Charles I de Lorraine, duc d'Elbeuf (Joinville, 18 October 1556 – Moulins, 4 August 1605) was a French noble, military commander and governor during the French Wars of Religion. The son of the most minor cadet house of the children of Claude, Duke of Guise, Elbeuf initially lacked the prominence of his cousins, however his succession to the Rieux inheritance made him important. Over the following decades he would gradually consolidate more of it under his authority, until by his death in 1605, all of the county of Harcourt belonged to the Elbeufs. A young man in 1573, he travelled with the king's brother to assume his kingship of the Commonwealth. Upon the prince's return as Henri III of France in 1574 Elbeuf would receive the honour of assuming the position of grand chamberlain during the coronation. After the establishment of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit in 1579, Elbeuf would be elevated as a knight of this chivalric body. The following year he supported the king's brother Alençon in his negotiations with the Dutch States General to assume the role of king. In the wake of these successful, if fraught, negotiations, he was nominated by Alençon as lieutenant-general of his army. Elbeuf and Alençon would travel to the Spanish Netherlands where they would relieve the besieged town of Cambrai, to much acclaim from the citizenry. Shortly after this, relations soured between Elbeuf and the prince, and Elbeuf retired back to his estates with the excuse of an illness, being refused when he offered to return the following year. In September 1581, his marquisate of Elbeuf was elevated to a peerage duchy, greatly elevating Elbeuf's social standing.
In 1584 Alençon died, and with the king childless, succession thus fell to the king's distant cousin Navarre. This was unacceptable to much of Catholic France, and the Guise family who were already disgruntled by their alienation from royal favour exploited it in the formation of a second ligue. Elbeuf for his part was frustrated by the granting of the governorship of Normandie, where all his estates were located to the royal favourite Joyeuse. With the larger family network all in agreement, rebellion was declared in early 1585, and Elbeuf received the submission of Bayeux to the ligue, while joining with the disgraced royal favourite François d'O who defected to the ligue with Caen. In May he left Normandie for Angers where he was bested in battle by Joyeuse shortly before the ligue and crown came to terms. In the peace he received the governorship of the Bourbonnais, rather than Normandie, as he had hoped. While the ligue and crown were now nominally allies, the accord was tenuous, and began to collapse in 1588 over the issue of Épernon, who the Guise despised. Elbeuf began raising forces in Normandie once again, but open confrontation was avoided, and the king capitulated to the ligue while staying in Rouen in July 1588. Henri was by now furious at the Guise erosion of his power and set his mind on the assassination of the duke. In December 1588 he had the duke and his brother executed, and Elbeuf, Nemours and others arrested.
Elbeuf spent the next 4 years in royal captivity before escaping in 1593. The ligue granted him the governorship of Poitiers however he demonstrated little interest in campaigning for their cause. He maintained cordial relations with the royal governor of Poitou, Malicorne and during a truce that year, enjoyed leisure pursuits with the ligues enemy Navarre. It thus followed that he was the first member of his family to defect to the royalist cause, doing so in 1594, in exchange for a large bribe, confirmation of his governorship of Poitiers and a sizable pension. In the following years he would receive further honours, including a return to the governorship of the Bourbonnais and the position of Grand Veneur. In his final years he continued to take an interest in Poitiers, helping suppress a tax rebellion in 1601, before dying in 1605.
Early life and family Childhood and inheritance Charles de Lorraine was born in 1556, the son of René II de Lorraine, Marquis d'Elbeuf and Louise de Rieux. He received an education from the humanist Rémy Belleau at Joinville. At this time, he was a valuable child, the heir to part of the Rieux inheritance, and as such was kept under close wardship by Cardinal Lorraine, and Suzanne de Bourbon-Montpensier, his maternal grandmother. There were other heirs to the Rieux inheritance, and on the partage of 1584, Elbeuf found himself out of the inheritance of Harcourt, but in receipt of the smaller territories of Brionne and Lillebonne. Harcourt went to Paul de Coligny, however he died in 1586, and Elbeuf secured guardianship of his young son Guy, allowing him to control Harcourt until the boy's majority. When in 1605 Guy de Coligny died, the entire Rieux inheritance fell to the Elbeuf family.
As a result of this inheritance and other acquisitions, by the end of the century, Elbeuf could boast a yearly income of 50,000 livres.
Marriage His sister, Marie d'Elbeuf, married his first cousin Charles, Duke of Aumale in 1576.
He married Marguerite de Chabot in 1583, the daughter of Léonor Chabot, lieutenant general of Bourgogne and Grand Écuyer, who promised to resign the latter office to his new son in law as part of the arrangement. She brought with her as a dowry the seigneurie de Pagny, and a lump sum payment of 12,000 livres. Marguerite soon moved to Normandie in 1584, and began working to bring the governor of Le Havre, a key port town, over to the ligueur cause.
