1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mercœur, Seigneurs and Dukes of

MERCŒUR, SEIGNEURS AND DUKES OF. The estate of Mercœur in Auvergne, France, gave its name to a line of powerful lords, which became extinct in the 14th century, and passed by inheritance to the dauphins of Auvergne, counts of Clermont. In 1426 it passed to the Bourbons by the marriage of Jeanne de Clermont, dauphine of Auvergne, with Louis de Bourbon, count of Montpensier. It formed part of the confiscated estates of the Constable de Bourbon, and was given by Francis I. and Louise of Savoy to Antoine, duke of Lorraine, and his wife, Renée de Bourbon. Nicolas of Lorraine, son of Duke Antoine, was created duke of Mercœur and a peer of France in 1569. His son Philippe Emmanuel (see below) left a daughter, who married the duc de Vendôme in 1609.