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DUKE OF CHARLES BOURBON (149o-1527)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 329 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUKE OF See also:CHARLES See also:BOURBON (149o-1527)  , See also:constable of See also:France, second son of See also:Gilbert, See also:count of See also:Montpensier and dauphin of See also:Auvergne, was See also:born on the 17th of See also:February 1490, his See also:mother being a See also:Gonzaga . In 1505 he married Suzanne, heiress of See also:Peter II., See also:duke of See also:Bourbon, by See also:Anne of France, daughter of See also:King See also:Louis XI., and assumed the See also:title of duke of Bourbon . The addition of this duchy to the numerous duchies, countships and other fiefs which he had inherited on the See also:death of his See also:elder See also:brother Louis in 1501, made him at the See also:age of fifteen the wealthiest See also:noble in See also:Europe . He gained his first military experience in the See also:Italian See also:campaigns of Louis XII., taking See also:part in the suppression of the Genoese revolt (1507) and contributing to the victory over the Venetians at Agnadello (May 14, 1509) . Shortly after the See also:accession of See also:Francis I . Bourbon received the See also:office of constable of France, and for his brilliant services at the See also:battle of Marignano (See also:September 1515) he was made See also:governor of the Milanese, which he succeeded in defending against an attack of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian . But dissensions arose between Francis and the constable . See also:Grave, haughty and taciturn, Bourbon was but See also:ill suited to the levities of the See also:court, and his vast See also:wealth and See also:influence kindled in the king a feeling of resentment, if not of fear . The duke was recalled from the See also:government of the Milanese; his See also:official See also:salary and the sums he had borrowed for See also:war expenses remained unpaid; and in the See also:campaign in the See also:Netherlands against the emperor See also:Charles V. the command of the vanguard, one of the most cherished prerogatives of the constables, was taken from him . The death of his wife without surviving issue, on the 28th of See also:April 1521, afforded the mother of the king, See also:Louise of See also:Savoy, a means to gratify her greed, and at the same See also:time to revenge herself on Bourbon, who had slighted her love . A suit was instituted at her instance against the duke in the See also:parlement of See also:Paris, in which Louise, as See also:grand-daughter of Charles, duke of Bourbon (d . 1456), claimed the See also:female and some of the male fiefs of the duchy of Bourbon, while the king claimed those fiefs which were originally appanages, as escheating to the See also:crown, and other claims were put forward .

Before the parlement was able to arrive at a decision, Francis handed overto his mother a part of the Bourbon estates, and ordered the See also:

remainder to be sequestrated . Smarting under these injuries, Bourbon, who for some time had been coquetting with the enemies of France, renewed his negotiations with the emperor and See also:Henry VIII. of See also:England . It was agreed that the constable should raise in his own dominions an armed force to assist the emperor in an invasion of France, and should receive in return the See also:hand of Eleonora, See also:queen See also:dowager of See also:Portugal, or of another of the emperor's sisters, and an See also:independent See also:kingdom comprising his own lands together with See also:Dauphine and See also:Provence . He was required, too, to swear fidelity to Henry VIII. as king of France . But Bourbon's plans were hampered by the presence of the See also:French troops assembling for the invasion of See also:Italy, and for this See also:reason he was unable to effect a junction with the emperor's See also:German troops from the See also:east . See also:News of the See also:conspiracy soon reached the ears of Francis, who was on his way to take command of the Italian expedition . In an interview with Bourbon at See also:Moulins the king endeavoured to persuade him to accompany the French See also:army into Italy, but without success . Bourbon remained at Moulins for a few days, and after many vicissitudes escaped into Italy . The See also:joint invasion of France by the emperor and his ally of England had failed signally, mainly through lack of See also:money and defects of See also:combination . In the See also:spring of 1524, however, Bourbon at the See also:head of the imperialists in See also:Lombardy forced the French across the Sesia (where the See also:chevalier See also:Bayard was mortally wounded) and drove them out of Italy . In See also:August 1524 he invested See also:Marseilles, but being unable to prevent the introduction of supplies by See also:Andrea See also:Doria, the Genoese See also:admiral in the service of Francis, he was forced to raise the See also:siege and See also:retreat to the Milanese . He took part in the battle of See also:Pavia (1525), where Francis was defeated and taken prisoner .

But Bourbon's troops were clamouring for pay, and the duke was driven to extreme See also:

measures to satisfy their demands . Cheated of his kingdom and his See also:bride after the treaty of See also:Madrid (1526), Bourbon had been offered the duchy of See also:Milan by way of See also:compensation . He now levied contributions from the townsmen, and demanded 20,000 ducats for the liberation of the See also:chancellor See also:Girolamo See also:Morone (d . 1529), who had been imprisoned for an See also:attempt to realize his See also:dream of an Italy purged of the foreigner . But the sums thus raised were wholly inadequate . In February 1527 Bourbon's army was joined by a See also:body of German mercenaries, mostly Protestants, and the combined forces advanced towards the papal states . Refusing to recognize the truce which the See also:viceroy of See also:Naples had concluded with See also:Pope See also:Clement VII., Bourbon hastened to put into See also:execution the emperor's See also:plan of attaching Clement to his See also:side by a display of force . But the troops, starving and without pay, were in open See also:mutiny, and Spaniards and See also:Lutherans alike were eager for See also:plunder . On the 5th of May 1527 the imperial army appeared before the walls of See also:Rome . On the following See also:morning Bourbon attacked the Leonine See also:City, and while mounting a scaling See also:ladder See also:fell mortally wounded by a shot, which Benvenuto See also:Cellini in his See also:Life claims to have fired . After Bourbon's death his troops took and sacked Rome . See E .

See also:

Armstrong, Charles V . (See also:London, 1902) ; See also:Cambridge Mod . Hist. vol. ii., bibliography to chaps. i. ii. and iii . BOURBON-LANCY, a watering-See also:place of east-central France in the See also:department of See also:Saone-et-See also:Loire, on a See also:hill about 2 M. from the right See also:bank of the Loire and on the See also:Borne, 52 M . S.S.E. of See also:Nevers by See also:rail . Pop . (1906) See also:town, 1896; See also:commune, 4266 . The town possesses thermal springs, resorted to in the See also:Roman See also:period, and- See also:ancient See also:baths and other remains have been found . The See also:waters, which are saline and ferruginous, are used for drinking and bathing, in cases of See also:rheumatism, &c . Their temperature varies from 117° to 132° F . See also:Cardinal See also:Richelieu, Madame de See also:Sevigne, See also:James II. of England, and other celebrated persons visited the springs in the 17th and 18th centuries . The town has a well-equipped bathing See also:establishment, a large See also:hospital, and a See also:church of the 11th and 12th centuries (used as an archaeological museum), and there are ruins of an old stronghold on a hill overlooking the town .

A See also:

belfry pierced by a gateway of the 15th See also:century and houses of the 15th and 16th centuries also remain . The See also:industries of the town include the manufacture of See also:farm implements . In the See also:middle ages Bourbon-Lancy was an important strong-hold and a See also:fief of the Bourbon See also:family, from the name of a member of which the suffix to its name is derived .

End of Article: DUKE OF CHARLES BOURBON (149o-1527)
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