Francois Maria (Prince of Lillebonne)

Representative of the genus Gizov , the younger line of the Lorraine House. The fourth son of Charles II de Guise ( 1596 - 1657 ), 2nd Duke d'Elboeuf, and Catherine Henrietta de Bourbon ( 1596 - 1663 ), Mademoiselle de Vendome, illegitimate daughter of King Henry IV of Bourbon of France and his favorite Gabriel d'Estre.

In his youth he bore the title of Count de Lillebonne, later became known as the Prince . In 1692, François Maria sold the county of Lillebonne to his nephew Heinrich, Duke d'Elbeuf .

A member of the house of Guise, founded by Claude of Lorraine, 1st Duke of Guise , son of the Duke of Lorraine Rene II de Vaudemont . in France, Giza was considered a foreign prince , ranked lower than members of the royal family and princes of blood .

His paternal cousins were Philippe de Lorrain-Armagnac (minion of Philippe, Duke of Orleans ) and Count Louis d'Armagnac . His maternal cousins ​​were King of France Louis XIV and Duke of Orleans.

He served as captain of the cavalry in the regiment of Cardinal Mazarin . During the Thirty Years War, he participated in the siege of Lleida in Spain in 1644 . In 1645 he took part in the battle of Nördlingen , where he was wounded (his older brother Charles III , Duke of Elbef, also participated in this battle). Later he participated in the war against Spain until the marriage between the king of France Louis XIV and the Spanish infantry Maria Theresa of Austria .

He was twice married. September 3, 1658 in Paris, married Cristina d'Estre (d. December 18, 1658 ), the daughter of Marshal of France Francois Annibal d'Estre (1573-1670). The couple did not have children.

Widowed, on October 7, 1660, he remarried his cousin Anna Lorraine (1639-1720), daughter of the Duke of Lorraine Charles IV (1604-1675) and Beatrice de Cousans (1614-1663). As a wedding present, the father gave his daughter Hôtel de Beauvau, who was later renamed Hôtel de Lillebonne ( Nancy ). The wedding took place at St. Peter's Abbey in Montmartre .

His brother-in-law was Charles Henry of Lorraine (1649-1723), Prince de Vaudemont, son of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, and Beatrice de Cousans.

His eldest son, Prince Commerce, died in battle in 1702 . The eldest daughter of Beartis Jerome was an abbess in the large abbey of Remirmon . His other daughter, Elizabeth Teresa, became the wife of Louis de Melon, Prince d'Epine and the mother of Anna Julia Adelaide de Melun, wife of Charles de Rogan .

69-year-old Francois Maria died in Paris in 1694 , his wife survived her husband for 26 years.

• Charles Francois of Lorraine (July 11, 1661 - August 15, 1702 ), Prince de Commerce, was not married and died in the battle of Lutzar in Cremona
• (June 1, 1662 - February 9, 1738 ), Mademoiselle de Lillebonne, Abbess of Remirmon (from 1710)
• Theresa of Lorraine (May 12, 1663 - September 17, 1671)
• Maria Francoise of Lorraine (May 28, 1666 - May 10, 1669)
• (April 5, 1664 - March 7, 1748), Mademoiselle de Commerce, husband from 1691 - Louis de Melen (1673-1704), Prince d'Epinay (1679-1704). Mother of Louis de Melen, prince d'Epine, and Anna Julie de Melen, Princess de Subiz.
• Sebastianna Lorraine (April 19, 1667 - August 15, 1669)
• Jeanne Francoise of Lorraine (September 6, 1668–1680)
• Henry Louis of Lorraine (October 26, 1669 - March 17, 1670)
• Jean-Paul Lorraine (June 10, 1672 - July 29, 1693), died in the Battle of Landen .

• G. Poull, La maison ducale de Lorraine, Nancy, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1991, 575 p. ISBN 2-86480-517-0

• Leo van de Pas. François Marie de Lorraine Prince de Lillebonne ( Neopr .) . Genealogics.org. - Francois Maria Lorraine, Prince de Lillebonne. (eng.)