René of Chalon

René of Châlon, Prince of Orange
René of Châlon
Spouse(s)	Anna of Lorraine
Noble family	Châlon-Arlay and Nassau-Breda
Father	Henry III of Nassau-Breda
Mother	Claudia of Châlon
Born	5 February 1519 Breda, Duchy of Brabant
Died	15 July 1544 (aged 25) Saint-Dizier, Kingdom of France
Buried	Grote Kerk (Breda)

René of Châlon (5 February 1519 – 15 July 1544), also known as Renatus of Châlon, was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre.

Life

René was born in Breda, the only son of Count Henry III of Nassau-Breda and Claudia of Châlon. Claudia's brother, Philibert of Châlon, was the last Prince of Orange from the house of Châlon. When Philibert died in 1530, René inherited the Princedom of Orange on condition that he used the name and coat of arms of the Châlon-Orange family. History knows him therefore as René of Châlon instead of as "René of Nassau-Breda." ^[1]

Coat of arms of Rene of Chalons as Prince of Orange. The 1st and 4th grand quarters show the arms of the Chalons-Arlay (the gold bend) princes of Orange (the bugle). The blue and gold checkers represent the arms of Jeanne of Geneva, who married one of the Chalons prices. The 2nd and 3rd show the quarterings of Brittany and Luxembourg-St. Pol. The inescutcheon overall is his paternal arms quartered of Nassau and Breda.^[2]

René of Châlon married Anna of Lorraine (1522–1568) on 20 August 1540 at Bar-le-Duc. They had only one child, a daughter named Maria, who lived only 3 weeks and was buried in the Grote Kerk in Breda.

Death

In 1544, René took part in the siege of St. Dizier in the service of Emperor Charles V. He was mortally wounded in battle and died with the Emperor attending at his bedside.^[3] René was buried in Grote Kerk in Breda, near the resting-place of his short-lived daughter. A commemorative cenotaph stands in the church of St. Etienne in Bar-le-Duc.

Succession

René of Châlon, as the last descendant of the original princes, left the principality to his first cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg (better known as "William the Silent"), who was not a descendant of the original Orange family but became the legal heir to the principality of Orange, and all of René's lands. Thus, the principality which René had inherited from his mother was passed to his father's brother's son.

The principality of Orange had already passed, through the female line, from the first dynasty of Orange to the families Les Baux, and then to De Châlon.^[4] It now passed to a family which was not descended in blood at all from any of the preceding families.

William added the name of Orange to his own paternal dignities and thus became in 1544 the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Ancestors

Ancestors of René of Chalon

16. Engelbert I of Nassau               8. Jan IV of Nassau                       17. Johanna van Polanen               4. Johann V of Nassau-Vianden-Dietz                             18. John I, Count of Loon-Heinsberg               9. Maria of Loon-Heinsberg                       19. Margaret of Solms-Braunfels               2. Henry III of Nassau-Breda                                   20. Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse               10. Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse                       21. Anna of Saxony               5. Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg                             22. Philip I, Count of Katzenelnbogen               11. Anna of Katzenelnbogen                       23. Anna of Württemberg               1. René of Châlon                                         24. Louis II of Chalon-Arlay               12. William VII of Chalon                       25. Johanna of Montfaucon               6. John IV of Chalon-Arlay                             26. Richard of Vertus-en-Champagne               13. Catherine of Brittany                       27. Margaret of Orleans               3. Claudia of Châlon                                   28. Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol               14. Anthony I, Count of Ligny                       29. Jeanne de Bar, Countess of Marle and Soissons               7. Philiberte of Luxembourg-Ligny                             30. Peter of Bauffremont               15. Antoinette de Bauffremont                       31. Marie of Bourgogne

References

1. Grew, Marion Ethel (1947). The House of Orange. 36 Essex Street, Strand, London W.C.2: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
2. Rietstap, Johannes Baptist (2003). Armorial general. vol.2. Genealogical Publishing Co. p. 297. ISBN 0-8063-4811-9.
3. Rowen, Herbert H. (1988). The princes of Orange: the stadholders in the Dutch Republic. Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN 0-8063-4811-9.
4. Motley, John Lothrop (1855). The Rise of the Dutch Republic. vol.1. Harper Brothers Publishers. p. 235.