BOURBON, Charles (DUKE OF BOURBON NAIS), French general known as CONSTABLE DE BOURBON; son of Gilbert, Count of Mont pensier and Clara of Gonzaga: b. 17 Feb. 1489; d. 6 May 1527. He received from Francis I, in the 26th year of his age, the sword of Constable. By the coolness with which he faced death in posts of the greatest hazard he excited the ad miration of his fellow-soldiers. When viceroy of Milan he won all hearts by his frankness and affability. His fame was not yet tarnished when the injustice of his king deprived him of his offices, banished him from France and brought the family of Bourbon into disgrace, in which state it continued until the conclusion of the reign of Henry III. Whatever may be the true cause of her conduct, it is certain that the Duchess of Angoulime, mother of Francis I strove to invalidate a formal donation of Louis XII. The Constable, enraged at see ing himself deprived of his estates by the mother of the king whom he had served with so much fidelity and zeal, listened to proposals made him by Charles V and the king of Eng land. He experienced the usual fate of de serters; he was well received while his services were needed, but narrowly watched to secure his fidelity. Expoced as he was to the con tempt of the Spanish nobility and the jealousy of the generals of Charles V, nothing remained to him but his courage and repentance. His ability, however, induced the emperor to be stow upon him the command of an army, and to treat him with honor. In 1523 Francis I sought an interview with him, and offered him restitu tion, but Bourbon doubted the good faith of the King and made his escape. His flight was a
misfortune to France; the expedition of Fran cis into Italy was arrested. Having been ap pointed to the command of the imperial troops, he made an unsuccessful attack upon Marseilles, but contributed greatly to the victory of Pavia. When Francis was carried a prisoner to Madrid he went there in person, that he might not be forgotten in the treaties between the two mon archs; hut Charles V delayed concluding them, and Bourbon discovered that he could not trust the Emperor, who had even promised him his sister in marriage. Compelled to smother his resentment, he returned to Milan, main tained possession of Italy by the terror of his arms, and obtained so much authority as to become an object of suspicion to the Emperor, who, in order to weaken him, refused to grant him the necessary supplies. In order to pre vent the dispersion of his army he led the sol diers to the siege of Rome, the plunder of which city he promised them. He was the first to mount the breach, and was killed by a ball, shot, it is said, by Benvenuto Cellini. His body being conveyed to Gaeta, his soldiers erected over it a splendid monument, afterward de stroyed. Consult Coignet, (Francis the First and His Times' (London 1888); Hare,