The two would have many children: Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf who would marry an illegitimate daughter of Henri IV. Claude Éléonore of Lorraine (1598 † 1654) known as Mademoiselle d'Elbeuf prior to her marriage with Louis Gouffier († 1642), Duke of Roannais in 1650. The couple had no children. Henriette of Lorraine (1599 † 1669), Abbess of Soissons. Henri of Lorraine (1601 † 1666), Count of Harcourt, of Armagnac and of Brionne Françoise of Lorraine (1602 † 1626) never married; Catherine of Lorraine (1605 † 1611) died in infancy.
Religious outlook Unlike much of his family, Elbeuf was of fairly relaxed religious disposition. He employed several Protestants in his household including members of the Fouilleuse and Sarcilly family and was friends with others. Through his mother Louise de Rieux he was connected to many of the leading Protestant aligned noble families, such as the Rieux, Laval and Coligny. This attitude was partly pragmatism, in Normandie, unlike Champagne, there were many important Protestant noble families, that a man of Elbeuf's standing needed to form relationships with.
Reign of Charles IX Assassination of Admiral Coligny After it was agreed upon in the royal council to kill Admiral Coligny and other members of the Protestant leadership in Paris on 24 August 1572, the Guise were granted the task of killing the Admiral. The duke leapt at the chance to kill the man his family held responsible for the death of his father in 1563. Though he was only 16, Elbeuf accompanied his cousins through Paris to kill the Admiral, which they oversaw the conduct of in the early hours of the morning. A little while later a general massacre would develop in the city, before spiralling out of control across the country.
Commonwealth In 1573, Anjou, was elected as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the fourth war of a religion was brought to a close to facilitate his travel. As he prepared to move to his new kingdom, he brought with him many young nobles of the court, of similar ages and experiences to himself. One of the nobles who travelled with him to form part of his household in the Commonwealth was Elbeuf. The day before his coronation on 20 February, Anjou gave a lunch for the Papal Nuncio and the various assembled ambassadors. At this meal Elbeuf and the other princes who had travelled with the king sat beside him to receive the dignitaries.
Reign of Henri III Upon the death of Charles IX, his brother, now styling himself Henri III was in the Commonwealth where he had recently assumed the crown. Having heard of his brothers death and the vacancy of the French throne he hurried to abandon the Commonwealth, fleeing in the night on horseback from the country. For his coronation as king of France on 13 February, the Guise family took pride of place after years in the political wilderness. Elbeuf assumed the position that was traditionally occupied by the grand chamberlain during the ceremony. After having returned to France and established himself as king, an embassy was required to be sent to the Commonwealth, so as to smooth over matters in the wake of his departure favourably towards France. To this end, Marshal Bellegarde and Elbeuf were to be dispatched to the country. However financial issues led to their expedition being continuously delayed.
In April 1578, a duel between favourites of the king and those of the duke of Guise occurred. In the combat that followed, two favourites of the king would be killed, Maugiron and Caylus. While two of Guise's favourites would also be killed in the duel, the final favourite Entragues, recognising the fury of the king at the loss of two of his close favourites decided to depart court. The extended Guise family, took the opportunity to show their displeasure at the duel by departing en masse on 10 May. Among the grandees departing, Elbeuf left court at this time.
Ordre du Saint-Esprit Henri was conscious that in years previous, the crown's chief knightly order, that of Saint-Michel had been debased by its continuous award. To resolve this Henri decided to create a new chivalric order, naming his Saint-Esprit. This new, more prestigious order would be awarded to all of the main Lorraine princes, including Elbeuf. At this time, Elbeuf's landed interests and influence were almost entirely contained in Normandie.
Alençon Alençon had long held the ambition to receive a crown of his own, and the Dutch rebellion offered him the possibility of realising this. In September 1580, negotiations took place between a delegation of the Dutch States-General and members of his council, among them the governor of Berry, La Châtre, brother of the duke of Montmorency, Méru and Elbeuf. The negotiations were fraught, as Alençons representatives disputed the powers their lord would receive, power of the States and other issues. On 17 September an agreement was finally reached, that papered over many of the competing visions for Alençon's kingship. Alençon thus set off the next year to assume his responsibilities.
Elbeuf would have an important role to play in Alençon's vision. The prince had promised to provide an army to assist the Dutch rebels, and Elbeuf was to be the forces lieutenant-general. This was despite his complete lack of military experience. The two men assembled forces, and rendezvoused at Evreux in May 1581. Elbeuf brought with him a retinue of 500 gentleman. The expenses of raising such forces in support of Alençon forced Elbeuf to divest himself of Quatremares in December 1583 for 80,000 livres to pay off his debts. After initially collaborating with Alençon in the relief of Cambrai, which secured the important city for the new king, the two men fell into disagreement and parted ways, Elbeuf leaving under the pretext of an illness. In March 1582, Elbeuf offered his services to the prince once more, but Alençon declined.
Marquis to duke During the year 1581, Henri raised many seigneuries to peerage duchies. Anne de Joyeuse had his barony of Joyeuse elevated to a dukedom in August. The following month, Elbeufs' marquisate was made into a duchy. Elbeuf thus became both a duke and a peer of the realm.