Louis III of Lorraine, cardinal of Guise

Louis de Lorraine known as the Cardinal de Guise (22 January 1575 – 21 June 1621, Saintes) was the second son of Henry I, Duke of Guise and Catherine of Cleves.

Life His ecclesiastical post was entirely a sinecure; he was never ordained, and led a dissipated life. Nevertheless, he was made Archbishop of Reims in January 1605, and created cardinal on December 2, 1615. He incurred the displeasure of Louis XIII, and was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1620. He joined the royal campaign to besiege the Huguenot stronghold of Montauban in 1621, and there fell ill with scarlet fever and died.

He married, in secret, Charlotte des Essarts, Mademoiselle de La Haye in 1611. They had five children:

Charles Louis (d. July 12, 1668, Auteuil), Abbot of Chaalis, Bishop of Condom Achille (c. 1615–1648, Heraklion), Prince of Guise, Count of Romorantin, killed in the siege of Candia, married Anna Maria of Salm-Dhaun Charlotte (d. bef. 1664), Abbess of St. Pierre, Lyon Henri Hector (b. 1620) Louise (d. July 5, 1662), married October 24, 1639 Claude Pot, Lord of Rhodes (d. August 3, 1642)

Ancestry