the title was recreated by King
Charles VI
for his younger brother
Louis
, who passed the title on to his son and then to his grandson, the latter becoming King
Louis XII
. The title was created and recreated six times in total, until 1661, when
Louis XIV
bestowed it upon his younger brother
Philippe
, who passed it on to his male descendants, who became known as the "
Orleans branch
" of the
Bourbons
.
Based at the
Palais-Royal
, the
Duke of Orleans Louis-Philippe II
contested the authority of his cousin
Louis XVI
in the adjacent
Louvre
. His son would eventually ascend to the throne in 1830 as
Louis-Philippe I
, King of the French. The descendants of the family are the
Orleanist
pretenders
to the French throne.
Ile d'Orleans
, in Canada, is named after Duke of Orleans Henri II, and the city of
New Orleans
in the United States is named after Duke of Orleans Philippe II.
The holder of the title held the style of
Serene Highness
.
House of Valois
[
edit
]
The first Dukedom of Orleans was created for
Philip of Valois
, seventh son of
Philip VI of France
and younger brother of
John the Good
, in 1344.
[2]
This appanage merged the
appanages
of
Touraine
and
Valois
. However, the first ducal line ended with Philip, who died without legitimate children.
House of Valois-Orleans
[
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]
The second dukedom of Orleans was created in 1392 by
Charles VI of France
for his younger brother
Louis
. His role as leading figure in court, regent for his brother during his madness and wealthy landlord, as well as head of the
Armagnac party
, permitted his descendant to maintain a prominent role in French politics. His grandson
Louis XII
became king after the extinction of the direct
Valois
in 1498,
[3]
while his great-grandson
Francis I
succeeded the last in 1515.
[4]
The direct line of Valois-Orleans became extinct with the death of Louis XII in 1515, although the dukedom of Orleans was integrated among the crown's properties after his ascent to the throne in 1495.
House of Valois-Angouleme
[
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]
The third dukedom of Orleans was created by
Francis I
for his second son
Henry
at his birth. When Henry's elder brother and
Dauphin
,
Francis, Duke of Brittany
, died childless in 1536, Henry substituted him as Dauphin and ceded the title to his younger brother
Charles, Duke of Angouleme
, who died childless in 1545.
The fourth dukedom was created by
Henry II
for his son
Louis
at his birth. The child duke, however, died one year later, and the title passed to his recently born brother
Charles
, who became
King of France
in 1560.
[5]
The title passed to Charles' brother,
Henry, Duke of Angouleme
, who six years later exchanged the appanages of Orleans for the
Dukedom of Anjou
, becoming the heir
in pectore
of the Crown.
[6]
House of Medici
[
edit
]
After Henry's exchange of appanages,
Charles IX
gave the
Orleanais
to his mother
Catherine
, former Queen of France, as reward for her role as
regent
, mainly about toleration politics. She was the only
suo jure
Duchess of Orleans, so is included among the ruling dukes.
[7]
First House of Bourbon-Orleans
[
edit
]
The fifth dukedom was created in 1626 by
Louis XIII
for his younger brother
Gaston, Duke of Anjou
.
[8]
Gaston became a libertine and scheming figure at court, plotting the assassination of
Cardinal Richelieu
and later joining the
Fronde
, a coalition of nobles who opposed the royal centralisation. Finally forgiven by Louis XIII, he died without male heirs, extinguishing the first Bourbon House of Orleans.
Notes:
the
Monsieur d'Orleans
, second son of Henry IV isn't included in the list due to his short life (4 years) and lack of official baptism or name.
[9]
Second House of Bourbon-Orleans
[
edit
]
The sixth and final creation was for
Philip, Duke of Anjou
, who received the Orleanais by his brother
Louis XIV
. Through his marriage with
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
, he established a long dynasty that finally arose to the throne in 1830, with the deposition of
Charles X
and the proclamation of
Louis Philippe I
.
[10]
Louis Philippe passed his title to his son and
dauphin
,
Ferdinand
, who died in a carriage accident in 1842.
[11]
Current use
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
|
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Dukes of Orleans
| | |
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Current claimants
| |
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References
[
edit
]
- ^
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Orleans, Dukes of
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 282.
- ^
Amedee Rene, Les princes militaires de la maison de France, Paris, 1848, p. 49
- ^
Didier Le Fur, Louis XII : un autre Cesar, Perrin, 2001 p. 40.
- ^
Auguste Bailly, Francois Ier : restaurateur des lettres et des arts, Livre club du librairie, 1961, p. 9.
- ^
Jean Heritier, Catherine de Medici. George Allen and Unwin, 1963, p. 69.
- ^
Nicolas Le Roux, ≪La cour dans l'espace du palais: l'exemple de Henri III≫, Palais et pouvoir, de Constantinople a Versailles, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, 2003, pp. 106-108.
- ^
Knecht, R. J. Catherine de' Medici. London and New York: Longman, 1998, 104-108.
- ^
A.L. Moote, Louis XIII, The Just p 192. University of California Press, 1991, p. 192.
- ^
Francois de Malherbe, Lettres a Peiresc, ed. La Pleiade, p. 378.
- ^
"Louis-Philippe Biography"
. The Biography.com Website
. Retrieved
13 May
2014
.
- ^
Unwin, Brian (2014).
A Tale in Two Cities: Fanny Burney and Adele, Comtesse de Boigne
. New York: I.B. Taurus & Co. pp. 210?212.
ISBN
978-1-78076-784-0
.