BOURBON, Charles, Duke of, and constable of France, was born A.D. 1489. He was the son of Gilbert, Count of Montpensier, and of Clara, daughter to Federigo Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua. As a statesman and a warrior, he eclipsed all the princes of France of his time; and the simplicity and gentleness of his manners made him the idol of the soldiery. By Francis I. he was made constable of France when only twenty-six years of age, and he gave abundant evidence that this honour was not undeserved. As viceroy of the Milanese he made himself universally popular, and his warlike prowess was particularly displayed at the great battle of Marignano, where he fought by the side of the illustrious Bayard. Having become embroiled, however, in a legal suit with the queen-mother respecting some very large estates, part of which he held in right of his deceased wife, Suzanne de Bourbon, by an iniquitous decision his estates were sequestered. The Duchess d'Angoulême is believed to have been instigated to this act of revenge by his coldness in slighting her addresses. Charles of Bourbon, in indignation, entered into the service of Charles V., and made himself master of the whole Milanese. He then led the emperor's troops against Rome; but while in the act of placing a scaling-ladder
Bourbon, against the walls, he was killed by a random shot, May 6, 1527.