Joyeuse , French noble duchy of the 16th century. Its seat was in Joyeuse in the Vivarais Region of the Languedoc (in the modern department of Ardèche), the 13th century onwards from a branch of the House of Chateauneuf de Randon as Barony and from 1432 as Viscounty .
Anne de Joyeuse (1561–87), the pretty favorite Henry III From France , was created Duke of Joyeuse and married the king's sister-in-law, Marguerite de Vaudémont, in 1581. Anne was made Admiral of France and Governor of France in 1582 Normandy in 1586. As a leader of the Roman Catholic reaction against Henri I, Duc de Montmorencys tolerant policy towards the Huguenots in the Languedoc, he led an army against the Huguenots in Guienne. He massacred some Huguenots at Mont-Saint-Éloi but was captured and killed at Coutras (October 20, 1587).
Of his surviving brothers, the eldest was François (1562–1615) was from 1582 Archbishop by Narbonne and from 1583 Cardinal , later Archbishop of Rouen (1604). As a result, the leadership of the Catholic extremists in Languedoc passed on Anne's death to his third brother. Antoine Scipion who fought with Spanish help for a few years, but after the defeat at Villemur in 1592 in Tarn drowned . Then his brother Henri (1567–1608), first known as Comte de Bouchage, but after the death of his wife (1587) under the name Frere Ange Capuchin monk , gave up his habit of continuing the duchy and the war. 1596 with Henry IV From France reconciled and made Marshal of France, he returned to the Capuchins in 1599. His daughter Henriette Catherine (1585–1656) was married for the first time in 1599 to Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, and for the second time in 1611 to Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise whose descendants inherited the duchy.