Francis I, Duke of Lorraine

Francis I (French: François Ier de Lorraine) (23 August 1517 – 12 June 1545) was Duke of Lorraine from 1544–1545.

History

Born in Nancy, Francis was the eldest son of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and Renée de Bourbon, daughter of Gilbert de Bourbon, Count of Montpensier. He was briefly engaged in the mid-1530s to Anne of Cleves, who in 1540 would become the fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England.

On 10 July 1541, Francis married Princess Christina of Denmark in Brussels. Princess Christina was a daughter of King Christian II and Isabella of Burgundy (who had herself been a potential bride of Henry VIII). Francis died at Remiremont in 1545, leaving Christina as the Regent of Lorraine and as the guardian of their young children.

Children

By Christina of Denmark (c.1521 – 1590; married in 1541)

Ancestry

Sources

• Carroll, Stuart (2009). Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe. Oxford University Press.
• Sidney, Philip (2012). Kuin, Roger (ed.). The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press.
• Thomas, Andrew L. (2010). A House Divided: Wittelsbach Confessional Court Cultures in the Holy Roman Empire, c.1550-1650. Brill.
• Warnicke, Retha M. (2017). Elizabeth of York and Her Six Daughters-in-Law: Fashioning Tudor Queenship, 1485-1547. Palgrave Macmillan.