François de Bourbon, comte d'Enghien (23 September 1519 – 23 February 1546) was a French military commander, governor and prince du sang (prince of the royal blood) in the reign of king Francis I of France during the later Italian Wars. He was known by his title as the comte d'Enghien. A younger son of Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (duke of Vendôme) and Françoise d'Alençon, Enghien saw military service during the Italian War of 1542–1546. He first endeavoured to capture the city of Nice, in the Holy Roman Empire, by surprise in June 1543. This effort was foiled. Subsequently a new effort to seize Nice was launched in conjunction with the French ally, the Ottoman Empire. Though this new attempt succeeded in capturing the city of Nice, the citadel held out, and the French were forced to withdraw before it could be gained.
The following year, king Francis selected the comte d'Enghien to assume the charge of governor of the French province of Piedmont, which was threatened by the Imperial commander the marquis del Vasto. Hungry for battle, Enghien dispatched a subordinate to ask for Francis' permission to engage del Vasto, and once this was secured fought a battle with the commander on 14 April 1544 at Ceresole. He emerged triumphant from the battle that followed and the Imperial army was broken. However, little exploitation of this victory followed, and both Enghien and his army were recalled to France to face an invasion by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles V enjoyed initial success in his invasion but agreed to a treaty with the French before any battle could come to pass, much to the disappointment of the heir to the French throne the Dauphin. In 1545, Enghien was greatly desirous to cross the English Channel to fight the English, but this was refused by the King. Instead he would fight in Picardy. Early in 1546, during a play fight with the favourites of the Dauphin, Enghien was struck on the head by a chest that was pushed out of a window, either in a deliberate attempt to murder him, or an accident, and he died on 23 February 1546.
Family and personal life François de Bourbon was born in the château de La Fère on 23 September 1519, the son of Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme (duke of Vendôme) and Françoise d'Alençon. Through his father he was a member of the house of Bourbon-Vendôme, a cadet branch of the French royal house of Valois. His mother, Françoise, was a daughter of René de Valois, duc d'Alençon and Margaret of Lorraine.
Family and title
François had an elder brother, Antoine de Bourbon, born in 1518, who would go on to become the king of Navarre. He also had several prominent younger brothers including Charles de Bourbon, born in 1523, who would become first a cardinal and then be proclaimed king Charles X by the Catholic League and Louis de Bourbon, born in 1530, who would become Protestant and die at the battle of Jarnac in 1569.
François de Bourbon would hold the title of comte d'Enghien (count of Enghien), by which title he would be known throughout his life. The territory of Enghien, in Hainaut, constituted part of the Luxembourg inheritance that entered the Bourbon-Vendôme family through Marie de Luxembourg, paternal grandmother to François de Bourbon. In a frontier region, Enghien was vulnerable to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and would spend a period in Imperial (i.e. Holy Roman) possession before being returned to the dowager comtesse Marie in 1538 in the convention of La Fère.
Marriage plans Around 1536, the matrimonial alliance making of the Papacy which sought the hand of Charles V's bastard daughter Margaret of Parma) was arousing alarm in France. It appeared Pope Paul III was binding his family with that Habsburgs. To assuage French fears, the Papal Nunzio Rodolfo Pio da Carpi took several approaches. He argued that the Imperial match was actually a balancing of the scales, as for the Emperor Charles V, the Farnese Popes were too French; he argued that by matching Margaret with a Farnese, they were avoiding a situation where she married Cosimo I de' Medici (future duke of Florence) thereby cementing Imperial influence over Florence; finally, the Pope was open to seeing his granddaughter Vittoria married to François de Bourbon or his elder brother Antoine de Bourbon. While negotiations for such a match would continue for the following years, nothing would come of them.
First feats of arms Franco-Imperial war
For the occasion of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's visit to Paris in 1540 he enjoyed a meal alongside the French king Francis I. The two sovereigns were served at their table by several great nobles: the seigneur de Montmorency, the Constable of France took on the role of maître d'hôtel (head waiter), the comte d'Enghien served as the écuyer tranchant (the role responsible for the cutting of meat) and the comte d'Aumale served as the panetier (breadmaster). Though Charles V enjoyed much hospitality from the French, it would fail to facilitate a resolution to the question of possession of the duchy of Milan.
In July 1542, the French king Francis declared war on Charles V on the pretext of the murder of two envoys named Antonio Rincon and Cesare Fregoso respectively.
Having entered into alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor, the English king Henry VIII declared war on France in July 1543. The two enemies of France agreed that they would invade the kingdom together before 20 June 1544.
Siege of Nice
The comte d'Enghien attempted a surprise assault on the Imperial county of Nice on the Mediterranean coast in June 1543, but his independent efforts were frustrated by the Genoese fleet under Andrea Doria.
