Everything about Charles Iii Duke Of Bourbon totally explained
Charles III of Bourbon-Montpensier, Eighth Duke of Bourbon (
February 17 1490 –
May 6,
1527 in
Rome) was
Count of Montpensier and
Dauphin of Auvergne. His father,
Gilbert, Count of Montpensier, died in
1496, and his elder brother
Louis II, Count of Montpensier in
1501, at which time he inherited the family lands in
Auvergne. On
10 May 1505 he married
Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon, the heir-general of the
House of Bourbon (to which he was the heir-male), and became
Duke of Bourbon in her right.
Already distinguished as a soldier in the
Italian Wars, he was appointed
Constable of France by
Francis I of France in
1515, and was rewarded for his services at the
Battle of Marignano (where he commanded the vanguard) with the Governorship of
Milan. However, Francis was uneasy with the proud and wealthy duke, and soon recalled him from Milan and refused to honor his debts. Charles was further angered by the appointment of
Charles IV of Alençon, the King's brother-in-law, as commander of the vanguard during the campaigns in the
Netherlands, an office which should have been his.
The death of his wife in
1521 provoked the final breach. Suzanne had left all her estates to him, but the King's mother,
Louise of Savoy, claimed them as the heir in
proximity in blood, due to their previous entailments. She proposed to settle the question by marrying Charles; but he refused the proposal. On behalf of his mother, Francis confiscated a portion of the Bourbon estates before the lawsuit had even been settled. Seeing no hope of prevailing, Charles made a secret agreement to betray his King and offer his services to the
Emperor Charles V. The Emperor, the Constable, and King
Henry VIII of England devised a grand plan to partition France, which came to nothing; the plot was discovered and Charles was stripped of his offices and fled into Italy in
1523. In
1524, he drove the French under
Bonnivet from
Lombardy, and fought at the
Battle of Pavia.
The Emperor gave Duke Charles command of a mixed Spanish-German army (which included a number of
Lutherans) sent to chastise
Pope Clement VII. He neglected to supply this army with money or food, and Charles was only able to keep it together by promises of loot. Though Clement arranged a truce with the Emperor, the army continued its advance, reaching
Rome in May, 1527. The death of Duke Charles —reportedly at the hands of the
goldsmith Cellini— outside the walls removed the last restraints from the army, which proceeded to mercilessly
sack the city.
By Suzanne, Charles was the father of a pair of twins and Francis of Bourbon, Count of Clermont. Since none of them survived a year of age, the senior line of the Dukes of Bourbon was extinct in male line with his death in battle, and the junior line (
Dukes of Vendôme) were not allowed to inherit, because Charles had forfeited his fiefs because of his treason. However, the county of Montpensier and dauphinate of Auvergne were later returned to his sister Louise.
In
conspiracy theories, such as the one promoted in
The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, he's been alleged to be the thirteenth
Grand Master of the Priory of Sion, although he's only listed by his title.
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