Louis II de Lorraine, cardinal de Guise
Louis II de Lorraine, cardinal de Guise was a French prelate, Cardinal and politician during the latter French Wars of Religion. The third son of François de Lorraine, duke of Guise and Anne d'Este Louis was destined for a career in the church. His uncle Cardinal Lorraine resigned his offices of Archbishop of Reims to him in 1574, and the death of his other uncle Louis I de Lorraine, Cardinal de Guise passed his ecclesiastical empire on to him upon his death in 1578. At which time the king made him Cardinal. Cardinal Guise actively involved himself in the first Catholic Ligue that rose up in opposition to the generous Peace of Monsieur which brought the fifth war of religion to a close in 1576. The ligue succeeded in resuming the civil war the next year and a harsher peace was concluded. Over the following years of peace, he would feud with Épernon, and receive Henri III's new honour when he was made a chevalier de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit in 1578 among the first cohort. Finally reaching the ecclesiastical age at which he could assume his responsibilities as Archbishop of Reims in 1583 he entered the city in triumph and oversaw a council at which he pushed for the promulgation of the Tridentine Decrees.
In 1584, Henri's brother Alençon died, and as the king had no children, the inheritance of the throne was due to default to Henri's distant cousin Navarre, a Protestant. This was intolerable to the Guise family, and Cardinal Guise, and they sought to revive the ligue of 1576, agreeing to establish a new ligue at a council in Nancy in September of that year. On 21 March 1585, the Guise and their allies issued the Péronne Manifesto which denounced the failure of the king to suppress Protestantism, the problems of succession and the king's choice of favourites. Several days earlier the duke of Guise had occupied Châlons-sur-Marne, formerly declaring war on the crown. Cardinal Guise and his brother marched on Reims and succeeded in gaining entry, assuming authority over the religious capital of the kingdom for the ligue. The war with the king would be brought to a conclusion by the Treaty of Nemours in July 1585, by which Henri agreed to a series of humiliating concessions, and promised to pursue a war against heresy. His pursuit of the war was half-hearted, and in 1586 Cardinal Guise met with his brothers at the Abbey of Ourscamp where they affirmed that even if the king made peace with the Protestant Navarre they would defy him and continue the fight regardless. Guise and Cardinal Bourbon the ligueur candidate to succeed Henri, published a remonstrance in which they denounced the court as a sinful place and advocated reform on the lines of the Council of Trent.
In May 1588 Henri pushed for a confrontation with the duke of Guise during the Day of the Barricades. His plan backfired and he was forced to flee the capital, while a coup government calling itself the Seize assumed control of the city. In the wake of this humiliation, Henri was forced into further concessions, among them promising to get the Pope to make Cardinal Guise the Legate of Avignon. The Cardinal now had grander ambitions, and he headed to Troyes where after gaining entry, he effected a ligueur coup and purged the administration of royalists while urging his brother to march on the king in Chartres and force him into a monastery. With Troyes in hand, Cardinal Guise integrated the city into the ligueur ''Sainte-Union, alongside Chaumont, Reims and Paris, but was frustrated by the reticence of Châlons-sur-Marne. In September Henri called an Estates General and after having assured himself of an appropriately ligueur delegation from Troyes, he left for the meeting at Blois. At the estates, he clashed with Henri, brow-beating the king into deleting parts of his opening address that were critical of nobles who were participating in the ligue. Cardinal Guise was by now increasingly incautious in his contempt for the king, and on 17 December toasted his brother as the king, and joined his sister Catherine in joking about tonsuring Henri. On 23 December the duke of Guise was assassinated and the Cardinal was arrested. After being interrogated he was butchered in his cell on 24 December. France exploded in outrage over the murder of the duke and his brother. Meanwhile the legal-minded ligueurs'' recognised the king's folly in having the Cardinal executed, and began campaigning for Sixtus V to excommunicate the king. While Henri sought to justify himself to the Pope as acting in self-defence, the Pope found his excuses insufficient, and was preparing to excommunicate him for the crime, when the king was assassinated on 1 August.
Early life and family
Youth
Louis II de Lorraine was the third son of François de Lorraine, duke of Guise and Anne d'Este. He was born in 1555, his elder brothers Henri de Lorraine and Charles de Lorraine having been born in 1549 and 1554 respectively, while his elder sister Catherine de Lorraine was born in 1552. Unlike his elder brothers, Louis was destined for a church career.In his youth, Gilles d'Abos served as his governor, a role for which he would be rewarded during the Cardinal's career with a place in his household. His education was conservative, led by a Benedictine scholar, contrasting greatly with the humanist education of his uncle Lorraine.
