Louis III, Cardinal of Guise

Louis III (1575-1621)

Coat of arms of Cardinal de Guise

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

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. However, he joined the royal campaign in Poitou in 1621, and there fell ill and died.

By papal dispensation, he married 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 and had issue.
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)

He was the last cardinal of the House of Guise, cadet branch of the House of Lorraine. His sister in law was Marie de Rohan, the duchesse de Chevreuse and wife of his brother Claude de Lorraine.

Ancestry