René of Châlon
| René of Châlon, Prince of Orange | |
|---|---|
René of Châlon
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| Spouse(s) | Anna of Lorraine |
| Noble family | Châlon-Arlay and Nassau-Breda |
| Father | Henry III of Nassau-Breda |
| Mother | Claudia of Châlon |
| Born |
5 February 1519 Breda, Duchy of Brabant |
| Died | 15 July 1544 (aged 25) Saint-Dizier, Kingdom of France |
| Buried | Grote Kerk (Breda) |
René of Châlon (5 February 1519 – 15 July 1544), also known as Renatus of Châlon, was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre.
René was born in Breda, the only son of Count Henry III of Nassau-Breda and Claudia of Châlon. Claudia's brother, Philibert of Châlon, was the last Prince of Orange from the house of Châlon. When Philibert died in 1530, René inherited the Princedom of Orange on condition that he used the name and coat of arms of the Châlon-Orange family. History knows him therefore as René of Châlon instead of as "René of Nassau-Breda."
René of Châlon married Anna of Lorraine (1522–1568) on 20 August 1540 at Bar-le-Duc. They had only one child, a daughter named Maria, who lived only 3 weeks and was buried in the Grote Kerk in Breda.
In 1544, René took part in the siege of St. Dizier in the service of Emperor Charles V. He was mortally wounded in battle and died with the Emperor attending at his bedside. René was buried in Grote Kerk in Breda, near the resting-place of his short-lived daughter. A commemorative cenotaph stands in the church of St. Etienne in Bar-le-Duc.
René of Châlon, as the last descendant of the original princes, left the principality to his first cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg (better known as "William the Silent"), who was not a descendant of the original Orange family but became the legal heir to the principality of Orange, and all of René's lands. Thus, the principality which René had inherited from his mother was passed to his father's brother's son.
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