Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers ( or Luigi di Gonzaga-Nevers; 18 September 1539 – 23 October 1595) was a soldier, governor and statesman during the French Wars of Religion. His father and brother were reigning dukes of Mantua. He came to France in 1549, and fought for Henri II of France during the latter Italian Wars, getting himself captured during the battle of Saint Quentin. Due to his Italian connections he was seen as a useful figure to have as governor of French Piedmont, a post he would hold until Henri III ceded the territory in 1574. In 1565 his patron, Catherine de' Medici secured for him a marriage with the key heiress Henriette de Clèves, elevating him to duke of Nevers and count of Rethel. He fought for the crown through the early wars of religion, receiving a bad injury in the third war. At this time he formed a close bond with the young Anjou, future king Henri III, a bond that would last until the king's death.
He opposed any drive to war with Spain in 1572, and after the attempt on Admiral Coligny's life was a key member of the council that decided on the policy of elimination for the Protestant leadership. A radical Catholic, he revelled in his involvement in the Massacre that unfolded in the subsequent days. In the fourth war of religion he was the de facto leader of the siege of La Rochelle but was unable to bring it success. In the fifth civil war his army shadowed that of the duke of Alençon brother of the new king Henri, not giving battle, but containing him until Catherine negotiated a settlement. Nevers was disgusted with the generous Peace of Monsieur that concluded the civil war, joining the ligue movement that spread in the wake of it among radical Catholics, and campaigning for the resumption of war which was soon achieved. He now acted in the sixth civil war as the de facto leader of Alençon's now loyal army, campaigning brutally along the Loire, sacking La Charité-sur-Loire and Issoire, the war concluding in the harsher Treaty of Bergerac.
Nevers was again tempted to join the ligue during the second wave of the movement after the death of Alençon. Briefly serving as a commander for their forces in 1584, before he was pealed off from the movement in 1585 and returned to loyally supporting Henri. In 1588 he was chosen to replace the Prince of Condé as governor of Picardie. He would try and fail to receive the submission of several ligue towns in the governate for the king. In 1589 he would be replaced in the governate, and granted the role of governor of Champagne instead, a role he held in the name of his son. After the assassination of the Duke of Guise he was courted by the insurgent ligueurs in Paris who wanted to bring him over to the cause, but he rebuffed their advances. He virulently urged the king in the chaos that followed, not to come to terms with his heir Navarre but the king refused his advice, and formed an alliance, despite this Nevers remained loyal. On the death of the king, he again flirted with the ligue before committing himself to Henri IV serving him in Champagne, and then in failed diplomatic negotiations with the Pope after his abjuration from Protestantism. After briefly serving on his financial council, he died in 1595.
Early life and family Born in Mantua in 1539, he was the third child of Frederick II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Margaret Palaeologina. His brother Guglielmo became the duke of Mantua. At the age of 10 he was sent to Paris to inherit the assets left by his grandmother, Anne d'Alençon, widow of Marquess Gugiliemo IX of Montferrat.
Marriage On 4 March 1565 Nevers was married to the heiress Henriette de Clèves who brought with her to the marriage the Nivernais and the county of Rethel. Catherine de Medici had helped engineer this marriage for her favourite. As such Louis de Gonzague became duke of Nevers jure uxoris. This was due to the extinction of the male line with the death of Jacques de Clèves, Duke of Nevers the previous year. Nevers was supported in his militant Catholicism by his wife, who shared his proclivities for uncompromising Catholicism. Henriette's sisters would marry Henri I, Duke of Guise, another leader militant Catholic, and Henri, Prince of Condé, who would be one of the leader Protestant rebels in the later wars of religion.
Children His first son held the title of comte de Rethel during his lifetime. Their son Charles became duke of Mantua in 1627, establishing the Gonzaga-Nevers line. Charles' grandson, Charles II, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, sold the titles of Nevers and Rethel to Cardinal Mazarin in 1659.NEVERS and the Counts of Nevers.
Louis, Duke of Nevers, and his wife had five children: Catherine Gonzaga (21 January 1568 – 1 December 1629), married Henry I, Duke of Longueville Maria Henrietta Gonzaga (3 September 1571 – 3 August 1614), married Henry of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne Frederick Gonzaga (11 March 1573 – 22 April 1574). Francis Gonzaga (17 September 1576 – 13 June 1580). Charles I, Duke of Mantua (6 May 1580 – 20 September 1637).
Reign of Henri II In 1549, Nevers emigrated from Italy, setting himself up in the court of the recently crowned Henri II. He fought with Henri in the latter Italian Wars, and was one of the many high nobles captured after the disastrous battle of Saint-Quentin in 1557.