Ecclesiastical inheritance
Upon the death of his uncles, the first Cardinal of Guise, and Cardinal Lorraine Guise succeeded to many of their benefices providing him with a great number of lucrative revenues. Among the abbeys he inherited was the Abbey of Fécamp one of the two great abbeys of Normandie, which was resigned to him by Lorraine in 1574. Cardinal Lorraine had worked hard even in his final year, to ensure that Henri would agree to the transfer of his benefices upon his death, including the critical Archbishopric of Reims. The archbishopric of Reims brought with it the position of premier pair de France. His cousin Claude de Lorraine, chevalier d'Aumale held the other great Norman abbey of Bec. In 1578 upon the death of the first Cardinal of Guise, Guise was elevated to the Cardinalate. His elevation came in great part due to the efforts of Henri.Guise was not content merely to inherit the ecclesiastical fortune granted to him however, and from 1574 to 1588 he would acquire a further six benefices, aided by the Pope's favour towards him. He would abide by the traditional rules of canonical age requirements, only assuming the authority he inherited as Archbishop of Reims in 1583, making a triumphal entry into the ancient city that year. Now invested with the authority of Archbishop, he held a provincial synod in May that looked towards Trent as a model for church reform, and put himself at the centre of a penitential procession movement that was blooming, with thousands of pilgrims descending on Reims. Despite these efforts he would be derided in Rome at the time as someone who compromised the authority of the Holy See.
Relationships
Despite the prohibitions of the ecclesiastical profession, Guise was not celibate, and with his mistress Aymerie de Lescherenne he would have four illegitimate children. He would further enter into dispute with Épernon favourite to Henri III over their mutual desire for one of the daughters of Mme d'Estrées. This reputation as a womanizer led to Pope Sixtus V describing him as a Galero, not a Cardinal.Reign of Henri III
First ''ligue''
With the formation of the first national Catholic ligue in 1576, formed in opposition to the Peace of Monsieur which afforded generous provisions to Protestants generally and their aristocratic leaders in particular, Cardinal Guise saw advantage for his family in affiliation. The only member of his family currently in the episcopate he brought his spiritual backing to their cause.The ligue successfully pressured Henri into resuming the civil wars in 1577. Lacking money from the Estates General, he was unable to support an army, and as such a peace party quickly developed at court. During a debate in March 1577 about the clergy's demand at the Estates for only one religion to be tolerated in France, Cardinal Guise lined himself up in support of the measure, alongside his brother the duke, their brother Mayenne and Nevers. Catherine de Medici meanwhile led the opposition on the council, arguing that there could never be peace in France if this measure was enforced. The civil war would continue for several more months before the disintegration of the royal army due to lack of finances led to the conclusion of the Treaty of Bergerac in September.
Years of peace
With the departure of Alençon, Henri's brother, from court in February 1578, the favourites of Henri turned their violent attentions to the favourites of those young men in the entourage of the duke of Guise. In April they would fight a famous duel in which two favourites of the king and two of Guise's were killed. Henri was furious at what had transpired, and the Guise family, equally frustrated with the court, and fearful of royal retribution, decided to stage a grand departure en masse. On 10 May, Cardinal Guise and his two brothers alongside their cousins the duke of Aumale and the duke of Elbeuf, all departed court.Henri desired for his favourite, Épernon to succeed the present governor of the key port city of Boulogne, Antoine d'Estrées to his office. This brought him into conflict with Cardinal Guise, who attempted through his relationship with the d'Estrées family to obstruct this appointment. Henri complained to the Cardinal about his efforts, and ultimately Épernon would receive the governorship.
In 1578, Henri decided to create a new chivalric order, to supersede the previous Ordre de Saint-Michel which had in the 1560s been debased through its widespread awarding. The Ordre du Saint-Esprit received its first chevaliers on 31 December 1578. Cardinal Guise, alongside Cardinal Bourbon was created chevalier de l'Ordre du Saint-Esprit in the first intake.
In July 1581, the family received a major boon when a marriage was arranged between Anne de Joyeuse, chief favourite of Henri, and Marguerite de Lorraine-Vaudémont, a cousin of the Guise. The cardinal and his brothers were present on Marguerite's behalf to witness the signing of the marriage contract. The wedding took place on 24 September 1581. The Cardinal hosted one of the many marriage feasts that accompanied the event, hosting the new couple on 9 October at the hôtel de Guise.