Counts and dukes of Guise

Count of Guise and Duke of Guise were titles in the French nobility.

Originally a seigneurie, in 1417 Guise was erected into a county for René, a younger son of Louis II of Anjou.

While disputed by the House of Luxembourg (1425–44), the county was ultimately retained by the House of Anjou and its descendants, passing in 1520 to the cadet branch of the ducal House of Lorraine that became known as the House of Guise, headed by Claude of Lorraine. In 1528, the county was elevated to a dukedom and peerage of France for him. The Dukes of Guise and their sons played a prominent role in the French Wars of Religion, during which they were the leaders of the ultra-Catholic faction.

This dukedom became extinct in 1688, and the lands attached to it passed to the Princess Palatine Anne, a great-granddaughter of Charles of Lorraine-Guise, Duke of Mayenne – although she was not the heiress in strict primogeniture, that being the Duke of Mantua. The dukedom was recreated for Anne and her husband, Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé in 1704.

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise

The Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1908) (original French title: La Mort du duc de Guise; often referred to as L'Assassinat du duc de Guise) is a French historical film directed by Charles Le Bargy and André Calmettes, adapted by Henri Lavedan, and featuring actors of the Comédie-Française and prominent set designers. It is one of the first films to feature both an original film score, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns, and a screenplay by an eminent screenwriter.

Synopsis

Lasting longer than was then usual, about 15 minutes, the film more or less accurately depicts the events of the day in 1588 when King Henri III (played by co-director Le Bargy) summoned his powerful rival, Duke Henri de Guise, to his chambers at the Château de Blois and had him brutally murdered. The film has its share of lurid thrills, and the pacing is quick throughout, with better acting than most films of the time, and staged in a somewhat theatrical manner.

Production

The Assassination was one of the first and most successful films to be made by Le Film d'Art, a production company founded in 1907 with the intention of making films that would earn the respect of the cultural elite as well as the patronage of large audiences. The script was written for the screen (by Henri Lavedan), but its costumes and staging followed the historical tradition of the French theater.

Guise

Guise is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.

Population

Sights

The ruins of the medieval castle of Guise, seat of the Dukes of Guise, are located in the commune.

Economy

Guise is the agricultural centre of the northern area of Aisne.

Miscellaneous

Guise was the birthplace of Camille Desmoulins (1760–1794), a journalist and politician who played an important part in the French Revolution.

Over a period of 20 years, beginning about 1856, Jean-Baptiste Godin built Le Familistère (the Social Palace), an industrial and communal residential complex that was a separate community within Guise. It expressed many of his ideas about developing social sympathy through improved housing and services for workers and their families, influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Charles Fourier. In 1880 Godin created a cooperative association by which the workers owned and managed the complex. This continued until 1968.

On the 29th of August 1914 the Battle of St. Quentin (1914) was fought in and around the town. A memorial in Guise celebrates this event.

Guise (disambiguation)

Guise is a commune in France. Guise may also refer to:

People

Other uses

See also

Guise (name)

Guise is a surname possibly derived from the Guise baronets of England or from Guise, commune in France. It is less commonly used as a given name. Notable people with the name include:

Given name

Surname

See also