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CHARLES (CARDINAL)—CHARLES OF VALOIS

constantly remain the general’s main solicitude”—a maxim which was never more remarkably disproved than in the war of 1809. The editor of the archduke’s work is able to make but a feeble defence against Clausewitz’s reproach that Charles attached more value to ground than to the annihilation of the foe. In his tactical writings the same spirit is conspicuous. His reserve in battle is designed to “cover a retreat.” The baneful influence of these antiquated principles was clearly shown in the maintenance of Königgrätz-Josefstadt in 1866 as a “strategic point,” which was preferred to the defeat of the separated Prussian armies; in the strange plans produced in Vienna for the campaign of 1859, and in the “almost unintelligible” battle of Montebello in the same year. The theory and the practice of the archduke Charles form one of the most curious contrasts in military history. In the one he is unreal, in the other he displayed, along with the greatest skill, a vivid activity which made him for long the most formidable opponent of Napoleon.

His writings were edited by the archduke Albert and his brother the archduke William in the Ausgewahlte Schriften weiland Sr. K. Hoheit Erzh. Carl v. Österreich (1862; reprinted 1893, Vienna and Leipzig), which includes the Grundsatze der Kriegskunst für die Generale (1806), Grundsatze der Strategie erlautert durch die Darstellung des Feldzugs 1796 (1814), Gesch. des Feldzugs von 1799 (1819)—the two latter invaluable contributions to the history of the war, and papers “on the higher art of war,” “on practical training in the field,” &c. See, besides the histories of the period, C. von B(inder)-K(rieglstein), Geist und Stoff im Kriege (Vienna, 1895); Caemmerer, Development of Strategical Science (English transl.), ch. iv.; M. Edler v. Angeli, Erzherzog Carl v. Österr. (Vienna and Leipzig, 1896); Duller, Erzh. Karl v. Österr. (Vienna, 1845); Schneidawind, Karl, Erzherzog v. Österr. und die österr. Armee (Vienna, 1840); Das Buch vom Erzh. Carl (1848); Thielen, Erzh. Karl v. Österr. (1858); Wolf, Erzh. Carl (1860); H. von Zeissberg, Erzh. Karl v. Österr. (Vienna, 1895); M. von Angeli, Erzh. Karl als Feldherr und Organisator (Vienna, 1896).


CHARLES (1525–1574), cardinal of Lorraine, French statesman, was the second son of Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise, and brother of Francis, duke of Guise. He was archbishop of Reims in 1538, and cardinal in 1547. At first he was called the cardinal of Guise, but in 1550, on the death of his uncle John, cardinal of Lorraine, he in his turn took the style of cardinal of Lorraine. Brilliant, cunning and a master of intrigue, he was, like all the Guises, devoured with ambition and devoid of scruples. He had, said Brantôme, “a soul exceeding smirched,” and, he adds, “by nature he was exceeding craven.” Together with his brother, Duke Francis, the cardinal of Lorraine was all-powerful during the reigns of Henry II. and Francis II.; in 1558 and 1559 he was one of the negotiators of the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis; he fought and pitilessly persecuted the reformers, and by his intolerant policy helped to provoke the crisis of the wars of religion. The death of Francis II. deprived him of power, but he remained one of the principal leaders of the Catholic party. In 1561, at the Colloquy of Poissy, he was commissioned to reply to Theodore Beza. In 1562 he went to the council of Trent, where he at first defended the rights of the Gallican Church against the pretensions of the pope; but after the assassination of his brother, he approached the court of Rome, and on his return to France he endeavoured, but without success, to obtain the promulgation of the decrees of the council (1564). In 1567, when the Protestants took up arms, he held for some time the first place in the king’s council, but Catherine de’ Medici soon grew weary of his arrogance, and in 1570 he had to leave the court. He endeavoured to regain favour by negotiating at Rome the dispensation for the marriage of Henry of Navarre with Margaret of Valois (1572). He died on the 26th of December 1574, at the beginning of the reign of Henry III. An orator of talent, he left several harangues or sermons, among them being Oraison prononcée au Colloque de Poissy (Paris, 1562) and Oratio habita in Concil. Trident. (Concil. Trident. Orationes, Louvain, 1567).

