Henri Charles de La Trémoïlle

Premier Gentilhomme de la Chambre de la Maison de l'Empereur (Henri IV; 1654 - 1658)

### Government Posts

Gouverneur de Poitiers (T.I - 1655)Gouverneur de Poitou (1655 - 1658)

## Biography

### Spouse

Émilie de Hesse-Cassel (m. 1648 - 1653) †
Louise Antoinette Thérèse de La Châtre, Madame de La Châtre (m. 1655 - d. 1658)

### Issue

Henri Claude de La Trémoille, Prince de TarenteCharles Louis de La Trémoille, Comte de Laval

Françoise Marie de La Trémoille, Mademoiselle de La Trémoille

Louis Armand de La Trémoille, Comte de Benon

Françoise Marie de La Trémoille, Mademoiselle de La Trémoille

Louise Charlotte de La Trémoille, Mademoiselle de Thouars

### Romantic Interests

Françoise Olympe Augustine de Blois, Duchesse-Titulaire de Moncontour, Marquise d'Annonay (Infatuation; 1638 - 1654)
Louise Antoinette Thérèse de La Châtre (Infatuation; Marriage; 1654 - 1658)

Julienne Angélique d'Estrées (Infatuation; 1656 - 1657)

Catherine de Portugal (Kissed; 1656)

### Siblings

Louis Maurice, Prince de Talmont
Élisabeth, Mademoiselle de Thouars

Marie Charlotte, Mademoiselle de La Trémoïlle

Armand Charles, Comte de Taillebourg

### Religion

Calvinism [Recanted; 1628]
Roman Catholicism [Recanted; 1637]

Calvinism [Reconverted; 1637]

**Henri IV** (Henri Charles; 17th December, 1620 - Present) was a Grandelumièrian nobleman, prince étranger, peer, duke, court official and societal reformiste hailing from the regally enthralled Maison de La Trémoille of Poitou, who, as héritier-nominal of Frederick IV and Anne of Savoy, are believed to be the foremost successors to the Kingdoms of Naples and the Cypriot Kings of Jerusalem. Their dynastic maxim; "Principes inter Homines, Servi inter Regum (Princes among Men, Servants among Kings)," is unnervingly reverberated throughout the life of Henri Charles de La Trémoille, who, since birth was labored in the enterprise of hereditary success and expectation. As princes of royal allegation, Charles was expected to rise to the obligation of one day inheriting the numerous Trémoille domains and estates, while also skillfully maneuvering the imperial court and ensuring the survival of the dynasty through procreation and monopolizing the family position, all of which he would strive to accomplish during the reign of Henri (IV) de Valois. Haphazardly, despite all the candid ambitions of this charming prince, his lifetime campaign on the climb to greatness would be a constant struggle against the odds, with Charles procuring numerous enemies along the road on account of his unswerving desire to succeed and his malevolent temperament on those who were deemed to have wronged him. One outstanding barrier which was a hindrance to his dynastic and political success in most cases was his faith, a self-professed Calvinist of the Reformed Church, his observable morality was built upon the teachings of John Calvin, which did not bode well with his Catholic father nor the zealous Papists nor the self-serving Catholic bureaucracy of Grandelumière, who belligerently and consistently attempted to weaken Huguenots in every echelon of the State. This subsequent shadow war, which meticulously divided Grandelumière in his time, justified the foundation of his perception on Catholic religious culture and his perspective on the treatment of Huguenots in the country and the bedrock for his political aspirations which would presumably catapult him into historical dignity.

Charles, however, despite his amicable appeal and settled temperament was not a very proper gentleman. As a young prince, growing up at the palatial dynastic seat, Charles regularly devised unscrupulous escapades on those he deemed exasperating, wickedly taunting the domestics and his younger siblings, even going so far as to prank a visiting military official during the reign of Philippe VIII. One similar monstrous incident that happened in 1626 with his governess, Hélène de Montblanc, Baronne de Neuvy, was when she instructed the-then Prince de Talmont off to bed harshly after she caught him setting rat traps in the garden, Charles, upset that his sadistic playtime was delayed, responded to the order by lynching her cat over the staircase while she herself slept. By morning, the estate rose to her unceremonious screams as she caught herself sauntering up the staircase to her charge's chamber only to discover her feline horrifically swinging from a noose with several broken bones. Madame de Neuvy could not sustain such a thing, sending her resignation to Henri III and Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne, never to see them or return again. She was succeeded by numerous undistinguished women who splintered at the task up until Charles was assigned a proper governor in 1631. Upon this assignment, Charles was earnestly rehabilitated, consciously shedding his malicious habits in order to attain a gentleman's persona. His governor, an associate of Henri III's, the draconian Claude Peussot, was integral in Charles' development into his contemporary form, a gentleman with the ability to disguise whatever pervasion lurked beneath the surface.

## Biography

The future Henri IV de La Trémoille was born Henri Charles, Prince de Tarente at the Château des Ducs de Thouars on December the 17th, 1620 in Poitou to Henri III, Duc de Thouars and Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne. His father, Henri III was the son of the Huguenot prince, Claude de La Trémoille and Charlotte-Brabantine de Nassau, who was a daughter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange and the Bourbon princess, Charlotte de Montpensier. His mother, Marie, was daughter of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon and Elisabeth de Nassau, yet another daughter of William the Silent, making them first cousins by blood. Madame de Thouars' mother, Elisabeth, was considered a staunch Calvinist of the Reformed Church and upon her marriage to the Duc de Bouillon intended to preserve it alongside him. Famously, in Sedan, Madame de Bouillon sustained a court of Calvinism, which was 'staunch and spartan' in character. In that court, where she reigned as regent in the absence of her husband, she raised Marie with the same traditions as John Calvin, fastening her to its doctrine. And synchronized in tradition, Marie exuded the teachings of John Calvin upon her eldest son, with indifference from her Catholic husband. This forceful emission was observed before Charles' birth in July of 1620 when Madame de Thouars exchanged numerous Grandelumièrian ladies out of the post of governess because they were not befitting of her religious standards. Some forty women petitioned and interviewed to be Charles' governess, and some thirty-six were denied for their quality. The inexhaustible search for a governess came to an end in Laurène Chaffaud, a married, god-fearing, rotund Burgundian woman that obediently exhausted biblical testaments, which appeared to be the perfect fit for Madame de Thouars. Upon his birth on the 17th December, the infant prince was charged into her care until the age of five (1625), where she fell sick with pneumonia and died. She was replaced by Hélène de Montblanc, Baronne de Neuvy, who proved a formidable successor in her resilient nature and adamantine approach to child antics. Obviously, unable to withstand Charles' gruesome poaching, Madame de Neuvy resigned just a year later in 1626, leaving four easily frightened ladies to quickly succeed her in rapid succession. Charles, personally elated, considered that he would never be plagued by any more hovering nannies, but was soundly defeated upon the arrival of a more grating keeper, Monsieur Peussot, at the behest of the Duc de Thouars, who was seemingly irked by Charles' indignant and immoral way of fun.

[W.I.P]