Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville

Henry I of Orléans-Longueville (1568 – April 8, 1595) was a French aristocrat, military leader and Grand Chamberlain of France between 1589 and 1595.

Portrait by Léonard Gaultier

Biography

Henry was the eldest son of Léonor d'Orléans, duc de Longueville (1540–1573)^[1] and Marie de Bourbon, duchess of Estouteville and countess of Saint-Pol (1539–1601).^[2] He succeeded his father in 1573 as Duke of Longueville, Prince of Neuchâtel, Count of Saint-Pol, Count of Dunois and Tancarville. On 1 March 1588, he married Catherine Gonzaga (1568–1629), daughter of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers,^[3] and had one son, Henry II.^[1]

Henry was governor of Picardie and defeated the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Aumale at Senlis in May 1589.^[4] When Henry III was assassinated later that year, Longueville pledged loyalty to his successor Henry IV of France and received command over the forces in Picardy^[5] and became Grand Chamberlain of France.^[6]

Funerary monument of the heart of Henri I d'Orléans in the Louvre Museum, by François Anguier

Longueville died in Amiens in 1595.^[7]

He was the loose inspiration behind the character of Longueville in William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost.^[8]