Claude, Duke of Guise
Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise (20 October 1496 – 12 April 1550) was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528. He was a highly effective general for the French crown. His children and grandchildren were to lead the Catholic party in the French Wars of Religion. Biography. Claude was born at the Château de Condé-sur-Moselle, the second son of René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Philippa of Guelders. He was educated at the French court of Francis I. On 9 June 1513, at the age of sixteen , Claude married Antoinette de Bourbon (1493–1583), daughter of François, Count of Vendôme. Military service. Claude distinguished himself at the Battle of Marignano (1515), and was long in recovering from the twenty-two wounds he received in the battle. In 1521, he fought at Fuenterrabia, and Louise of Savoy ascribed the capture of the place to his efforts. In 1522 he forced the English to raise the siege of Hesdin. In 1523, he became governor of Champagne and Burgundy, after defeating at Neufchâteau the imperial troops who had invaded this province. In 1525, Claude defeated a peasant army near Saverne (Zabern ). Following Francis I's return from captivity, Claude was made Duke of Guise in 1527. The Guises, as cadets of the sovereign House of Lorraine and descendants of the Capetian House of Anjou, claimed precedence over the Bourbon princes of Condé and Conti. Later, the duke distinguished himself in the Luxembourg campaign in 1542, but for some years before his death he stepped back due to himself before the growing fortunes of his sons. Marriage and issue. Claude married Antoinette de Bourbon, daughter of François, Count of Vendôme and Marie de Luxembourg, on 9 June 1513; they had 12 children : Claude died at Château de Joinville, aged 53.