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Alevism

Alevism (Alevilik; Elewîtî; Ələvilik) is a heterodox and syncretic Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who is supposed to have taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams whilst incorporating some traditions from Turkish Shamanism. Differing from Sunni Islam and Usuli Twelver Shia Islam, Alevis have no binding religious dogmas, and teachings are passed on by a spiritual leader as with Sufi orders. They acknowledge the six articles of faith of Islam, but may differ regarding their interpretation.

Originally one of many Sufi approaches within Sunni Islam; by the 16th century the order adopted some tenets of the Shia Islam, including a veneration of ʿAlī and the twelve imams, as well as a variety of syncretic beliefs. The Alevis acquired political importance in the 15th century, when the order dominated the Janissaries.

The term “Alevi-Bektashi” is currently a widely and frequently used expression in the religious discourse of Turkey as an umbrella term for the two religious groups of Alevism and Bektashism. Adherents of Alevism are found primarily in Turkey and estimates of the percentage of Turkey's population that are Alevi include between 4% and 25%.

Etymology
"Alevi" is generally explained as referring to Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. The name represents a Turkish form of the word ʻAlawiyy (علوي) "of or pertaining to Ali".

A minority viewpoint is that of the Ishikists, who assert, "Alevi" was derived from "Alev" ("flame" in Turkish) in reference to fire which is extensively used in Alevi rituals. According to them the use of candles is based on Quran, surah an-Nur, verses 35–36: "God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which there is a lamp, the lamp is encased in a glass, the glass is like a radiant planet, which is lit from a blessed olive tree that is neither of the east nor of the west, its oil nearly gives off light even if not touched by fire. Light upon light, God guides to His light whom He pleases. And God sets forth examples for the people, and God is aware of all things. (Lit is such a Light) in houses, which God has permitted to be raised to honor; for the celebration, in them, of His name: In them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again)."

Beliefs
According to scholar Soner Çağaptay, Alevism is a "relatively unstructured interpretation of Islam". Journalist Patrick Kingsley states that for some self-described Alevi, their religion is "simply a cultural identity, rather than a form of worship".

Many teachings are based on an orally transmitted tradition, traditionally kept secret from outsiders (but now widely accessible). Alevis commonly profess the Islamic shahada, but adding "Ali is the friend of God".

The basis for Alevis' most distinctive beliefs is found in the Buyruks (compiled writings and dialogues of Sheikh Safi-ad-din Ardabili, and other worthies). Also included are hymns (nefes) by figures such as Shah Ismail or Pir Sultan Abdal, stories of Hajji Bektash and other lore.

The Alevi beliefs among Turkish Alevis and Kurdish Alevis diverge as Kurdish Alevis put more emphasis on Pir Sultan Abdal than Haji Bektash Veli, and Kurdish Alevism is rooted more in nature veneration.

God
In Alevi cosmology, God is also called Al-Haqq (the Truth) or referred to as Allah. God created life, so the created world can reflect His Being. Alevis believe in the unity of Allah, Muhammad, and Ali, but this is not a trinity composed of God and the historical figures of Muhammad and Ali. Rather, Muhammad and Ali are representations of Allah's light (and not of Allah himself), being neither independent from God, nor separate characteristics of Him.

In Alevi writings are many references to the unity of Muhammad and Ali, such as:

The phrase "For the love of Haqq–Muhammad–Ali" (Hakk–Muhammad–Ali aşkına) is common to several Alevi prayers.

Spirits and afterlife
Alevis believe in the immortality of the soul, the literal existence of supernatural beings, including good angels (melekler) and bad angels (şeytanlar), bad ones as encourager of human's evil desires (nefs), and jinn (cinler), as well as the evil eye.

Angels feature in Alevi cosmogony. Although there is no fixed creation narrative among Alevis, it is generally accepted that God created five archangels, who have been invited to the chamber of God. Inside they found a light representing the light of Muhammad and Ali. A recount of the Quranic story, one of the archangels refused to prostrate before the light, arguing, that the light is a created body just like him and therefore inappropriate to worship. He remains at God's service, but rejects the final test and turns back to darkness. From this primordial decline, the devil's enmity towards Adam emerged. (The archangels constitute of the same four archangels as within orthodox Islam. The fifth archangel namely Azazil fell from grace, thus not included among the canonical archangels apart from this story).

Another story features the archangel Gabriel (Cebrail), who is asked by God, who they are. Gabriel answers: "I am I and you are you". Gabriel gets punished for his haughty answer and is sent away, until Ali reveals a secret to him. When God asks him again, he answers: "You are the creator and I am your creation". Afterwards, Gabriel was accepted and introduced to Muhammad and Ali.

Scriptures and prophets
Alevis acknowledge the four revealed scriptures also recognized in Islam: the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), the Injil (Gospel), and the Quran. Additionally, Alevis are not opposed to looking to other religious books outside the four major ones as sources for their beliefs including Hadiths, Nahjul Balagha and Buyruks. Alevism also acknowledges the Islamic prophet Mohammed. Unlike the vast majority of Muslims, Alevis do not regard interpretations of the Quran today as binding or infallible, since the true meaning the Quran is considered to be taken as a secret by Ali and must be taught by a teacher, who transmits the teachings of Ali (Buyruk) to his disciple.

Twelve Imams
The Twelve Imams are part of another common Alevi belief. Each Imam represents a different aspect of the world. They are realized as twelve services or On İki Hizmet which are performed by members of the Alevi community. Each Imam is believed to be a reflection of Ali ibn Abu Talib, the first Imam of the Shi'ites, and there are references to the "First Ali" (Birinci Ali), Imam Hasan the "Second 'Ali" (İkinci Ali), and so on up to the "Twelfth 'Ali" (Onikinci Ali), Imam Mehdi. The Twelfth Imam is hidden and represents the Messianic Age.

Plurality
The plurality in nature is attributed to the infinite potential energy of Kull-i Nafs when it takes corporeal form as it descends into being from Allah. During the Cem ceremony, the cantor or aşık sings:

 * "All of us alive or lifeless are from one, this is ineffable, Sultan.
 * For to love and to fall in love has been my fate from time immemorial."

This is sung as a reminder that the reason for creation is love, so that the followers may know themselves and each other and that they may love that which they know.

Creed and jurisprudence
Sources differ on how important formal doctrine is among contemporary Alevi. According to scholar Russell Powell, there is a tradition of informal "Dede" courts within the Alevi society, but regarding Islamic jurisprudence or fiqh there has been "little scholarship on Alevi influences" in it. Alevism has a unique belief system tracing back to Kaysanites and Khurramites.

Practices
The Alevi spiritual path (yol) is commonly understood to take place through four major life-stages, or "gates". These may be further subdivided into "four gates, forty levels" (Dört Kapı Kırk Makam). The first gate (religious law) is considered elementary (and this may be perceived as subtle criticism of other Muslim traditions).

The following are major crimes that cause an Alevi to be declared düşkün (shunned):
 * killing a person
 * committing adultery
 * divorcing one's wife without a just reason
 * stealing
 * backbiting/gossiping

Most Alevi activity takes place in the context of the second gate (spiritual brotherhood), during which one submits to a living spiritual guide (dede, pir, mürşid). The existence of the third and fourth gates is mostly theoretical, though some older Alevis have apparently received initiation into the third.

Rakia, a fruit brandy, is used as a sacramental element by the Bektashi Order, and Alevi Jem ceremonies, where it is not considered alcoholic and is referred to as "dem".

Dede
A Dede (literally meaning grandfather) is a traditional leader that is claimed to be from the lineage of Muhammad that performs ritual baptisms for newborns, officiates at funerals, and organises weekly gatherings at cemevis.

Cem and Cemevi

Alevi religious, cultural and other social activities take place in assembly houses (Cemevi). The ceremony's prototype is the Muhammad's nocturnal ascent into heaven, where he beheld a gathering of forty saints (Kırklar Meclisi), and the Divine Reality made manifest in their leader, Ali.

The Cem ceremony features music, singing, and dancing (Samāh) in which both women and men participate. Rituals are performed in Turkish, Zazaki, Kurmanji and other local languages.

 * Bağlama

During the Cem ceremony the Âşık plays the Bağlama whilst singing spiritual songs, some of which are centuries old and well known amongst Alevis. Every song, called a Nefes, has spiritual meaning and aims to teach the participants important lessons.

A family of ritual dances characterized by turning and swirling, is an inseparable part of any cem. Samāh is performed by men and women together, to the accompaniment of the Bağlama. The dances symbolize (for example) the revolution of the planets around the Sun (by man and woman turning in circles), and the putting off of one's self and uniting with God.
 * Samāh

The Rite of Integration (görgü cemi) is a complex ritual occasion in which a variety of tasks are allotted to incumbents bound together by extrafamilial brotherhood (müsahiplik), who undertake a dramatization of unity and integration under the direction of the spiritual leader (dede).
 * Görgü Cemi

The love of the creator for the created and vice versa is symbolised in the Cem ceremony by the use of fruit juice and/or red wine [Dem] which represents the intoxication of the lover in the beloved. During the ceremony Dem is one of the twelve duties of the participants. (see above)
 * Dem

At the closing of the cem ceremony the Dede who leads the ceremony engages the participants in a discussion (chat), this discussion is called a sohbet.
 * Sohbet

Twelve services
There are twelve services (On İki hizmet) performed by the twelve ministers of the cem.
 * 1) Dede: This is the leader of the Cem who represents Muhammad and Ali. The Dede receives confession from the attendees at the beginning of the ceremony. He also leads funerals, Müsahiplik, marriage ceremonies and circumcisions. The status of Dede is hereditary and he must be a descendant of Ali and Fatima.
 * 2) Rehber: This position represents Husayn. The Rehber is a guide to the faithful and works closely with the Dede in the community.
 * 3) Gözcü: This position represents Abu Dharr al-Ghifari. S/he is the assistant to the Rehber. S/he is the Cem keeper responsible for keeping the faithful calm.
 * 4) Çerağcı: This position represents Jabir ibn Abd-Allah and s/he is the light-keeper responsible for maintaining the light traditionally given by a lamp or candles.
 * 5) Zakir: This position represents Bilal ibn al-Harith. S/he plays the bağlama and recites songs and prayers.
 * 6) Süpürgeci: This position represents Salman the Persian. S/he is responsible for cleaning the Cemevi hall and symbolically sweeping the carpets during the Cem.
 * 7) Meydancı: This position represents Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman.
 * 8) Niyazcı: this position represents Muhammad ibn Maslamah. S/he is responsible for distributing the sacred meal.
 * 9) İbrikçi: this position represents Kamber. S/he is responsible for washing the hands of the attendees.
 * 10) Kapıcı: this position represents Ghulam Kaysan. S/he is responsible for calling the faithful to the Cem.
 * 11) Peyikçi: this position represents Amri Ayyari.
 * 12) Sakacı: represents Ammar ibn Yasir. Responsible for the distribution of water, sherbet (sharbat), milk etc..

