Antoinette de Bourbon


Antoinette de Bourbon Duchess of Guise was a French noblewoman of the House of Bourbon. She was the wife of Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise. Through her eldest daughter, Mary of Guise, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Life

Antoinette de Bourbon was born on 25 December 1494 at the Chateau de Ham, in the Somme department, Picardy, France. She was the child of Francis, Count of Vendôme and Marie de Luxembourg. Her paternal grandparents were John VIII, Count of Vendôme and Isabelle de Beauveau, and her maternal grandparents were Peter II, Count of Saint-Pol, and Margaret of Savoy.
Antoinette was described as having been a remarkable woman, combining a strong sense of family pride with a wry sense of humour. She exhibited considerable administrative talent at domestic economy as well as in the running of the vast Guise dominions surrounding their chateau of Joinville.
She exerted a powerful influence on the childhood of her granddaughter Mary, Queen of Scots, during the latter's thirteen-year sojourn in France, and was one of her principal advisors. Antoinette acted as proxy for her daughter, Mary of Guise, during the betrothal ceremony of the Queen of Scots and the Dauphin Francis in 1558.
Antoinette de Bourbon died on 22 January 1583 at the Chateau de Joinville. She was eighty-nine years of age, having outlived all of her children save her daughter Reneé, Abbess of St. Pierre.

Issue

She married Claude of Lorraine on 9 June 1513; they had: