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The Power of Female Dynastic Networks: a brief study of Louise de Coligny, princess of Orange, and her stepdaughters

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09612020601022121

1747-583X

Simon Hodson,

European Political History Analysis

Abstract Louise de Coligny, princess of Orange, and her Nassau‐Orange stepdaughters, Elisabeth and Charlotte‐Brabantine, have recently been the focus of historical interest. However, the influence of outdated notions of female aristocratic political action has been evident. This article seeks to demonstrate the importance of recognising their political agency and identity as women of state by considering their actions in the context of the international dynastic and confessional network of which they were influential members. Notes [1] Jules Delaborde (1970) Louise de Coligny: princesse d'Orange (Geneva: Slatkine; originally published 1890; 2 vols). Léon Marlet (1970) Introduction, in Paul Marchegay (Ed.) Correspondance de Louise de Coligny (Geneva: Slatkine; originally published 1887). Auguste Laugel (1876) Louise de Coligny, Revue des Deux Mondes, 14, pp. 374–402. [2] Evelyne Berriot‐Salvadore (1990) Les Femmes dans la Société Française de la Renaissance (Geneva: Droz), pp. 119–155. [3] Susan Broomhall (2005) Lettres de Louise‐Julienne de Nassau, d'Elisabeth de Nassau, et d'Amelie II de Nassau à Charlotte‐Brabantine de Nassau (1595–1601), in Colette Winn & Elizabeth Goldsmith (Eds) Lettres de Femmes XVIe–XVIIe Siècle (Paris: Champion), p. 143. Susan Broomhall (2004) Women's Medical Work in Early Modern France (Manchester: Manchester University Press), pp. 232–256. [4] Rosine A. Lambin (2003) Femmes de Paix. La coexistence religieuse et les dames de la noblesse en France, 1520–1630 (Paris: L'Harmattan). [5] Victor‐Lucien Tapié (1934) La Politique Étrangère de la France et le Début de la Guerre de Trente Ans (Paris: Leroux), pp. 434–435. [6] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 10 September 1607, in Paul Marchegay (Ed.) (1858) Les deux duchesses. Lettres de Madame de Bouillon à Madame de La Trémoïlle, Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français [BSHPF], 6, p. 200. [7] Berriot‐Salvadore, Femmes, p. 147. [8] Jane Couchman (2005) Lettres de Louise de Coligny aux Membres de sa Famille, in Winn & Goldsmith (Eds), Lettres de femmes XVIe–XVIIe siècle, pp. 89–99. [9] Couchman, ‘Louise de Coligny’, p. 99. [10] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 10 October 1595, Paul Marchegay (Ed.) (1866) Lettres du Duc et de la Duchesse de Bouillon à Mademoiselle Charlotte‐Brabantine de Nasssau, 1595–1597, BSHPF, 15, p. 49. [11] Couchman, ‘Louise de Coligny’, p. 90. [12] Cf. Broomhall, ‘Lettres’, pp. 147–148. [13] Louise to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 18 March 1616, Marchegay (Ed.), Louise de Coligny, p. 298. See also Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 15 February 1616, Paul Marchegay (Ed.) (1874) Lettres Choisies de la Duchesse de Bouillon à la Duchesse de La Trémoïlle (1598–1628), BSHPF, 23, p. 313. [14] M. Bouchitté & P. E. Levasseur (Eds) (1862) Négociations, Lettres et Pièces Relatives à la Conférence de Loudun (Paris: Imprimérie Impériale), pp. 794, 805–807. [15] Robin Briggs (1990) Noble Conspiracy and Revolt in France, 1610–60, Seventeenth‐Century French Studies, 12, pp. 161–164. [16] Louise to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 18 March 1616, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, p. 298. [17] For Louise's early life, see Marlet, ‘Introduction’, pp. xv–xxix, and Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, I, pp. 1–135. [18] Louise to Count John of Nassau, 12 July 1583; 28 October 1584; and 19 December 1584, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, pp. 5–13. Couchman, ‘Louise de Coligny’, p. 92n1. [19] Broomhall, ‘Lettres’, pp. 137–138. [20] Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, I, pp. 149–154, 441–452. [21] Robert Oresko (1995) The Marriages of the Nieces of Cardinal Mazarin: public policy and private strategy in seventeenth‐century Europe, in Rainer Babel (Ed.) Frankreich im Europäischen Staatensystem der Frühen Neuzeit (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke), pp. 109–151. [22] Henri IV to Louise, 8 April 1593, Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, I, pp. 286–287. [23] Coignet to Duplessis‐Mornay, Tours, 4 September 1593, P. Duplessis‐Mornay (1969) Mémoires et Correspondance (Geneva: Slatkine; originally published 1824–25; 