GUISE, or GUYSE, DUKES OF, the title of a branch of the sovereign house of Lorraine, which settled in France at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Claude of Lorraine, fifth eon of Rend II., duke of Lorraine, and of Philippa of Guelderland, after contesting his father's succession with his elder brother, went to France, where he married Antoinette de Bourbon in 1513. He served with distinction in the French armies, and was severely wounded at the battle of Marignan in 1515. In 1527, Francis L made him duke of Guise in Picardy, and peer of France. He died in 1550, leaving a numerous family. One of his daughters married James V., king of Scotland, by whom sbe had Mary Stuart. Claude's eldest son, Francis, born in 1519, succeeded to the title of duke of Guise. He bad been previously made by Henri II. duke of Aumale, or Albemarle, in Normandy, in 1547, and he married Anna of Este, daughter of the duke of Ferrara, and grand-daughter, by her mother Ren6e, of Louis XII. Francis of Guise was the most illustrious of his family, both for his military talents and for his humanity and generosity, qualities not very common among the warriors of that age. Owing to a severe wound which he received in his face at the siege of Boulogne in 1545, and which left a scar for the rest of his life, ho was called Balafr6, or 'Scarred: lie fought in the wars against Charles V., and afterwards against Philip IL, and took Calais from the English, who had possessed it for more than two centuries. He and his brother Charles, cardinal of Lorraine, had the principal share in the government of France tinder the reigns of Henri II. and Francis II. The conspiracy of Amboise (as it was called) by the Calvinists and the prince of Condi% was Intended to overthrow the power of the Guises; but the duke having had timely information of It, removed the king, Francis II., to Amboiae, and Lad himself appointed lieutenant-general of the king dom, upon which most of the conspirator. were arrested and executed. Under Charles IX. the influence of the Guises somewhat declined, the court being divided between two parties, that of Guise and that of Cond6 and Coligny. The war of religion having broken out In 1562 by the affray nt Vusy, where the Duke of Guise's servants and attendants killed a number of Calvinists, the duke fought under the Constable of Montmorency at the battle of Droux. Shortly after he was murdered in his camp before Orldans by Poltrot de 31drd, • Calvinist, who looked upon him as the most formidable enemy of his co-religionists.
The character of Francis duke of Guise has been the object of much angry distortion, in consequence of his having lived in times of religious and civil strife. Francis's eldest son, Henry, also called the Balafrd, from a scar which he received in battle, succeeded to his father's titles, and became tho leader of his powerful party. Leas magnanimous and more factious than his father, he mixed deeply in all tho intrigues and plots of the League, a political and religious asso ciation first projected by his uncle, the cardinal of Lorraine, ostensibly for the purpose of defending the Roman Catholic religion and the king, but in reality to rule over both king and kingdom for party purposes. Henri of Guise was one of the advisers of the St. Bartho lomew, and he ordered the murder of Coligny. lie excited the fury of the bigoted populace against the Calvinists, whom he not only defeated in battle, but hunted down in every part of the kingdom, with all the ruthlessness of personal hatred. After the death of the imbecile Charles IX., he ruled at will over the weak and profligate Henri III., and obliged him to break the promises of peace and
toleration which he had made to the Calvioists. Henri III. however, and even his mother Catherine of Medici, became jealous of the ambition and weary of the insolence of the Guises, and the duke was forbidden to appear at the court and at Paris. Upon this he then openly raised the standard of revolt against his sovereign, and defeated him in his own capital on the 12th of May 1588. This was called the 'Day of the Barricades.' The kingleft, Paris, and withdrew to Chartres, from whence be convoked the states-general of the kingdom to assemble at Blois. There seems no doubt that the faction of the Guises intended to dethrone Henri, and that for that purpose it kept up a treacherous correspondence with the Spaniards, who were then the enemies of France, and the pope. The states were opened at Blois on the 16th of October 1588, and the deputies were found to be almost wholly in the interest of the Duke of Guise and his brother the cardinal, who were present. The session was stormy, and the royal authority in danger. The duke demanded to be appointed high-constable and general-in. chief of the kingdom. Henri Ill., pusillanimous and unprincipled, and advised by courtiers as wicked as himself, resorted to assassination in order to get rid of the Guises. Crillon, the commander of the French guards, was sounded for the purpose. " I will fight him openly;' answered that brave officer, "and shall endeavour to kill him." This did not suit Henri, who found a more docile instrument in Logone, first gentleman of the chamber, who picked out nine Gascons of the new body-guard, and concealed them in the king's closet. As the Duke of Guise was entering the royal apartment on the 23rd of December 1588, he was pierced with daggers, and expired, exclaiming God, have mercy upon me I " He died at thirty-eight years of age. He was brave, fearless, and generous to his friends, but unprincipled, unscrupulous, ambitious, and cruel to his enemies. The cardinal his brother was arrested and killed in prison the next day. Their brother, the Duke of Mayenne, being absent, saved his life. Charles, eldest son of Henry Guise, who was yet a boy, was arrested at Blois, and confined in the castle of Tours, from which he escaped in 1591. He and his uncle of Maycnne, and his cousin Charles duke of Aumale, became the leaders of the League against Henri IV. (Annum) After that king's abjuration Charles duke of Guise sub mitted to him in 1594, and tho Duke of Mayenne followed his example next year. Charles was made Governor of Provence, but under the following reign of Louis XIII. Cardinal Richelieu, jealous of his name and influence, obliged him to leave France. He retired to Tuscany, where he died in 1640. His son Henry II., born in 1614, was at first brought up for the Church; but after the death of his elder brother he quitted the clerical etate, and assumed the title of Duke of Guise. Having conspired against Cardinal Richelieu, he was tried by the parliament, and condemned, par contumace, iu 1641. In 1647 he placed himself at the head of tho revolted Neapolitans (Aisisuo Tomesso], but was taken prisoner by the Spaniards ; and being released in 1652, be returned to Paris; where he died iu 1664, leaving no issue. His ' Mdmoires ' were published after his death. His younger brother, Louis duke of Joyeuse, left a son, Louis Joseph of Lorraine, duke of Guise, who died in 1671, leaving an infant son, who died in 1675, five years of age. The line of the Guises thus became extinct; but the collateral branch of the dukes of Elbecuf has continued to the present time.