Charles I, Duke of Elbeuf

Charles I de Lorraine
Marquis of Elbeuf then Duke of Elbeuf Count of Harcourt
Coat-of-arms of Elbeuf
Born	18 October 1556 Joinville, France
Died	4 August 1605(1605-08-04) (aged 48) Moulins, France
Spouse	Marguerite de Chabot
Issue Detail	Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf Henri, Count of Harcourt Claude Éléonore, Duchess of Roannais
House	House of Lorraine
Father	René II de Lorraine
Mother	Louise de Rieux

Charles I de Lorraine, duc d'Elbeuf (Joinville, 18 October 1556 – Moulins, 4 August 1605) was a French noble, military commander and governor during the French Wars of Religion. The son of the most minor cadet house of the children of Claude, Duke of Guise, Elbeuf initially lacked the prominence of his cousins, however his succession to the Rieux inheritance made him important. Over the following decades he would gradually consolidate more of it under his authority, until by his death in 1605, all of the county of Harcourt belonged to the Elbeufs. A young man in 1573, he travelled with the king's brother to assume his kingship of the Commonwealth. Upon the prince's return as Henri III of France in 1574 Elbeuf would receive the honour of assuming the position of grand chamberlain during the coronation. After the establishment of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit in 1579, Elbeuf would be elevated as a knight of this chivalric body. The following year he supported the king's brother Alençon in his negotiations with the Dutch States General to assume the role of king. In the wake of these successful, if fraught, negotiations, he was nominated by Alençon as lieutenant-general of his army. Elbeuf and Alençon would travel to the Spanish Netherlands where they would relieve the besieged town of Cambrai, to much acclaim from the citizenry. Shortly after this, relations soured between Elbeuf and the prince, and Elbeuf retired back to his estates with the excuse of an illness, being refused when he offered to return the following year. In September 1581, his marquisate of Elbeuf was elevated to a peerage duchy, greatly elevating Elbeuf's social standing.

In 1584 Alençon died, and with the king childless, succession thus fell to the king's distant cousin Navarre. This was unacceptable to much of Catholic France, and the Guise family who were already disgruntled by their alienation from royal favour exploited it in the formation of a second ligue. Elbeuf for his part was frustrated by the granting of the governorship of Normandie, where all his estates were located to the royal favourite Joyeuse. With the larger family network all in agreement, rebellion was declared in early 1585, and Elbeuf received the submission of Bayeux to the ligue, while joining with the disgraced royal favourite François d'O who defected to the ligue with Caen. In May he left Normandie for Angers where he was bested in battle by Joyeuse shortly before the ligue and crown came to terms. In the peace he received the governorship of the Bourbonnais, rather than Normandie, as he had hoped. While the ligue and crown were now nominally allies, the accord was tenuous, and began to collapse in 1588 over the issue of Épernon, who the Guise despised. Elbeuf began raising forces in Normandie once again, but open confrontation was avoided, and the king capitulated to the ligue while staying in Rouen in July 1588. Henri was by now furious at the Guise erosion of his power and set his mind on the assassination of the duke. In December 1588 he had the duke and his brother executed, and Elbeuf, Nemours and others arrested.

Elbeuf spent the next 4 years in royal captivity before escaping in 1593. The ligue granted him the governorship of Poitiers however he demonstrated little interest in campaigning for their cause. He maintained cordial relations with the royal governor of Poitou, Malicorne and during a truce that year, enjoyed leisure pursuits with the ligues enemy Navarre. It thus followed that he was the first member of his family to defect to the royalist cause, doing so in 1594, in exchange for a large bribe, confirmation of his governorship of Poitiers and a sizable pension. In the following years he would receive further honours, including a return to the governorship of the Bourbonnais and the position of Grand Veneur. In his final years he continued to take an interest in Poitiers, helping suppress a tax rebellion in 1601, before dying in 1605.