Background
Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine was born on September 9, 1558, in Nomeny, France, to Nicholas, Duke of Mercœur, and Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours.
Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine was born on September 9, 1558, in Nomeny, France, to Nicholas, Duke of Mercœur, and Jeanne de Savoie-Nemours.
Philippe Emmanuel succeeded to his father’s duchy in 1577. He served as governor of Brittany from 1582, but after Henry III had his cousins of the house of Guise assassinated in 1588, Philippe rebelled; when Henry III was himself assassinated (1589), he rallied most of Roman Catholic Brittany against the Protestant Henry IV.
Philippe Emmanuel set up a parlement (high court) of his own at Nantes and put forward his son Philippe as "prince and duke of Brittany. " Spain sent 7, 000 men to help Philippe Emmanuel in October 1590, but England sent troops and ships against him. He won a victory at Craon in Anjou in 1592 but lost ground in the years following Henry’s conversion to Roman Catholicism (1593). He at last submitted, received 4, 000, 000 livres, and agreed that his daughter and eventual heiress, Françoise, should marry Henry’s illegitimate son César, Duke de Vendôme. He then served with the army of the Holy Roman emperor Rudolf II against the Turks in Hungary and died of a fever on February 19, 1602, on his way back to France.
Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine was a member of the Catholic League.
On July 12, 1579, Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine married Marie de Luxembourg, Duchesse de Penthièvre. The couple had two children.
Eric de Lorrainevwas a Bishop of Verdun.
Marie de Luxembourg was the daughter of Sébastien, Duke of Penthièvre.
Françoise de Lorraine-Mercœur was a princess of Lorraine.
Philippe Louis de Lorraine was a prince of Lorraine.
Charles de Lorraine de Vaudémont was a French Roman Catholic cardinal.
