Clermont-Tonnerre is the name of a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 family, members of which played some part in the history of France, especially in Dauphiné

Dauphiné

The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....

, from about 1100 to the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Sibaud, lord of Clermont in Viennois, who first appears in 1080, was the founder of the family. His descendant, another Sibaud, commanded some troops which aided Pope Calixtus II in his struggle with the Antipope Gregory VIII

Antipope Gregory VIII

Gregory VIII , born Mauritius Burdinus , was antipope from 10 March 1118 until 22 April 1121.He was born in the Limousin, part of Aquitaine, Occitania, France. He was educated at Cluny, at Limoges, and in Castile, where he was a deacon at Toledo. In 1098/1099 his Cluniac connections recommended him...

; and in return for this service it is said that the pope allowed him to add certain emblems, two keys and a tiara to the arms of his family. A direct descendant, Ainard (died 1349), called vicomte de Clermont, was granted the dignity of captain-general and first baron of Dauphiné by his suzerain Humbert, dauphin of Viennois, in 1340; and in 1547 Clermont was made a county for Antoine (died 1578), who was governor of Dauphiné and the French king's lieutenant in Savoy

Savoy

Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....

. In 1572 Antoine's son Henri was created a duke, but as this was only a brevet title it did not descend to his son. Henri was killed before La Rochelle

La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...

 in 1573. In 1596 Henri's son, Charles Henri, count of Clermont (died 1640), added Tonnerre to his heritage; but in 1648 this county was sold by his son and successor, François (died 1679).

A member of a younger branch of Charles Henri's descendants was Gaspard de Clermout-Tonnerre (1688-1781). This soldier served his country during a long period, fighting in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

 and Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

, and then distinguishing himself greatly at the battles of Fontenoy

Battle of Fontenoy

The Battle of Fontenoy, 11 May 1745, was a major engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession, fought between the forces of the Pragmatic Allies – comprising mainly Dutch, British, and Hanoverian troops under the nominal command of the Duke of Cumberland – and a French army under Maurice de...

 and Lawfeldt

Battle of Lauffeld

The Battle of Lauffeld, also known as the Battle of Lafelt or Battle of Maastricht, also Battle of Val, took place on 2 July 1747, during the French invasion of the Netherlands. It was part of the War of the Austrian Succession...

. In 1775 he was created duke of Clermont-Tonnerre, and made a peer of France; as the senior marshal (ca. 1747) of France he assisted as constable at the coronation of Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

 in 1774. His son and successor, Charles Henri Jules, governor of Dauphiné, was guillotine

Guillotine

The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...

d in July 1794, a fate which his grandson, Gaspard Charles, had suffered at Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 in the previous year. A later duke, Aimé Marie Gaspard

Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre

Aimé-Marie-Gaspard, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre was a French general and statesman.Son of Gaspard-Paulin, vicomte de Clermont-Tonnerre and Anne-Marie-...

(1770-1865), served for some years as a soldier, afterwards becoming minister of marine and then minister of war under Charles X

Charles X of France

Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...

, and retiring into private life after the revolution of 1830

Revolution of 1830

The Revolution of 1830 can be:* The July Revolution in France leading to a constitutional monarchy lasting until the revolutions of 1848* The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands leading to the creation of Belgium...

. Aimé's grandson, Roger, duke of Clermont-Tonnerre, was born in 1842.

Among other distinguished members of this family was Catherine (c. 1545-1603), daughter of Claude de Clermont-Tonnerre. This lady, dame d'honneur to Henry II

Henry II of France

Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...

's queen, Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....

, and afterwards wife of Albert de Gondi

Albert de Gondi

Albert de Gondi seigneur du Perron, comte, then marquis de Belle-Isle , duc de Retz , was a marshal of France and a member of the Gondi family. His father was Guidobaldo, seigneur de Perron, who became a banker at Lyon, and his mother was Marie-Catherine de Pierrevive - his siblings included...

, duc de Retz, won a great reputation by her intellectual attainments, being referred to as the tenth muse and the fourth grace. One of her grandsons was the famous Cardinal de Retz. Other noteworthy members of collateral branches of the family were: François

François de Clermont-Tonnerre

François de Clermont-Tonnerre, comte de Noyon was a French bishop of Noyon. He was a Pair de France, counsilor of state and became president of the assembly of the clergy in 1685...

(1629-1701), bishop of Noyon from 1661 until his death, a member of the French Academy, notorious for his inordinate vanity; Stanislas Marie Adelaide, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre

Stanislas Marie Adelaide, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre

Stanislas Marie Adélaïde, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre was a French politician.-Early life and career:Born in Pont-a-Mousson, in what is today the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France...

; and Anne Antoine Jules (1749-1830), cardinal and bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, who was a member of the states-general

French States-General

In France under the Old Regime, the States-General or Estates-General , was a legislative assembly of the different classes of French subjects. It had a separate assembly for each of the three estates, which were called and dismissed by the king...

 in 1789, afterwards retiring into Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and after the return of the Bourbons to France became archbishop of Toulouse.

• Aimé Marie Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre was Minister of War during the last days of the Bourbon Restoration
  Bourbon Restoration
  The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon  – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
  
  , in the cabinet of the Count de Villèle (see fr:Aimé Marie Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre)