Charles II, Duke of Bourbon (
ChâteauA château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
de
MoulinsMoulins is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department.-History:Before the French Revolution, Moulins was the capital of the province of Bourbonnais and the seat of the Dukes of Bourbon. Its documented existence may be traced back at least as far as the year 990. In 1232,...
, 1434–September 13 1488,
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
), the son of
Charles I, Duke of BourbonCharles I of Bourbon oldest son of John I, Duke of Bourbon and Marie de Berry, duchesse d'Auvergne; was Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis from 1424, and Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1434 to his death, although due to the imprisonment of his father after the Battle of Agincourt, he acquired...
and
Agnes of BurgundyAgnes of Burgundy was the daughter of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria. Her maternal grandparents were Albert I, Duke of Bavaria and Margaret of Brieg.-Marriage and issue:...
, was a member of the
House of BourbonThe House of Bourbon is an important European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples & Sicily, and Parma...
. Elected Archbishop of Lyon at the age of 10 through his family connections, and later made a
CardinalA cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available...
, he was also
Duke of BourbonDuke of Bourbon is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of Bourbon...
and
Auvergne-History:In the 7th century Auvergne was disputed between the Franks and Aquitanians. It was later conquered by the Carolingians, and was integrated for a time into the kingdom of Aquitaine...
for a short period of time in April 1488, succeeding his elder brother,
John IIJohn II of Bourbon , son of Charles I of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy; was Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1456 to his death.John had no surviving children, although he was married three times:...
.
A younger son, Charles had been placed in the church by his family at an early age; he himself had no vocation for the high honours to which he rose, and was noted more for his improprieties (he had an illegitimate daughter) than his piety. He was, however, a noted patron of the arts, lavishing money on Lyons cathedral - the Bourbon chapel there, which he sponsored from 1486 (it was continued after his death by his brother,
Peter II of BourbonPeter II, Duke of Bourbon was the son of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, and a member of the House of Bourbon...
) was described as "one of the marvels of decorative art in the 15th century")
When Charles' elder brother, John II, Duke of Bourbon, died on 1 April 1488, Charles - as John's nearest heir - made a claim for the family inheritance in the
BourbonnaisBourbonnais was a historic province in the centre of France that corresponded to the modern département of Allier, along with part of the département of Cher. Its capital was Moulins.- History :...
and
AuvergneAuvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne...
. This claim was not tolerated by his younger brother, Peter, and Peter's wife,
Anne of FranceAnne of France , was the eldest daughter of Louis XI of France and his second wife, Charlotte of Savoy. Her paternal grandparents were King Charles VII of France and Marie of Anjou...
, the latter immediately taking possession of the Bourbon lands by force on 10 April. On 15 April, members of the King's Council sent by Anne to "console the Cardinal on the occasion of his brother's death", forced him to sign a renunciation of any claims to the Bourbon lands, in exchange for a financial settlement. Charles then died later in the same year in mysterious circumstances, following a sudden collapse in a private house in Lyons. His brief tenure of the title during the period 1 April-15 April would, however, be posthumously confirmed in 1505, when
Charles de MontpensierCharles III of Bourbon-Montpensier, Eighth Duke of Bourbon was a French military leader, the Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne.-Biography:Charles was born at Montpensier...
acceded to the Duchy as Charles III.
Sources
Queen's Mate, Pauline Matarasso