Nemours, Lords And Dukes Of
NEMOURS, LORDS AND DUKES OF. In the izth and 13th centuries the lordship of Nemours, in Gatinais, France, was in possession of the house of Villebeon, a member of which, Gautier, was marshal of France in the middle of the 13th century. The lordship was sold to King Philip III. in 1274 and 1276 by Jean and Philippe de Nemours, and was then made .a county and given to Jean de Grailly, captal de Buch in 1364. In 1404 Charles VI. of France gave it to Charles III. of Evreux, king of Navarre, and erected it into a duchy in the peerage of France (duche-pairie). Charles III.'s daughter, Beatrix, brought the duchy to her husband Jacques de Bourbon, count of La Marche, and by the marriage of their daughter, Eleanor, to Bernard of Armagnac, count of Pardiac, it passed to the house of Armagnac. After being confiscated and restored several times, the duchy reverted to the French crown in 1505, after the extinction of the house of Armagnac-Pardiac. In 1 507 it was given by Louis XII. to his nephew, Gaston de Foix, who was killed at Ravenna in 1512. The duchy then returned to the royal domain, and was detached from it successively for Giuliano de Medici and his wife Philibcrta of Savoy in 1515, for Louise of Savoy in 1524, and for Philip of Savoy, count of Genevois, in 1528. The descendants of the last-mentioned duke possessed the duchy until its sale to Louis XIV. In 1572 Louis gave it to his brother Philip, duke of Orleans, whose descendants possessed it until the Revolution. The title of due de Nemours was afterwards given to Louis Charles, son of King Louis Philippe, who is dealt with separately below.
The following are the most noteworthy of the earlier dukes of Nemours.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
