bfe_250419 - DUCHY OF LORRAINE - CHARLES IV Gros

DUCHY OF LORRAINE - CHARLES IV

(1625-1675)

Charles de Vaudémont was the cousin and fiancé of Nicole de Lorraine, daughter of Henry I of Lorraine who died in 1624 without a male heir. In 1624, Nicole inherited the Duchy of Lorraine according to her father's will. In 1625, it was dispossessed of it in favor of Charles IV, whose personal reign began in 1625. Charles IV entered the league formed against France, gave asylum in 1630 to Gaston d'Orléans, the brother of the King of France, who was in disgrace and, on January 13, 1630, even secretly married his sister Marguerite to Gaston d'Orléans. His positions against the troops of the King of Sweden, Gustave II Adolphe, an ally of France in the conflict of the Thirty Years' War, gave Louis XIII the opportunity to conquer the Duchy of Lorraine. The conquest was short and Charles IV abdicated in Mirecourt on January 19, 1634 in favor of his brother Nicolas François. He retired to Besançon and never stopped fighting the French troops; he recovered his duchy in 1661, after their departure.