Note 207 — Chapter IV
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The family of Guise, who played such a leading part in French history from the reign of Henry II. on to the downfall of the League, became French in the person of Claude, the fifth son of René, Duke of Lorraine, who inherited the lands of his father which were situated in France. Francis I. had loaded him with honours and lands. The family had always been devoted to the Papacy, and had profited by their devotion. The brother of Claude, Jean, had been made a Cardinal when he was twenty, and had accumulated in his own person an immense number of benefices. These descended to his nephews, Charles, who was first Cardinal of Guise and then Cardinal of Lorraine, and Louis, who was Cardinal of Guise. The accumulated benefices enjoyed by Charles amounted to over 300,000 livres. The Guises did not serve the Roman Church for nothing.