The German emperor Henry IV granted Godfroi de Boullion the title of Duke of Lorraine, one of the largest fiefdoms in Western Europe. In the centuries that followed, De Bouillon’s descendants constantly attempted to seize the throne of France. During the 1550s and 1560s, the cardinal of Lorraine and his brother François, duke of Guise (the house of Guise is the cadet branch of the House of Lorraine) conspired to usurp the crown. The two were ruthlessly Machiavellian, but an assassin killed François in 1563.
François’ successor continued the struggle against the crown, aided by an allegedly vast network of spies and assassins, including Louis de Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, and Louis XIII’s court astrologer, Nostradamus. Nostradamus spent some time in Lorraine and claimed he received his mystical instruction from a book revealed to him at the Abbey of Orval. By the end of the 1600s the house of Guise had finally exterminated the Valois line, but had in the process so weakened itself that it could not produce an eligible heir to the throne.
By the 1620s the house of Lorraine was ready for another bid for power, in the person of Gaston d’Orléans, married to the sister of the duke of Lorraine. D’Orléans’ attempts at gaining power were first checked by Cardinal Richelieu and later by his successor, Cardinal Mazarin. Both Richelieu and Louis XIII died in 1642, and a civil war called the Fronde erupted. Those dedicated to removing the Mazarin from power and keeping Louis XIII’s infant heir Louis XIV off the throne were called the frondeurs. Among their ranks was the Duke of Nevers, the Duke of Bouillon and the Duke of Longueville. The frondeurs were headquartered in Stenay, within the duchy of Lorraine. Around the time of the Fronde a secret society known as the Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement was founded, allegedly by an “associate of Gaston d’Orléans.” The relationship of this society to the frondeurs is unclear, but Mazarin vowed to destroy the order.
Ultimately, the frondeurs failed and Louis XIV became arguably the most despotic and powerful monarch in French history. But within two generations the French Revolution would nearly eradicate the House of Bourbon.