Henri Jules, Prince of Condé

Henri Jules de Bourbon (29 July 1643, in Paris – 1 April 1709, in Paris, also Henri III de Bourbon) was prince de Condé, from 1686 to his death. At the end of his life he suffered from clinical lycanthropy and was considered insane.

Biography Henri Jules was born to Louis II de Bourbon, "le Grand Condé" in 1643. He was five years younger than King Louis XIV. He was the sole heir to the enormous Condé fortune and property, including the Hôtel de Condé and the Château de Chantilly. His mother, Princess Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, was a niece of Cardinal Richelieu. He was baptised at the Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris on his day of birth. For the first three years of his life, while his father was duc d'Enghien, he was known at court as the duc d'Albret.

Upon the death of his grandfather, he succeeded to his father's courtesy title of duc d'Enghien. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was born a prince du sang and styled as Monsieur le Duc.

Childhood and education Because of his father's exile from France and fighting for Spain, Henri Jules spent much of his youth in the Spanish Netherlands where he was also beginning in 1652 when he was seven years old educated by Pierre Bourdelot who taught him Latin. The following year Henri Jules was enrolled in a Jesuit school in Namur to be taught alongside other children.

Throughout much of his life, Henri Jules was mentally unstable. His maternal grandmother Nicole du Plessis, sister to the Cardinal Richelieu had suffered from the belief that her bottom was made of glass and therefore refused to sit down. Henri-Jules' delusions manifested themselves in that he would imagine himself a dog and would bark like one.

He was a short, ugly, debauched, and brutal man not only "repulsive in appearance", but "cursed with so violent a temper that it was positively dangerous to contradict him". He was well educated but had a malicious character.

Trained as a soldier, in 1673 he was made official commander of the Rhine front, but in name only, as he lacked the military ability of his father. He also displayed a recklessness in battle and this lack of judgement made him as much a threat to his own troops as the enemy. His father would instead transfer his hopes on a worthy military successor for the Condé name on Henri-Jules cousin Francois-Louis.

Henri Jules was accorded the responsibility of governing the Condé estates, a task for which he proved to be much more suitable.

A possible bride considered for him at this time was his distant cousin, Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans, daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, but the marriage did not materialize.

Marriage He eventually married the German princess Anne Henriette of Bavaria in the chapel of the Palais du Louvre in Paris in December 1663. The bride was the daughter of Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern and the political hostess Anna Gonzaga. The couple had ten children, only half of whom lived to adulthood. The young princess was noted for her pious, generous and charitable nature. Many at court praised her for her solicitude towards her disagreeable husband. Despite her good qualities, Henri Jules often beat his quiet wife during his rages.

In addition, he had an illegitimate daughter by Françoise-Charlotte de Montalais (1633-1718). The child was known variously as Julie de Bourbon, Julie de Gheneni (anagram of Enghien, aka de Guenani), or Mademoiselle de Châteaubriant. She was legitimised in 1693 at 25 years of age and was married to Armand de Madaillan de Lesparre, Marquis de Lassay, while served by servants dressed in white sheets.

Though his contemporaries considered his actions being a symptom of his mental illness, it should however noted that he was a fervent Jansenist and as part of that belief included preparing for ones death through reflection and austerious living, and learning how to die well.

Death Henry Jules was succeeded by his only surviving son, Louis III de Bourbon, who only survived his father by a few months. Therefore the title passed to Henri Jules' grandson Louis-Henri.

Ancestry

Issue Name Portrait Lifespan Notes Marie Thérèse de BourbonPrincess of Conti 100px 1 February 1666 – 22 February 1732 Born in Paris and known as Mademoiselle de Bourbon in her youth, she married her cousin François Louis, Prince of Conti and had issue; she was briefly titular Queen of Poland in 1697. Henri de BourbonDuke of Bourbon 100px 5 November 1667 – 5 July 1670 Died in childhood. Louis de BourbonDuke of BourbonPrince of Condé 100px 10 November 1668 – 4 March 1710 Born in Paris, he became the heir apparent of his father on his brother's death in 1670; he married Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, légitimée de France a daughter of Louis XIV; the couple had issue. Anne de Bourbon Mademoiselle d’Enghien 100px 11 November 1670 – 27 May 1675 Died in childhood. Henri de BourbonCount of Clermont 100px 3 July 1672 – 6 June 1675 Born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and died at the age of two in Paris. Louis Henri de BourbonCount of La Marche 100px 9 November 1673 –21 February 1677 Born in Paris, he died at the age of three in the same city. Anne Marie Victoire de BourbonMademoiselle d'EnghienMademoiselle de Condé 100px 11 August 1675 – 23 October 1700 Born in Paris, she died at the age of 25 at the Château Asnières. Anne Louise Bénédicte de BourbonDuchess of Maine 100px 8 November 1676 – 23 January 1753 Born in Paris, she was known as Mademoiselle d’Enghien and then Mademoiselle de Charolais during her youth; she married a legitimised son of Louis XIV, Louis Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine; the couple had issue. Marie Anne de BourbonDuchess of Vendôme 100px 24 February 1678 – 11 April 1718 Born in Paris, she was known as Mademoiselle de Montmorency and then Mademoiselle d’Enghien during her youth; she married her cousin, Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme; the couple had no issue and Marie Anne died at the Hôtel de Vendôme. N de BourbonMademoiselle de Clermont 100px 17 July 1679 – 17 September 1680 Born and died in Paris.