Charles IV (1489 – 11 April 1525), Duke of Alençon, was a French prince of the blood (prince du sang), military commander, governor and courtier during the reigns of Louis XII and Francis I. Born into the House of Valois-Alençon, Charles (known by his title of Alençon) was a distant relation of the royal family, but one of the closest agnates. After the ascent of Francis I in 1515, he was the heir presumptive until the birth of the king's first son in 1518. He undertook his early military service in the later campaigns of Louis XII. He fought at the recapture of Genoa in 1507, and the decisive defeat of the Venetians at Agnadello in 1509. That year he was married to Marguerite, the sister of the future king Francis I. At the ascent of Francis in 1515, he saw combat as the commander of the rear-guard at the famous battle of Marignano at which the Swiss army was annihilated, restoring French control over Milan.
In the coming years he participated in various court festivities and ceremonies, most notably the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 at which the English and French sovereigns met. He was back on campaign in 1521, participating in the defence of the Northern French frontier against attack by Emperor Charles V. After the successful defence of Mézières in September the French army took the offensive, and Alençon led the royal vanguard on the march to Valenciennes, though there would be no battle with the Imperial troops. Alençon had a role to play in the disastrous French campaign of 1524–1525. In command of the royal rear-guard, Alençon followed the royal army into Italy where Pavia was laid siege to, after several months of siege with no progress, the Imperial army was ready to give battle on 23 February, and annihilated the French army, killing or capturing much of the French nobility at the battle including the king. Alençon was the only significant commander to escape the catastrophe, retreating back to France. Ashamed and defeated, he died of pleurisy on 11 April 1525.
Early life and family Charles was born in 1489, the son of René de Valois, duc d'Alençon (Duke of Alençon) and Margaret of Lorraine. His father was a friend of the duc d'Orléans, who ascended to the French throne in 1498 as Louis XII. René died in November 1492, thereby leaving his titles to the young Charles. Charles was a prince du sang, meaning that he was agnatically — through the male line — descended from the French royal house. After 1515, the house of Valois-Alençon were the second most senior (closest relation) branch of the royal family, behind the ruling branch of Valois-Angoulême, this made Charles the premier prince du sang (first prince of the blood). Charles descended from a brother of king Philip VI.
After the death of his father, he was raised by his pious mother. Despite this devout upbringing, he would show no interest in cultural or religious innovation in his adult life. Charles' sister, Françoise entered into the Bourbon-Vendôme branch of the royal family in 1513 by her marriage to Charles, comte de Vendôme (count of Vendôme).
Charles controlled a ducal peerage, the duché d'Alençon or duchy of Alençon (Alençon therefore being the title by which he is known to posterity), the comté de Perche (county of Perche) and the seigneurie de Beaumont-sur-Oise. He was regularly absent from the royal court on his lands. The Valois-Alençon family had also secured the Armagnac inheritance through the marriage of Charles's grandparents Marie of Armagnac and John II of Alençon.
Bourbon match The duc and duchesse de Bourbon, Peter II de Bourbon and Anne of France, hoped to find a worthy marriage for their daughter and heiress, Suzanne. The duc hoped to see Suzanne married to the duc d'Alençon, but the duchess disagreed and wished for their daughter to marry a Bourbon-Montpensier to strengthen the Bourbon principality. The historian David-Chapy floats the possibility that the duc de Bourbon's preference for an Alençon match might have derived from disagreement with the Bourbon-Montpensier over Suzanne's right to inherit the duché de Bourbon, but ultimately dismisses the notion, arguing that instead he may have favoured the match in return for royal concessions on approval for the inheritance.
On 21 March 1501, at Moulins, Suzanne was betrothed to the duc d'Alençon in the presence of King Louis XII and the rest of the court. For the king, a marriage between Alençon and the Bourbon was a less risky prospect than that between the house of Bourbon and the house of Bourbon-Montpensier, whose territories adjoined one another in the centre of the kingdom. The lands of Alençon were far removed from those of the Bourbon. The duchesse de Bourbon wished to see the house of Bourbon strengthened, and may have had distaste for the many rebellions of the house of Valois-Alençon against the French crown. The historian Crouzet adds, that the people of her territories had distaste for Normans (the province of Alençon being in Normandy), and a further fear that Alençon might seek to subsume her house beneath the grandeur of his own. In August 1501, her preferred candidate for the marriage, Louis II, comte de Montpensier died and her focus therefore turned to Louis's brother and successor, Charles. After the death of the duchesse's husband on 10 October 1503, Alençon and his mother Margaret travelled to Moulins, but arrived too late: the widowed duchess moved to void the engagement between Suzanne and Alençon. Two gentleman were dispatched to explain the collapse of the prospective marriage to Alençon and his mother. To avoid instigating bad blood between the Bourbons and Alençon, according to Guillaume de Marillac, it was explained to Alençon that the arrangement was annulled because it risked a conflict between the duchesse de Bourbon and her subjects, who wished to remain under the authority of a Bourbon. With the fait accompli presented to Alençon, a contract of marriage between Suzanne and the new comte of Montpensier could be established on 26 February 1505. Suzanne would marry the comte in May 1505.
