Hello Listers one and all and some, Yes it is a quiet moment on the most beloved of all Rootsweb lists and so I thought that some may require an amusement, my version of a family of France that many would praise. Mind you some of us don't. I shall, in my own style, attempt to not show bias, ok ok I might snigger, but here is a tale of this once mighty family and so that our most admirable concierge doesn't go anywhere near the delete button, an attempt is to be made to relate the story to things Huguenot. It will not be difficult to relate the de GUISE family to Huguenots, as they were in a position to be a cause and an effect on the life of many a good Huguenot. The "cause" was that they saw the Huguenot thought as a threat to their well being. The "effect" was the death, under direct order of some of the de Guise family of the time, of many hundreds if not thousands of good Huguenot folk. Now the early de GUISE family members started out as reasonable folk wanting nothing more than total control of the monarchy of France, the ability to control the church and of course have some influence over how much tax they should have to pay to anyone in authority. As an aside, having a degree of controlling interests in that far off land of Scotland wasn't passed them either. But that is another story, the one about Mary Stuart, and not for this list. So lets begin with a short resume of this clan with some insight as to their thinking. Claude de Guise, or as he was more commonly known, Claude de Lorraine, was set on this earth in Château de Condé on the 20th of October 1496. His father being René II, Duc de Lorraine, and his mother being Philippa de Guelders. Now Phillipa was actually the second wife of René and so Claudes' elder brother Antoine, was of a different mother, and if you are taking notes, that first wife of René was Marguerite d'Harcourt, who in some far off section of our family tree is actually a relative. Now brotherly affection is one thing, not getting on with your brother another. You see, young Claude wanted Lorraine, not just a small slice, but the whole lot! Trouble was Antoine was to receive such, and so we now get to see an early trait of the de Guise family. Claude quite publicly declared that Antoine was illegitimate, not a nice thing to say about your elder brother in those days. But it didn't work and so Claude had to be happy with being Comte de Guise et Aumale, Baron de Joinville and whole bunch of Seigniories. Now most would be happy with their lot in now owning all these peasant farmers and their taxes, but oh no, not this fellow. He toddled off to the court of Francis and by some rather sneaky pieces of corruption ends up a favorite at court. Now Claude was useless, if you ask me, at this sword play. But he took his sword off to fight against Charles V and comes back an almost hero in the eyes of Francis I. Mind you, he was cut to ribbons many a time in battle, so he doesnt count as a D'Artagnan to this writer one little bit. By 1525 we find him taking on the Anabaptists whom he summarily whipped at Lustein on the 16th of May, 1525. This is one of the first times that de Guise would show his true dislike for non Catholic folk. And just to show that it would be in the blood of this clan in future, power that is, Claude had married Antoinette de Bourbon back in 1513. So listers, here we have the beginnings of this mighty dang powerful clan of de GUISE. Money, religious clout and political power over the King. And to top it all off it is said that Rene, you remeber him as being father of, well poor old Rene died of poisoning. Was it a Reformer or was it a son ? Moving right along with this sordid tale we shall drop further good bits about Claude and get to the nitty gritty, François de Lorraine. Some of us of our Leroy clan really do not like this man. But We shall not be bitter here, well not yet. Antoinette and Claude had 8 sons and four daughter, a genealogical nightmare in some ways. François was born at the Château de Bar on the 17th of February, 1519. If Claude was hopeless with the sword then this son was indeed the opposite. Good grief I say something nice about him, cousin Jean-Paul will disown me now. Yes listers, François was very handy, he received a nice little scar at Boulogne in 1545 and from then on was often refered to as "Balafré". He did a real "number" on Charles V at Metz in 1552 and Renty in 1554 after which poor old Charles V abdicated. Frank or François if you will, was not just happy being the big bunny of France he wanted more. So off he went to Italy, having convinced Pope Paul IV that he was a really nice fellow and so the Pope had better be nice to him. Italy was a fun trip but he missed home, and so back to France and decided that his family should help the King, Henry II. There was no love lost between Frank and Henry and their relationship was put to the test by one Diana D'Poitiers. Unfortunately poor Henry II was not long for this earthly paradise and shoved off in 1559. And along came Francis II. Now our De Guise family and this King had so many things in common that it wasn't funny and if it was, then the Guise family soon sorted that out. So enter some good folks to our story. Condé, what a man and of course Coligny. And here listers is where we shall end the first part of this tale of one family and their influence of all things Huguenot in France. Perhaps we will continue and so a mark is made here. In our next story we shall begin with the Conspiracy of Amboise, Francis II dies and Catharine de' Medici turns up. The year is 1560 and being a Huguenot from now on is not good for ones health. If you have some snippets regarding your own family during this period then add to this post, the more we exchange the more accurate history becomes. Kind Regards, Peter Leroy