View source for René II, Duke of Lorraine

{{Short description|Duke of Lorraine from 1473 to 1508}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name        = René II
| title       = 
| image       = Portrait equestre Rene II-Enluminure Nancéide.jpg
| caption     = René at the [[Battle of Nancy]], as depicted in ''La Nancéide'', 1518<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Nancéide |url=https://musee-lorrain.nancy.fr/les-collections/les-oeuvres-majeures/oeuvre-majeure/la-nanceide-1 |access-date=2023-07-31 |website=musee-lorrain.nancy.fr |language=fr-FR}}</ref>
| succession = [[Duke of Lorraine]]
| reign = 24 July 1473 – 10 December 1508
| predecessor = [[Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine|Nicholas I]]
| successor = [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine|Antoine]]
| succession1 = [[Duchy of Bar|Duke of Bar]]
| reign1 = 23 March 1483 – 10 December 1508
| predecessor1 = [[Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine|Yolande]]
| successor1 = [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine|Antoine]]
| succession2 = [[Count of Vaudémont]]
| reign2 = 31 August 1470 – 10 December 1508
| predecessor2 = [[Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine|Yolande]]
<!-- | predecessor2 = [[Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont|Frederick II]] -->
| successor2 = [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine|Antoine]]
| house       = [[House of Lorraine|Lorraine]]
| father      = [[Frederick II of Vaudémont]]
| mother      = [[Yolande of Lorraine]]
| spouse      = {{marriage|[[Philippa of Guelders]]|1485}}
| issue       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine]]
* [[Claude, Duke of Guise]]
* [[John, Cardinal of Lorraine]]
* [[Louis, Count of Vaudémont]]
* [[François de Lorraine]]
}}
| birth_date  = 2 May 1451
| birth_place = [[Angers]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1508|12|10|1451|5|2|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Fains]]
}}
'''René II''' (2 May 1451 &ndash; 10 December 1508) was [[Count of Vaudémont]] from 1470, [[Duke of Lorraine]] from 1473,{{sfn|Carroll|1998|pp=14–15}} and [[Counts and dukes of Bar|Duke of Bar]] from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the [[Kingdom of Naples]] and the [[County of Provence]] as the [[Duke of Calabria]] 1480&ndash;1493 and as [[Monarchs of Naples and Sicily|King of Naples]] and [[Kings of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]] 1493&ndash;1508. He succeeded his uncle [[John of Vaudémont]] as [[Count of Harcourt]] in 1473, exchanging it for the county of [[Count of Aumale|Aumale]] in 1495. He succeeded as [[Count of Guise]] in 1504.

==Life==
René was born in [[Angers]], the son of [[Yolande of Lorraine]] and [[Frederick II of Vaudémont|Frederick, Count of Vaudémont]].{{sfn|Carroll|2011|p=310}} He spent his youth in the court of his grandfather [[René I of Naples|René I of Anjou]] between Angers and [[Provence]]. René succeeded his father in Vaudémont in 1470 and, three years later, his uncle as captain of Angers, [[seneschal]] and governor of Anjou. That same year he became Duke of Lorraine, which was at the time under the pressure of both [[Louis XI of France]] and [[Charles the Bold]] of Burgundy, with whom he initially allied. When the latter began to establish garrisons in Lorraine, however, René secretly allied with Louis (1474).

Charles invaded the duchy and René was forced to quit [[Nancy, France|Nancy]] (30 November 1475). He regained the city on 5 October the following year and moved to Switzerland to hire an army of [[Swiss mercenaries]]. With this force René defeated and killed Charles at the [[Battle of Nancy]] (5 January 1477), ending the [[Burgundian Wars]].{{sfn|Carroll|1998|p=15}} In 1476, upon the death of his grandmother, he became sole [[Count of Harcourt]] and [[Baron of Elbeuf]].

The alliance with Louis would not last, as Louis moved to acquire René's lands. In June 1478, as compensation for the royal seizure of Anjou and Provence, Louis XI reaffirmed his rights to the formerly Burgundian possessions of the Duchy of Luxembourg and the County of Burgundy, and then transferred those rights to René and all of his descendants.

The transfer of the County of Burgundy to France in 1482 with the [[Treaty of Arras (1482)|Treaty of Arras]] made realization of these rights possible,{{sfn|Gillespie|2017|p=29}} but the County was returned to the Habsburgs in 1493 with the [[Treaty of Senlis]] and René would not exercise control over the County again. Likewise, any authority over Luxembourg was merely theoretical outside of the seizure of Virton,{{sfn|Monter|2007|p=24}} as the Duchy remained in possession of the Habsburgs throughout René's lifetime.

In 1480 René succeeded his grandfather as [[Counts and dukes of Bar|Duke of Bar]] while his mother was still living. In 1482 he conquered the ''prévôté'' of [[Virton]], a part of the [[Duchy of Luxembourg]], and annexed it to Bar. In 1484 [[Peter II, Duke of Bourbon]], regent for the young King [[Charles VIII of France]], formally installed him in the Duchy of Bar.{{sfn|Monter|2007|pp=23–24}}

When his mother Yolande died in 1483, he succeeded her in her claims to the kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem. In 1482, René traveled to Italy and defeated the Duke of Ferrara in the Battle of Adria as an ally of the [[Republic of Venice]].

In 1485 René took part in the first phase of the so-called "[[Mad War]]", but prudentially retired after a while. In 1488 the Neapolitans offered him the crown of the [[Kingdom of Naples]], and René set an expedition to gain possession of the realm; he was however halted by the new French king, [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]], who intended to claim the realm himself.

