Gaston of Orleans: The Black Sheep of The Royal Family.
Gaston of Orléans, Musée des Beaux Arts. Tours.
In this portrait of Gaston of Orléans, he is wearing the crown of a prince of the blood* an elaborate lace jabot ** and an ornate doublet.
The sumptuous costume shows high status.
What it doesn’t show is that Gaston made his brother, the King’s life, a nightmare, that he was a disgraced prince, the black sheep of the family. A man who turned bearing a grudge into an art form, who spent his life taking part in upper class insurrections against his brother, his brother’s wife, his brother’s son and iron fist Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin.
They all failed.
Gaston, for twenty seven years, was heir to the throne of France. Although he was Crown Prince he had no power or influence so conspired against those who did.
He formed a ‘Council of Roguery’ with close friends with whom he led a dissolute life of gambling and he fathered many illegitimate children.
This little known, almost forgotten, prince was just two when his father, Henry IV, was assassinated.
Shakespeare’s 'uneasy is the head that wears a crown' refers to Henry IV of England but also applies to Henry IV of France.
Gaston’s brother became Louis XIII age eight.
His sister Henriette married the ill fated Charles I of England, another uneasy head.
In 1626, Gaston joined a plot to assassinate his arch enemy, Cardinal Richelieu. It failed. His co-conspirator was executed.
Gaston was spared because he was next in line to the throne. As punishment he was forced to marry the Duchess of Montpensier. Although he put up a fight he lost. The wedding went ahead but the poor girl died in childbirth nine months later.
He then joined in a revolt with the duke of Montmorency and his army of mercenaries against Richelieu. Although it failed, Gaston produced fear for the future of the monarchy.
To pacify his rebellious brother, Louis XIII granted him the county of Blois.
In 1631, at the ducal Court in Nancy, he fell in love with the Duke’s daughter, Marguerite of Lorraine. He called her ‘The Angel’.
They married in Nancy. Because the King had not given permission, the Parliament of Paris declared the marriage null and void. His wife was not allowed to enter France.
In 1632, after waging yet another unsuccessful uprising, Gaston sought refuge in the Netherlands. His marriage was celebrated a second time by the Archbishop of Malines.
This time, it was the French clergy, egged on by Richelieu, who annulled the marriage.
Richelieu claimed a duke’s daughter was not of high enough rank to marry the Crown Prince of France. By preventing Gaston from living with his wife, he hoped to prevent him from having heirs.
In 1634, expelled from Court again Gaston moved into his Château at Blois. He was twenty-six. He decided to demolish the Renaissance Château and build a new palace.
The classical wing was built in just three years.
The Gaston d’Orleans Wing, Château Blois.
In 1638 Gaston’s world fell apart.
After twenty-three years of a childless marriage, the King and Queen had a baby boy. The new Crown Prince, the Dauphin (future Louis XIV, The Sun King) was dubbed Dieu Donné, a gift from God. A miracle.
After twenty seven years, Gaston was no longer heir to the throne. He could no longer draw a huge income. Alarm bells rang in Château Blois. Astronomical sums were owed to contractors. Worried about not being paid, they left the site leaving staircases, floors and roofs unfinished.
The new wing was uninhabitable and remained so during Gaston's lifetime.
In 1642 when Cardinal Richelieu died, the dying King allowed Gaston and Marguerite to marry for a third time in May 1643. Although she received a warm welcome Marguerite seldom visited Court.
The couple often stayed in Château Blois where their first child was born.
Louis XIII died in 1643. His wife Anne of Austria became Regent for young Louis XIV.
She ruled France with Cardinal Mazarin.
1648 Gaston was involved in more unsuccessful wars dubbed La Fronde*** a revolt of the nobles against the new King.
1652 Gaston was exiled to his Château in Blois. He remained there until he died in 1660 in the François I wing. He was fifty-two.
As the Dowager Duchess of Orléans, Marguerite lived in the Palais d'Orléans in Paris. She died in 1672.
The interior of The Gaston Wing in Château Blois was completed in the 1800s.
Once used as the town library, rooms are now rented out for Meetings and Exhibitions. Only the entrance hall is open to the public.
* A royal title given to legitimate male descendants of a reigning monarch.
** Jabot (French for 'a bird's crop'). Suspended from the neck, attached to a neckband or pinned on a shirt. A decorative accessory for the upper class.
*** Fronde means ‘sling’. La Fronde was a game played by Parisian urchins. It involved slinging stones with a catapult. They ran away when they saw a constable and met up again as soon as he turned his back. The Fronde was the last attempt by the French nobility to challenge absolute monarchy until the French Revolution in 1789.
Post by Pamela (BA History of Art).
Pamela-Shields.com
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