Louis III, Cardinal of Guise

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 of France, 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:

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