Born in
Paris, son of
Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and his wife,
Anne de Montafié. Louis was made governor of the
Dauphiné province (1612), an office inherited at the death of his father, and later governor of the
Champagne province (1631). Around 1612, he was made the
Grand Master of France, the head of the royal household. In 1636, Louis conspired with his cousin
Gaston d'Orléans and the
count of Montrésor with the intention to murder
Cardinal Richelieu and depose the King, but the plot failed. The King's mother,
Marie de' Medici, had tried as well on numerous occasions to remove the Cardinal as well as once trying to depose the King in favor of her younger son Gaston. For this she was placed under house arrest for the remainder of her life. Taking refuge in
Sedan with the
Duke of Bouillon (
prince of the independent
principality of Sedan), Louis again conspired against Richelieu, and the Duke of Bouillon obtained the military support of
Spain. Louis's army was engaged by a royal French army under
Gaspard de Coligny, Marshal Châtillon at Sedan, but Coligny was routed at the
Battle of La Marfée outside of Sedan on 6 July 1641. Of the King's 11,000 force, 600 were killed, 5500 were taken prisoner, while the Count of Soissons' forces suffered nominal losses. This was due to the late slow arrival of the King's forces through muddy roads and the surprise cavalry attack from their flank from behind a hill. The Count of Soissons, however, was killed after the battle by one officer whose identity was never ascertained, possibly in the employ of Cardinal Richelieu. According to some sources, the Count died by accident while lifting the visor of his helmet with a loaded pistol, shooting himself in the head. He was buried in the Soissons family tomb at the
Chartreuse de Bourbon-lez-Gaillon in
Gaillon, in the French province of
Normandy. The county of Soissons was passed onto his only surviving sister
Marie de Bourbon,
Princess of Carignano and wife of
Thomas Francis of Savoy, a famous general. ==Issue==