Charles X

Third son of Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme and Françoise d'Alençon, duchesse of Beaumont; younger brother of Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, and uncle of Henri de Bourbon (future King Henri IV of France and Navarre); bishop of Nevers (5 Jul 1540 - 5 May 1546) and Saintes (23 Jan 1544 - 19 Mar 1550); created cardinal deacon (9 Jan 1548); archbishop of Rouen (3 Oct 1550 - 1582) and bishop of Beauvais (1569-1575); was the eldest member of the House of Bourbon, who could claim the French throne by right of belonging to the Roman Catholic religion, upon the death of duc d'Anjou (1584), brother of King Henri III; recognized as a heir to the throne of France by a secret agreement between the party of the duc de Guise and King Felipe II of Spain (1584); after the assassination of Guise (23 Dec 1588), was arrested and imprisoned in Tours, and then in Fontenay-le-Comte in Poitou; when Henri III died (2 Aug 1589), the duc de Mayenne called for recognition (5 Aug 1589) of cardinal de Bourbon as king under the name of Charles X; recognized as King of France in absentia by an act of the Parlement of Paris (21 Nov 1589); on 5 Mar 1590 the Parlement issued another act [1, vol 15, pp. 18-19] calling for recognition of Charles X and putting a ban on the conclusion of peace agreements with Henri IV; died in detention (9 May 1590) [3]. Biography source: [4]