harles de Montpensier, heir of the
Montpensier branch of the Bourbon family. Charles, afterwards constable
of France, who took the title of duke of Bourbon on his marriage, was
born in 1489, and at an early age was looked upon as one of the finest
soldiers and gentlemen in France. With the constable ended the direct
line from Pierre I., duke of Bourbon (d. 1356). But the fourth in
descent from Pierre's brother, Jacques, count of La Marche, Louis, count
of Vendome and Chartres (d. 1446), became the ancestor of the royal
house of Bourbon and of the noble families of Conde, Conti and
Montpensier. The fourth in direct descent from Louis of Vendome was
Antoine de Bourbon, who in 1548 married Jeanne d'Albret, heiress of
Navarre, and became king of Navarre in 1554. Their son became king of
France as Henry IV. Henry was succeeded by his son, Louis XIII., who
left two sons, Louis XIV., and Philip, duke of Orleans, head of the
Orleans branch. Louis XIV.'s son, the dauphin, died before his father,
and left three sons, one of whom died without issue. Of the others the
elder, Louis of Burgundy, died in 1712, and his only surviving son
became Louis XV. The younger, Philip, duke of Anjou, became king of
Spain, and founded the Spanish branch of the Bourbon family. Louis XV.
was succeeded by his grandson, Louis XVI., who perished on the scaffold.
At the restoration the throne of France was occupied by Louis XVIII.,
brother of Louis XVI., who in turn was succeeded by his brother Charles
X. The second son of Charles X., the duc de Berry, left a son, Henri
Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonne d'Artois, duc de Bordeaux, and comte
de Chambord (q.v.). From Louis XIV.'s brother, Philip, descended another
claimant of the throne. Philip's son was the regent Orleans, whose
great-grandson, "Philippe Egalite," perished on the scaffold in 1793.
Egalite's son, Louis Philippe, was king of the French from 1830 to 1848;
his grandson, Louis Philippe, comte de Paris (1838-1894), inherited on
the death of the comte de Chambord the rights of that prince to the
throne of France, and was called by the royalists Philip VII. He had a
son, Louis Philippe Robert, duc d'Orleans, called by his adherents
Philip VIII.

_Spanish Branch._--Philip, duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., became
king of Spain as Philip V., in 1700. He was succeeded in 1746 by his son
Ferdinand VI., who died in 1759 without family, and was followed by his
brother Charles III. Charles III.'s e