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Catherine of Lorraine
Abbess of Remiremont
Born	3 November 1573 Ducal Palace of Nancy, France
Died	7 March 1648(1648-03-07) (aged 74) Paris, France
House	House of Lorraine
Father	Charles III, Duke of Lorraine
Mother	Claude of France

Catherine of Lorraine (3 November 1573 – 7 March 1648) was the Abbess of Remiremont.

Biography

Catherine was the seventh child and fourth daughter of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Claude, daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Her mother died in childbirth in 1575 when Catherine was a year and a half. She was born at the Ducal Palace of Lorraine in Nancy, capital of the Duchy of Lorraine.

Catherine was devoted to religion and even went as far to ignore an alliance with the future Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II.

In 1602 Catherine became the Coadjutrice of the Abbey. In 1612 she became the Abbess of the prestigious Remiremont Abbey, a Benedictine abbey near Remiremont, Vosges, France. The previous abbess, Elizabeth of Salm, had resigned specifically for Catherine to take the post.

Remiremont was one of the most important, illustrious and aristocratic Abbey in France and was closely associated with the House of Lorraine. She later became the coadjutor to her niece, Margaret. Margaret had lost her mother in 1627 and went to live with Catherine at Remiremont. The young Marguerite was later the Duchess of Orléans as wife Gaston, scandalous brother of Louis XIII. Margaret, as a result of marrying Gaston without royal permission, was sent into exile with her husband in Brussels.

In 1638 the troops of Turenne occupied Remiremont for a month. The following year the Princess obtained the neutrality of Vosges (for Épinal, Remiremont, Bruyère, St Dié, Arches) for the rest of the Thirty Years War.

She died in a Lorraine which had been ravaged by the Thirty Years war. At her death, the abbey was given to her great niece Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans who ruled the abbey under a regency of her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Orléans.

Remiremont was ruled by two more Lorraine princesses; Élisabeth Charlotte (1700–1711) and then Anne Charlotte (1714–1773).

Ancestry

References and notes

1. ^ Christensen, Martin K.I. "Women in Power 1600-1640". Retrieved 2010-03-02.

• Jacqueline Carolus-Currien, Pauvres duchesses, Metz, Édition serpenoise, 2007.

v t e Princesses of Lorraine
The generations start from the children of Réné II
2nd generation	Anne, Princess of Orange
3rd generation	Reneta, Duchess of Bavaria Dorothea, Duchess of Calenberg* Marie, Queen of Scotland Louise, Queen of France*
4th generation	Christine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany Antoinette, Duchess of Duchess of Jülich-Kleve-Berg Élisabeth, Electress Palatine Françoise, Duchess of Vendôme Catherine, Abbess of Remiremont* Louise Marguerite, Princess of Conti*
5th generation	Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine* Claude Françoise, Duchess of Lorraine Marguerite, Duchess of Orléans* Marie, Duchess of Guise*
6th generation	Anne Marie Thérèse, Abbess of Remiremont* Béatrice Hiéronyme, Abbess of Remiremont* Élisabeth, Princess of Epinoy* Marie, Princess of Monaco Charlotte, Mademoiselle d'Armagnac Suzanne Henriette, Duchess of Mantua
8th generation	Élisabeth Charlotte, Abbess of Remiremont* Élisabeth Thérèse, Queen of Sardinia* Anne Charlotte, Abbess of Remiremont* Louise Henriette Françoise, Duchess of Bouillon Élisabeth Sophie, Duchess of Richelieu Louise, Duchess of Bouillon
9th generation	Joséphine, Princess of Carignan
*died without issue

• 1573 births
• 1643 deaths
• 16th-century French nuns
• 17th-century French women
• French Roman Catholic abbesses
• Abbesses of Remiremont
• People from Nancy, France
• Princesses of Lorraine