Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (17 February 1490 – 6 May 1527) was a French military leader, the

count of Montpensier The French lordship of Montpensier (named after the village of Montpensier, département of Puy-de-Dôme), located in historical Auvergne, became a countship in the 14th century. It changed hands from the House of Thiern, to the House of Be ...

, Clermont and Auvergne, and

dauphin of Auvergne This is a list of the various rulers of Auvergne. History In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom of Aquitaine. The c ...

from 1501 to 1523, then duke of Bourbon and

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis The counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis first appeared in the early 11th century. Their principal town was Clermont, Oise, Clermont, now in the Oise department but then within the ancient county of Beauvaisis in the province of Île-de-France. Followin ...

Forez Forez is a former province of France, corresponding approximately to the central part of the modern Loire ''département'' and a part of the Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme ''départements''. The final "z" in Forez () is not pronounced in the Loire ...

and La Marche, and lord of Beaujeu from 1505 to 1521. He was also the

constable of France The Constable of France (french: Connétable de France, from Latin for 'count of the stables') was lieutenant to the King of France, the first of the original five Great Officers of the Crown (along with seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and ...

from 1515 to 1521. Also known as the Constable of Bourbon, he was the last of the great feudal lords to oppose the king of France. He commanded the troops of

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

in what became known as the Sack of Rome in 1527, where he was killed.

Family

Charles was born at

Montpensier The French lordship of Montpensier (named after the village of Montpensier, département of Puy-de-Dôme), located in historical Auvergne, became a countship in the 14th century. It changed hands from the House of Thiern, to the House of Beau ...

, the second son of Count

Gilbert of Montpensier Gilbert of Bourbon-Montpensier (1443 – 15 October 1496, Pozzuoli), Count of Montpensier, was a member of the House of Bourbon. He was the son of Louis I, Count of Montpensier and Gabrielle La Tour, Count of Montpensier and Dauphin d'Auvergne ...

by his wife

Clara Gonzaga Clara Gonzaga, Countess of Montpensier, Dauphine of Auvergne, Duchess of Sessa (Italian: ''Chiara Gonzaga''; French: ''Claire (de) Gonzague''; 1 July 1464 – 2 June 1503) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Gonzaga. She was the daughter of ...

(1 July 1464 – 2 June 1503). Gilbert died in 1496, and his elder son, Louis II, died unwed in 1501, leaving Charles the heir to the family's titles and extensive lands in

Marriage

Charles married his agnatic second cousin,

Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon Suzanne de Bourbon (10 May 1491 – 28 April 1521) was ''suo jure'' Duchess of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1503 to her death alongside her husband Charles III. Early life Suzanne was born the second child and only daughter of Duke Peter I ...

. It was a dynastic match, intended to settle the question of succession to the Bourbon estates, which had arisen because Suzanne's father, Duke

Peter II of Bourbon Peter II, Duke of Bourbon (1 December 1438 – 10 October 1503 in Moulins), was the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, and Agnes of Burgundy, and a member of the House of Bourbon. He and his wife Anne of France ruled as regents during the mino ...

, the last of the senior Bourbon line, had died without sons. Charles was the scion of the next-senior Bourbon line, and thus the

heir male In inheritance, a hereditary successor is a person who inherits an indivisible title or office after the death of the previous title holder. The hereditary line of succession may be limited to heirs of the body, or may pass also to collateral l ...

of the House of Bourbon, while Suzanne was the

heir general In English law, heirs of the body is the principle that certain types of property pass to a descendant of the original holder, recipient or grantee according to a fixed order of kinship. Upon the death of the grantee, a designated inheritance such ...

. With the marriage, Charles's position as Duke of Bourbon became undisputed. This cementing of position was important for another reason: with the death of

Charles IV, Duke of Alençon Charles IV of Alençon (2 September 1489 in Alençon – 11 April 1525 in Lyon) was the son of René of Alençon and Margaret of Vaudémont. He succeeded his father in 1492 as Duke of Alençon and Count of Perche, and was also Count of Armagna ...

, in 1525, Charles became the next in line to the French throne after the three sons of

French King France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...