Angoulême match
With the prospect of marriage to Suzanne sunk, negotiations for a marriage with the Valois-Angoulême were opened, perhaps as early as 1507. On 9 October 1509, Charles was engaged to Marguerite de Valois, the daughter of Charles de Valois, comte d'Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. She was three years his junior and according to the historian Knecht was "intelligent, vivacious and physically quite attractive". Her dowry was set at 60,000 livres (pounds). The two were married on 2 December of the same year. Marguerite was the sister of Francis, who was the heir presumptive to King Louis XII because the king had no son.
There was little love to be found in the marriage of Charles and Marguerite. He had no place in her correspondence, and they had no children together. Marguerite devoted herself to "pious meditation and good works" as an escape from the marriage.
Patronage and associates The explorer of the New World Giovanni da Verrazzano (whose 1524 expedition to the North American coast received a royal commission) named many features he encountered after members of the French nobility. Alençon was among the princes to receive a topographic feature named after him, alongside the duc de Vendôme and the comte de Saint-Pol.
The attorney Jean I de Brinon|de Brinon served Alençon as his chargé d'affaires. Alençon established Brinon as the chancellor of the duché d'Alençon. Another figure, Charles Tiercelin, served as his wife Marguerite's chamberlain. La Roche du Maine played a role in Alençon's compagnie d'ordonnance (core military unit of the French military, containing the aristocratic heavy cavalry), serving first as an archer, then as the compagnies guidon, and finally as the lieutenant of the compagnie.
Reign of Louis XII Early feats of arms
The French ruled city of Genoa entered rebellion in July 1506. This uprising initially had a class character, rather than an anti-French focus. The popolari (common people) succeeded in extracting concessions from the French governor of the city as to the share of authority granted the local nobility in urban government. Louis XII was unhappy about the course of events in Genoa, and planned first to levy a fine on them before resolving to launch a military expedition against the city. With the French evacuating the city, in March 1507, a council in Genoa declared themselves to be at war with France. By March 1507, the French under Louis had already arrived with an army in the Piedmont. After a short siege, Genoa was surrendered to the king and he entered the city as a triumphant conqueror on 29 April. Alençon participated in this brief campaign.
While in Italy, Louis discussed with King Ferdinand II of Aragon at Savona about the desirability of cutting the Venetians down to size. Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Pope Julius II also had territorial bones to pick with the Venetians. Louis arrived in Italy again to lead a new campaign against the Venetians in 1509. On 17 April 1509, he declared war against them, though combat had already begun a few days earlier. A few weeks later, the French army crossed the river Adda and now found itself close to the Venetian army. On 14 May, while the Venetian army was strung out along the road, the French vanguard attacked the Venetian rear-guard around Agnadello. Alençon, present at Agnadello, commended himself in the fighting that followed. The battle was a decisive French victory, and as a consequence of the triumph, the Venetians would lose almost all their Terraferma (mainland Italian territories).
English match An alliance and peace was established between England and France on 7 August 1514. As part of this arrangement, King Louis XII was engaged to marry Mary, sister of King Henry VIII of England. On 3 October 1514, Mary landed at Boulogne. A delegation of princes was there to welcome her, including the duc d'Alençon, the duc de Bourbon, the comte d'Angoulême, the sieur d'Orval and the vicomte de Thouars (viscount of Thouars). Alençon attended Mary's coronation and participated in the martial games were organised by the hôtel des Tournelles.
Having assembled an army, Louis hoped to invade Italy again in the first weeks of 1515. By this time, all the French conquests of the previous years in Italy had been lost. His invasion would not come to pass however, as he would die on 1 January 1515. He was succeeded by his son-in-law, Francis I, hitherto comte d'Angoulême. Because Francis still had no son, Alençon became the heir presumptive to the French throne.
Reign of Francis I By 1515, Alençon led one of the three remaining 'princely branches' in the kingdom (alongside the Bourbon-Vendôme and Bourbon-Montpensier), that of Valois-Orléans and Valois-Angoulême having united with the crown in the figures of Louis XII and Francis I respectively.
King's council The royal councils of Francis I were dominated by nobles d'épée (nobles of the sword, i.e. the military nobility) however, these nobles primary came from the lower or middling nobility. Princes, such as the duc d'Alençon, King Henry II of Navarre and Charles, duc de Bourbon (who also served as the constable of France, head of the French military) constituted only a minority among this list.
By virtue of his status as a prince du sang, Alençon qualified as a 'born councillor' to the French king. Alongside the king of Navarre, the duc de Bourbon, the comte de Vendôme, cardinal de Bourbon and the comte de Saint-Pol, he was therefore sometimes called to royal council. These men's summons came more frequently than did the summons to other princes and ducs. However, neither he, nor any of the other princes with the exception of the comte de Saint-Pol were ever allowed to have any significant political heft.