Jonathan Spangler - Monsieur. Second Sons in the Monarchy of France, 1550-1800

For the first time, this volume brings together the history of the royal spare in the monarchy of early modern France, those younger brothers of kings known simply as Monsieur.

Ranging from the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution, this comparative study examines the frustrations of four royal princes whose proximity to their older brothers gave them vast privileges and great prestige, but also placed severe limitations on their activities and aspirations. Each chapter analyses a different aspect of the lives of Franois, duke of Alenon, Gaston, duke of Orlans, Philippe, duke of Orlans and Louis-Stanislas, count of Provence, starting with their birth and education, their marriages and political careers, and their search for alternative expressions of power through the patronage of the arts, architecture and learning. By comparing these four lives, a powerful image emerges of a key development in the institution of modern monarchy: the transformation of the rebellious, politically ambitious prince into the loyal defender even in disagreement of the Crown and of the older brother who wore it.

This volume is the perfect resource for all students and scholars interested in the history of France, monarchy, early modern state building and court studies.

Jonathan Spangler is a specialist in the history of monarchy, nobility and the court of France. His research into the enduring power of the Lorraine-Guise family has been published as The Society of Princes (2009) and Aspiration, Memory and Representation (2015). He teaches history at Manchester Metropolitan University and is Senior Editor of The Court Historian.

First published 2022

by Routledge

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2022 Jonathan Spangler

The right of Jonathan Spangler to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Spangler, Jonathan, 1971 author.

Title: Monsieur : second sons in the monarchy of France,

15501800 / Jonathan Spangler.

Other titles: Second sons in the monarchy of France, 15501800

Description: London ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis

Group, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Contents: An Overly Powerful Younger BrotherThe Evolution

of Fraternal Relations and the Institution of the ApanageParentage,

Birth, EducationGetting Established: Apanage, Marriage and

FamilyExpressions of Authority and Rebellion,

at Home and AbroadBeyond Politics: The Household and

Princely PatronageThe Last Monsieur.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021028617 | ISBN 9780367761936 (hbk) |

ISBN 9780367761943 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003165897 (ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: Anjou, Fran ois, duc d, 15541584. | Orl ans, Gaston,

duc d, 16081660. | Orl ans, Philippe, duc d, 16401701. | Louis

XVIII, King of France, 17551824. | FranceKings and rulers

BrothersBiography. | FranceKings and rulersSuccession. |

PrincesFranceBiography. | MonarchyFranceHistory

17th century | MonarchyFranceHistory16th century. |

MonarchyFranceHistory18th century.

Classification: LCC DC36.6 .S66 2022 | DDC 944/.029dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021028617

ISBN: 978-0-367-76193-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-76194-3 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-16589-7 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003165897

Typeset in Bembo

by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9780367761943

FIGURE 0.1 Valois and Bourbon simplified family treeMAP 0.2 Map of France with names of provinces and selected cities (in italics).

Cover:The French Forces: Louis XIII and his brother Gaston, duke of Orlans, are depicted together, at the head of troops preparing to head to Italy in the spring of 1630. Significantly, the title names only the King. Gaston is mentioned in the accompanying poem, as foiling the plans of their enemies due to his return from exile. In the end, Gaston did not command troops in Italy and by the end of the year was once again preparing to go into exile. (engraving by Abraham Bosse, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons).

To Monsieur: Franois, Gaston, Philippe and Louis-Stanislas

La Musique et la Symphonie,

Par une excellente harmonie,

Y ravissoient lOuye aussi

Et lon peut enfin dire ici,

A la gloire de ce grande PRINCE,

En qui lon ne void rien de mince,

Que, comme il prime en DIGNIT

Aprs lauguste MAJEST,

Il prime en la MAGNIFICENCE

Pour tre en tout UNIQUE EN FRANCE

Comme UNIQUE FRRE du Roy,

Auguste Titre, en bonne foy.

Charles Robinet, Lettre en vers Madame, 5 July 1665

This book is dedicated to younger brothers everywhere who suffer from living in the shadow of their older brothers. And to older brothers who sometimes have to assert their authority to bring rebellious princes back into line.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003165897-1

In late October 1569, King Charles IX of France rushed to join his troops besieging the town of Saint-Jean-dAngly, north of Bordeaux. He was irritated by the increasing praise being heaped on his younger brother, Henri, duke of Anjou, and the great victories he had won against rebellious Huguenot forces at Jarnac back in March and again in the previous weeks at Moncontour. The young king was determined to win glory for himself on the battlefield and not be upstaged. His brother was acting as Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, a title he had been granted in 1567, aged only 16 only a year younger than the King and as someone who by all accounts had been set up from an early age by their mother, Catherine de Medici, to become the Kings alter ego. But just over a year later, after a reign of not even four months, the new king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania learned that his older brother had died, and he hastened back to France to take his place as King Henry III.

One of the chief pillars of the duke of Anjous power in the reign of Charles IX was the undeniable fact that he was always his brothers heir. The position of heir to the throne brought with it great authority, and sometimes great headache to the older brother as monarch. In previous reigns of the sixteenth century, Francis I and Henry II had not had this particular problem, having no surviving male siblings though they certainly had their share of overly powerful princes of the blood and noblemen. We need to go all the way back to the reign of Louis XI (r. 14611483) to find a French king with a younger brother, Charles of France, known consecutively as duke of Berry, then Normandy, then Guienne. This cadet prince did not live a long life (14461472) and was more than twenty years younger than his brother, so their relationship was often more like father and son. Berrys nominal place as leader of a revolt of senior princes of the blood against the Crown (the War of the

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