Guise, Louis (3)

cardinal of Lorraine, archbishop of Rheims, and peer of France, was born, according to some, January 22, 1575, according to others in May, 1585. He obtained the abbeys of St. Denis and of Montier-en-Der, and also that of Chalis. He was never ordained, preferring brigandage, and exhibited that tendency in his later years, when he proposed to settle theological disputes by arms. In 1621 he followed the king on his expedition to Poitou, but fell sick at the siege of St, Jean d'Angely, and died shortly after (June 21, 1621). Charlotte des Essarts, countess of Romorantin, and one of the mistresses of Henry IV, is said to have been secretly married to the cardinal (February 4, 1611), bearing to him three sons and two daughters. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.