The Duke of Bourbon – the man who would have become king if he lived to be 99 – in 1490. The Duke of Bourbon held the highest military position in France from 1515 to 1521, the one of the Conétable (fr. Connétable de France), which made him superior to all the Marshals of France.
On February 17, 1490, Charles III, Duke of Bourbon and one of the richest men in France in the first half of the 16th century, was born. He inherited a bunch of titles, including those of the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke and Doppen of Auvergne, the Duke of Châtellerault, the Earl of Clermont, the Earl of La Marche, the Earl of Forez, the Earl of Montpensier, the Earl of Sancerre, the Prince of Dombes and Lord Beaujeu. From 1515 to 1521 he held the highest military position in France, the one of the Conétable (fr. Connétable de France), thereby supervising all the marshals of France. As a relative of the French King Francis I. (patron saint of the famous Leonard Da Vinci) Duke Charles III. he could easily inherit the throne, especially until 1518, because by then the aforementioned king had no sons, so the duke was the first in the line of inheritance.
Had he lived 99 years, Charles III. indeed he would inherit the French throne because then the branch of Valois, descended from the said King Francis, became extinct. Nevertheless, Charles III. in fact, he was killed at the age of 37. He was killed in Rome after being shot by defenders of the city. The artist Benvenuto Cellini, who fought the Duke, claimed in his autobiography that Charles III. killed by a shot that was fired by either he (Cellini) or his closest teammates.