In 1495, to settle a dispute with his second cousin, Jean IV de Rieux, over their grandmothers' inheritance, he ceded to Jean the county of Harcourt and its [[appurtenances]], retaining only [[Lords, Marquesses and Dukes of Elbeuf|Elbeuf]] and [[Brionne]], and receiving the [[Count of Aumale|county of Aumale]].{{sfn|Carroll|1998|pp=17–19}}

==Death==
René fell ill during a hunt in [[Fains]], and died on 10 December 1508, aged 57.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

==Family==

On his mother's side, he was a grandson of [[Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine]]. His father was a member of the Vaudémont family, a junior branch of the Lorraine ducal family, descending from [[John I, Duke of Lorraine]]. He was thus both heir-general and heir-male to the Duchy when he succeeded on the death of his cousin [[Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine|Nicholas]] in 1473.

René married [[Philippa of Guelders]],{{sfn|Bogdan|2013|p=100}} daughter of [[Adolf of Egmond|Adolf, Duke of Guelders]], in [[Orléans]] on 1 September 1485 and had the following children:
* Charles (b. 17 August 1486, [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]); died at birth
* Francis (5 July 1487, [[Pont-à-Mousson]]); died at birth
* [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine]] (1489&ndash;1544){{sfn|Wellman|2013|p=236}}
* Nicholas (9 April 1493, [[Nancy, France|Nancy]]); died at birth
* [[Claude, Duke of Guise]] (1496&ndash;1550); first [[Duke of Guise]]{{sfn|Wellman|2013|p=236}}
* [[Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine]] and [[Bishop of Metz]] (1498&ndash;1550){{sfn|Wellman|2013|p=236}}
* [[Louis, Count of Vaudémont]] (1500&ndash;1528)
* [[François de Lorraine|François]], Count of Lambesc (1506&ndash;1525){{sfn|Carroll|2011|p=310}}
* Anne (19 December 1490, [[Bar-le-Duc]]), died at birth
* Isabelle (2 November 1494, [[Lunéville]] died at birth
* Claude and Catherine (twins) (24 November 1502, [[Bar-le-Duc]]); died at birth

==Ancestors==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes|align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''René II, Duke of Lorraine'''
|2= 2. [[Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont]]
|3= 3. [[Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine]]
|4= 4. [[Antoine, Count of Vaudémont]]
|5= 5. [[Marie, Countess of Harcourt]]
|6= 6. [[René of Anjou]]
|7= 7. [[Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine]]
|8= 8. [[Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont]]
|9= 9. [[Margaret of Joinville]]
|10= 10. [[John VII, Count of Harcourt]]
|11= 11. [[Marie d'Alençon]]
|12= 12. [[Louis II of Naples]]
|13= 13. [[Yolande of Aragon]]
|14= 14. [[Charles II, Duke of Lorraine]]
|15= 15. [[Margaret of the Palatinate]]
}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Dukes of Lorraine family tree]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |first=Henry |last=Bogdan |title=La Lorraine des ducs |language=French |publisher=Tempus |year=2013 }}
*{{cite book |title=Noble Power During the French Wars of Religion: The Guise Affinity and the Catholic Cause in Normandy  |first=Stuart |last=Carroll |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 }}
*{{cite book |first=Stuart |last=Carroll |year=2011 |title=Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
*{{cite book |title=The Causes of War: Volume III: 1400 CE to 1650 CE |first=Alexander |last=Gillespie |volume=III |publisher=Hart Publishing |year=2017 }}
*{{cite journal |first=Henri |last=Lepage |title=La guerre de Sedan: Episode du règne de René II (1493–1496) |journal=Mémoires de la Société d'archéologie lorraine |series=3 |year=1884 |volume=34 |pages=183–224}}
*{{cite book |first=E. William |last=Monter |title=A Bewitched Duchy: Lorraine and Its Dukes, 1477–1736 |publisher=Librairie Droz |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |last=Wellman |first=Kathleen |title=Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2013 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|other}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Frederick II of Vaudémont|Frederick II]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Count of Vaudémont]] | years=1470&ndash;1508}}
{{s-aft | rows=4 | after=[[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine|Antoine]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine|Nicholas I]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Duke of Lorraine]] |with =  [[Yolande of Lorraine|Yolande]] 1473–1483 | years=1473–1508}}
|-
{{s-vac | last=[[Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine|Nicholas I]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson]] | years=1480–1508}}
|-
{{s-bef | before=[[Yolande of Lorraine|Yolande]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Duke of Bar]] | years=1483–1508}}
{{s-reg|fr}}
{{s-bef | rows=2 | before=[[John of Vaudémont|John]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Count of Harcourt]] | years=1473–1495}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Jean IV de Rieux|Jean IV]]}}
|-
{{s-ttl | title=[[Lords, Marquesses and Dukes of Elbeuf|Baron of Elbeuf]] | years=1473–1508}}
{{s-aft | rows=3 | after=[[Claude, Duke of Guise|Claude]]}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Jean IV de Rieux|Jean IV]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Count of Aumale]] | years=1495–1508}}
|-
{{s-bef | before=[[Charlotte d'Armagnac, Duchess of Nemours|Charlotte]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Count of Guise]] | years=1504–1508}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rene 02, Duke Of Lorraine}}
[[Category:1451 births]]
[[Category:1508 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Angers]]
[[Category:House of Vaudémont]]
[[Category:Claimant kings of Jerusalem]]
[[Category:Dukes of Lorraine]]
[[Category:Dukes of Bar]]
[[Category:Dukes of Calabria]]
[[Category:Counts of Provence]]
[[Category:Counts of Vaudémont]]
[[Category:Counts of Aumale]]
[[Category:Counts of Guise]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Pont-à-Mousson]]
[[Category:Barons of Elbeuf]]
[[Category:Barons of Mayenne]]