ORLÉANS, HOUSE OF. — In French history there were four distinct groups of persons successively invested with the crown of the Duchy of O. The first was Filippo, the fifth son of King Filippo of Valois, in 1344; he retained it only until 1375, the year in which he died without legitimate issue. In 1392, King Carlo VI invested Luigi, the second son of King Carlo V, with the Duchy of O. He was succeeded by his son Carlo (1394–1465), who had to endure bitter struggles against the house of Borgogna; in 1414 he entered Paris with the Dauphin; in the battle of Azincourt he was taken prisoner by the English; in 1440 he was able to return to France. He was a refined poet of exquisite melancholy. The title passed from him by legitimate succession to Prince Luigi who, upon the death of Carlo VIII (1498), ascended the French throne Luigi XII (v.).
The Duchy of O. became the appanage of Gastone di Francia (1608–60), the younger son of Enrico IV and Maria de' Medici. He was a typical representative of the old aristocracy in its struggle against monarchical absolutism. When he died without male descendants, the Duchy returned to the crown. The following year Luigi XIV granted the Duchy of O. to his brother Filippo (1640–1701), one of the claimants to the throne of Spain upon the death of Carlo II, but he protested in vain against the testamentary provisions that appointed Filippo d'Angiò heir. His son Filippo (1674–1723), upon the death of Luigi XIV, became regent of France and remained so almost until his own death, when Luigi XV reached his majority. Among the descendants of this house are Luigi Filippo Giuseppe (1747–93), of democratic sympathies, who during the French Revolution assumed the name of Philippe Egalité and, as a deputy to the Convention, voted for the death sentence of Luigi XVI, but was then himself suspected of treason and guillotined; Luigi Filippo (v.), who became king in 1830. After the abdication of Luigi Filippo, the supporters of the O., alongside the legitimists and the Bonapartists, formed the third French monarchist party; after the death of Enrico V, Count of Chambord, in 1883, they merged with the legitimists. The last to bear the title of Duke of O. was Luigi Filippo Roberto (1869–1926).