The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis that brought the Italian Wars to a close featured a joust as part of the celebrations. Henri decided to compete as was his habit, however his joust against Gabriel de Lorges, Count of Montgomery went awry, and he received a large shard of wood into his eye. Nevers who was present reported on what had happened to his Italian compatriots.
Reign of François II As an important Prince étranger, Nevers was among the notables called to attend the Assembly of Notables in 1560, the assembly brought together by the Guise government in response to the financial and religious crisis that had recently been laid bare by the Conspiracy of Amboise in which malcontents tried to overthrow their government and kidnap the king. This assembly concluded that an Estates General was necessary to meet France's financial problems, one would meet later that year and that a general religious council was needed to resolve the problem of Protestantism.
Reign of Charles IX By the mid-1560s, Nevers had received the position of lieutenant-general of the Piedmont, responsible for the military security of the remaining French possessions in Italy. He would maintain his hold on this strategic post into the 1570s.
In the peace that followed the first war of religion, there was not much opportunity for promotion within the companies under Nevers command, however that changed with the return of war, with 12 promotions within his units in October 1567 alone.
Second war of religion At the start of the second war of religion, negotiations flew back and forth between the Prince of Condé and the crown as Catherine de Medici tried to persuade him to call off his rebellion. One of the terms Condé demanded for laying down his arms was a removal of all 'Italians' from court, by which he meant Nevers, Albert de Gondi, Jacques de Savoie, duke of Nemours. This would become a common demand of rebels during the French Wars of Religion, with the king's brother Alençon demanding similarly when he joined the Malcontents in 1575. Condé, who had been besieging Paris, was dislodged after the battle of Saint Denis and began moving east, hoping to link up with an army of German reiters. The royal army after some delay pursued him from Paris, while Nevers brought a separate army up from the south, exiting his governorship in Piedmont, and marching through Burgundy, gathering more forces in Lyon including a contingent of Swiss to join in the hunt for the battered prince's army before it could escape. En route he captured the town of Mâcon which had gone over to the rebels at the start of the war. They would be unsuccessful in this hunt and Condé slipped over the frontier into the Empire. In January the secondary armies of Nevers and Claude, Duke of Aumale would link up with the main royal body at Vitry-le-François, exhausted after the pursuit of the Protestant force. With the return of the rebel army, it was agreed that the army would split up to pursue it, with Anjou taking the main body again to shadow them from the north, while Nevers harassed them from the south. The Protestant army marched on Chartres and put the city to siege, while the royal forces found themselves racked with illness, and lack of pay, forcing them to return to Paris and allow the Protestant siege. Before the siege could conclude, a peace settlement would be reached Nevers had spent March urging Anjou not to depart from Paris to confront the Protestants until such time as their German reiters arrived, which Nevers felt was critical to victory, however they would not do so until peace had been declared.
During the third war that followed in 1568, Nevers would receive a serious leg wound, which compromised his ability to lead a military life, pushing him more into the role of statesman going forward, though he would continue to hold commands.
Friendship He took the young Anjou brother of the king under his wing after 1568, acting as his intellectual and political adviser, warning him away from closeness with the Guise, telling Anjou that their family was the principal cause of the crowns current weakness. His continued hostility to the Guise, who he disparaged both for their great power over the state and due to their somewhat deficient learning, in particular that of Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, came despite the fact that Henri I, Duke of Guise was, by 1570, his brother in law, with both men married to daughters of François I, Duke of Nevers.
Peace In 1571, with the Admiral de Coligny pushing hard for a war with Spain to 're-unite Catholic and Protestant behind the crown' Nevers found himself in virulent opposition on council to such a scheme. He was not alone in opposition, all other members of the council bar Coligny were uninterested in such a venture and informed the king they opposed it. Nevers however had his intellectual protégé Anjou to make his case for him. His opposition came not only on grounds of principal, disliking the thought of declaring war on a Catholic monarch in favour of a Protestant adviser to the king, but also strategic, feeling that France would be fatally compromised when Spanish forces attacked from their Italian holdings. He did not leave himself at this however, and alongside having Anjou argue his position, he was among those leading councillors who prepared memoranda highlighting the dangers of a war with Spain.
In 1572 Nevers purchased from Charles IX, the Grand Nesle, an old townhouse located just east of the Tour de Nesle on the Left Bank of Paris. Nevers had it reconstructed, after which it became known as the Hôtel de Nevers.Braham and Smith 1973, p. 238. Although it was never completed, it was greatly admired by contemporaries. Nevers' secretary, Blaise de Vigenère, a distinguished antiquarian and art historian, wrote that the house had a vault, built by Italian workmen, which was more grand than the one at the Baths of Caracalla. Although De Vigenère likely overstated the size, it must have been very impressive and was an architectural feature that was new to Paris.Thomson 1984, p. 137.
Radical