|
|
|
|
Prince du Sang
|
| |
|
| |
A Prince of the Blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang played a major role in determining court precedence during the Ancien Régime, from the reign of King Henry IV of France onward to the reign of his great-great-great-great-great grandson, Charles X. A prince du sang or a princesse du sang had to be a legitimate member of the reigning House of Bourbon.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Prince du Sang' Start a new discussion about 'Prince du Sang' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
A Prince of the Blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang played a major role in determining court precedence during the Ancien Régime, from the reign of King Henry IV of France onward to the reign of his great-great-great-great-great grandson, Charles X. A prince du sang or a princesse du sang had to be a legitimate member of the reigning House of Bourbon. In some European monarchies, but especially in the kingdom of France, this appellation was a specific rank in its own right, of a more restricted use than other titles.
Styles
The rank of prince du sang is restricted to legitimate agnatic descendants. Those who held this rank were usually styled by their main peerage, but sometimes other styles were used, indicating a more precise status than prince du sang.
Monsieur le Prince
This was the style of the First Prince of the Blood (which normally belonged to the most senior (by primogeniture) male member of the royal dynasty who was not a brother, son, or male-line grandson of a king of France or of a dauphin (these dynasts were members of the "royal family" and enjoyed higher rank and styles than the princes du sang). It carried with it various privileges, including the right to a household paid out of state revenues. The rank was held for life: the birth of a new, more senior prince who qualified for the position did not deprive the current holder of his rank. The style of Monsieur le prince was held for over a century by the Princes of Condé. Right to use of the style passed to the House of Orléans in 1709.
First Princes of the Blood, 1465-1830
House of Valois
House of Bourbon-La Marche
- 3. 1515-1525 : Charles IV, Duke of Alençon (1489-1525);
- 4. 1525-1527 : Charles III, Duke of Bourbon should have been the first prince but he was banned from position for treason (1490-1527);
- 5. 1527-1537 : Charles IV de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (1489-1537);
- 6. 1537-1562 : Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, later King of Navarre (1518-1562).
House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon-Condé
- 8. 1589-1646 : Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1588-1646);
- 9. 1646-1686 : Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1621-1686);
- 10. 1686-1709 : Henri III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1643-1709).
House of Orléans
Madame la Princesse
This style was held by the wife of Monsieur le Prince. The duchesses/princesses that were entitled to use it were:
Monsieur le Duc
This style was used for the eldest son of the Prince de Condé. Originally, the eldest son was given the title of duc d'Enghien, but that changed in 1709 when the Condés lost the rank of premier prince. After that, the eldest son was given the title of duc de Bourbon, and his eldest son (the eldest grandson of the Prince of Condé in the male line) was given the title of duc d'Enghien.
- 1. 1689-1709 : Henri I, Duke of Enghien (1643-1709);
- 2. 1709-1710 : Louis I, Duke of Enghien (1668-1710);
- 3. 1710-1740 : Louis II Henri, Duke of Enghien (1692-1740);
- 4. 1740-1818 : Louis III Joseph, Duke of Enghien (1736-1818);
- 5. 1818-1830 : Louis IV Henri, Duke of Enghien (1756-1830).
Madame la Duchesse
This style was used for the wife of Monsieur le Duc. The most famous holder of this honorific was:
Others included:
Monsieur le Comte
This address was used by the head of the most junior branch of the House of Bourbon, the comte de Soissons. The comtes de Soissons, like the Princes of Conti, descended from the Princes of Condé. The line started in 1566 when the Soissons title was given to Charles de Bourbon-Condé, the second son of Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, the first Prince of Condé.
The first Prince had three sons:
The Soissons title was acquired by the first Prince of Condé in 1557 and was held by his descendants for two more generations:
The 2nd Count of Soissons died without an heir, so the Soissons title passed to his younger sister, Marie de Bourbon-Condé, the wife of Thomas François, Prince de Carignan, a member of the House of Savoy. She became known as Madame la Comtesse de Soissons. On her death, the title passed first to her second son, Joseph-Emmanuel, Prince of Savoy-Carignan (1631-1656), and then to her third son, Eugène-François, Prince of Savoy-Carignan. He married Olympe Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. She was known as Madame la Comtesse de Soissons like her mother-in-law. On his death, the title went to his eldest son, Louis-Thomas, Prince of Savoy-Carignan, who was the older brother of the famous Austrian general, Prince Eugene of Savoy. The Soissons title became extinct upon the death of Eugène-Jean-François de Savoie-Carignan in 1734.
Madame la Comtesse
This style was used by the wife of Monsieur le Comte. The best example of this is:
Madame la Princesse Douairière
In order to tell the wives of the various Princes of Conti apart after their deaths, the widows were given the name of Douairière or dowager and a number corresponding to when they lost their husband. After being widowed their full style would be Madame la Princesse de Conti 'number' Douairière. Between 1727 and 1732, there were three widowed Princesses de Conti. They were:
- Marie Anne de Bourbon (1666-1739), the illegitimate daugter of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière; she was the wife of Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti. She was known as Madame la Princesse de Conti Première Douairière as she was the first to be widowed in 1685. The title went to husband's younger brother, François Louis, Prince of Conti.
- Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon-Condé (1666-1732), the wife of François Louis, Prince of Conti; she was known as 'Madame la Princesse de Conti Seconde Douairière after losing her husband in 1709.
- Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé (1693-1775), the wife of Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti, the son and successor of François Louis, Prince of Conti. She was the daughter of Monsieur le Duc and Madame la Duchesse. After her husband died in 1727, she was known as Madame la Princesse de Conti Troisième/Dernière Douairière. This was not a traditional style by right but was simply a means the court used to distinguish between the three widows who held the title of Princesse de Conti at the same time.
Legitimised royal offspring
Legitimised children of the King of France, and of other males of his dynasty, took surnames according to the branch of the House of Capet to which their father belonged, e.g. Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine, was the elder son of Louis XIV by his mistress, Mme de Montespan.
After the legitimisation occurred, the child was given a title. Males were given titles from their father's lands and estates and females were given the style of Mademoiselle de X. Examples of this are (children of Louis XIV and Mme de Montespan):
- Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1669-1672); *Louis-Auguste de Bourbon (1670-1736), titled
duc du Maine - later married to Anne-Louise-Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé.Louis César de Bourbon (1672-1683), titled comte de Vexin;Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), titled Mademoiselle de Nantes - later wife of Louis III de Bourbon-Condé, prince de CondéLouise Marie Anne de Bourbon (1674-1681), titled Mademoiselle de Tours;Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677-1749), titled Mademoiselle de Blois - wife of Philippe II d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans.Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon (1678-1737), titled comte de Toulouse - later married to Marie Victoire de Noailles.
Also the child would be referred to as Légitimé de Bourbon; such as Marie Anne légitimée de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Blois daughter of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière. Her full brother was Louis de Bourbon, later given the title of comte de Vermandois.
Orléans-Longueville
The branch of the ducs de Longueville, extinct in 1672, bore the surname d'Orléans, as legitimised descendants of Jean, bâtard d'Orléans, the natural son of a Valois prince who held the appanage of Orléans before the Bourbons did. Non-legitimised natural children of royalty took whatever surname the king permitted, which might or might not be that of the dynasty.
Children born out of wedlock to a French king or prince were never recognized as fils de France. However, if legitimised, the king might raise them to a rank just below or even equivalent to that of a prince du sang.
See also
|
| |
|
|
