ABSTRACT
In 1688, four members of the House of Lorraine-Guise were inducted into the Order of the Saint-Esprit, the most exclusive honour awarded by the Bourbon monarchy, and a very public display of royal favour. Most of those promoted were top-ranking ecclesiastics, marshals of France, or dukes and peers; yet the four Lorraines possessed none of these qualifications, and one of them was under age according to the statutes of the Order. Members of the family had been promoted to the Order before, but these had nearly always been cardinals or dukes. The promotion of 1688 also marked 100 years (almost to the day) from the double assassinations of the duc de Guise and the cardinal de Guise at Blois. The murders of 23 and 24 December 1588 had shocked Europe, alienated the Pope and the King of Spain from the politique cause of Henri III, and galvanised Catholic moderates all over France into full adhesion to the Sainte Ligue and open rebellion against the Valois monarchy.