Festivals

Alevis celebrate and commemorate the birth of Ali, his wedding with Fatima, the rescue of Yusuf from the well, and the creation of the world on this day. Various cem ceremonies and special programs are held.

Mourning of Muharram
The Muslim month of Muharram begins 20 days after Eid ul-Adha (Kurban Bayramı). Alevis observe a fast for the first twelve days, known as the Mourning of Muharram (Muharrem Mâtemi, Yâs-ı Muharrem, or Mâtem Orucu; Rojîya Şînê or Rojîya Miherremê). This culminates in the festival of Ashura (Aşure), which commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala. The fast is broken with a special dish (also called aşure) prepared from a variety (often twelve) of fruits, nuts, and grains. Many events are associated with this celebration, including the salvation of Husayn's son Ali ibn Husayn from the massacre at Karbala, thus allowing the bloodline of the family of Muhammad to continue.

Hıdırellez

Hıdırellez honors the mysterious figure Khidr (Hızır) who is sometimes identified with Elijah (Ilyas), and is said to have drunk of the water of life. Some hold that Khidr comes to the rescue of those in distress on land, while Elijah helps those at sea; and that they meet at a rose tree in the evening of every 6 May. The festival is also celebrated in parts of the Balkans by the name of "Erdelez," where it falls on the same day as George's Day in Spring or Saint George's Day.

Khidr is also honored with a three-day fast in mid-February called Hızır Orucu. In addition to avoiding any sort of comfort or enjoyment, Alevis also abstain from food and water for the entire day, though they do drink liquids other than water during the evening.

Note that the dates of the Khidr holidays can differ among Alevis, most of whom use a lunar calendar, but some a solar calendar.

Müsahiplik
Müsahiplik (roughly, "Companionship") is a covenant relationship between two men of the same age, preferably along with their wives. In a ceremony in the presence of a dede the partners make a lifelong commitment to care for the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of each other and their children. The ties between couples who have made this commitment is at least as strong as it is for blood relatives, so much so that müsahiplik is often called spiritual brotherhood (manevi kardeşlik). The children of covenanted couples may not marry.

Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi reports that the Tahtacı identify müsahiplik with the first gate (şeriat), since they regard it as a precondition for the second (tarikat). Those who attain to the third gate (marifat, "gnosis") must have been in a müsahiplik relationship for at least twelve years. Entry into the third gate dissolves the müsahiplik relationship (which otherwise persists unto death), in a ceremony called Öz Verme Âyini ("ceremony of giving up the self").

The value corresponding to the second gate (and necessary to enter the third) is âşinalık ("intimacy," perhaps with God). Its counterpart for the third gate is called peşinelik; for the fourth gate (hâkikat, Ultimate Truth), cıngıldaşlık or cengildeşlik (translations uncertain).

Folk practices
Many folk practices may be identified, though few of them are specific to the Alevis. In this connection, scholar Martin van Bruinessen notes a sign from Turkey's Ministry of Religion, attached to Istanbul's shrine of Eyüp Sultan, which presents"...a long list of ‘superstitious’ practices that are emphatically declared to be non-Islamic and objectionable, such as lighting candles or placing ‘wishing stones’ on the tomb, tying pieces of cloth to the shrine or to the trees in front of it, throwing money on the tomb, asking the dead directly for help, circling seven times around the trees in the courtyard or pressing one’s face against the walls of the türbe in the hope of a supernatural cure, tying beads to the shrine and expecting supernatural support from them, sacrificing roosters or turkeys as a vow to the shrine. The list is probably an inventory of common local practices the authorities wish to prevent from re-emerging."Other, similar practices include kissing door frames of holy rooms; not stepping on the threshold of holy buildings; seeking prayers from reputed healers; and making lokma and sharing it with others. Also, Ashure is made and shared with friends and family during the month of Muharram in which the Day of Ashure takes place.

Ziyarat to sacred places
Performing ziyarat and du'a at the tombs of Alevi-Bektashi saints or pirs is quite common. Some of the most frequently visited sites are the shrines of Şahkulu and Karacaahmet (both in Istanbul), Abdal Musa (Antalya), Seyyid Battal Gazi Complex (Eskişehir), Hamza Baba (İzmir), Hasandede (Kırıkkale).

In contrast with the traditional secrecy of the Cem ceremony ritual, the events at these cultural centers and sites are open to the public. In the case of the Hacibektaş celebration, since 1990 the activities there have been taken over by Turkey's Ministry of Culture in the interest of promoting tourism and Turkish patriotism rather than Alevi spirituality. The annual celebrations held at Hacıbektaş (16 August) and Sivas (the Pir Sultan Abdal Kültür Etkinlikleri, 23–24 June).

Some Alevis make pilgrimages to mountains and other natural sites believed to be imbued with holiness.

Almsgiving
Alevis are expected to give zakat, but there is no set formula or prescribed amount for annual charitable donation as there is in other forms of Islam (2.5% of possessions above a certain minimum). Rather, they are expected to give the "excess" according to Qur'an 2:219. A common method of Alevi almsgiving is through donating food (especially sacrificial animals) to be shared with worshippers and guests. Alevis also donate money to be used to help the poor, to support the religious, educational and cultural activities of Alevi centers and organizations (dargahs, awqaf, and meetings), and to provide scholarships for students.

Seljuk period
During the great Turkish expansion from Central Asia into Iran and Anatolia in the Seljuk period (11–12th centuries), Turkmen and Kurdish nomad tribes accepted a Sufi and pro-Ali form of Islam that co-existed with some of their pre-Islamic customs. Their conversion to Islam in this period was achieved largely through the efforts not of textual scholars (ulema) expounding the finer points of Koranic exegesis and shari‘a law, but by charismatic Sufi dervishes a belief whose cult of Muslim saint worship, mystical divination and millenarianism spoke more directly to the steppe mindset. These tribes dominated Anatolia for centuries with their religious warriors (ghazi) spearheading the drive against Byzantines and Crusaders.

Ottoman period
As in Khorasan and West Asia before, the Turkmens who spearheaded the Ottomans’ drive into the Balkans and West Asia were more inspired by a vaguely Shiite folk Islam than by formal religion. Many times, Ottoman campaigns were accompanied or guided by Bektaşi dervishes, spiritual heirs of the 13th century Sufi saint Haji Bektash Veli, himself a native of Khorasan. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman state became increasingly determined to assert its fiscal but also its juridical and political control over the farthest reaches of the Empire.

The resulting Alevi revolts, a series of millenarian anti-state uprisings by the heterodox Turkmen population of Anatolia that culminated in the establishment of a militantly Shiite rival state in neighbouring Iran. The Ottoman Empire later proclaimed themselves its defenders against the Safavid Shia state and related sects. This created a gap between the Sunni Ottoman ruling elite and the Alevi Anatolian population. Anatolia became a battlefield between Safavids and Ottomans, each determined to include it in their empire.

Republic of Turkey
According to Eren Sarı, Alevi saw Kemal Atatürk as a Mahdi "savior sent to save them from the Sunni Ottoman yoke". However, pogroms against Alevi did not cease after the establishment of Atatürk's republic. In attacks against leftists in the 1970s, ultranationalists and reactionaries killed many Alevis. Malatya in 1978, Maraş in 1979, and Çorum in 1980 witnessed the murder of hundreds of Alevis, the torching of hundreds of homes, and lootings.

Alevis have been victims of pogroms during both Ottoman times and under the Turkish republic up until the 1993 Sivas massacre.

{| class="" style="float:; margin: 2ex 0 0.6em 0.5em; width: 8em; line-height:111%;" ! The schematic history of the development of the Imāmī-Alevism from other Shī‘ah Muslim sects

Organization
In contrast to the Bektashi order – tariqa, which like other Sufi orders is based on a silsila "initiatory chain or lineage" of teachers and their students, Alevi leaders succeed to their role on the basis of family descent. Perhaps ten percent of Alevis belong to a religious elite called ocak "hearth", indicating descent from Ali and/or various other saints and heroes. Ocak members are called ocakzades or "sons of the hearth". This system apparently originated in the Safavid state.

Alevi leaders are variously called murshid, pir, rehber or dede. Groups that conceive of these as ranks of a hierarchy (as in the Bektashi Order) disagree as to the order. The last of these, dede "grandfather", is the term preferred by the scholarly literature. Ocakzades may attain to the position of dede on the basis of selection (by a father from among several sons), character, and learning. In contrast to Alevi rhetoric on the equality of the sexes, it is generally assumed that only males may fill such leadership roles.

Traditionally, dedes did not merely lead rituals, but led their communities, often in conjunction with local notables such as the ağas (large landowners) of the Dersim Region. They also acted as judges or arbiters, presiding over village courts called Düşkünlük Meydanı.

Ordinary Alevi would owe allegiance to a particular dede lineage (but not others) on the basis of pre-existing family or village relations. Some fall instead under the authority of Bektashi dargahs.

In the wake of 20th century urbanization (which removed young laborers from the villages) and socialist influence (which looked upon the dedes with suspicion), the old hierarchy has largely broken down. Many dedes now receive salaries from Alevi cultural centers, which arguably subordinates their role. Such centers no longer feature community business or deliberation, such as the old ritual of reconciliation, but emphasize musical and dance performance to the exclusion of these. Dedes are now approached on a voluntary basis, and their role has become more circumscribed – limited to religious rituals, research, and giving advice.

According to John Shindeldecker "Alevis are proud to point out that they are monogamous, Alevi women are encouraged to get the best education they can, and Alevi women are free to go into any occupation they choose."

Relationship with Shia Islam
Alevis are classified as a sect of Shia Islam, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decreed Alevis to be part of the Shia fold in the 1970s. However, Alevi philosophies, customs, and rituals are appreciably different from those of mainstream, orthodox Usulis. According to Alevis, Ali and Muhammad are likened to the two sides of a coin, or the two halves of an apple.

Relationship with Alawites
Similarities with the Alawites of Syria exist. Both are viewed as heterodox, syncretic Islamic minorities, whose names both mean "devoted to Ali," (the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and fourth caliph following Muhammad as leader of the Muslims), and are located primarily in the Eastern Mediterranean. Like mainstream Shia they are known as "Twelvers" as they both recognize the Twelve Imams.

How the two minorities relate is disputed. According to scholar Marianne Aringberg-Laanatza, "the Turkish Alevis... do not relate themselves in any way to the Alawites in Syria." However journalist Jeffrey Gettlemand claims that both Alevi and the less than one million Alawite minority in Turkey "seem to be solidly behind Syria’s embattled strongman, Bashar al-Assad" and leery of Syrian Sunni rebels. Deutsche Welle journalist Dorian Jones states that Turkish Alevis are suspicious of the anti-Assad uprising in Syria. "They are worried of the repercussions for Alawites there, as well as for themselves."

