Page "René II, Duke of Lorraine" Paragraph 2

René spent his youth in the court of his grandfather René I of Anjou between Angers and Provence, succeeding to his father in Vaudémont in 1470 and, three years later, to his uncle as captain of Angers, senechal and governor of Anjou.

In the 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 Charles at the Battle of Nancy ( 5 January 1477 ).

In 1476, upon the death of his grandmother, he became sole Count of Harcourt and Baron of Elbeuf.