12 vols), V, pp. 544–547. [24] Couchman, ‘Louise de Coligny’, pp. 93–94. [25] Letters from Louise to Turenne, 1590–1, A[rchives] N[ationales], R2 53; reproduced Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, pp. 59–94. [26] Charlotte de La Marck's Testament, 8 April 1594, AN, 273 A[rchives] P[rivées] 176. P. Congar (1968) Le Testament de Charlotte de La Marck, Annales Sedanaises d'Histoire et d'Archéologie, 58, p. 14. [27] Louise to Maurice of Nassau, 10 September 1594, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, p. 113. [28] Broomhall, ‘Lettres’, p. 146. [29] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 7 July 1595, BSHPF, 15, p. 41n4. [30] See the letter which Marchegay argues must have been addressed to Rohan, March 1595, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, pp. 120–121. [31] E.g. Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 7 July 1595, BSHPF, 15, p. 41, p. 41n4. Bouillon to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 23 December 1595, Ibid., p. 51. [32] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 5 February 1597, Ibid., p. 92. [33] Bouillon to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 20 July 1597, Ibid., p. 99. [34] Maurice to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 22 August 1597, Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, I, p. 348. Estates General to La Trémoïlle, 20 December 1597, Ibid., I, pp. 354–355. [35] Louise to Count John of Nassau, 27 October 1597, Ibid., I, p. 351. [36] Frederick‐Henry to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 20 September 1597, Ibid., I, p. 350. [37] Louise to La Trémoïlle, January 1598, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, pp. 133–135. [38] Louise to Barnevelt, 23 February 1598, Ibid., pp. 135–137. [39] J. A. Clarke (1966) Huguenot Warrior: the life and times of Henri de Rohan, 1579–1638 (The Hague: Nijhoff), p. 29; Mack P. Holt (1995) The French Wars of Religion, 1562–1629 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 162. [40] Edmund H. Dickerman & Anita M. Walker (2000) The Politics of Honour: Henri IV and the Duke of Bouillon, 1602–1606, French History, 14, p. 405. [41] Elisabeth to Louise, 27 February 1606, B[ibliothèque] N[ationale] Ms Dupuy 140, 8ro‐vo; to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 9ro. [42] Lambin, Femmes de Paix, p. 415. Delaborde, for all his detailed scholarship, is by far the worst culprit: Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, II, pp. 45–66, 82–86, 93–102 (see among numerous examples, the astonishing attempts to explain Louise's letter to Bouillon at the height of his disgrace, 27 July 1603, pp. 62–63). Laugel, ‘Louise de Coligny’, pp. 396–397. [43] ‘Memorandum of Comte John of Nassau and six other German counts on behalf of the Duc de Bouillon’, April/May 1605, in G. Groen van Prinsterer (Ed.) (1857–61) Archives ou Correspondance Inédite de la Maison d'Orange‐Nassau (Leiden: Luchtmans; Second Series, 5 vols), II, pp. 327–329. Remonstrances of the Swiss cantons, April 1605, BN, N[ouvelle] A[cquisitions] F[rançais] 7161, fols 151–152vo. [44] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 28 June 1605, Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, II, pp. 84–85. [45] Bouillon to the pastors and professors of Zurich, 3 July 1604, BSHPF (1877), 26, p. 65. [46] The most forthright was the French envoy Bongars: Léonce Anquez (1887) Henri IV et l'Allemagne, d'Après les Mémoires et la Correspondance de J. Bongars (Paris: Hachette), pp. lix–lxv, 96–116. Also, Buzanval to Villeroy, 5 January 1605, BN, F[onds] F[rançais] 15953, fol. 398, Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, II, pp. 82–83. [47] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 12 December 1605, Ibid., II, pp. 94–95. [48] La Noue to Duplessis‐Mornay, 17 February 1606, Duplessis‐Mornay Mémoires et correspondance, X, pp. 156–158. [49] Michael Wolfe (1993) The Conversion of Henri IV: politics, power and religious belief in early modern France (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), p. 4. [50] Bouillon to Louise, 31 January 1606, B[ritish] L[ibrary], [Ms] Stowe 168, fol. 311. [51] Anon [Bouillon?] (1606) Copie d'une Lettre Escrite au Roy par un Gentilhomme François sur les Bruits qui Courent que sa Majesté veut aller Assieger Sedan, pp. 15–24 (no place [Sedan?]: no publisher). [52] Offers made to the king by Monsieur de La Noue, deputy of the French Churches, on behalf of the Duc de Bouillon and rejected by His Majesty, BN, NAF 7161, fol. 181ro. [53] BrÛlart [Sillery] to Villeroy, 17 March, BN, FF 15579, fol. 7ro. For the Bouillon affair see Simon Hodson (2005) Politics of the Frontier: Henri IV, the maréchal‐duc de Bouillon and the sovereignty of Sedan, French History, 19, pp. 413–439. [54] Henri‐François Ouvré (1853) Documents Inédits sur l'Histoire du Protestantisme en France et en Hollande, 1566–1636. Aubéry du Maurier, ministre de France à La Haye (Paris: Durand), Pièce justificatives II, pp. 325–329. Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, II, Appendix VI, pp. 360–366. [55] Advis d'un Grand Homme d'Estat donné à monsr. le mareschal de Bouillon, BN, FF 3436, fols. 8ro–20ro. [56] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 6 March 1623, BSHPF, 23, p. 355. [57] Lambin, Femmes de paix, p. 462. [58] Henri Zuber (1982) Recherches sur l'Activité Politique et Diplomatique de Henri de La Tour, Vicomte de Turenne, puis Duc de Bouillon (1573–1623) (Thèse de l'École nationale des Chartes), Part 4, Chapter 3. [59] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 27 October 1621, BSHPF, 6, p. 195. [60] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 16 July 1624, BSHPF, 23, p. 357. [61] Testament of Henri de La Tour, Duc de Bouillon, 17 May 1613, AN, 273 AP 179. [62] Oath sworn by Elisabeth of Nassau, Duchesse de Bouillon, to the king, in execution of the treaty of protection of Sedan, 23 May 1623, AN, 273 AP 178. [63] Lambin, Femmes de paix, p. 225. BN, Ms Joly de Fleury 2096, fol. 137. Pierre Congar, Jean Lecaillon & Jacques Rousseau (1969) Sedan et le Pays Sedanais: vingt siècles d'histoire (Paris: Guénégaud), pp. 299–300. [64] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 16 July 1624, BSHPF, 23, pp. 357–358. [65] Samuel Desmarets (1628) Préservatif contre la Révolte (Sedan: Jannon), dedicatory letter, n.p. [66] Instructions given to Gamaliel de Monsire, 31 December 1607, and acts performed at Sedan, 22 January 1608, BN, Dupuy 625, fols. 142–143vo. [67] Duchesse de Bouillon, Memoir, 9 December 1631, AN, 273 AP 178. [68] Jean Bérenger (1987) Turenne, pp. 49–52 (Paris: Fayard). Stéphan Leroy (1896) Notice Armoriale et Généalogique sur la Maison de Bouillon‐La Tour (Sedan: Jourdan), pp. 46–53. [69] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 24 March 1603, BSHPF, 23, p. 114. See also Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, August 1603, Ibid., pp. 115–118. [70] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 22 June 1618, Ibid., p. 318. [71] Contract of marriage between Henri de La Trémoïlle, Duc de Thouars and Marie de La Tour, 19 January 1619, BN, Ms Baluze 198, fols 98ro–105vo. [72] Louis XIII's Letters Patent, May 1619, Étienne Baluze (1708) Histoire Généalogique de la Maison d'Auvergne, 2 vols (Paris: Dezaillier), II, p. 802. [73] Louise to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 31 September 1605, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, p. 221. [74] S. Kmec (2004) Noblewomen and family fortunes in seventeenth‐century France and England: a study of the lives of the Duchesse de La Trémoïlle and her sister‐in‐law, the Countess of Derby (Ph.D. thesis, University of Oxford), pp. 224–237. [75] Ibid., pp. 224–225; ‘Brevet de reconnaissance’, 1629, ‘minute’ drawn up for La Trémoïlle, C. L. de La Trémoïlle (1877) Chartrier de Thouars: Documents historiques et généalogiques (Nantes: Forest & Grimaud), p. 139. [76] For a subjective view of these pretensions: Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint‐Simon (1880–93) Mémoire sur les maisons de Lorraine, Rohan et La Tour, in P. Faugère (Ed.) Ecrits Inédits, 8 vols (Paris: Hachette), III, pp. 255–309. [77] Louise to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 27 August 1601, Marchegay, Louise de Coligny, p. 193. [78] Ibid., p. 191n2; Delaborde, Louise de Coligny, II, pp. 24–28. [79] Elisabeth to Bouillon, 13 December 1617, AN, 273 AP 179. [80] Elisabeth to Charlotte‐Brabantine, 30 December 1617, BSHPF, 23, pp. 315–316. [81] Broomhall, ‘Lettres’, pp. 147–148. Additional informationNotes on contributorsSimon Hodson Simon Hodson is Research Associate on a Leverhulme project—‘The Emergence of European Political Thought, 1450–1700: religion, law and philosophy’—at the Department of History, University of Hull. He is also Project Manager for the ‘Virtual Research Environment and MA in the History of Political Discourse, 1500–1800’ collaboration between the Universities of Hull and East Anglia. His Ph.D. (Oxford, 2000) was ‘Sovereigns and Subjects: the princes of Sedan and dukes of Bouillon in early‐modern France, c.1450–1652’.