Some sources (Martin van Bruinessen and Jamal Shah) mistake Alawites living in Turkey to be Alevis (calling Alevis "a blanket term for a large number of different heterodox communities"), but others do not, giving a list of the differences between the two groups. These include their liturgical languages (Turkish or Kurdish for Alevi, Arabic for Alawites). Opposing political nationalism, with Alawites supporting their ruling dictatorship and considering Turks (including Alevis) an "opponent" of its Arab "historic interests". (Even Kurdish and Balkan Alevi populations pray in Turkish.)

Unlike Alevis, Alawites not only traditionally lack mosques but do not maintain their own places for worship, except for shrines to their leaders. Alevi "possess an extensive and widely-read religious literature, mainly composed of spiritual songs, poems, and epic verse." Their origins are also different: The Alawite faith was founded in the ninth century by Abu Shuayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr. Alevism started in the 14th century by mystical Islamic dissenters in Central Asia, and represent more of a movement rather than a sect.

Relationship with Sunnis
The relationship between Alevis and Sunnis is one of mutual suspicion and prejudice dating back to the Ottoman period. Hundreds of Alevis were murdered in sectarian violence in the years that preceded the 1980 coup, and as late as the 1990s dozens were killed with impunity. While pogroms have not occurred since then, Erdogan has declared "a cemevi is not a place of worship, it is a center for cultural activities. Muslims should only have one place of worship."

Alevis claim that they have been subject to intolerant Sunni "nationalism" that has been unwilling to recognize Alevi "uniqueness".

Demographics

Most Alevi live in Turkey, where they are a minority and Sunni Muslims the majority. The size of the Alevi population is likewise disputed, but most estimates place them somewhere between 5 and 10 million people or about 10% of the population. Estimates of the percentage of Turkey's population that are Alevi range between 4% and 15%. Scattered minorities live in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Cyprus, Greece, Iran and the diaspora such as Germany and France. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, Alevism was discovered to be the eighth largest religion in England and Wales, after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism and Paganism.

Different estimations exist on the ethnic composition of the Alevi population. Although Turks are probably the largest ethnic group among Alevis considering their historical towns and cities. While Dressler stated in 2008 that about a third of the Alevi population is Kurdish, Hamza Aksüt argued that the majority is Kurdish when all groups he considers as Alevis, such as the Yarsanis, are counted.

Most Alevis are probably of Kizilbash or Bektashi origin. The Alevis (Kizilbash) are traditionally predominantly rural and acquire identity by parentage. Bektashis, however, are predominantly urban, and formally claim that membership is open to any Muslim. The groups are separately organized, but subscribe to "virtually the same system of beliefs".

Population estimates
The Alevi population has been estimated as follows:
 * Approximately 20 million according to Daily Sabah, a newspaper close to the government in 2021.
 * 12,521,000 according to Sabahat Akkiraz, an MP from CHP.
 * "approx. 15 million..." – Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi.
 * 4% of total population of Turkey – KONDA Research (2021).
 * In Turkey, 15% of Turkey's population (approx. 10.6 million) – Shankland (2006).
 * 20 to 25 million according to Minority Rights Group.
 * There is a native 3,000 Alevi community in Western Thrace, Greece.

 * The predominant religion of the Äynu people of western China is Alevism.  There are estimated to be around 30–50 thousand Äynu, mostly located on the fringe of the Taklamakan Desert.
 * 25,672 Alevi live in England and Wales.
 * 600k to 700k Alevi live in Germany.
 * 100k to 200k Alevi live in France.

Social groups
A Turkish scholar working in France has distinguished four main groups among contemporary Alevis in Turkey.

The first group, who form a majority of the Alevi population, regard themselves as true Muslims and are prepared to cooperate with the state. It adheres to the way of Jafar as-Sadiq, the Sixth Imam of Shia Islam. This group's concept of God is the same as Orthodox Islam, and like their Shia counterparts they reject the first three chosen Caliphs, whom Sunni accept as legitimate, and accept only Ali as the actual and true Caliph.

The second group, which has the second most following among Alevis, are said to be under the active influence of the official Iranian Shia and to be confirmed adherents of the Twelver branch of Shia Islam and they reject the teachings of Bektashism Tariqa. They follow the Ja'fari jurisprudence and oppose secular state power.

The third group, a minority belief held by the Alevis, is mainly represented by people who belong to the political left and presumed the Aleviness just as an outlook on the individual human life rather than a religious conviction by persistently renouncing the ties of Alevism with Twelver political branch of Shia Islam. The followers of this congregation, who later turned out to be the very stern defenders of Erdoğan Çınar, hold ritual unions of a religious character and have established cultural associations named after Pir Sultan Abdal as well. According to their philosophy, human being should enjoy a central role reminiscent of the doctrine of Khurramites, and as illustrated by Hurufi phrase of God is Man quoted above in the context of the Trinity.

The fourth who adopted some aspirations of Christian mysticism, is more directed towards heterodox mysticism and stands closer to the Hajji Bektashi Brotherhood. According to the philosophy developed by this congregation, Christian mystic St Francis of Assisi and Hindu Mahatma Gandhi are supposedly considered better believers of God than many Muslims.

Sufi elements in Alevism
Despite this essentially Shi‘i orientation, much of Aleviness' mystical language is inspired by Sufi traditions. For example, the Alevi concept of God is derived from the philosophy of Ibn Arabi and involves a chain of emanation from God, to spiritual man, earthly man, animals, plants, and minerals. The goal of spiritual life is to follow this path in the reverse direction, to unity with God, or al-Haqq (Reality, Truth). From the highest perspective, all is God (see Sufi metaphysics). Alevis admire al-Hallaj, a 10th-century Sufi who was accused of blasphemy and subsequently executed in Baghdad for saying "I am the Truth" (Ana al-Haqq).

There is some tension between folk tradition Aleviness and the Bektashi Order, which is a Sufi order founded on Alevi beliefs. In certain Turkish communities other Sufi orders (the Halveti-Jerrahi and some of the Rifaʽi) have incorporated significant Alevi influence.

Wahdat al-Mawjud
Bektashism places much emphasis on the concept of Wahdat al-Mawjud وحدة الوجود, the "Unity of Being" that was formulated by Ibn Arabi. Bektashism is also heavily permeated with Shiite concepts, such as the marked veneration of Ali, the Twelve Imams, and the ritual commemoration of Ashurah marking the Battle of Karbala. The old Persian holiday of Nowruz is celebrated by Bektashis as Imam Ali's birthday. In keeping with the central belief of Wahdat Al-Mawjud the Bektashi see reality contained in Haqq-Muhammad-Ali, a single unified entity. Bektashi do not consider this a form of trinity. There are many other practices and ceremonies that share similarity with other faiths, such as a ritual meal (muhabbet) and yearly confession of sins to a baba (magfirat-i zunub مغفرة الذنوب).

Bektashis base their practices and rituals on their non-orthodox and mystical interpretation and understanding of the Qur'an and the prophetic practice (Sunnah). They have no written doctrine specific to them, thus rules and rituals may differ depending on under whose influence one has been taught. Bektashis generally revere Sufi mystics outside of their own order, such as Ibn Arabi, Al-Ghazali and Jelalludin Rumi who are close in spirit to them.

Mysticism
Bektashism is initiatic and members must traverse various levels or ranks as they progress along the spiritual path to the Reality. First level members are called aşıks عاشق. They are those who, while not having taken initiation into the order, are nevertheless drawn to it. Following initiation (called nasip) one becomes a mühip محب. After some time as a mühip, one can take further vows and become a dervish.

The next level above dervish is that of baba. The baba (lit. father) is considered to be the head of a tekke and qualified to give spiritual guidance (irshad إرشاد). Above the baba is the rank of halife-baba (or dede, grandfather). Traditionally there were twelve of these, the most senior being the "dedebaba" (great-grandfather).

The dedebaba was considered to be the highest ranking authority in the Bektashi Order. Traditionally the residence of the dedebaba was the Pir Evi (The Saint's Home) which was located in the shrine of Hajji Bektash Wali in the central Anatolian town of Hacıbektaş (Solucakarahüyük).

Non-Islamic elements
Alevism is indeed heavily influenced by old Turkic and shamanistic beliefs. Concepts such as Odjak, inclusive social roles for women, musical performances, various rituals celebrating the nature or the seasons (like Hıdırellez) and some customs like the cult of ancestors, trees and rocks are both observed in Alevism and Tengrism.

title: Alevism


text:
Adalbert, Duke of Lorraine

Adalbert (1000 – 11 November 1048) was the Duke of Upper Lorraine from 1047 until his death the next year. He was the first son of Gerhard IV, Count of Metz, and Gisela (Gisella), possibly a daughter of Theodoric I, Duke of Upper Lorraine. Gerard's father Adalbert had inherited the county of Metz from his brother Gerhard of the Moselle.

Gothelo I, Duke of Lower Lorraine and Upper Lorraine, died in 1044 and was succeeded by his son Godfrey III in Upper Lorraine but was refused Lower Lorraine. Irritated, Godfrey rebelled in that same year and devastated his suzerain's lands in Lower Lorraine. He was soon defeated and Adalbert named in his place in Upper Lorraine. Godfrey continued to fight for all Lorraine and Adalbert died in battle against him at Thuin on 11 November 1048. He had no known sons, and Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor immediately nominated his brother Gerhard to succeed him.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Adalbert, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Gerard, Duke of Lorraine

Gerard (c. 1030 – 14 April 1070), also known as Gerard the Wonderful, was a Lotharingian nobleman. He was the count of Metz and Châtenois from 1047 to 1048, when his brother Duke Adalbert resigned them to him upon his becoming the Duke of Upper Lorraine. On Adalbert's death the next year, Gerard became duke, a position that he held until his death. In contemporary documents, he is called Gerard of Alsace (after the fact that he had some land in Alsace), Gerard of Chatenoy (after an ancestral castle near Neufchâteau), or Gerard of Flanders (after his wife's homeland).

He was the second son of Gerhard IV of Metz, count of Metz, and Gisela who was possibly a daughter of Theodoric I, Duke of Upper Lorraine. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, invested Adalbert with Lorraine in 1047 after confiscating it from Godfrey III. Godfrey did not back down, however, and killed Adalbert in battle. Henry subsequently bestowed it on Gerard, but the deposed duke continued to stir. Godfrey had the support of a faction of the nobles who did not want a strong hand at the ducal helm and Gerard was imprisoned. Gerard, however, had the support of the chiefest of his bishops, that of Toul, Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg (later the sainted Pope Leo IX), who procured his liberation in 1049. The emperor gave him troops to assist him in his fight, for the rebels had the support of some elements in the church. Gerard himself remained, as his brother had, faithful to the end to the imperial dynasty and his descendants would remain so as well even into the Hohenstaufen years.

His alliance with the church was regular but inconstant and he afforded his protection to Moyenmoutier Abbey, Saint-Mihiel Abbey, and Remiremont Abbey. The former was the abbey of Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, who excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael I Cerularius, in 1054, thus precipitating the Great Schism, and the latter was his own final resting place.

