Anne de Joyeuse

Anne de Joyeuse
Baron d'Arques Duc de Joyeuse Admiral of France Governor of Normandie
Contemporary portrait of Anne de Joyeuse
Born	c. 1560
Died	20 October 1587 Coutras
Noble family	House of Joyeuse
Spouse(s)	Marguerite de Lorraine
Father	Guillaume de Joyeuse
Mother	Marie de Batarnay

Anne de Joyeuse, baron d'Arques then duc de Joyeuse (c. 1560–20 October 1587) was a French noble, governor, Admiral, military commander and royal favourite during the reign of Henri III in the French Wars of Religion. The eldest son of Guillaume de Joyeuse and Marie de Batarnay, Joyeuse was part of one of the most prominent noble families in Languedoc. His father served as the lieutenant-general of the province. Joyeuse began his career in the mid 1570s, serving in Languedoc in the fifth civil war before joining the main royal army during the sixth civil war and seeing combat at the Siege of Issoire in late 1577. Around this time he caught the attention of the king and entered into the circle of his favourites, he was made a Gentilhomme de la chambre (gentleman of the chamber) then a Chambellan (chamberlain). By 1579 he would be one of the king's four chief favourites, alongside Épernon, Saint-Luc and D'O. That same year he became governor of the Mont-Saint-Michel. In 1580 civil war resumed and the king dispatched Épernon and Joyeuse to play important roles in the siege of La Fère. Joyeuse would be seriously wounded in the reduction of the city.

Over the next year, D'O and Saint-Luc would each be disgraced in turn, leaving Épernon and Joyeuse as the two poles of the king's favour. Henri elevated them to premier gentilhomme de la chambre, then brought them into the French peerage when he elevated Joyeuse from baron d'Arques to duc de Joyeuse. Around this time he also arranged for a marriage between Joyeuse and the queen's sister Marguerite de Lorraine, a very advantageous match which was celebrated lavishly. Henri desired for his favourites to have control over the military, and therefore bought out the duke of Mayenne from his possession of the Admiralty in mid 1582, with the title going to Joyeuse. Finally in 1583 Joyeuse was made governor of the reconsolidated province of Normandie, the richest province of the kingdom. By this time opposition was growing to the king's two favourites among the upper nobility, among whom some saw Joyeuse as a man taken above his proper station. His appointment in Normandie also caused friction with the Norman nobility. The opposition to Henri and his two favourites was granted new clarity by the death of the king's brother Alençon in July 1584. In the absence of a child, Alençon had been the king's heir, and with a Protestant now heir (the king's distant cousin the king of Navarre) the duke of Guise reformed the Catholic Ligue (League) in opposition to the succession and Henri's favourites.

In March 1585 the ligue entered war with the crown, and Joyeuse was tasked with ensuring that Normandie did not fall to the ligueurs (leaguers). He fought a skirmish with the duke of Guise's cousin the duke of Elbeuf at Beaugency in June of that year in which he came out the better. However the king capitulated to the ligueur demands shortly thereafter, agreeing to exclude Navarre from the succession and make war on Protestantism. In the campaign that followed Joyeuse successfully drove the Protetant prince of Condé from the country in late 1585. By this means Joyeuse began to build his credentials as a (royalist) leader of the Catholic party, in opposition to Guise who sought to lead the Catholic party through the ligue. Épernon meanwhile aligned himself with the Protestant party. At this time, Joyeuse's favour began to deteriorate, as the king increasingly found himself in agreement with Épernon's attempts to seek reconciliation with Navarre. Joyeuse led a royal army into Auvergne in summer 1586 against the Protestants and succeeded in capturing a number of small settlements before his campaign bogged down and he returned to court in failure. He increasingly conducted his campaigns in a brutal fashion and this would climax with the campaign he led in 1587 into Poitou against Navarre in which he massacred several Protestant garrisons. By this means he greatly increased his credit with the preachers of Paris, at the expense of Protestant enmity. Conscious of his declining position at court, he pursued Navarre aggressively, and brought him to battle at Coutras. During the battle that followed he would be killed.