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Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat

Charles
Carlo I Gonzaga.jpg
Engraving of Charles Gonzaga
Duke of Mantua and Montferrat
Reign 1627 - 1637
Predecessor Vincenzo II Gonzaga
Successor Charles II Gonzaga
Born 6 May 1580
Paris, France
Died 22 September 1637(1637-09-22) (aged 57)
Mantua
Spouse Catherine de Lorraine-Guise-Mayenne
Issue
Detail
Francis, Duke of Rethel
Charles, Duke of Nevers
Ferdinand, Duke of Mayenne
Marie Louise, Queen of Poland
Anna, Countess Palatine of Simmern
Full name
Carlo Gonzaga
House House of Gonzaga
Father Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers
Mother Henriette of Cleves
Full name
Carlo Gonzaga

Charles Gonzaga (Italian: Carlo I Gonzaga) (6 May 1580 – 22 September 1637) was Duke of Mantua and Duke of Montferrat from 1627 until his death. He was also Duke of Rethel and Nevers, as well as Prince of Arches.

Born in Paris, he was the son of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and Henriette of Cleves.

In 1600, as duke of Rethel, he founded, in Nevers, the Order of the Yellow Ribbon, soon forbidden by the King, due to its peculiar character.

In 1606, he decided the foundation of Charleville and the Principality of Arches ( )

In 1612, Charles, a descendant of the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus through his grandmother Margaret, who was of the line of Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat, Andronicus' son. Claimed the throne of Constantinople, at the time the capital of the Ottoman Empire. He began plotting with Greek rebels, including the Maniots of Greece, who addressed him as "King Constantine Palaeologus". When the Ottoman authorities heard about this, they sent an army of 20,000 men and 70 ships to invade Mani. They succeeded in ravaging Mani and imposing taxes on the Maniots. This caused Charles to move more actively for his crusade. He sent envoys to the courts of Europe looking for support. In 1619, he recruited six ships and some five thousand men, but he was forced to abort the mission because of the beginning of the Thirty Years' War.


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