Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville


Henry I of Orléans-Longueville was a French aristocrat and military and Grand Chamberlain of France between 1589 and 1595.
Henry was the eldest son of Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville and Marie de Bourbon, duchess of Estouteville and countess of Saint-Pol. He succeeded his father in 1573 as Duke of Longueville, Prince of Neuchâtel, Count of Saint-Pol, Count of Dunois and Tancarville. On 1 March 1588, he married Catherine Gonzaga, daughter of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, and had one son, Henry II.
Henry was governor of Picardië and defeated the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Aumale at Senlis in May 1589. When Henry III was assassinated later that year, Longueville pledged loyalty to his successor Henry IV of France and received command over the forces in Picardy and became Grand Chamberlain of France.
Longueville died of wounds received by a musket salvo, celebrating his entry in Dourlers.
The funerary monument for him and his son by François Anguier, can be seen in the Louvre Museum.
He was the loose inspiration behind the character of Longueville in William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.

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