On 18 June 1053, Gerard and Prince Rudolf of Benevento led papal and Swabian troops into battle on behalf of Pope Leo. This was the Battle of Civitate and it was a disastrous loss for the pope. His enemy, the Normans, under Humphrey of Hauteville and Richard of Aversa, defeated his allies and captured his person, taking him prisoner in Benevento. Gerard, however, returned to Lorraine.

Among his other construction projects, was that of the castle of Prény, in the centre of the duchy, the beginnings of the capital city, Nancy. He died at Remiremont while trying to kill a revolt. Poisoning was suspected. The date of his death is either 14 April or 11 August.

He was married to Hedwige of Namur (or of Flanders), daughter of Albert II, Count of Namur, and Regelindis of Lower Lorraine, daughter of Gothelo I, Duke of Lorraine. This marriage helped patch up relations with the baronage. They had the following issue:

 * Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine (c. 1055 – 1115), successor in Lorraine
 * Gerard (1057–1108), count of Vaudémont
 * Beatrice, married Stephen I, Count of Burgundy, Mâcon and Vienne
 * Gisela, abbess of Remiremont

He was the patrilineal ancestor of the line of dukes which ruled Lorraine until 1737 and of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty that ruled Tuscany (1737–1859), the Holy Roman Empire (1745–1807), Austria-Hungary (1780–1918), the Duchy of Parma (1814–1847), Duchy of Modena (1815–1859) and Mexico (1864–1867).

title: Gerard, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine

Theodoric II (died 30 December 1115), called the Valiant, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1070 to his death. He was the son and successor of Gerhard and Hedwige of Namur. He is sometimes numbered Theodoric I if the Dukes of the House of Ardennes, who ruled in Upper Lorraine from 959 to 1033, are ignored in favour of the dukes of Lower Lorraine as predecessors of the later Dukes of Lorraine.

In fact, Sophia, the daughter of Duke Frederick II of the House of Ardennes, who had inherited the counties of Bar and Montbéliard, had a husband named Louis, who contested the succession. In order to receive the support of his brother, Theodoric gave his brother the County of Vaudémont and convened an assembly of nobles, who elected him duke over Louis. Soon Louis was dead, but his son, Theodoric II of Bar, claimed the succession anyway. However, Emperor Henry IV confirmed Theodoric the Valiant in the duchy. Probably, for this reason, Theodoric remained faithful to the emperors throughout his rule. He fought the Saxons while they were at war with the Emperor between 1070 and 1078 and he generally opposed the popes Gregory VII and Urban II when they were in conflict with the Emperor.

In 1095, he planned to take up the Cross (i.e., go on Crusade, specifically the First), but his ill health provoked him to drop out, nevertheless convincing his barons to go east. Thereafter, he took little part in imperial affairs, preferring not to intervene between Henry IV and his son Henry, or against Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony.

Marriage and children
His first wife was Hedwig (died 1085 or 1090), daughter of Frederick, count of Formbach. They married around 1075 and had the following issue:
 * Simon (1076–1138), his successor as Duke of Lorraine, married to Adelaide of Leuven (d. 1158), daughter of his stepmother Gertrude and Henry III, Count of Leuven.
 * Gertrude (died 1144), married Floris II of Holland

His second wife was Gertrude of Flanders (c.1070–1117), daughter of Robert I of Flanders and Gertrude of Saxony. She was the widow of Henry III, Count of Leuven (d. 1095), with four daughters. They married in 1106 and had:
 * Thierry of Alsace "Theodoric" ( – 1168), lord of Bitche and also Count of Flanders from 1128. Married to Sibylla of Anjou
 * Henry I (died 1165), bishop of Toul
 * Ida, married Sigefroy (died 1104), count of Burghausen
 * Ermengarde, married Bernard de Brancion
 * Gisela, married Frederick, count of Saarbrücken

title: Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Simon I, Duke of Lorraine

Simon I (1076 – 13 or 14 January 1139) was the duke of Lorraine from 1115 to his death, the eldest son and successor of Theodoric II and Hedwig of Formbach and a half-brother of Emperor Lothair III.

Continuing the policy of friendship with the Holy Roman Emperor, he accompanied the Emperor Henry V to the Diet of Worms of 1122, where the Investiture Controversy was resolved.

He had stormy relations with the episcopates of his realm: fighting with Stephen of Bar, bishop of Metz, and Adalberon, archbishop of Trier, both allies of the count of Bar, whose claim to Lorraine against Simon's father had been quashed by Henry V's father Henry IV. Though Adalberon excommunicated him, Pope Innocent II lifted it. He was a friend of Bernard of Clairvaux and he built many abbeys in his duchy, including that of Sturzelbronn in 1135. There was he interred after his original burial in Saint-Dié.

Children of Simon and Adelaide
Simon I of Lorraine married his step-sister, Adelaide, daughter of Henry III of Leuven. Their children were:
 * Matthias, his successor in Lorraine
 * Robert, lord of Floranges (near Thionville)
 * Agatha of Lorraine, married Reginald III, Count of Burgundy (Renaud III), the first Free Count
 * Hedwige, married Frederick III, count of Toul
 * Bertha, married Margrave Hermann III of Baden
 * Mathilde, married Gottfried I, Count of Sponheim
 * Baldwin
 * John

title: Simon I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine

Matthias I (1119 – 13 May 1176) was the duke of Lorraine from 1138 to his death as the eldest son and successor of Simon I and Adelaide. Like his forefathers going back to Theodoric II and even to Adalbert, he was a stern supporter of the king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor. He married Bertha (sometimes called Judith), daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia, and therefore niece of the Hohenstaufen king Conrad III and sister of Frederick Barbarossa, future emperor.

He accompanied Barbarossa on a number of important occasions, including his imperial coronation by Pope Adrian IV in Rome, 1155. He assisted the emperor in his wars against Adrian and his successor Alexander III and the kings of France and Sicily. He extended his own ducal demesne at the expense of the bishop of Toul, but was an important donor to the Church and founder of abbeys. He died in 1176 and was interred in his abbey of Clairlieu in Villers-lès-Nancy. By his Hohenstaufen marriage (1138), he had:

 * Simon (died 1205), his successor in Lorraine
 * Frederick (died 1206), count of Bitche and his nephew's successor
 * Judith (died 1173), married Stephen II, count of Auxonne (1170)
 * Alice (died 1200), married Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy
 * Theoderic (died 1181), bishop of Metz (1174–1179)
 * Matthias (died 1208), count of Toul
 * Unnamed daughter who died young

title: Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Simon II, Duke of Lorraine

Simon II (1140 – 4 January 1207) was the Duke of Lorraine from 1176 to 1205. He was the son and successor of Matthias I and Bertha (also called Judith), daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia.

His mother wished for her second son, Frederick, to succeed and so Simon was forced to convene an assembly of the nobles to confirm his succession. He was in turn forced to recognise certain feudal privileges and create the Estates of Lorraine, a form of parliament. He also gave Bitche as an appanage to Frederick who was not satisfied and revolted against Simon. The war lasted three years until the Treaty of Ribemont, whereby Simon retained the southern, francophone, half of the duchy and Frederick took the northern, germanophone, portion.

He married Ida (died 1227), daughter of Gerard I, count of Mâcon and Vienne, and Maurette of Salins. They had no children. He designated his nephew, Frederick, son of Frederick, as his successor and ceded, in 1202, the suzerainty over the county of Vaudémont to Count Theobald I of Bar. Simon abdicated and retired to a monastery in 1205. He died two years later. He had no descendants and was succeeded by his brother.

title: Simon II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine

Frederick I (Ferry or Ferri) (c. 1143 – 7 April 1206) was the duke of Lorraine from 1205 to his death. He was the second son of Matthias I and Bertha (also called Judith), daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia. He succeeded his brother, Simon II, who had already given him the county of Bitche in 1176 and had recognised him over the northern, germanophone half of Lorraine by the Treaty of Ribemont of 1179. Judith had wanted him to succeed to all their father's inheritance, but a three-year civil war only secured him Bitche and a half-portion.

Simon retired to a monastery in 1205, recognising Frederick's son Frederick as heir. Frederick inherited it all nevertheless, but died a year later and it went to his son by Wierzchoslawa Ludmilla (1150–1223), daughter of Mieszko III the Old, duke of Greater Poland and high duke of all Poland. Their children were:

 * Frederick, his successor in Lorraine
 * Thierry the Devil (le Diable), lord of Autigny, married Gertrude de Montmorency, daughter of Mathieu II le Grand, Constable of France.
 * Henry the Lombard, who built the castle of Bayon
 * Philip (died 1243), lord of Gerbéviller
 * Matthias (1170–1217), bishop of Toul
 * Agatha (died 1242), abbess of Remiremont
 * Judith, married Henry II, Count of Salm
 * Hediwge (died 1228), married Henry I, Count of Zweibrücken
 * Cunigunda (died 1214), married Waleran III of Limburg

title: Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Frederick II, Duke of Lorraine

Frederick II (c. 1165 – c. 1213) was the Duke of Lorraine from 7 April 1206 until his death in 1213. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine and Wierzchoslawa Ludmilla of Greater Poland. He succeeded his father as Duke of Lorraine upon his father's death.

Marriage and issue
Frederick married Agnes of Bar (or Thomassine, according to different genealogies) (d. 1226), daughter of Theobald I, Count of Bar. Their children were:
 * Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1191, d. 17 February 1220), his successor
 * Matthias II, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1193, d. 9 February 1251), who succeeded Theobald I
 * Jacques, Bishop of Metz
 * Renaut, Count of Castres
 * Lorette, who married Simon II.

title: Frederick II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine

Theobald I (Thiébaud or Thiébaut) (c. 1191 – 17 February 1220) was the duke of Lorraine from 1213 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick II and Agnes of Bar.

Battle of Bouvines
Theobald joined Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, on 4 July 1214 at the Battle of Bouvines, where he was taken in prisoner in the rout. He was quickly liberated.

Vassals
As duke of Lorraine Theobald was a powerful lord, almost under the Holy Roman Empire and almost ruling independently. He had several important vassals but many of them strove for independence quite successfully. These vassals included the Bishops of Metz, the Bishops of Toul, the Bishops of Verdun, the County of Bar (though these counts were not de facto part of Lorraine at this point), the lord of Commercy, the Count of Vaudémont, and the Counts of Chiny (also lords of Montmédy). However the dukes suzerainty over these lordships was probably not much more than nominal.

Other affairs
He was suggested by the abbot Gervase to be one of the leaders for the 5th crusade but he was probably already embroiled in the Champagne war of succession and had to decline.

Champagne war of Succession
In 1216, in the Champagne War of Succession, he supported Erard I, Count of Brienne, in his quarrel with Theobald IV, Count of Champagne, who was supported by Philip II of France, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Henry II of Bar. Frederick, the suzerain of Lorraine, considered it a felony to support a candidate he opposed and occupied the city of Rosheim, which he had given to Frederick II of Lorraine. Theobald responded in 1218, retaking Rosheim and ravaging Alsace. Frederick did not hesitate to counterattack and invaded Lorraine and took and burned Nancy, its capital. He then besieged and took the castle of Amance, where Theobald was taking refuge. He was imprisoned and constrained to recognize the suzerainty of the count of Champagne, the legitimacy of Erard of Brienne's claim to Champagne, and relinquish several lordships to attain liberty again. He never recovered his lost land and prestige and died in 1220.

Kinslayer
Between 3 and 10 April 1217 (during the Champagne war of Succession) he searched for his problematic paternal uncle the bishop of Toul Matthew de Lorraine, found him on the path Void Parupt in Saint-Michel-sur-Meurthe, and killed him with a spear (implying a fight rather than a murder). The weapon he used to kill the unruly bishop was apparently borrowed from Simon of Joinville, who was an ally during the Champagne war of Succession and probably also a friend.

Lands and possible Hospitallier Association
As duke of Lorraine, his chief seat was at the city of Nancy. In 1212, through his wife Gertrude, he inherited the County of Dagsburg and its capital, the Chateau de Dabo and also Dorlisheim. Considering his ancestors' association with the Knights Hospitallier, it seems likely that the hospital was founded by him. Through a grant by the Emperor he also had Rosheim, but when he interfered in the War of the Succession of Champagne, it was taken away from him.

He also held the castles of Amance, Lunéville, Château des Ducs de Lorraine, and many more.

Character/Personality
In accounts, the dukes of Lorraine are always referred to as extremely handsome and talented and, based on Theobald's military adventures, it is not unlikely that he was brave. Despite this, he seems to have been either stubborn or loyal, after refusing to back down when his liege joined the opposing side of the Champagne War of Succession. Opposing his Liege cost him dearly and his violent reactions against his liege show that he was too proud to seek to smooth things over. The killing of his uncle Matthew, Bishop of Toul, does not reflect well on his personality, especially when such actions were considered particularly egregious in the Middle Ages.

Marriage and Succession
He had married, in 1206, Gertrude, only child and heir of Albert II, count of Dagsburg and Metz. They had no children, and she was just 16 years old when her husband died. His successor was Matthias his brother; his widow remarried his old rival, Theobald of Champagne.

title: Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Matthias II, Duke of Lorraine

Matthias II (c. 1193 – 9 February 1251) was Duke of Lorraine from 1220 to his death. He was the son of Duke Frederick II and Agnes of Bar and succeeded his brother, Theobald I.

He immediately had to give away Nancy to his brother's widow, Gertrude of Dagsburg, who remarried to Theobald IV of Champagne, whose suzerainty Matthias had to recognize, due to the fruitless wars his brother had waged against an imperial coalition. Theobald had hoped to get his hands on the county of Metz, but failing that, he repudiated Gertrude. Gertrude had no children by a third marriage and Nancy reverted to the duchy on her death in 1225.

Matthias accompanied Emperor Frederick II on the Sixth Crusade in 1228 and into Italy in 1235. By this, he reinitiated the close alliance with the Holy Roman Emperors which his forefathers had had for over a century from the appointment of Adalbert until the war between his brother and Frederick, which had ruptured that long friendship.

Matthias faced several unruly barons, especially the Count of Lunéville, who had the discreet support of the Count of Bar. He was victorious and reattached Lunéville to the duchy in an exchange. However, peace was not achieved. In 1230, Henry II of Bar was at it again, with Hugh II of Vaudémont and the Bishop of Toul, ravaged his ducal territories and took a few castles.

In 1235, allied with Emperor Frederick II, Duke Matthias helped suppress the revolt of the emperor's son Henry VII and in May 1240 was a signatory of a letter to Pope Gregory IX's excommunication of the emperor, although he later swore in 1247 to help Pope Innocent IV against the emperor.

On Henry of Bar's death in 1240, Matthias tried to retake those lost castles from Theobald II of Bar, the old count's young son, but he failed and a peace was signed in 1245 which lasted several decades. That same year, the emperor was excommunicated for a third time and Matthias distanced himself from the Imperial camp before joining the papal party of Pope Innocent IV in 1247. He died only a few years thence after having negotiated the profitable marriage of his son with the daughter of the Count of Champagne.

Family
In 1225, he married Catherine of Limburg (died 1255), daughter of Waleran III of Limburg, Duke of Limburg and Count of Luxembourg, and Ermesinde of Luxembourg. They had the following issue:

 * Ferry III (1240–1303), his successor in Lorraine
 * Laure, married in 1250 to Jean de Dampierre (died 1258), viscount of Troyes, and then to Guillaume de Vergy, lord of Mirebeau and Autrey
 * Isabella (1231–1266), married Guillaume de Vienne (died 1255), then, in 1256, Jean de Chalon (1243–1309)
 * Catherine, married in 1255 to Richard de Montfaucon (died 1279), son of Thierry III, Count of Montbéliard
 * Adeline (died c. 1278), married Louis of Savoy (died 1302), baron of Vaud

title: Matthias II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine

Frederick III (Ferry) (1240 – 31 December 1303) was the Duke of Lorraine from 1251 to his death. He was the only son and successor of Matthias II and Catherine of Limburg.

He was not yet thirteen years of age when his father died, so his mother assumed the regency for a few years. In 1255, he married Margaret, the daughter of King Theobald I of Navarre and Margaret of Bourbon. Frederick's father-in-law was the Count of Champagne as well, and the marriage of Margaret with Frederick signified the Gallicization of Lorraine and the beginnings of tension between French and German influences which characterises its later history.

When Joan I of Navarre, Margaret's niece, (the daughter of her brother, Henry I of Navarre), married Philip the Fair, the future king of France, in 1284, the ties to France grew. The long-held loyalty of the dukes of Lorraine to the Holy Roman Emperor had waned in the first half of the thirteenth century and French influence was pervasive, leading to its permanent attachment to France in 1766.

During Frederick's reign, he fought the bishops of Metz until Pope Clement IV excommunicated him and put his duchy under an interdict.

In 1257, after the elections following the death of King William of Holland resulted in the contested election of both Richard, Earl of Cornwall and Alfonso X of Castile, Frederick of Lorraine sided with Alfonso, who through his mother Beatrix was the grandson of the Hohenstaufen Philip of Swabia. The rivalry between the two kings led to little actual combat and after Richard's death the 1273 election of Rudolf of Habsburg and the subsequent withdrawal of Alfonso reestablished unity.

Family
By his marriage to Margaret, he had the following issue:

 * Theobald (1263–1312), his successor in Lorraine
 * Matthias (died 1282), lord of Beauregard
 * Frederick (died 1299), bishop of Orléans (1297–1299)
 * Frederick (died c. 1320), lord of Plombiéres, Romont, and Brémoncourt
 * Gerard (known 1317)
 * Isabelle (died 1335), married (1287) Louis III, Duke of Lower Bavaria, of the Royal House of Wittelsbach; then Lord Henry of Sully; and then (1306) Count (died 1348)
 * Catherine, lady of Romont, married (1290) Conrad II (died 1350), count of Fribourg
 * Agnes, married John II (died 1302), sire of Harcourt
 * Margaret, married Eberhard I, Count of Württemberg, of the Royal House of Württemberg

title: Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine

Theobald II (Thiébaud or Thiébaut; 1263 – 13 May 1312) was the Duke of Lorraine from 1303 until his death in 1312. He was the son and successor of Frederick III and Margaret, daughter of King Theobald I of Navarre of the Royal House of Blois.

Life
In 1298, he took part in the Battle of Göllheim, near Speyer, in which the king of Germany, Adolph, was killed fighting his rival, Albert of Habsburg. Theobald was on Albert' side, despite the history of support for the legitimate emperors (which Adolph aspired to be) in the history of his family.

In 1302, Theobald and his son, Frederick, were supporting Philip IV of France, at the Battle of the Golden Spurs at Kortrijk, where the Flemings defeated the French chivalry under Robert II of Artois. He was present also at the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle in 1304, where the French king personally led the army in a less decisive battle. He, along with John II, Duke of Brabant, and Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, were sent to negotiate peace with Flanders.

In 1305, he was at Lyon, at the crowning of Pope Clement V. When Clement imposed a tax, a tenth-part, on the clergy and charged the duke to collect it, Theobald successfully met the opposition of Renaud de Bar, bishop of Metz.

Family
A contract for the marriage of Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine and Isabel de Rumigny was signed in April 1270. On 23 May 1278, he married Isabelle, lady of Rumigny (b. 1263 – d. 1326), daughter of Hugh, lord of Rumigny, and Philippine d'Oulche. They had:

 * Frederick (b. 15 April 1282 - d. 21 April 1329), his successor in Lorraine.
 * Matthias (died c. 1330), lord of Darney, Boves, Blainville, and Florennes, married Mathilde of Flanders.
 * Hugh (d. after 20 March 1337), his successor in Rumigny, Martigny, and Aubenton.
 * Mary (d. after 1344), married (1324) Guy de Châtillon (died 1362), lord of Fère-en-Tardenois and had one child.
 * Margaret (d. 1348), married (c. 1311) Guy de Dampierre, count of Zeeland and later married (1313) Louis IV, de Looz & Chiny.
 * Isabella (died 1353), married Érard de Bar (died 1337), lord of Pierrepont and had six children.
 * Philippine, nun

title: Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine

Frederick IV (Ferry) (15 April 1282 – 23 August 1328), called the Fighter, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1312 to his death.

Biography
Frederick was born in Gondreville, the son and successor of Theobald II and Isabella of Rumigny.

On 18 October 1314, at the Diet of Frankfurt, the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire failed to elect as successor to Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, either the Habsburg claimant, Frederick the Handsome, the duke of Austria, or the Wittelsbach, Louis IV of Bavaria. By marriage to Elisabeth, daughter of Albert I of Germany, Frederick was the brother-in-law of Frederick the Handsome, called Frederick III of Germany by his supporters, of whom Frederick of Lorraine was one. On 28 September 1322, at the Battle of Mühldorf, both Fredericks were captured. This was an opportunity for Charles IV of France to strengthen the Lorrainer ties to France and he quickly procured the duke's release on the promise that Lorraine would not interfere in imperial affairs.

In 1324, he participated in an expedition in Aquitaine against Edward II of England's estates, for Charles IV had built a fortress illegally on Edward's territory and had sent his uncle, Count Charles III of Valois, against the English possessions after Hugh le Despenser and the Younger Despenser imprisoned Isabella of France, Charles IV's sister and Edward's queen. He took part in the War of Metz in 1325 and 1326. He joined Philip VI of France, on his succession in 1328, and fought and died at the Battle of Cassel.

Personal life
In 1304, Frederick IV married Elisabeth of Austria (1285–1352), daughter of Albert I of Austria the Emperor. They had the following children:
 * Rudolph (1320–1346), his successor in Lorraine
 * Margaret, married Jean de Chalon, lord of Auberive (died 1350), then Conrad, count of Friburg, and lastly Ulrich (died 1377), lord of Rappoltstein
 * Four children who died during childhood

title: Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine

Rudolph (1320 – 26 August 1346), called the Valiant (le Vaillant), was the Duke of Lorraine from 1328 to his death. He was the son and successor of Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine and Elisabeth of Austria, the daughter of King Albert I of Germany of the House of Habsburg. Though he was but nine years of age when his father died and he succeeded to the duchy under the regency of his mother (until 1334), he was a warrior prince, taking part in four separate wars in Lorraine, France, Brittany, and Iberia. He was killed at the Battle of Crécy.