Career

Already distinguished as a soldier in the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

, Charles was appointed

by Francis I of France in 1515, and was rewarded for his services at the

Battle of Marignano The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai and took place on 13–14 September 1515, near the town now called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan. It pitted the French army, composed of the b ...

(where he commanded the vanguard) with the Governorship of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. However, Francis was uneasy with the proud and wealthy duke, and soon recalled him from Milan and refused to honor his debts. Charles was further angered by the appointment of Charles IV of Alençon, Francis's brother-in-law, as commander of the vanguard during the campaigns in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, an office which should have been his. The death of his wife in 1521 provoked the final breach between Charles and Francis. Suzanne had left all her estates to Charles, but the king's mother,

Louise of Savoy Louise of Savoy (11 September 1476 – 22 September 1531) was a French noble and regent, Duchess ''suo jure'' of Auvergne and Bourbon, Duchess of Nemours, and the mother of King Francis I. She was politically active and served as the regent of F ...

, claimed them as the heir in proximity in blood due to their previous entailments. She proposed to settle the question by marrying Charles; he refused the proposal because Louise was over forty-five years of age and fourteen years older than him. On behalf of his mother, Francis confiscated a portion of the Bourbon estates before the lawsuit had even been opened. Seeing no hope of prevailing, Charles made a secret agreement to betray his king and offer his services to Emperor Charles V. The emperor, the constable, and King

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

devised a grand plan to partition France. This however came to nothing because the plot was discovered; Charles was stripped of his offices and proclaimed a traitor. He fled into Italy in 1523 and entered the imperial service. In 1524, he drove the French under Bonnivet from Lombardy, and fought at the

Battle of Pavia The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, ...

. The emperor gave Charles command of a mixed Spanish–German army (which included a number of

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

) sent to chastise

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

. He neglected to supply this army with money or food, and Charles was only able to keep it together by promises of loot. Though Clement arranged a truce with the emperor, the army continued its advance, reaching

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in May 1527. The death of Charles—the artist and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini claimed that he fired the shot that killed him—outside the walls removed the last restraints from the army, which resulted in the sack of Rome.

Progeny and succession

By Suzanne, Charles was the father of twins and of Francis of Bourbon, Count of Clermont. Officially, since neither survived a year of age, the senior line of the dukes of Bourbon was extinct in male line with his death in battle, and the junior line (

dukes of Vendôme Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

) were not allowed to inherit, because Charles had forfeited his fiefs by committing treason. However, the county of Montpensier and dauphinate of Auvergne (but not the duchy of Bourbon) were later returned to his sister

Louise Louise or Luise may refer to: * Louise (given name) Arts Songs * "Louise" (Bonnie Tyler song), 2005 * "Louise" (The Human League song), 1984 * "Louise" (Jett Rebel song), 2013 * "Louise" (Maurice Chevalier song), 1929 *"Louise", by Clan of ...

, who interestingly enough was herself married to

Louis, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon Louis de Bourbon (1473 – 1520) styled as the ''Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon'' was born in 1473. He was the son of John II, Count of Vendôme and Isabel de Beauveau. He married his cousin, Louise de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, eldest dau ...

, a member of the more junior

House of Bourbon-Vendome A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

. The Dukes of Montpensier line continued after Louise's death through her descendants.

Notes

References

* * * * Louis Rousselet, "The Son of the Constable of France", (Gilbert & Rivington: London 1892) * Grece, Michel de, "Le Rajah Bourbon", (Lattes: Paris 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourbon, Charles III, Duke Of 1490 births 1527 deaths Constables of France Counts of Clermont-en-Auvergne Counts of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis Counts of Forez Counts of Gien Counts of La Marche Counts of Montpensier Dukes of Auvergne

Charles III, Duke of Bourbon Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (17 February 1490 – 6 May 1527) was a French military leader, the count of Montpensier, Clermont and Auvergne, and dauphin of Auvergne from 1501 to 1523, then duke of Bourbon and Auvergne, count of Clermo ...

102 102 may refer to: * 102 (number), the number * AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD * 102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India * 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal ...

Grand Chamberlains of France

Military leaders of the Italian Wars People from Puy-de-Dôme 16th-century peers of France Military personnel killed in action Court of Francis I of France