PRAINOIS OF LORRAINE, second duke of Guise, son of the preceding, was b. Feb. 17, 1519. As a gen., he acquired European renown. He distinguished himself at Mont medy (1542), Landrecies (1543), St. Dizier (1544), Boulogne (1545), and attracted the attention of France by his defense of Metz, besieged for two months by Charles V., who, after firing 11,000 balls, and losing 30,000 men, was obliged to raise the siege (1553). He added to his reputation at Renti (1554), and in 1556 took command of time expedition against Naples. This expedition failed through treachery; but the duke, having been made lient.gen. of France, retrieved his reputation by taking Calais, Guines, and Ham, which were in possession of the English, and were considered impregnable. His military suc cesses were ended by the peace of 1559. His niece, Mary Stuart, beimg the wife of Francis If., he became the highest power in the state, and the head of the Catholic party. The death of the king, and a strong party against him, drove him from the court, but lie was soon recalled to take the command against the Huguenots, who had taken several important towns, and were committing great ravages. He retook Rouen, and conquered at Dreux (1562). The marechal St. Andre was killed, the prince of Conde and the con stable taken prisoners. Guise, the greatest of his name, was assassinated before Orleans, Feb. 24, 1563. He had a taste for literature, and his memoirs, written by himself, have much historic interest.
illisni 1. OF LORRAINE. third duke of Guise. was b. Dec. 31. 1550. The death of his father placed him at the head of the Catholic party. Ambition and vengeance both stimulated him to action. At the age of 16 he distinguished himself in fighting against the Turks in Hungary. Three years later he fought with the Huguenots at Jennie (Mar..1560) and Moncontour (Oct. 1569), and in the same year forced Coligny to raise the siege of Poictiers. He aspired to the hand of Marguerite of Valois, but, to appease the anger of the king, married Catherine of Cleves, 1570. Disgusted with the favors granted to Protestants at the court, lie retired, but returned, and was engaged in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Aug. 24, 1572, in which lie saw the dead body of Coligny thrown from the window into the courtyard at his feet. In 1575, fighting with the Huguenots, lie was wounded in the face, whence he received the name of (scarred). a designation borne also by his father from a similar circumstance. He formed the famous league—ostensibly for the defense of the church, really to raise himself to the throne of Charlemagne. The king coquetted with both parties. Guise conquered Henri of Navarre, hut the king refused him entrance to Paris. The people rose in Lis favor, and he might have been king, but he negotiated. He was promised all the powers which he demanded. but the king caused him to be massacred in the palace. and is said to have kicked his lifeless body. His brother the cardinal was also killed. Their bodies were burned, and The ashes scattered.to the winds. Dec. 23. 1588.
HENnt 11. OP •LottuLt•E, fifth duke .of Guise, was b. AMil 4, 1614. He was des tined for the church, and at the age of twelve possessed nine abbeys: at fifteen he was archbishop of Reims, but on the death of his elder brother he quitted a calling he detested, and succeeded to the dukedom. Handsome, chivalric, brave, he was a true
specimen of the ancient paladin, and celebrated for his numerous gallantries. Loved by Anne de Gonzague, princess of Mantua, he capriciously abandoned her, joined the party of the comte de Soissons, and married the widow of the comte de Bossut. Having joined the league against Richelieu, he was condemned by the parliament of Paris to capital punishment, but took refuge in Germany. On the death of Louis XIII. he returned to France, disgusted with his wife, whose fortune he had spent, and proposed to marry mademoiselle de Pons, one of the queen's maids of honor. He fought in the campaigns of 1644 and 1645 as a volunteer, and then repaired to Rome to get a divorce, but failed. Hearing of the revolt of Naples against Spain, under Massaniello, he set off for that city, in the true spirit of knight-errantry, to conquer a kingdom with his sword for the bride he still hoped to gain. Passing in a felucca through the Spanish fleet, Guise entered Naples in Dec. 1647, and was received with the utmost enthusiasm; but his gallantries, the envy of the nobles, and jealousy of France, caused him to be betrayed, in April 1648, to the Spaniards, and he was carried a prisoner to Spain. Demanded by Conde, he was set at liberty in 1652, and joined, with Conde, the enemies of the court and of Mazarin at Bordeaux. Two months later he had betrayed his allies, and was at Paris with the king, but misfortune still followed him, and he found that his mistress, for whom lie had endured so much, was false, and that with his own esquire. Finding himself an object of ridicule at Paris, he attempted to return to Naples, but failed; returned to Paris, was made grand-chamberlain, there directed the magnificent fetes of Louis XIV., and died without children in 1664. His MeMOireS vols., Par. 1669) were really written by his secretary, St. Yon.
Henry II. was succeeded by his nephew Louis Joseph, duke of Guise, Joyeuse, and Angouleme. With the son of the latter, Francois Joseph, who died in 1675, the direct line of the dukes of Guise of the house of Lorraine became extinct. The family pos sessions passed to the Conde, as being the nearest of kin amongst French houses. Charles. duke of Mayenne, one of the most zealous leaders of the league, was a member of the house of Guise. He died in 1611. Of the descendants of Henry I., the most notable were Charles, who inherited his father's dignities, and died in Italy, whither he had been banished by Richelieu, in 1640; and Claude, duke of Chevreuse, whose wife was Maria von Rohan-Montbaz, widow of the constable de Luynes ((lied 1679). Louis de Lorraine, cardinal de Guise (born 1580; died 1621), was a nephew of the fifth duke of Guise. Entering the church against his inclination, he became archbishop of Rheims in 1615. He had five illegitimate children by a mistress of king Henry IV. See Bouille, Ilistoire des Dues de guise (4 vols., Par. 1850).