Life
In 1337, Count Henry IV of Bar refused to do homage for a few seignories he held of the duke. Rudolph was forced to devastate Pont-à-Mousson and its environs. In a series of reprisals, Henry ravaged the west of Lorraine and Rudolph attacked the Barrois. Only by the intervention of King Philip VI of France was the war ended. By that time, the ties of Lorraine to France had become very strong. They were to become stronger under the half-Habsburg Rudolph for his second marriage was to the daughter of a French lord, Guy I of Châtillon, Count of Blois and Margaret of Valois (a sister of the king of France), thus making his wife the niece of the king. He also assisted King Philip VI with troops to lift King Edward III of England's Siege of Tournai (1340) in the opening phase of the Hundred Years' War.

During a brief Anglo-French peace, he journeyed to the Iberian Peninsula to aid King Alfonso XI of Castile in the Reconquista. He battled the Moors of Granada and shone in the Battle of Gibraltar on 3 November 1340.

On his return to France, he came to the aid of his French brother-in-law, Charles, Duke of Brittany, in the War of the Breton Succession. He returned to King Philip's side at the Battle of Crécy and was killed there, along with many illustrious French cavaliers on 26 August 1346.

Family
His first wife was Eleanor (Aliénor), daughter of Edward I, Count of Bar and Mary of Burgundy. Their marriage took place at Pont-à-Mousson in 1329, but they had no children before Eleanor's death in 1332. He then remarried to Marie of Blois (1323–1380), the daughter of the aforementioned Guy of Blois and Margaret of Valois, sister of King Philip VI. They had three children:

 * twins (died before 31 July 1343)
 * John I, Duke of Lorraine (1346–1390), his successor

title: Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine


text:
John I, Duke of Lorraine

John I (February 1346 – 23 September 1390) was the Duke of Lorraine from 1346 to his death. As an infant of six months, he succeeded his father, Rudolph, who was killed in the Battle of Crécy. His mother was Marie of Blois.

Life
During John's long minority, the regency was in the hands of his mother and Eberhard III of Württemberg. In December 1353, he did homage for the duchy to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who made him lieutenant-general of the Empire in the Moselle country. In 1354, John II of France granted John a dispensation which allowed him to govern the duchy despite not yet being of age.

John participated in the Lithuanian Crusade at the sides of the Teutonic Knights against Lithuania in 1356 and again in 1365.

On 19 September 1356, John fought in the Battle of Poitiers, where thousands of French soldiers were mowed down by English longbowmen. He survived, however, unlike his father, to fight again, although he was taken prisoner by the English. John later fought on the side of the Dauphin Charles in putting down the Parisian rebellion of Étienne Marcel. He attended Charles' coronation on 19 May 1364 in Rheims, strengthening the ties to France which had steadily been building in Lorraine for the past century.

John entered the War of the Breton Succession to aid his uncle Charles of Blois against John of Montfort. At the Battle of Auray on 29 September 1364 with Montfort as undisputed duke and Charles dead on the field, he was taken prisoner.

John continued to aid Charles V and Charles VI to reconquer the provinces lost by the Treaty of Brétigny, but in his latter years, he distanced himself from the French court. This was due, in part, to the free companies ravaging his lands and the royal officials who tried to litigate the relationship between John (an Imperial vassal) and his vassals. In the end, he entered into rapprochement with Philip II, Duke of Burgundy. Nonetheless, John died in Paris on 22 September 1390, defending himself against a charge of abuse of power by the people of Neufchâteau.

Family
John married Sophie of Württemberg (1343–1369), daughter of Eberhard II, Count of Württemberg and Elizabeth von Henneberg-Schleusingen, in 1361.They had issue:

 * Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (1365–1431)
 * Frederick of Lorraine, Count of Vaudémont (1369–1415)
 * Isabelle of Lorraine (d.1423), married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy.

John later married Marguerite de Chini (d. 1372), who is interred at Orval Abbey.

title: John I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont

Frederick I, or Ferry I of Lorraine (9 January 1369 – October 25, 1415 in the Battle of Agincourt ) was a Count of Vaudémont.

He was the son of Duke John I of Lorraine (1346-1390) and Sophie of Württemberg (1343-1369). He was a younger brother of Charles II. In 1394, Frederick married Margaret, the heiress of Vaudémont and Joinville, and became Count of these lands in her right. He founded the House of Vaudémont, a junior branch of the House of Lorraine.

His children were:
 * Antoine, who succeeded as Count of Vaudémont,
 * Elisabeth, who married Philipp I of Nassau-Weilburg,
 * Frederic, Lord of Rumigny,
 * Charles, Lord of Bovines, and
 * John, Lord of Fleurines

Dynastic problems in the senior line caused his great-grandson René of Vaudémont to become Duke of Lorraine as René II in 1473.

title: Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont


text:
Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine

Isabella (1400 – 28 February 1453) was suo jure Duchess of Lorraine, from 25 January 1431 to her death in 1453. She was also Queen of Naples by marriage to René of Anjou. Isabella ruled the Kingdom of Naples and her husband's domains in France as regent during his imprisonment in Burgundy in 1435–1438.

Life
Isabella was the eldest daughter of Charles II, Duke of Lorraine and Margaret of the Palatinate. By the death of her brothers, it was made apparent in 1410 that she would be the successor of her father in Lorraine. She was given a careful education, and described as beautiful, witty, brave and with the ability to be careful and make hard decisions in difficult circumstances.

On 24 October 1420, she married René of Anjou. In the marriage contract, it was specified that she would inherit Lorraine, as he would inherit Bar and Pont-à-Mousson, and that their child and heir would inherit all their domains, thereby uniting them.

On 25 January 1431, Isabella inherited the duchy from her father upon his death, and ruled jointly with her husband as her co-ruler, as was customary for a female monarch at that time. Her right to rule was questioned by her cousin, count Antoine de Vaudémont, who captured René in the Battle of Bulgnéville and had him imprisoned with his ally, the Duke of Burgundy. She led an army to rescue her husband from Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. She managed to secure a ceasefire, and the Emperor recognized her right to rule on 24 April 1434.

On November 1434, her imprisoned spouse inherited the domains of Anjou, Provence and Maine from his brother as well as the position of heir to the throne of Naples, and on 2 February 1435, he inherited the throne of Naples. René appointed her to act as his general governor until his release, and a Napolese embassy asked her to come to Naples to assume the post of regent until her spouse could do so in person. She left with her son Louis and a fleet. The mid-16th century Chronicle of Gaspare Fuscolillo records that Isabella arrived in Naples on 15 October 1435. As regent of Naples, was to face the struggle with the other competitor to the throne of Naples, Alfonso of Aragon. She was given military support from the pope, but could not cooperate well with its commander, Jacopo Caldora.

René was released in 1437, and arrived in Naples to take over the rule from Isabella in May 1438. Isabella left with Louis to return to Lorraine in August 1440. In Lorraine, she finally defeated Antoine de Vaudémont 27 March 1441. When Charles VII of France visited in Nancy, they introduced Agnes Sorel to him, who was one of Isabella's ladies-in-waiting. She soon afterwards became the king's influential mistress. In July 1445, Isabella appointed her son John to be her governor general in Lorraine, and retired to her manor Launay in Saumur.

Isabella died on 28 February 1453 at the age of 53. Her son John succeeded her as Duke of Lorraine. She was buried in Angers Cathedral. René then married, on 10 September 1454, Jeanne de Laval, but this marriage was childless.

Issue
René and Isabella had the following children:
 * 1) John II (2 August 1424 – 16 December 1470), Duke of Lorraine and King of Naples, married Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon, by whom he had issue. He also had several illegitimate children.
 * 2) Louis (16 October 1427 – between 22 May and 16 October 1444), Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson and Lieutenant General of Lorraine. At the age of five, in 1432, he was sent as a hostage to Dijon with his brother John in exchange for their captive father. John was released, but Louis was not and died of pneumonia in prison.
 * 3) Nicholas (2 November 1428 – 1430), twin with Yolande.
 * 4) Yolande (2 November 1428 – 23 March 1483), married Frederick ΙΙ of Lorraine, count of Vaudemont; mother, among others, of duke René II of Lorraine.
 * 5) Margaret (23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482), married King Henry VI of England, by whom she had a son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
 * 6) Charles (1431 – 1432), Count of Guise.
 * 7) Isabelle (died young).
 * 8) René (died young).
 * 9) Louise (1436 – 1438).
 * 10) Anne (1437 – 1450, buried in Gardanne).

title: Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine


text:
Helichrysum arenarium

Helichrysum arenarium is also known as dwarf everlast, and as immortelle.

Description
As a perennial plant, it grows to be an average of 0.3 m tall.

The leaves are flat, the lower ones being elliptical in shape, while the upper ones are linear. They are wooly on both sides.

The flower heads are arranged in loosely, a cross between umbel and panicle. They are 3 to 4 mm wide of bright golden yellow florets.

It is found in Eastern France to Sweden as well as on the mountains of Uzbekistan on sandy grasslands, and heathland. It is also widely spread on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia where locals regularly pick and sell it throughout the summer (local Mediterranean climate permitting even as late as September and October).

Similar species
Helichrysum stoechas is similar to the Helichrysum arenarium species, but the leaves are all linear, with rolled under edges. It is found in western France on dunes near the sea.

title: Helichrysum arenarium


text:
John II, Duke of Lorraine

John II of Anjou (Nancy, August 2, 1426 – December 16, 1470, Barcelona) was Duke of Lorraine from 1453 to his death. He was the son of René of Anjou and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. He was married to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon.

Duchy
John inherited the duchy from his mother, Duchess Isabelle, during the life of his father, Duke René of Anjou, also Duke of Lorraine and titular king of Naples. As heir-apparent of Naples, he was styled the Duke of Calabria and spent most of his time engaging in plots for the Angevin recovery of Naples. In 1460, he decisively defeated the king of Naples Ferdinand at Nola, but was unable to prevent others from coming to his aid. He was defeated at Troia in 1462 and at Ischia in 1465. In 1466, the Catalans chose his father as King of Aragon, and he was created Prince of Girona, as heir-apparent. He went into Catalonia to press the family's claims, but died, supposedly by poison, in Barcelona.

