Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur
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Philippe Emmanuel of Lorraine-Mercoeur, Duke of Mercoeur (September 9, 1558, Nancy – February 19, 1602, Nürnberg), the eldest surviving son of Nicholas, Duke of Mercoeur and Joanna of Savoy-Nemours, was a French soldier and prominent member of the Catholic League.
He was made a knight of the Order of Saint Esprit in 1578, and married Marie de Luxemburg (1562–1623), duchesse de Penthièvre, on July 12, 1579 in Paris.
In 1582 he was made governor of Brittany by Henry III of France, who had married his half-sister. Mercoeur put himself at the head of the League in Brittany, and had himself proclaimed protector of the Roman Catholic Church in the province in 1588. Invoking the hereditary rights of his wife, who was a descendant of the dukes of Brittany, he endeavoured to make himself independent in that province, and organized a government at Nantes, calling his son "prince and duke of Brittany". With the aid of the Spaniards he defeated the duc de Montpensier, whom Henry IV of France had sent against him, at Craon in 1592, but the royal troops, reinforced by English contingents, soon recovered the advantage. The king marched against Mercoeur in person, and received his submission at Angers on March 20, 1598. Mercoeur subsequently went to Hungary, where he entered the service of the emperor Rudolph II, and fought against the Turks, taking Székesfehérvár in 1599.
He had two children with Marie:
- Philippe Louis Mercoeur (May 21, 1589 – December 21, 1590)
- Françoise of Lorraine-Mercoeur (November 1592 – September 8, 1669, Paris), married at Fontainebleau on July 7, 1690 César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme.
| Preceded by: Nicholas |
Duke of Mercoeur 1577–1602 |
Succeeded by: Françoise |
| Marquis of Nomeny 1577–1602 |
Succeeded by: Marie |
|
| Preceded by: Marie |
Duc de Penthièvre with Marie 1579–1602 |
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] Recent bibliography
St François de Sales. Oraison funèbre de Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, duc de Mercoeur et de Penthièvre. Introduction de Pierre-Olivier Combelles. Editions Saint-Rémi (Cadillac), 2006.[1]
