Henri, Count of Chaligny explained

Prince Henri of Lorraine (1570-1600), Count of Chaligny and Marquis of Moy, was a French nobleman and a commander in the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion.

Life

He was born at Nancy on 31 July 1570, the son of Nicolas, Duke of Mercœur, and his third wife, Catherine of Lorraine (1550-1606).

Henri began his military career in the service of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and rose to command the light cavalry that the duke sent in support of the Catholic League.[1] In February 1589 he entered Rouen alongside Charles, Duke of Mayenne, and in the early 1590s fought with the Catholic League against the forces of Henry of Navarre.[2] He was, embarrassingly, briefly the prisoner of Henry's fool, Chicot.[3]

He went on to serve under his half-brother Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, both in France and later in the Long Turkish War.[4]

He died in Vienna on 26 November 1600.

Marriage and children

On 19 September 1585 he married Claude, Marquise of Moy (1572–1627), with whom he had four children:[5]

  1. Prince Charles of Lorraine (1592–1631), bishop of Verdun from 1611 to 1623
  2. Princess Louise of Lorraine (1595–1667), who in 1608 married Florent (1588–1622), eldest son of Lamoral, 1st Prince of Ligne
  3. Prince Henri of Lorraine (1596–1672), count of Chaligny and marquis of Moy
  4. Prince François of Lorraine (1599–1671), bishop of Verdun from 1623 to 1661.

Notes and References

  1. [Jacques-Auguste de Thou]
  2. [Stuart Carroll]
  3. [Jacques-Auguste de Thou]
  4. David Parrott, Richelieu's Army (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 30.
  5. de La Chenaye-Desbois and Badier, Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, vol. 12 (3rd ed., Paris, 1868), pp. 407-8.