Personal
In 1444, he married Marie de Bourbon (1428–1448), daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Bourbon (and granddaughter to John the Fearless, and niece to Philip the Good, both Dukes of Burgundy and enemies and allies to her father). Marie was from the House of Bourbon and was the only Duchess consort of Lorraine from the reign of Valois-Anjou. The marriage contract was signed in April 1437, however, the ceremony took place around 1444 when she was older and would be able to consummate the marriage.Marie and John had the following issue:
 * 1) Isabelle (1445–1445)
 * 2) Jean (1445–1471),
 * 3) René (1446–1446)
 * 4) Marie (1447–1447)
 * 5) Nicholas (1448–1473)

Marie died giving birth to her last and only surviving child Nicholas; she died on July 7, 1448, and was buried at Meurthe-et-Moselle Lorraine, France.

John also had several illegitimate children:
 * John (d. 1504), Count of Briey, married Nancy St. Georges
 * Albert, seigneur d'Essey
 * Jeanne d'Abancourt, married Achille, Bastard of Beauveu
 * a daughter named Marguerite
 * another daughter, married Jean d'Ecosse

title: John II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine

Nicholas of Anjou (July 1448 – 27 July 1473) was the son of John II, Duke of Lorraine and Marie de Bourbon.

Nicholas was born and died in Nancy. He succeeded his father in 1470 as Duke of Lorraine, and assumed the titles of Marquis of Pont-à-Mousson, Duke of Calabria, and Prince of Girona, as heir apparent of Bar, Naples, and Aragon respectively.

He was engaged to Anne of France, Viscountess of Thouars, and used her title, but he did not marry her and had only one illegitimate daughter, Marguerite, wife of John IV of Chabannes, Count of Dammartin (d. 1503).

Some said he had been poisoned by agents of King Louis XI of France.

On his death the Duchy of Lorraine went to his aunt Yolande.

title: Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
René II, Duke of Lorraine

René II (2 May 1451 – 10 December 1508) was Count of Vaudémont from 1470, Duke of Lorraine from 1473, and Duke of Bar from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Provence as the Duke of Calabria 1480–1493 and as King of Naples and Jerusalem 1493–1508. He succeeded his uncle John of Vaudémont as Count of Harcourt in 1473, exchanging it for the county of Aumale in 1495. He succeeded as Count of Guise in 1504.

Life
René was born in Angers, the son of Yolande of Lorraine and Frederick, Count of Vaudémont. He spent his youth in the court of his grandfather René I of Anjou between Angers and Provence. René succeeded his father in Vaudémont in 1470 and, three years later, his uncle as captain of Angers, seneschal and governor of Anjou. That same year he became Duke of Lorraine, which was at the time under the pressure of both Louis XI of France and Charles the Bold of Burgundy, with whom he initially allied. When the latter began to establish garrisons in Lorraine, however, René secretly allied with Louis (1474).

Charles invaded the duchy and René was forced to quit Nancy (30 November 1475). He regained the city on 5 October the following year and moved to Switzerland to hire an army of Swiss mercenaries. With this force René defeated and killed Charles at the Battle of Nancy (5 January 1477), ending the Burgundian Wars. In 1476, upon the death of his grandmother, he became sole Count of Harcourt and Baron of Elbeuf.

The alliance with Louis would not last, as Louis moved to acquire René's lands. In June 1478, as compensation for the royal seizure of Anjou and Provence, Louis XI reaffirmed his rights to the formerly Burgundian possessions of the Duchy of Luxembourg and the County of Burgundy, and then transferred those rights to René and all of his descendants.

The transfer of the County of Burgundy to France in 1482 with the Treaty of Arras made realization of these rights possible, but the County was returned to the Habsburgs in 1493 with the Treaty of Senlis and René would not exercise control over the County again. Likewise, any authority over Luxembourg was merely theoretical outside of the seizure of Virton, as the Duchy remained in possession of the Habsburgs throughout René's lifetime.

In 1480 René succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Bar while his mother was still living. In 1482 he conquered the prévôté of Virton, a part of the Duchy of Luxembourg, and annexed it to Bar. In 1484 Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, regent for the young King Charles VIII of France, formally installed him in the Duchy of Bar.

When his mother Yolande died in 1483, he succeeded her in her claims to the kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem. In 1482, René traveled to Italy and defeated the Duke of Ferrara in the Battle of Adria as an ally of the Republic of Venice.

In 1485 René took part in the first phase of the so-called "Mad War", but prudentially retired after a while. In 1488 the Neapolitans offered him the crown of the Kingdom of Naples, and René set an expedition to gain possession of the realm; he was however halted by the new French king, Charles VIII, who intended to claim the realm himself.

In 1495, to settle a dispute with his second cousin, Jean IV de Rieux, over their grandmothers' inheritance, he ceded to Jean the county of Harcourt and its appurtenances, retaining only Elbeuf and Brionne, and receiving the county of Aumale.

Death
René fell ill during a hunt in Fains, and died on 10 December 1508, aged 57.

Family
On his mother's side, he was a grandson of Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. His father was a member of the Vaudémont family, a junior branch of the Lorraine ducal family, descending from John I, Duke of Lorraine. He was thus both heir-general and heir-male to the Duchy when he succeeded on the death of his cousin Nicholas in 1473.

René married Philippa of Guelders, daughter of Adolf, Duke of Guelders, in Orléans on 1 September 1485 and had the following children:
 * Charles (b. 17 August 1486, Nancy); d. young
 * Francis (5 July 1487, Pont-à-Mousson); died at birth
 * Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (1489–1544)
 * Nicholas (9 April 1493, Nancy); d. young
 * Claude, Duke of Guise (1496–1550); first Duke of Guise
 * Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine and Bishop of Metz (1498–1550)
 * Louis, Count of Vaudémont (1500–1528)
 * François, Count of Lambesc (1506–1525)
 * Anne (19 December 1490, Bar-le-Duc – 1491)
 * Isabelle (2 November 1494, Lunéville – bef. 1508)
 * Claude and Catherine (twins) (24 November 1502, Bar-le-Duc); d. young

title: René II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Antoine, Duke of Lorraine

Antoine (4 June 1489 –14 June 1544), known as the Good, was Duke of Lorraine from 1508 until his death in 1544. Raised at the French court, Antoine would campaign in Italy twice: once under Louis XII and the other with Francis I. During the German Peasants' War, he would defeat two armies while retaking Saverne and Sélestat. Antoine succeeded in freeing Lorraine from the Holy Roman Empire with the Treaty of Nuremberg of 1542. In 1544, while Antoine suffered from an illness, the Duchy of Lorraine was invaded by Emperor Charles V's army on their way to attack France. Fleeing the Imperial armies, Antoine was taken to Bar-le-Duc where he died.

Biography
Antoine was born on 4 June 1489 at Bar-le-Duc, the son of René II, Duke of Lorraine, and Philippa of Guelders. He spent seven years at the court of King Louis XII together with his brother Claude, and became friends with the Duke of Angoulême, the future King King Francis I. After the death of his father, Antoine succeeded him as duke of Lorraine in December 1508. In 1530, a transaction between Antoine and his brother, divided the family possessions, with Antoine getting the duchies of Lorraine and Bar while Claude would receive the duchy of Guise.

In 1509 Antoine entrusted the reins of the Duchy to his mother and Hugues des Hazards, bishop of Toul, and followed Louis XII in his campaign in northern Italy, where he took part in the Battle of Agnadello of that year. After Louis' death, he went back to Italy and under Francis I, participating in the battle of Marignano (13–14 September 1515). However, called back home by problems in Lorraine, he was absent at the decisive battle of Pavia (1525), in which Francis was taken prisoner and his brother François, count of Lambesc, was killed.

Peasant war
In Lorraine, Antoine had to face the spreading of Protestant Reformation, against which he published an edict on 26 December 1523. The situation worsened the following year, when a rebellion, known as German Peasants' War, broke out in Alsace. The insurrectionists captured Saverne and tried to conquer Saint-Dié, while the peasants of Bitscherland also rebelled in May 1525. Antoine launched an expedition in which he massacred a peasant army at Saverne on 16 May and on 20 May he decisively defeated another peasant army near Sélestat.

Duchy legal status
Despite remaining neutral in the wars between France and the Holy Roman Empire, Antoine sent his son Francis to the French court and by 1527 was attempting to marry him to Anne of Cleves. In an effort to improve his relations with German lords, Antoine sent a few hundred soldiers to fight against the Ottomans at the Siege of Vienna in 1529. Antoine dispatched legal envoys to the Imperial diet, in 1532, seeking clarification of the duchy of Lorraine's legal status within the Holy Roman Empire to no avail.

In 1538, Antoine claimed the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen upon the death of Charles of Egmond, but was unable to gain possession of them. He married his heir, Francis to Christina of Denmark, niece of Charles V, in 1541, and with the Treaty of Nuremberg (26 August 1542), Antoine obtained from Charles V the independence of the Duchy of Lorraine. He interceded at the start of Francis and Charles' war in 1542 as a peace envoy, visiting Charles in person, but due to gout sent his heir to Francis. In fact, Antoine asked his niece, Mary of Guise, to send him a Scottish hackney horse which he hoped would be easier to ride with his gout.

Death and aftermath
In May 1544, Charles V's army marched into Lorraine as part of a plan to invade France, while Henry VIII of England attacked northern France from Calais. Weakened by an illness, Antoine was unable to respond, and was taken to Bar-le-Duc where he died on 14 June 1544.

Antoine's oldest son Francis succeeded him as Duke of Lorraine and ruled for only one year, dying in 1545. His son, Antoine's grandson, Charles III of Lorraine became duke with his mother, Christina of Denmark, as regent. By 1552, King Henry II of France visited Charles and it was decided that Charles would be educated at the French court and that the regency of Lorraine would fall to his uncle, Nicolas, Duke of Mercœur. In 1559, the House of Guise, fearing the influence of the Holy Roman Empire over Lorraine, orchestrated Charles's marriage to Claude of France, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici.

Family
On 26 June 1515, he married Renée of Bourbon, daughter of Gilbert de Bourbon, Count of Montpensier and Clara Gonzaga.

They had:

 * Francis I, Duke of Lorraine (1517–1545), married Christina of Denmark
 * Nicholas, Duke of Mercœur (1524–1577)
 * Anna (1522–1568), married firstly René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, and secondly Philip II, Duke of Aerschot (1496–1549)

title: Antoine, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Francis I, Duke of Lorraine

Francis I (François Ier de Lorraine) (23 August 1517 – 12 June 1545) was Duke of Lorraine from 1544–1545.

History
Born in Nancy, Francis was the eldest son of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine and Renée de Bourbon, daughter of Gilbert de Bourbon, Count of Montpensier. He was briefly engaged in the mid-1530s to Anne of Cleves, who in 1540 would become the fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England. Their betrothal would be used by Henry to break his marriage to Anne after six short months.

On 10 July 1541, Francis married Christina of Denmark in Brussels. Christina was a daughter of King Christian II and Isabella of Austria. Francis died at Remiremont in 1545, leaving Duchess Christina as the regent of Lorraine and as the guardian of their young children.

Children
By Christina of Denmark (c.1521 – 1590; married in 1541)

title: Francis I, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Charles II, Duke of Lorraine

Charles II (11 September 1365 – 25 January 1431), called the Bold (le Hardi) was the Duke of Lorraine from 1390 to his death and Constable of France from 1418 to 1425.

