Prince du sang
A prince du sang (French pronunciation: [pʁɛ̃s dy sɑ̃]) or prince of the blood is a person legitimately descended in male line from a sovereign. The female equivalent is princess of the blood, being applied to the daughter of a prince of the blood. The most prominent examples include members of the French royal line, but the term prince of the blood has been used in other families more generally, for example among the British royal family and when referring to the Shinnōke in Japan.
In some European kingdoms, especially France, this appellation was a specific rank in its own right, with a more restricted use than other titles.
History
Ancien Régime |
Structure |
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Under the
Following the Valois succession, the agnates of the king, being "capable of the crown", rose in prominence. New peerages were created for the king's agnates, and for a long time this continued to be so, before the peerage was extended to non-royalty. Over time, the dignity of a peer, which was feudal in nature, and the dignity of a prince of the blood, which was dynastic in nature, clashed. Non-royal peers and princes of the blood who were peers constantly competed for precedence. As the royal line contracted, each prince of the blood gained greater prominence. Finally, in 1576, King Henry III of France issued an edict, to counter the growing power of the House of Guise, which made the princes of the blood supreme over the peerage, and amongst themselves, the closer in the line of succession would outrank the more distant, without regard to the actual title that they held.
As a rank
In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at
During the last century of the reign of the House of Valois, when religious strife brought forth rivals for the throne, prince du sang became restricted in use to refer to dynasts who were distant members of the royal family (i.e., those who were not children or grandchildren in the male line of a French king and, as such, entitled to specific, higher rank of their own as enfants and petits-enfants de France).[1]
In theory, the princes of the blood included all members of the
Even a cadet branch of the Bourbon line, the Bourbon-Carencys, who were most distantly related to the Dukes of Bourbon, were denied princely rank and excluded from the Conseil du Roi until their extinction in 1530. They descended from Jean, seigneur de Carency (1378–1457), the youngest son of Jean I de Bourbon, Count of La Marche.
Since 1733, all legitimate male Capetians were of the House of Bourbon, of the Vendôme branch, descended from
In an edict of July 1714, Louis XIV declared his legitimized sons, the Duke of Maine and Count of Toulouse, to be princes du sang and accorded them rights of succession to the French throne following all other princes du sang. Though the Parlement de Paris refused to register the decree, the king exercised his right to compel registration by conducting a lit de justice. The edict was revoked and annulled on 18 August 1715 by the Parlement on the authority of the regent after the king's death. As a chancellor of Louis XIV had warned, a king could only produce princes of the blood with the queen.[2]
Styles
Those who held this rank were usually styled by their main ducal peerage, but sometimes other titles were used, indicating a more precise status than prince du sang.
The most senior princes used specific styles such as monsieur le prince or monsieur le duc, whereas the junior princes used the style monseigneur followed by their noble title, such as monseigneur le duc de Montpensier. The style Serene Highness (altesse sérénissime) was used in writing only.
Monsieur le Prince
This was the style of the First Prince of the Blood (French: premier prince du sang), which normally belonged to the most senior (by primogeniture) male member of the royal dynasty who is neither a fils de France ("son of France", i.e. of the King or the Dauphin") nor a petit-fils de France ("grandson of France", son of a fils de France). In practice, it was not always clear who was entitled to the rank, and it often took a specific act of the king to make the determination.[citation needed]
The rank carried with it various privileges, including the right to a household paid out of state revenues. The rank was held for life: the birth of a new, more senior prince who qualified for the position did not deprive the current holder of his use of the style.[
First Princes of the Blood, 1465–1830
- Valois House of Valois-Orléans
- 1465–1498: Louis II, Duke of Orléans (1462–1515);(1494–1547)
- 1498–1515: François, Count of Angoulême
- House of Valois-Alençon
- 1515–1525: Charles IV, Duke of Alençon (1489–1525);
- House of Bourbon-Montpensier
- 1525–1527: Charles III, Duke of Bourbon (1490–1527);
- House of Bourbon-Vendôme
- 1527–1537: King of Navarre (1553–1610);(1523–1590);
- 1589–1590: Charles de Bourbon
- 1590–1646: Henri III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé(1643–1709);
- House of Bourbon-Orléans
- 1709–1752: Louis-Philippe I, King of the French.
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Louis II, Prince of Condéby Joost van Egmont
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The last Monsieur le Prince of the Ancien Régime, Philippe Égalité
Madame la Princesse
This style was held by the wife of Monsieur le Prince. The duchesses/princesses that were entitled to use it were:
- 1646–1686: Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé (1628–1694). Niece of Cardinal Richelieu and wife of the Grand Condé, she was also the Duchess of Fronsac in her own right from 1646 to 1674.
- 1684–1709: Henry Jules, Duke of Bourbon the son and heir of the Grand Condé. Anne Henriette was the mother of Louis III, Prince of Condé and Madame la Princesse de Conti Seconde Douairière
- 1709–1723: Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677–1749) – wife of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
- 1724–1726: Margravine Auguste Marie Johanna of Baden-Baden (1704–1726) – wife of Louis of Orléans
- 1743–1759: Louise Henriette de Bourbon – daughter of Madame la Princesse de Conti Dernière Douairière and wife of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans
- 1785–1793: Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon (1753–1821); wife of Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans. She was the last holder of the style before the outbreak of the French Revolution.
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Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, did not use the style as her husband did not.
