CHARLES (1525-1574), cardinal of Lorraine, French states man, was the second son of Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise, and brother of Francis, duke of Guise. He was archbishop of Reims in 1S38 and cardinal in 1547. At first he was called the cardinal of Guise, but in 155o, on the death of his uncle John, cardinal of Lorraine, he in his turn took the style of cardinal of Lorraine. A master of intrigue, he was, like all the Guises, ambi tious and devoid of scruples. With his brother, Duke Francis, the cardinal was all-powerful during the reigns of Henry II. and Francis II. ; in 1558 and 1559 he was one of the negotiators of the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis; he persecuted the reformers pitilessly and helped to provoke the crisis of the wars of re ligion. The death of Francis II. deprived him of power, but he remained one of the principal leaders of the Catholic party. In 1561, at the Colloquy of Poissy, he was commissioned to reply to Theodore Beza (q.v.). In 1562 at the Council of Trent, he at first defended the rights of the Gallican Church against the pre tensions of the pope ; but after the assassination of his brother he approached the court of Rome, and on his return to France he endeavoured, in vain, to obtain the promulgation of the decrees of the council (1564). In 1567, when the Protestants took up arms, he held for some time the first place in the king's council, but Catherine de' Medici soon grew weary of his arrogance and in 157o he had to leave the court. He endeavoured to regain favour by negotiating at Rome the dispensation for the marriage of Henry of Navarre with Margaret of Valois (1572). He died on Dec. 26, 1574, at the beginning of the reign of Henry III.
A large amount of correspondence is preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale. See also J. J. Guillemin, Le Cardinal de Lorraine (1847) ; Rene de Bouille, Histoire des discs de Guise (1849) ; H. Forneron, Les Guises et leur époque (1877) ; H. N. Williams, The Brood of False Lorraine (1918).