Charles joined the Barbary Crusade, fought at Nicopolis, and aided the Teutonic knights in Livonia. During the Hundred Years War, he sought closer ties to the French royal family, even being made Constable by Queen Isabella. Following an indecisive war against his nephew, he died in 1431.

Biography
Born 11 September 1365, Charles was the elder son of John I, Duke of Lorraine, and Sophie, daughter of Eberhard II, Count of Württemberg. During his youth, he had been close to Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, and they were comrades in arms on several occasions. This proximity to Burgundy was largely a result of his father's moving away from the French court, the court to which the Lorrainer dukes had neared in the past century and a half as they withdrew from the Holy Roman Empire, within which their duchy was still technically a vassal state. Charles was defiant of Louis I, Duke of Orléans, who had supported the citizens of Neufchâteau against his father and the Emperor Wenceslaus when the latter was accused by his subjects of weakness. Wenceslaus was deposed in 1400 and replaced by Rupert III, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Charles's father-in-law.

Charles was also a major participant in some late Crusading movements. He joined the Barbary Crusade in 1391 and was at the disastrous Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. There he accompanied John the Fearless, the count of Nevers and son of his friend Philip. In 1399, he assisted the Teutonic Knights in Livonia.

Hundred Years War
France broke down into two parties: the Armagnacs of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac, the tutor of the young Charles of Orléans, and the Burgundians of John the Fearless, Philip's successor, who was supported by Charles of Lorraine. Charles did not, however, enter the Anglo-French conflict then raging—the Hundred Years' War—but his brother, Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont, got involved and died in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Nevertheless, the queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, appointed Charles constable in 1418. In 1425, he asserted that the load was too large for him and renounced it.

Charles adopted a new stance vis-à-vis France after the assassination of John the Fearless in 1419. John's successor, Philip III, had much territory in the Low Countries and only Lorraine and Champagne separated his Burgundian from his Belgian possessions. Fearing any warlike ambitions, Charles thought it prudent to reorient his fidelities and friendships away from such a possible adversary. Through his French connections, he obtained the assistance of Charles VII against Burgundy and married his daughter to the Angevin René, later king of Naples.

Charles's final years were rife with conflict and unhappiness. His nephew, Anthony of Vaudémont demanded a part of the inheritance and Charles had to war against him in 1425, without much success. Early in 1429, Joan of Arc came on a pilgrimage to Saint-Nicolas-de-Port. She counselled the duke to abandon his mistress, Alison du May. Ignoring this advice, Charles gave her an escort and sent her on to Chinon. He died two years later at his capital of Nancy on 25 January.

Family
Charles married Margaret of the Palatinate (1376–1434), daughter of Rupert of Germany and Elisabeth of Nuremberg, in 1393, only two daughters survived childhood:
 * Isabella (1410–1453), who became Duchess suo jure on his death and married René, later holder of many prestigious titles
 * Louis, died young
 * Ralph, died young
 * Catherine (1407–1439), married Jacob, Margrave of Baden

With his mistress, the aforementioned Alison du May (murdered in Nancy, 25 January 1431), he had five children:
 * Ferry d'Einvile (d. 1453/56), Lord of Billestein, Villacourt, Vaxoncourt, Pallegney and Zincourt. He had issue.
 * John Pillelipille (d. 1460), Lord of Darnieulles, married Philippa de Marches. He had issue.
 * Ferry de Lunéville (fl. c. 1425).
 * Catherine (fl. c. 1425).
 * Isabelle (d. after 9 August 1457), married in 1425 to Henry of Liocourt.

title: Charles II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Henry II, Duke of Lorraine

Henry II (French: Henri II; 8 November 1563 – 31 July 1624), known as "the Good (le Bon)", was Duke of Lorraine from 1608 until his death. Leaving no sons, both of his daughters became Duchesses of Lorraine by marriage. He was a brother-in-law of Henry IV of France.

History and family
Henry was the son of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and Claude of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. His paternal grandparents were Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and Christina of Denmark. The splendour of his baptism in Bar-le-Duc was recalled by his aunt Margaret of Valois, who was ten at the time.

Henry married, firstly, Catherine of Bourbon, Duchess of Albret, daughter Antoine of Navarre and Jeanne d'Albret, sister of King Henry IV of France. The couple were married at the Château de Saint Germain-en-Laye outside Paris on 31 January 1599. The bride was already 39 years of age and the union was merely to secure relations with the House of Bourbon which had previously been rivals with the House of Lorraine. As Catherine was a Protestant and Henry was a Catholic, a papal dispensation was needed for the two to marry. Pope Clement VIII refused to grant a dispensation, but Catherine's brother, Henry, convinced their illegitimate half-brother, Charles, Archbishop of Rouen, to officiate at the wedding.

Catherine died childless in 1604, aged 45. With no issue from that union, Duke Henry married, secondly, Margherita Gonzaga on 24 April 1606 in Mantua. She was the eldest daughter of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and his wife Eleonora de' Medici. Margherita's sister Eleonor Gonzaga was a future Holy Roman Empress.

Henry was succeeded by his younger brother as Francis II, Duke of Lorraine.

Issue
Henry and Margherita had four daughters, two of whom survived to adulthood:
 * Stillborn daughter (February 1607).
 * Nicole of Lorraine (3 October 1608 – 23 February 1657), married her cousin, Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, separated in 1635.
 * A daughter (10 February 1611 - 11 February 1611).
 * Claude Françoise de Lorraine (6 October 1612 – 2 August 1648), married her cousin, Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine,

title: Henry II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Francis II, Duke of Lorraine

Francis II (François de Lorraine; 27 February 1572 – 14 October 1632) was the son of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine and Claude of Valois. He was Duke of Lorraine briefly in 1625, quickly abdicating in favour of his son.

Biography
The youngest son of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Claude of France, Francis was styled the Count of Vaudémont during his father's reign (1545–1608) as well as during that of his older brother Henry II (1608–1624). His father appointed him as his deputy (Lieutenant General) of Lorraine, while in 1594 he was out of the country.

That same year he was Lieutenant General of the French king in Toul and Verdun. From September to October 1606 he was in his father's diplomatic mission in England. Rowland Whyte mentioned him dancing at Hampton Court in the presence chamber of Anne of Denmark. He spent much of the time hunting with King James away from London, where there was plague. They returned to Hampton Court and James gave him a jewel worth 10,000 crowns. Anne of Denmark wrote to his father expressing her pleasure and mentioning King James's nearest in blood to the family.

In 1621 he fell out with his brother Henry II, who had become duke in 1608, and went to Germany for the emperor to fight the Protestants. The reason for the rift was Henry's intention to have Francis's son Charles marry Henry II's daughter Nicolette of Lorraine and to leave Lorraine to her, even though the will of Duke René II had provided for a strictly male succession. Henry and his wife Margherita Gonzaga had only had daughters. After negotiations, the issue was then resolved and the marriage took place but the couple did not have any children and the duchy was to revert to Francis' other son, the future Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine. After Francis' brother died on 31 July 1624, the situation became complicated; Henry's final rules specified that Charles could only be the Duke of Lorraine as Nicolette's husband.

In November 1625, however, it was Francis himself who became the ruler of Lorraine. Having claimed the duchy for himself, he got it on 21 November 1625 from the duchy's States General.

After he had paid the duchy's debt out of its treasury five days later, he abdicated in favour of his son, who by then had pushed aside his wife and who then ruled in his own right.

In his will, Francis stated that he "never had ambitions to wear a crown in this world". After his abdication, Francis II took on the management of the county of Vaudémont. He died less than a year later.

Family
He married Christina of Salm and had the following issue:

 * 1) Henri de Lorraine, Marquis of Hattonchâtel (1602–1611) died young;
 * 2) Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine (1604–1675) married Nicolette of Lorraine, no issue; married (bigamously) Béatrix de Cusance and had issue (he also remarried Beatrix after the death of Nicolette); married Marie Louise d'Aspremont, no issue;
 * 3) Henriette de Lorraine (1605–1660), married Louis de Lorraine, Prince of Lexin, son of Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, no issue;
 * 4) Nicolas, Duke of Lorraine (1609–1670), married Claude de Lorraine and had issue;
 * 5) Marguerite de Lorraine (1615–1672), married Gaston de France, Duke of Orléans and had issue;
 * 6) Christine de Lorraine (1621–1622) died in infancy.

title: Francis II, Duke of Lorraine


text:
Charles III, Duke of Lorraine

Charles III (18 February 1543 – 14 May 1608), known as the Great, was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.

Life
He was the eldest surviving son of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and Christina of Denmark.

In 1545, his father died, and his mother served as the regent during his minority. During his childhood, his aged great-grandmother, Philippa of Gelderland, died in 1547, leaving also her inheritance to the young Charles. His dynasty claimed the Kingdom of Jerusalem and used also the title of Duke of Calabria as symbol of their claims to the Kingdom of Naples. Additionally, they had a claim to the Duchy of Gelderland, inherited from Charles of Egmont, Duke of Gelderland.

In 1552, Lorraine was invaded by France, his mother's regency was terminated and Charles was removed from Lorraine to France, to be raised at the French royal court in accordance to the needs of French interests. According to Julio Alvarotto, envoy of Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Charles paid for a masque involving pageant ships with sails of silver cloth, designed by Bartolomeo Campi, at the wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of France, on 24 April 1558. During the pageant he danced with his future wife, Claude of France. In 1559, they were married and he was allowed to depart to Lorraine and take control of his domain.

The reign of Charles III is regarded as a great age of peace and prosperity for Lorraine. He pursued a policy of neutrality between France and The Holy Roman Empire, as well as during the French Wars of Religion. He founded the University of Pount-a-Mousson. He also expanded his realm by the incorporation of Pfalzburg from George John I, Count Palatine of Veldenz, in 1590, and tried to conquer also Lützelstein, though George John I's widow, Anna of Sweden, managed to negotiate a truce.

In 1589, he broke his policy of neutrality and allied himself with the French Catholic League because he, as a Catholic, could not accept Henry of Navarre as king of France. In his peace with Henry in 1594, he married his son to Henry's sister Catherine de Bourbon.

Family
He married Claude of Valois, princess of France, daughter of king Henry II and Catherine de' Medici. They had the following children:

 * Henry II, Duke of Lorraine (1563–1624) married Catherine de Bourbon and Margerita Gonzaga
 * Christine (1565–1637), married Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
 * Charles (1567–1607), Cardinal of Lorraine and Bishop of Metz (1578–1607), Bishop of Strasbourg (1604–1607)
 * Antoinette (1568–1610), married John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.
 * Anne (1569–1576)
 * Francis II, Duke of Lorraine (1572–1632) married Christina of Salm
 * Catherine (1573 † 1648), Abess de Remiremont
 * Elisabeth Renata (1574–1635), married Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria
 * Charles&Claude.jpeg Claude, 1575–1576.

title: Charles III, Duke of Lorraine