So, Duke Charles IV of Lorraine divorced his first wife, Nicole de Lorraine, Duchess of Lorraine et Bar on the grounds that "he had not been free to choose" at the time of the match. He sentenced to death the presiding priest (Melchior de la Vallée) on charges of witchcraft. And then married Beatrice de Cusance (the union was denounced as bigamous by the Catholic church and both parties were excommunicated.
Beatrice bore him three children, of whom a son, the prince de Commercy and a daughter, later princesse de Lillebonne, survived infancy. This side-line of the house of Lorraine eventaully died out in the male-line in 1876.
What if Charles had gone the regular route, and simply applied to the papacy for an annulment on grounds of consanguinity or some such? Or even a legitimizing bull from a friendly pope to insert his male-line descent after that of Nicole's sister, Claude, but before the Guises.
Beatrice bore him three children, of whom a son, the prince de Commercy and a daughter, later princesse de Lillebonne, survived infancy. This side-line of the house of Lorraine eventaully died out in the male-line in 1876.
What if Charles had gone the regular route, and simply applied to the papacy for an annulment on grounds of consanguinity or some such? Or even a legitimizing bull from a friendly pope to insert his male-line descent after that of Nicole's sister, Claude, but before the Guises.