Marie of Cleves, Princess of Condé

"Marie de Clèves" redirects here. For the duchess of Orléans, see Maria of Cleves, Duchess of Orléans.

Marie de Clèves
Princess of Condé
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Spouse(s)	Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Issue Catherine, Marquise d'Isles
Noble family	House of La Marck (by birth) House of Bourbon (by marriage)
Father	Francis I of Cleves
Mother	Margaret of Bourbon-Vendôme
Born	1553
Died	1574 (aged 20–21)
Religion	Roman Catholicism prev. Calvinism

Marie of Cleves or of Nevers (Marie de Clèves, Marie de Nevers; 1553–1574), by marriage the Princess of Condé, was the wife of Henry, Prince of Condé, and an early love interest of King Henry III of France. She was the last child of Francis I of Cleves, Duke of Nevers, and Margaret of Bourbon-Vendôme, elder sister of Antoine of Navarre.

Her older sisters were Henriette of Cleves and Catherine of Cleves. King Henry IV of France was her maternal first cousin, and Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England, was her second cousin once removed. Her brothers-in-law were Henry I, Duke of Guise and Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers.

She was brought up by her aunt Queen Joan III of Navarre, who raised her as a Calvinist. In 1572 she married in a Calvinist ceremony her first cousin, Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, duc d'Enghien. A few months later, after the St. Batholomew massacre, the couple had forcibly been converted to Roman Catholicism and remarried according to Catholic rites. When her husband fled the court and rejoined the Protestant cause, she refused and stayed behind at court remaining a Catholic the rest of her life.

Known for her beauty, Marie caught the eye of the young Henry, Duke of Anjou, the future Henry III of France, sometime before 1574. Upon ascending the throne later that year, Henry intended to procure Marie a divorce from her husband and marry her himself; however, Marie died before he could implement his plan. Sources vary on her cause of death but it is given as either a lung infection or complications from childbirth as Marie had recently given birth to her and Henry's first child, Catherine (1574–1595), Marquise d'Isles.

Henry, Prince of Condé would go on to remarry Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille (1568−1629), while the now King Henry III would mourn for several months and eventually marry Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, who greatly resembled Marie.

Ancestry

Family of Marie of Cleves, Princess of Condé

16. Jean I, Duc de Clèves               8. Engelbert de Clèves, Comte de Nevers                       17. Elizabeth de Nevers               4. Charles II de Clèves, Comte de Nevers                             18. Jean VIII, Comte de Vendôme = 24               9. Charlotte de Bourbon-Vendôme                       19. Isabelle de Beauvau = 25               2. François I de Clèves, Duc de Nevers                                   20. Arnaud Amanieu d'Albret, Seigneur d'Orval               10. Jean d'Albret, Seigneur d'Orval                       21. Isabelle de La Tour d'Auvergne               5. Marie d'Albret, Comtesse de Rethel                             22. Jean II, Comte de Nevers et de Rethel               11. Charlotte de Nevers, Comtesse de Rethel                       23. Pauline de Bosse-Bretagne               1. Marie of Cleves                                         24. Jean VIII, Comte de Vendôme = 18               12. François I, Comte de Vendôme                       25. Isabelle de Beauvau = 19               6. Charles IV de Bourbon, Duc de Vendôme                             26. Pierre II de Luxembourg               13. Marie de Luxembourg                       27. Marguerite of Savoy               3. Marguerite de Bourbon-Vendôme                                   28. Jean II, Duc d'Alençon               14. René de Valois, Duc d'Alençon                       29. Marie d'Armagnac               7. Françoise d'Alençon                             30. Ferry II de Vaudémont               15. Marguerite de Lorraine                       31. Yolande d'Anjou

Sources

• thePeerage.com
• Women in power in 1570