Henri II d'Orléans, duc de Longueville or Henri de Valois-Longueville (6 April 1595 – 11 May 1663), a legitimated prince of France (of royal descent) and

peer of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

, was a major figure during the

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...

, and served as governor of Picardy, then of Normandy.

Life

He was the only son of Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville and Princess Catherine Gonzaga. As an opponent of Concini and favorite of the regent Marie de Médici, he joined the plot mounted by Henry II of Bourbon-Condé, during which his forces occupied the city of Peronne. In 1619, he gave the duchy of Picardy to Louis XIII's favorite, Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, obtaining in exchange that of Normandy. In the summer of 1620, he joined the revolt of Marie de Medici, but the Parliament of Rouen and the city of Dieppe, which he besieged, remained loyal to the king. Longueville was suspended from his duties for a few months. Longueville headed the French delegation in the talks that led to the

Treaty of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought ...

which ended the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

(1648). During the peace proceedings, his insistence on being called ''Altesse'', added to the conflict regarding ambassadorial titles. In his role as sovereign

prince of Neuchâtel A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, and acting as antagonist of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

power rather than as liberal benefactor, he succeeded in obtaining formal exemption from the Holy Roman Empire for all cantons and associates of the

Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...

. In 1642 he married Anne Geneviève de Bourbon; his brother-in-law was

Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

, leader of the aristocratic party in the Fronde. After the

Peace of Rueil The Peace of Rueil (french: Paix de Rueil, or ), signed 11 March 1649, signalled an end to the opening episodes of the Fronde (a period of civil war in the Kingdom of France) after little blood had been shed. The articles ended all hostilitie ...

(11 March 1649) had ended the first phase of the civil war, Mazarin's sudden arrest of the Grand Condé, his brother the prince de Conti and their brother-in-law the duc de Longueville, on 14 January 1650 precipitated the next phase of the Fronde, the ''Fronde des nobles''.

Family

He married his first wife Louise de Bourbon in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

on 10 April 1617, their children were: * Marie (1625–1707), who married

Henri II, Duke of Nemours Henri of Savoy (7 November 1625, Paris – 4 January 1659, Paris) was the seventh Duc de Nemours (1652–59), and was also Count of Geneva. Henri, as the third son of Henri de Savoie, 4th Duc de Nemours, was not expected to succeed to the duked ...

* Louise (1626–1628) * X (1634–1634) After his first wife's death, he married Anne Geneviève de Bourbon in 1642, their children were: * Charlotte Louise, Mademoiselle de Dunois (1644–1645) * Jean Louis Charles d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville (1646–1694) * Marie Gabrielle (1646–1650) * Charles Paris d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville (1649–1672).

Notes

References

Sources

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External list

* Liste des ducs de Longueville 1595 births 1663 deaths Dukes of Longueville 17th-century peers of France Princes of Neuchâtel {{France-noble-stub