A large amount of correspondence is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. See also René de Bouillé, Histoire des ducs de Guise (Paris, 1849); H. Forneron, Les Guises et leur époque (Paris, 1877); Guillemin, Le Cardinal de Lorraine (1847).


CHARLES [Karl Alexander] (1712–1780), prince of Lorraine, was the youngest son of Leopold, duke of Lorraine, and grandson of Charles V., duke of Lorraine (see above), the famous general. He was born at Lunéville on the 12th of December 1712, and educated for a military career. After his elder brother Francis, the duke, had exchanged Lorraine for Tuscany and married Maria Theresa, Charles became an Austrian officer, and he served in the campaigns of 1737 and 1738 against the Turks. At the outbreak of the Silesian wars in 1740 (see Austrian Succession, War of the), the queen made her brother-in-law a field marshal, though he was not yet thirty years old, and in 1742 Charles encountered Frederick the Great for the first time at the battle of Chotusitz (May 17th). The victory of the Prussians on that field was far from decisive, and Charles drew off his forces in good order. His conduct of the successful campaign of 1743 against the French and Bavarians heightened his reputation. He married, in January 1744, Marianne of Austria, sister of Maria Theresa, who made them jointly governors-general of the Austrian Netherlands. Very soon the war broke out afresh, and Charles, at the head of the Austrian army on the Rhine, won great renown by his brilliant crossing of the Rhine. Once more a Lorraine prince at the head of Austrian troops invaded the duchy and drove the French before him, but at this moment Frederick resumed the Silesian war, all available troops were called back to oppose him, and the French maintained their hold on Lorraine. Charles hurried to Bohemia, whence, aided by the advice of the veteran field marshal Traun, he quickly expelled the Prussians. At the close of his victorious campaign he received the news that his wife, to whom he was deeply attached, had died in childbirth on the 16th of December 1744 at Brussels. He took the field again in 1745 in Silesia, but this time without the advice of Traun, and he was twice severely defeated by Frederick, at Hohenfriedberg and at Soor. Subsequently, as commander-in-chief in the Low Countries he received, at Roucoux, a heavy defeat at the hands of Marshal Saxe. His government of the Austrian Netherlands during the peace of 1749–1756 was marked by many reforms, and the prince won the regard of the people by his ceaseless activity on their behalf. After the first reverses of the Seven Years’ War (q.v.), Maria Theresa called Charles again to the supreme command in the field. The campaign of 1757 opened with Frederick’s great victory of Prague, and Prince Charles was shut up with his army in that fortress. In the victory of the relieving army under Daun at Kolin Charles had no part. Nevertheless the battle of Breslau, in which the Prussians suffered a defeat even more serious than that of Kolin, was won by him, and great enthusiasm was displayed in Austria over the victory, which seemed to be the final blow to Frederick. But soon afterwards the king of Prussia routed the French at Rossbach, and, swiftly returning to Silesia, he inflicted on Charles the complete and crushing defeat of Leuthen (December 5, 1757). A mere remnant of the Austrian army reassembled after the pursuit, and Charles was relieved of his command. He received, however, from the hands of the empress the grand cross, of the newly founded order of Maria Theresa. For a year thereafter Prince Charles acted as a military adviser at Vienna, he then returned to Brussels, where, during the remainder of his life, he continued to govern in the same liberal spirit as before. The affection of the people for the prince was displayed during his dangerous illness in 1765, and in 1775 the estates of Brabant erected a statue in his honour at Brussels. He died on the 4th of July 1780 at the castle of Tervoeren, and was buried with his Lorraine ancestors at Nancy.


CHARLES (1270–1325), count of Valois, of Maine, and of Anjou, third son of Philip III., king of France, surnamed the Bold, and of Isabella of Aragon, was born on the 12th of March 1270. By his father’s will he inherited the four lordships of Crépy, La Ferté-Milon, Pierrefonds and Béthisy, which together formed the countship of Valois. In 1284 Martin IV., having excommunicated Pedro III., king of Aragon, offered that kingdom to Charles. King Philip failed in an attempt to place his son on this throne, and died on the return of the expedition. In 1290 Charles married Margaret, daughter of Charles II., king of Naples, and renounced his pretensions to Aragon. In