Duke of Orleans
Louis of France
(3 February 1549 – 24 October 1550), also known as
Louis, Duke of Orleans
was the second son and fourth child of
Henry II
(31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559),
King of France
and his wife,
Catherine de' Medici
, daughter of
Lorenzo II de' Medici, Duke of Urbino
and his wife
Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne
. He died aged 1 year and 8 months.
Life
[
edit
]
After
Henry II
and
Catherine de' Medici
were married, several years passed without the birth of any children. Though various remedies were tried, none proved to be effective. According to court sources, the royal couple then turned to the court physician Fernel for help in conceiving.
Louis was born on 3 February 1549 at the
Palace of Fontainebleau
, the couple's second son and fourth child. From birth he was second in line to the throne and endowed with the duchy of
Orleans
. He was raised under the supervision of the governor and governess of the royal children,
Jean d'Humieres
and
Francoise d'Humieres
, under the orders of
Diane de Poitiers
,
[1]
and reportedly shared the same nursery with his brother and sister
Francis
and
Elisabeth
, and later with his brother
Charles
. Louis was present when five-year-old
Mary, Queen of Scots
arrived at
Henry II
's court to be raised as the intended bride and queen of
Francis
, the future
king of France
and
king consort of Scots
. There are reports that Henry II and Catherine planned for Louis to one day become the
Duke of Urbino
, a title which belonged exclusively to the
Medici
family.
Death
[
edit
]
Freer's account
[
edit
]
Martha Walker Freer gives the year of Louis's death as 1549.
According to Freer, the infant Duke of Orleans was given a christening of "extraordinary splendour" in
St. Germain-en-Laye
in 1549. However, a few days after the ceremony, Louis died from the effects of a chill caught while being handed from one state functionary to another.
[2]
Other accounts
[
edit
]
Other accounts dismiss Freer's, stating that Louis died in 1550, one even giving a date for his baptism, 19 May 1549 and listing his godparents as
John III of Portugal
,
Mary of Guise
and
Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara
.
[
citation needed
]
In fiction
[
edit
]
He is briefly mentioned in the novels
Madame Serpent
and
The Captive Queen
, both by
Jean Plaidy
.
Ancestors
[
edit
]
Ancestors of Louis of Valois (1549?1550)
|
---|
| | | | | | | | | 16.
John, Count of Angouleme
| | | | | | | 8.
Charles, Count of Angouleme
| | | | | | | | | | 17. Marguerite de Rohan
| | | | | | | 4.
Francis I of France
| | | | | | | | | | | | 18.
Philip II, Duke of Savoy
| | | | | | | 9.
Louise of Savoy
| | | | | | | | | | 19.
Margaret of Bourbon
| | | | | | | 2.
Henry II of France
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 20.
Charles, Duke of Orleans
| | | | | | | 10.
Louis XII of France
| | | | | | | | | | 21.
Marie of Cleves
| | | | | | | 5.
Claude, Duchess of Brittany
| | | | | | | | | | | | 22.
Francis II, Duke of Brittany
| | | | | | | 11.
Anne, Duchess of Brittany
| | | | | | | | | | 23.
Margaret of Foix
| | | | | | | 1.
Louis of Valois
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 24.
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici
| | | | | | | 12.
Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici
| | | | | | | | | | 25.
Clarissa Orsini
| | | | | | | 6.
Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino
| | | | | | | | | | | | 26. Roberto Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo
| | | | | | | 13.
Alfonsina Orsini
| | | | | | | | | | 27. Caterina Sanseverino
| | | | | | | 3.
Catherine de' Medici
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 28. Bertrand VI, Count of Auvergne
| | | | | | | 14.
John III, Count of Auvergne
| | | | | | | | | | 29. Louise de La Tremoille
| | | | | | | 7.
Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne
| | | | | | | | | | | | 30.
John VIII, Count of Vendome
| | | | | | | 15.
Jeanne of Bourbon
| | | | | | | | | | 31. Isabelle de Beauvau
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Sources
[
edit
]
- Livre d’Heures de Catherine de Medicis 1556. Reproduced by kind permission of Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, Departement de Manuscrits, B.N. n.a.l. 82) (nouvelles acquisitions latines).
- Anselme de Sainte-Marie, Pere (1726).
Histoire genealogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France
[
Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France
] (in French). Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Paris: La compagnie des libraires.
- Freer, Martha Walker
(1858).
Henry III, King of France and Poland
.
Hurst and Blackett
.
- Tomas, Natalie R. (2003).
The Medici Women: Gender and Power in Renaissance Florence
. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
ISBN
0-7546-0777-1
.
- Whale, Winifred Stephens (1914).
The La Tremoille family
. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. p. 43.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Frieda, Leonie, "Catherine de Medici", Orion Books, London, 2005
- ^
Freer, p. 4
Louis of Valois (1549?1550)
Born:
3 February 1549
Died:
24 October 1550
|
French nobility
|
Preceded by
|
Duke of Orleans
as 'Louis III'
3 February 1549 – 24 October 1550
|
Succeeded by
|
|
---|
Dukes of Orleans
| | |
---|
Current claimants
| |
---|
|
---|
Family
| |
---|
Dynasties/
Groups in her life
| |
---|
People in her life
| |
---|
Events
| |
---|
Places in her life
| |
---|
Patron of the arts
| |
---|
|