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Louise Henriette de Bourbon, mother of Philippe Égalité
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Madame la Princesse– wife of Philippe Égalité.
Monsieur le Duc
This style was used for the eldest son of the Prince de Condé. Originally, the eldest son was given the title of Duc d'Enghien, but that changed in 1709 when the Condés lost the rank of premier prince. After that, the eldest son was often given the courtesy title of Duc de Bourbon, which had been granted to le Grand Condé, and his eldest son was then given the title of duc d'Enghien.
- 1689–1709: Henri I, Duke of Enghien(1643–1709);
- 1709–1710: Louis I, Duke of Enghien (1668–1710);
- 1710–1740: Louis II Henri, Duke of Enghien (1692–1740);
- 1740–1818: Louis III Joseph, Duke of Enghien (1736–1818);
- 1818–1830: Louis IV Henri, Duke of Enghien(1756–1830).
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Henri I, Duke of Enghien
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Monsieur le Duc as son of Louis III, Prince of Condé
Madame la Duchesse
This style was used for the wife of Monsieur le Duc. The most famous holder of this honorific was:
- 1685–1709: Madame de Montespan, she was married in May 1685, to Louis III, Prince of Condé, then known by the courtesy title of duc de Bourbon. Since his style at court was Monsieur le Duc, she became known as Madame la Duchesse. She later held onto the style even in her widowhood when she was the Princess of Condé. She was later known as Madame la Duchesse Douairière.
Others included:
- 1713–1720: Marie Anne de Bourbon (1689–1720) – first wife of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon;
- 1728–1741: Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg(1714–1741) second wife of the Duke of Bourbon;
- 1753–1760: Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé
- 1770–1818: Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans (1750–1820) – wife of the last Prince of Condé.
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Madame la Duchesse. She was the wife of Monsieur le Duc
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Marie Anne, Princess of Condé; Madame la Duchesse due to the Condé loss of Mme la Princesse to the House of Orléans
Monsieur le Comte
This address was used by the head of the most junior branch of the House of Bourbon, the comte de Soissons. The comtes de Soissons, like the
The first Prince had three sons:
- Henri de Bourbon, second Prince of Condé;
- Charles de Bourbon, first Count of Soissons and the founder of the House of Bourbon-Soissons
- Henry II, Prince of Condé.
The Soissons title was acquired by the first Prince of Condé in 1557 and was held by his descendants for two more generations:
-
Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons
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Olympia Mancini, known as Madame la Comtesse at court
The 2nd Count of Soissons died without an heir, so the Soissons title passed to his younger sister,
He married
Madame la Comtesse
This style was used by the wife of Monsieur le Comte. The best example of this is
Madame la Princesse Douairière
In order to tell the wives of the various Princes of Conti apart after their deaths, the widows were given the name of Douairière (or dowager) and a number corresponding to when they lost their husband. After being widowed their full style would be Madame la Princesse de Conti 'number' Douairière. Between 1727 and 1732, there were three widowed Princesses de Conti. They were:
- Marie Anne de Bourbon (1666–1739), the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière; she was the wife of Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti. She was known as Madame la Princesse de Conti Première Douairière as she was the first to be widowed, in 1685. The title went to her husband's younger brother, François Louis, Prince of Conti.
- Marie Thérèse de Bourbon (1666–1732), the wife of François Louis, Prince of Conti; she was known as Madame la Princesse de Conti Seconde Douairière after losing her husband in 1709.
- Princesse de Contiat the same time.
Legitimised royal offspring
- Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1669–1672);
- Louis-Auguste de Bourbon (1670–1736), titled Anne-Louise-Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé.
- Louis César de Bourbon (1672–1683), titled comte de Vexin;
- Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1673–1743), titled Mademoiselle de Nantes – later wife of Louis III de Bourbon-Condé, prince de Condé
- Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon (1674–1681), titled Mademoiselle de Tours;
- Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677–1749), titled Mademoiselle de Blois – wife of Philippe II d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans.
- Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon (1678–1737), titled comte de Toulouse – later married to Marie Victoire de Noailles.
Also the child would be referred to as Légitimé de Bourbon; such as
Orléans-Longueville
The branch of the ducs de Longueville, extinct in 1672 (1694), bore the surname d'Orléans, as legitimised descendants of Jean, bâtard d'Orléans, the natural son of a Valois prince who held the appanage of Orléans before the Bourbons did.[5] Non-legitimised natural children of royalty took whatever surname the king permitted, which might or might not be that of the dynasty.
Children born out of wedlock to a French king or prince were never recognised as fils de France. However, if they were legitimised, the king might raise them to a rank just below or even equivalent to that of a prince du sang.[6]
See also
- House of Condé
- Princes of Orléans
- Prince étranger
- Prinz, esp. in contrast to Fürst
References
- ^ a b c d Spanheim, Ézéchiel (1973). Émile Bourgeois (ed.). Relation de la Cour de France. le Temps retrouvé (in French). Paris: Mercure de France. pp. 70, 87, 313–314.
- ^ The Institutions of France Under the Absolute Monarchy, 1598–1789, Volume 2, p.93
- ^ Mike Duncan (17 August 2014). "Episode 3.5 "The Assembly of Notables"". Revolutions (Podcast). Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ Nancy Mitford, The Sun King, 1966, p.87
- ^ ib. Spanheim, Ézéchiel, pp. 104–105.
- ^ ib. Spanheim, Ézéchiel, pp. 100–105, 323–327.