1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mercœur, Philippe Emmanuel de Lorraine

MERCŒUR, PHILIPPE EMMANUEL DE LORRAINE, Duc de (1558–1602), French soldier, was born on the 9th of September 1558, and married Marie de Luxemburg, duchesse de Penthièvre. In 1582 he was made governor of Brittany by Henry III., who had married his sister. Mercœur put himself at the head of the League in Brittany, and had himself proclaimed protector of the Roman Catholic Church in the province in 1588. Invoking the hereditary rights of his wife, who was a descendant of the dukes of Brittany, he endeavoured to make himself independent in that province, and organized a government at Nantes, calling his son “prince and duke of Brittany.” With the aid of the Spaniards he defeated the duc de Montpensier, whom Henry IV. had sent against him, at Craon in 1592, but the royal troops, reinforced by English contingents, soon recovered the advantage. The king marched against Mercœur in person, and received his submission at Angers on the 20th of March 1598. Mercœur subsequently went to Hungary, where he entered the service of the emperor Rudolph II., and fought against the Turks, taking Stuhlweissenburg (Székes-Fehérvár) in 1599. Mercœur died on the 19th of February 1602.