Éléonore de Roye

Eléanor (or Éléonore) de Roye, princesse de Condé (24 February 1535 – 23 July 1564) was a French noblewoman. She was the eldest daughter and heiress of Charles, seigneur (sire) de Roye and de Muret, comte de Roucy. Her mother, Madeleine de Mailly, dame de Conti,^[1] was the daughter of Louise de Montmorency and half-sister of Admiral Coligny, d'Andelot, and Cardinal de Châtillon. Eléanor was the first wife of Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé;^[2] as such, she was the sister-in-law of Antoine of Navarre and aunt of King Henry IV.

Eléanor de Roye
Born	(1535-02-24)24 February 1535 France
Died	23 July 1564(1564-07-23) (aged 29) Château de Condé, France
Burial	France
Spouse	Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Issue	Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé François de Bourbon, prince de Conti Charles II de Bourbon-Vendôme
Father	Charles de Roye
Mother	Madeleine de Mailly

Eléanor inherited the county of Roucy through her father and the lordship of Conti through her mother. On 22 June 1551, she married Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé at age sixteen,^[3] and converted him to the Reformed (Protestant) faith.^[1] They had eight children, of whom only two, Henri and François, were to have progeny.

During the first of the French Civil Wars, especially between 1560 and 1563, Eléanor and her mother were engaged in important political activities in support of her husband, the Prince of Condé. Twice while Condé was a prisoner of the ultra-catholic Guise family, his wife and mother-in-law systematically reinforced his alliances with Protestant German princes and with Elizabeth I of England.^[4] Armed with this support, Eléanor made negotiations by letter and by direct contact with the regent, Catherine de' Medici; the outcome was the Peace of Amboise and the release of her husband.^[5]

She died in July 1564.^[6]

Ancestors

Ancestors of Éléonore de Roye

8. Jean de Roye, seigneur de Muret 4. Antoine de Roye, seigneur de Muret 9. Marguerite du Bois des Querdes 2. Charles de Roye, comte de Roucy 10. Robert de Sarrebruck, comte de Roucy 5. Catherine de Sarrebruck, comtesse de Roucy 11. Marie d'Amboise 1. Éléonore de Roye 12. Adrien de Mailly, seigneur de Conti 6. Ferry de Mailly, seigneur de Conti 13. Jeanne de Glymes 3. Madeleine de Mailly, dame de Conti 14. Guillaume, seigneur de Montmorency 7. Louise de Montmorency 15. Anne Pot, dame de la Rochepot

Notes

1. Knecht 2000, p. 53.
2. de Boislisle 1902, p. 198.
3. Lachèvre 1917, p. 285.
4. Laoutaris 2014, p. 446.
5. Knecht 2000, p. 111.
6. Thompson 1915, p. 243.

References

• de Boislisle, A. (1902). "Trois Princes de Conde: A Chantilly". Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de France (in French). 39 (2).
• Knecht, R.J. (2000). The French Civil Wars. Pearson Education Limited.
• Lachèvre, Frédéric (1917). "Poésies inédites de Jacques Grévin". Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France (in French).
• Laoutaris, Chris (2014). Shakespeare and the Countess: The Battle that Gave Birth to the Globe. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-241-96021-9.
• Thompson, James Westfall (1915). The Wars of Religion in France, 1559-1576: The Huguenots, Catherine de Medici and Philip II. The University of Chicago Press.