Mercceur, Philippe Emmanuel De Lorraine
MERCCEUR, PHILIPPE EMMANUEL DE LORRAINE, DUC DE (1558-1602), French soldier, was born on the pth of September 1558, and married Marie de Luxemburg, duchesse de Penthievre. In 1582 he was made governor of Brittany by Henry III., who had married his sister. Mancceur put himself at the head of the League in Brittany, and had himself proclaimed protector of the Roman Catholic Church in the province in 1588. Invoking the hereditary rights of his wife, who was a descendant of the dukes of Brittany, he endeavoured to make himself independent in that province, and organized a government at Nantes, calling his son " prince and duke of Brittany." With the aid of the Spaniards he defeated the due de Montpensier, whom Henry IV. had sent against him, at Craon in 1592, but the royal troops, reinforced by English contingents, soon recovered the advantage. The king marched against Mercceur in person, and received his submission at Angers on the 20th of March 1598. Mercceur subsequently went to Hungary, where he entered the service of the emperor Rudolph II., and fought against the Turks, taking Stuhlweissenburg (Szekes-Fehervar) in 1 599. Mercceur died on the 19th of February 1602.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
