v46_0359 - CHARLES X, CARDINAL OF BOURBON Quart d'écu, croix de face 1591 Paris

CHARLES X, CARDINAL OF BOURBON

(02/08/1589-9/05/1590)

Charles X, uncle and godfather of Henri IV and first cousin of François de Lorraine, was born in 1523. Cardinal and papal legate in Avignon from 1565 to 1590, it was he who had blessed the marriage of Marguerite de Valois and Henri IV on the eve of Saint-Barthélemy. On the death of the Duke of Alençon, last brother of Henry III, he was recognized by the League and by Philip II of Spain as heir presumptive to the crown. Recognized by Henri, in 1588, as his closest relative, he was arrested at Blois on December 23, 1588 while the Guises were being assassinated. He was proclaimed king by the Leaguers after the murder of Henri III on August 2, 1589 but died a prisoner at Fontenay-le-Comte on May 9, 1590..