Robert de La Vieuville, marquis de Sy (–1612) was a French governor and military commander in Champagne and the Rethélois during the French Wars of Religion. The son of Pierre de La Vieuville, the marquis followed his father into the service of the new duc de Nevers (duke of Nevers), receiving the office of governor of the key border city of Mézières in 1569. Over the following decades he would be a consistent client of the Nevers family, while also acting as a firm royalist in Champagne. To this end he became a gentilhomme de la chambre for the king of Navarre in 1573. The following year, Nevers saw him established as lieutenant-general of the Rethélois, of which Nevers was duc. He acquired lands from his patron by acting as their creditor, most notably in 1576. In 1577 he was granted a compagnie d'ordonnance (ordinance company) and he was later to be inducted as a conseiller d'État (councillor of state) in 1580. Over his career he would become a chevalier (knight) of both the most senior orders of French chivalry, Saint Michel in 1580 and Saint-Esprit in 1599.
In 1584 the Duc de Guise established a Catholic Ligue (League) to oppose the succession of the Protestant king of Navarre to the throne. This ligue entered war with the crown in 1585 and in furtherance of elevating his position in Champagne (a province of which he was also governor), Guise sought to oust La Vieuville from Mézières, on the grounds that La Vieuville was too royalist. To appease Nevers, Guise selected an intimate of his the comte de Grandpré to replace La Vieuville, establishing him in the city. However, in negotiations for peace with the crown in July, Catherine, negotiating for her son the king, refused to concede the governorship of Mézières to Grandpré and thus La Vieuville was left in charge. In 1586 Nevers himself spoke in favour of transferring the governate, and La Vieuville was temporarily dispossessed, though he would be back in the office by 1587. As relations with the ligue again collapsed in 1588, the king decided to assassinate the duc de Guise in December 1588. This destroyed royal authority in Champagne, with the majority of cities defecting to the ligue. La Vieuville tried to preserve Mézières for the crown, but was arrested by the citizens of the city in April, though released shortly thereafter. Over the following years La Vieuville fought for the royalist cause but was unable to recapture Mézières, which only defected to the royalist cause in 1595. In 1597 he fought alongside the young new duc de Nevers and orchestrated the French recapture of Reims. In 1607 the lieutenant-general of Champagne died, and the charge was broken into four, with La Vieuville made lieutenant-general of Reims, Rocroi, Sainte-Menehould, Villefranche, Maubert-Fontaine and Mézières. He died in 1612 and was succeeded to his charges by his son Charles de La Vieuville.
Early life and family Robert de La Vieuville was the son of Pierre de La Vieuville. Pierre served at first the Clèves ducs de Nevers (dukes of Nevers) before transferring his service to the Gonzague ducs upon the extinction of the Clèves line. Pierre became a gentilhomme de la chambre du roi (gentleman of the king's chamber) for Charles IX in 1566. At the end of his life around 1573, Pierre de La Vieuville served as the garrison commander of Reims.
For his son Charles de La Vieuville, Robert arranged a marriage with Marie Bouhier, daughter of Vincent Bouhier, the treasurer of l'Épargne, some time shortly before his death. This brought the family into close proximity with the world of Parisian high finance.
Reign of Charles IX Catholic partisan The garrisoning system of Champagne, which had in the reigns of François I and Henri II been put towards territorial defence against external attacks was diverted to new purposes in the religious civil wars of the latter part of the century. La Vieuville informed the king on 8 September 1568, that soldiers under his command had been despatched to Vézelay so that they might support the lieutenant-general of Champagne the seigneur de Barbezieux in attacks against the Protestants of the region.
Governor of Mézières
It was through the patronage of the great lord the duc de Nevers that first Pierre and then his son Robert de La Vieuville were established as the governors of Mézières. La Vieuville thus assumed this charge in November 1569. Mézières occupied a position almost on the French border, giving the possession of its governance an immense strategic value.
Relations between La Vieuville and the citizens of his new charge had already been soured by the actions of his father during his time of authority over Mézières from 1564 to 1569. Pierre de La Vieuville had reconfigured the towns constitution to have the échevins elected by the militia officers. He further introduced a garrison to the town during the second civil war. As such, there was considerable opposition in Mézières to both him, and by extension his son. The city looked for a suitable noble counterweight to the power of the Nevers in Mézières.
Alongside his service to the ducs de Nevers, La Vieuville became a gentilhomme de la chambre du roi for the king of Navarre in February 1573.
In January 1574 La Vieuville received a further elevation from the duc de Nevers, being established as the lieutenant-general of the Rethélois (the duc de Nevers also being the duc de Rethel). This office was requested of the king for La Vieuville by Nevers.
