See also: Merry

Anne of Merry , baron d' Arques, Viscount then duke of Joyeuse, known as Joyeuse , was one of the nice S of the king Henri III (1560, castle of Merry, v. October 20th 1587, the Gironde).

Born in 1560 with the castle from Merry, wire of Guillaume de Joyeuse and Marie de Batarnay, it dies the October 20th 1587, with the Bataille of Coutras. He is the brother of Henri de Joyeuse, count of Stopping and François de Joyeuse, archbishop of cardinal Narbonne and .

He attended the Collège of Navarre, with Paris, as from August 1572, after having studied with the college of Toulouse and follow-up the courses of Theodore Marsile and Georges Critton.

Starting from 1577, it accompanies his/her father in shift against the Huguenot S in Languedoc and Auvergne. In 1579, it receives the command of a Compagnie of ordinance of the king then becomes governor of the Mont Saint-Michel. In 1580, it takes part in the seat of Fère.

Married the September 18th 1581 with Marguerite of Lorraine, girl of Nicolas of Lorraine, duke of Mercœur, and Jeanne of Savoy, and half-sister of the queen of France. The two husbands receive with their marriage more than 300.000 [[ecu (currency) ecu]] S of the king. In August the Viscount of Merry is set up in duchy-peerage with precedence of all the other dukes and pars excluded the Princes of blood. The king also offers the ground and seigniory of Limours to him.

Large Admiral de France on June 1st 1582. Promoted knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit the December 31st. The February 24th 1583, it is named governor of Normandy. And, in 1584, he becomes governor of the Havre. The same year, with died from the duke of Anjou, it receives the government of the Duché of Alençon and its brother Of Stopping that of Anjou.

Anne of Merry ordered a forwarding against the Protestants in Poitou, but it alienated the benevolence of Henri III while making massacre 800 Huguenots with Mothe-Saint-Héray, the June 21st 1587 (known as massacre of Saint-Eloi ). Receipt coldly at the Court, it believed to escape royal disgrace while setting out again to fight the troops of Henri de Navarre. The October 20th 1587, it attacked the Protestant troops with Coutras (the Gironde), but its infantry and her cavalry were decimated. Anne of Merry had constituted prisoner, when he was recognized and killed out of a blow of gun.

Among the 2000 dead catholics, was also the young brother of Anne , Claude of Merry, lord of Saint-Saver (1569 - 1587).