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CHARLES (1525-1574)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 936 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHARLES (1525-1574) , See also:cardinal of See also:Lorraine, See also:French states-See also:man, was the second son of See also:Claude of Lorraine, See also:duke of See also:Guise, and See also:brother of See also:Francis, duke of Guise. He was See also:archbishop of See also:Reims in 1538, and cardinal in 1547. At first he was called the cardinal of Guise, but in 1550, on the See also:death of his See also:uncle See also:John, cardinal of Lorraine, he in his turn took the See also:style of cardinal of Lorraine. Brilliant, cunning and a See also:master of intrigue, he was, like all the Guises, devoured with ambition and devoid of scruples. He had, said Brant6me, " a soul exceeding smirched," and, he adds, " by nature he was exceeding See also:craven." Together with his brother, Duke Francis, the cardinal of Lorraine was all-powerful during the reigns of See also:Henry II. and Francis II.; in 1558 and 1559 he was one of the negotiators of the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis; he fought and pitilessly persecuted the reformers, and by his intolerant policy helped to provoke the crisis of the See also:wars of See also:religion. The death of Francis II. deprived him of See also:power, but he remained one of the See also:principal leaders of the See also:Catholic party. In 1561, at the Colloquy of See also:Poissy, he was commissioned to reply to See also:Theodore See also:Beza. In 1562 he went to the See also:council of See also:Trent, where he at first defended the rights of the Gallican See also:Church against the pretensions of the See also:pope; but after the assassination of his brother, he approached the See also:court of See also:Rome, and on his return to See also:France he endeavoured, but without success, to obtain the promulgation of the decrees of the council (1564). In 1567, when the Protestants took up arms, he held for some See also:time the first See also:place in the See also:king's council, but See also:Catherine de' See also:Medici soon See also:grew weary of his arrogance, and in 1570 he had to leave the court. He endeavoured to regain favour by negotiating at Rome the See also:dispensation for the See also:marriage of Henry of See also:Navarre with See also:Margaret of See also:Valois (1572). He died on the 26th of See also:December 1574, at the beginning of the reign of Henry III. An orator of See also:talent, he See also:left several harangues or sermons, among them being Oraison prononcee au Colloque de Poissy (See also:Paris, 1562) and Oratio habita in Concil.

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Trident. (Concil. Trident. Orationes, See also:Louvain, 1567). A large amount of See also:correspondence is preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. See also Rene de See also:Bouille, Histoire See also:des ducs de Guise (Paris, 1849) ; H. Forneron, See also:Les Guises et leur $poque (Paris, 1877); Guillemin, Le Cardinal de Lorraine (1847).

End of Article: CHARLES (1525-1574)

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