principality · France and the Low Countries

Principality of Sedan

1424 CE – 1642 CE (approx.) · capital Sedan

A Protestant sovereign principality on the Meuse, ruled by the La Marck and La Tour d'Auvergne families, which sheltered Huguenots and French rebels.

Origins

In 1424 Everard de la Marck acquired the lordship of Sedan on the Meuse, at the frontier between France, Luxembourg and Liège. His descendants built a great fortress there and claimed sovereignty, owing allegiance to neither the French king nor the emperor.

Rule and society

Robert II de la Marck and his successors were also dukes of Bouillon. The princes adopted Calvinism, and Sedan became a Huguenot refuge with a Protestant academy founded in 1602. In 1591 the heiress Charlotte de la Marck married Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, father of Marshal Turenne, who was born at Sedan in 1611. Sedan's cloth industry later flourished.

Decline and legacy

Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne joined the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars against Richelieu, and to save his life ceded Sedan to Louis XIII in 1642. The principality was absorbed into the Kingdom of France.

Connections (2)

More states of France and the Low Countries →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Principality of Sedan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-sedan
MLA
“Principality of Sedan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-sedan. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Principality of Sedan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-sedan.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Principality of Sedan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/principality-of-sedan (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