One of the only times that the Franco-Ottoman alliance was able to work coherently towards a military objective was to be found in the 1543 siege of Nice. This campaign involved the Ottoman commander Hayreddin Barbarossa, an experienced leader at the head of one of, if not the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean on the one hand; and the young and inexperienced comte d'Enghien on the other. Enghien lacked sole command for the French, sharing the responsibility with the baron de La Garde. In April 1543, the Ottoman sultan Suleiman had agreed to place his fleet at the disposal of the French following the diplomatic missions of the baron de La Garde. Enghien had the specific title of lieutenant-général de l'armée de Mer du Levant (lieutenant-general of the naval army of the Levant) for the campaign. The Ottoman fleet numbered some 200 ships. Barbarossa set sail for the campaign in the April of 1543 accompanied by the baron de La Garde. This force meandered its way across the Mediterranean towards the southern French coast, pillaging as it went.
Barbarossa was received at the French port city of Marseille on 20 July. The French galleys, numbering 26, under the command of the comte d'Enghien went to Château d'If, on the Île d'If in the harbour of the city to meet with him. The French ships and the château saluted the arriving Ottomans with a discharge of artillery, which was responded in kind to by the Ottoman vessels. After Enghien and several others had met with Barbarossa and greeted him, the Ottoman commander travelled into Marseille to meet with king Francis. Barbarossa would then spin his wheels on his ship until early August when orders arrived. The combined force was to attempt a capture of the strategic enclave of Nice that Enghien had previously been frustrated in his attempts to capture.
Barbarossa's fleet was to dominate the Genoese fleet under the command of Andrea Doria, which had frustrated Enghien's prior attempt at a French conquest of Nice. Enghien's Provençal troops participated in the siege. Nice was surrounded both from the land and the sea on 6 August. The following day, Ottoman soldiers and artillery disembarked at Villefranche-sur-Mer for the land operations. The first assault on Nice was launched on 17 August, with the city folding without much pressure, capitulating on 22 August. The citadel of Nice was another matter though, and the resistance here was combined with the fact that Doria had set sail again to frustrate the blockade. The siege of the citadel of Nice would end in failure, the city sacked and torched as punishment before the Franco-Ottoman force withdrew. The seigneur de Vielleville pinned the blame for this brutal act on the comte de Grignan. For the naval forces, weather would be their undoing, and the Franco-Ottoman fleet was forced to take shelter by the Île Sainte-Marguerite. With the attempt to subdue Nice a failure, Enghien and his men wintered in Marseille. Barbarossa, and his Ottoman men were to be quartered in the port of Toulon by royal order of 8 September. Francis was keen to see the Ottomans leave, and therefore negotiated a payment of 800,000 écus, as well as the provision of food stocks for their journey back to the Ottoman Empire. As such, having tarried in Toulon, the Ottoman fleet departed back homeward in March 1544.
In Sournia's estimation, Enghien did little to commend himself by his conduct during the siege of Nice.
Ceresole New governor
During the winter of 1543, Charles V gave his permission for the marquis del Vasto, the Imperial governor of Milan, to go on the offensive into Piedmont in north-west Italy. In November, del Vasto captured Mondovì in Piedmont before moving to besiege Carignano to the south of Turin in mid-November. Carignano would fall to him. This was a major blow for the French as Carignano represented a key stronghold at the centre of French controlled Piedmont. Well aware of this, del Vasto saw Carignano suitably fortified and left a strong Spanish garrison in the place. Francis was frustrated by the dithering of the lieutenant-général of Piedmont, the seigneur de Boutières, to whom he had sent reinforcements, he therefore resolved to replace him.
On 26 December 1543, Enghien was established as the French lieutenant-général and governor for the province of Piedmont, replacing the seigneur de Boutières in the charge of lieutenant-général and the admiral d'Annebault as governor. Annebault had already departed from Piedmont in January 1543 after a brief campaign in the area in late 1542, as the King wished to keep his favourite close. Annebault was therefore reassigned to the position of lieutenant-général of the province of Normandy. Boutières had been left in charge in the admiral's absence in 1543, he was a capable captain, but one lacking in support at the centre of royal power. By contrast, Sournia describes Boutières as experienced but lazy. Piedmont, a far away territory that was a recent addition to the kingdom of France, could not be left without a present governor though, hence Enghien's appointment some months later. The historian Guinand notes that Enghien was the only holder of the government of French Piedmont who was not also a maréchal de France (Marshal of France - one of the chief most military offices of the kingdom). The prince was only twenty four years old on his assumption of the charge. In January 1544, the comte d'Enghien departed from Marseille to join with Boutières. Enghien arrived in Turin on 19 January to assume his new charge, having brought with him seven companies of Swiss soldiers (the Swiss mercenary had established an impressive reputation in Europe at this time). The French position in Piedmont at this time was a broad one, controlling fifteen towns, and 27 castles, among them Turin, Pignerol and Moncalieri. The young prince's mission, as envisioned by Francis, was to see to the recapture of Carignano.