Charles III

Charles III (or IV) (born April 5, 1604, Nancy, Lorraine [Germany; now in France]—died September 18, 1675, Allenbach, near Trier [Germany]) was the duke of Lorraine whose resentment against encroaching French power led to a lifelong fight against France.

Charles was the son of Francis, brother of Duke Henry II of Lorraine. Charles married Henry’s daughter Nicole and became duke consort in 1624 when Henry died. Francis abolished female succession in 1625 and was proclaimed duke, but he abdicated in Charles III’s favour. By 1627 Charles had become involved in an English coalition against France, and in 1631 he was forced by the French to sign the Treaty of Vic. His intrigues with the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II led to the French seizure of Port-à-Mousson and Bar-le-Duc and to the Treaty of Liverdun (1632), by which Louis XIII occupied Stenay, Jometz, and Clermont. In 1633 Charles was forced to cede his capital, Nancy, to France for four years. He then abdicated in the name of his brother, Cardinal Francis (1634), and joined the Germans fighting at Nordlingen, but he revoked his abdication and tried to reconquer Lorraine.

In 1641 Charles signed the treaty of Saint-Germain with France, by which his duchies were returned but with the proviso that future infidelity to France would result in their annexation. He soon violated the treaty; his estates were declared neutral, and Lorraine was ravaged by war. After serving for Spain and with the Frondeurs, he sold his estates to Louis XIV (1662), but his heirs had the treaty annulled by the Treaty of Nomény (1663). Expelled from Lorraine, Charles took up arms again in Germany, fighting until his death.