Reign of Henri III Fifth war of religion A truce was established during the fifth war of religion in November 1575 between the crown and the Protestant and Catholic rebels. This was known as the Truce of Champigny. As a component of the truce, Mézières was provided to the Protestant prince Condé. This only furthered the resentment felt in Mézières that had been developed against their governor, and inclined them more towards Guise and (eventually) the Catholic ligue (league). In the event, Condé would never receive Mézières as the truce was violated before his control could be established, with the civil war resuming.
As a client of Nevers, La Vieuville acted as a creditor to the duc. On 4 August 1576, the duc de Nevers and his wife Henriette de Clèves sold to La Vieuville the seigneuries of Lumes, Vatraincourt, Romery and Monion for 23,000 livres. La Vieuville provided 12,000 livres of the sum in cash, and on the same day loaned the duc 800 écus. While the duc and duchesse hoped to repurchase the seigneuries in sunnier days, this would not prove possible, and in 1596 Henriette would renounce her right to redeem the territories. It would not be until 1615 that the next duc de Nevers would repurchase the majority of the lands from La Vieuville's son, for 60,000 livres (though the La Vieuville would retain two of the territories).
Royal favour In 1577 La Vieuville received command of his own compagnie d'ordonnance (ordinance company). This put around 50 men-at-arms under his authority.
La Vieuville received the charge of being made a conseiller d'État (councillor of state) in April 1580. At this time he was also inducted as a chevalier (knight) of the Ordre de Saint-Michel (Order of Saint-Michel) the second most senior order of French chivalry.
Crisis of the Catholic Ligue
During the Catholic ligue crisis brought about by the death of the king's brother Alençon and subsequent establishment of the Protestant king of Navarre as heir to the throne, the ligueur (leaguer) leader the duc de Guise manoeuvred for advantage in his governate of Champagne. As part of this he took up the cause of the people of Mézières, who asked to be relieved of La Vieuville as their governor and have him expelled from their city. Guise, conscious that he could not disposes La Vieuville without upsetting Nevers, selected the comte de Grandpré, a close intimate of the duc as the candidate to replace them. This appeased any potential objection Nevers could have to the effort, and thus the path was open for Guise to increase his credit in Champagne and be free of a man who was associated far too greatly with the royalist cause.
in the years 1585 to 1589, La Vieuville would on two occasions extract promises from Mézières to obey him. Meanwhile, he promised the council that he would maintain their urban liberties. The very existence of these promises speaks to a lack of trust between La Vieuville and the people/council of Mézières.
War with the Catholic Ligue La Vieuville was at this very moment in 1585 working to oppose Guise's rebellion and maintain Mézières in loyalty to the crown. On 25 March he wrote to the city council ordering them not to admit any soldiers into the city before his arrival. In April Guise arrived and installed Grandpré in the city over the objection of the king and Nevers, who both wrote to the council demanding they re-admit La Vieuville. Guise simultaneously wrote letters to the council ordering them to ignore the royal orders, telling them to follow the example of Verdun which had just submitted to him.
In negotiations with the crown in July to secure Grandpré's appointment officially, conducted as part of the broader attempts to forge a treaty between the rebel ligue and the crown, Guise was firm on the necessity of La Vieuville's removal. Catherine de Medici, negotiating for the crown was however unwilling to concede on this point, and for the moment La Vieuville was left in his charge formally. Both Grandpré and La Vieuville were thus left in limbo by the Treaty of Nemours which brought the war between the ligue and the crown to a close. The treaty effectively outlawed Protestantism in France, while the Lorraine princes were granted surety towns to ensure the terms were abided by. Guise received Châlons, Saint-Dizier, Toul, Verdun and Mézières.
Loyalist Nevers himself, when he was back in royal favour in 1586 would intercede with the king in favour of Grandpré's appointment. La Vieuville who was seen as too royalist by the inhabitants of Mézières had struggled to command their obedience, and with Grandpré (who enjoyed friendly relations in the city) in charge, Nevers felt Mézières was better preserved under both the king's and his own authority. Nevers was not however happy with the role of Guise in the whole affair, seeing him as having encouraged the disorder and disobedience of the bourgeois of Mézèieres against his authority. In October 1586 Henri, convinced of Grandpré's loyalty assented to him replacing La Vieuville.
By 1587 Nevers had secured the reappointment of La Vieuville as governor of Mézières. Guise had been convinced to back down in his opposition to La Vieuville by Cardinal Bourbon who assured him that La Vieuville was his man.
In Champagne during these years, there was a great conflict for the loyalty and support of the secondary nobility between Guise, the provinces governor and Dinteville who was technically subordinate to Guise as the provinces lieutenant-general, but who acted independently as the head of the royalist faction. La Vieuville was among those nobles who was not part of Guise's network in the province and therefore did not involve himself in Guise's campaign against the provinces Protestant population. It was only in October 1587 when an army of Protestant reiters under the graf von Donha (count of Donha) invaded France through Champagne that La Vieuville's compagnie d'ordonnance was summoned to join Guise's forces.