Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville
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Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville (1540 – 7 August 1573) was prince de Châtellaillon, marquis de Rothelin, comte de Montgommery et Tancarville, viscomte d'Abbeville, Melun, comte de Neufchâtel et Valangin. Longueville was governor of Picardy, the leader of one of the Prince étranger families of France and a descendant of the bastard of Orléans who was in turn a descendant of Charles V of France.
Léonor d'Orléans | |
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duc de Longueville | |
Other titles | Governor of Picardy, prince de Châtellaillon, marquis de Rothelin, comte de Neufchâtel, Montgommery et Tancarville, viscomte d'Abbeville |
Born | c. 1540 |
Died | c. 1573 Kingdom of France |
Family | House of Orléans-Longueville |
Spouse(s) | Marie de Bourbon, duchesse d'Estouteville |
Issue | Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville François III d'Orléans, comte de Saint-Pol Antoinette d'Orléans Éléonore d'Orléans |
Father | François, marquis de Rothelin |
Mother | Jacqueline de Rohan, Marquise de Rothelin |
By Longueville's time his family was close to that of another princely house, that of the Guise, the Guise had controlled much of his family's estates during the life of his cousin, but when he died in 1551 the title of Longueville reverted to Léonor, and his mother championed his re-acquisition of the family estates. He fought in the later Italian Wars serving at the battle of Saint-Quentin in which he was captured. Close to the Guise, he received little help from court in paying off his ransom, but his mother petitioned the Guise to help him, who obliged. His mother, Jacqueline de Rothelin, was an open Protestant and Longueville adopted his mother's faith, corresponding with Calvin.
Upon the death of Henri II Longueville found himself slighted by the ascendant Guise, who took the title of grand chambellan from him. Nevertheless a betrothal was arranged between him and the duke's daughter. This engagement was broken off by François, Duke of Guise upon it becoming clear that Longueville would refuse to attend Mass. Despite these increasingly sour relations, Longueville was with Guise in his departure from court that October, leaving the regency government under Catherine de Medici perilously thin in terms of support. He remained loyal when civil war erupted between much of the Protestant nobility and the crown in early 1562, one of many princely Protestants whose sympathies with the reform ended at rebellion.
By 1563 he had abjured his Protestantism and was welcomed back by the Guise with open arms. A new marriage was arranged for him by the family, this time with Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Estouteville. Longueville supported the Guise in their feud with the House of Montmorency over the assassination of the duke of Guise, a murder they blamed on Anne de Montmorency's nephew Gaspard II de Coligny. During the third civil war he commanded the rear-guard of the royal army at the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour. After the murder of Louis, Prince of Condé at the end of the former, he salvaged the prince's body from where it had been displayed. Condé had been governor of Picardy, and with his death Longueville became the governor of the critical region.
In 1572 he was ordered in his capacity as governor of Picardy to prevent Protestants from crossing the border to militarily assist their co-religionists in the Spanish Netherlands. His efforts in this regard were undermined by Charles IX who covertly supported an expedition, hoping to weaken Spanish power. During the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew he opposed the expansion of the killings into his territory as they spread across France. The following year he partook in the siege of La Rochelle. Shortly after he died, with Henri, Prince of Condé succeeding him to the governorship of Picardy.