Antoine de Bourbon

Bourbon, Antoine de 

Born Apr. 22, 1518; died Nov. 17, 1562. French statesman; became Duke of Vendôme in 1537. Through his marriage in 1548 to Jeanne d’Albret, sole heir to the throne of Navarre, Bourbon in 1555 became king of Navarre and ruler of all the lands of the d’Albret house (in the south of France). Enmity for the Guise family and his wife’s influence pushed Bourbon into the camp of the Huguenots, and he found himself involved in the Amboise Conspiracy of 1560 against members of the Guise family. After Francis II’s death in March 1561, he was appointed viceregent of the French kingdom. Abandoning Calvinism, he took command of the Catholic army. Bourbon died in the siege of Rouen, which had been taken by the Huguenots. He was the father of the French king Henry IV.

REFERENCE

Ruble, A. de. Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d’Albret, vols. 1-4. Paris, 1881-86.