Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon
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La Tour d'Auvergne
La Tour d'Auvergne was a French noble family. Its senior branch, extinct in 1501, held the titles of count of Auvergne and count of Boulogne for about half a century. Its junior branch, extinct in 1802, held the title of duke of Bouillon since 1594 and the titles of duke of Albret and duke of...
, duc de Bouillon (October 22, 1605 – August 9, 1652) was prince of the independent principality of Sedan, and general in the French royal army.
Born in Sedan, Ardennes, he was the son of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne was a member of the powerful, House of La Tour d'Auvergne, Prince of Sedan and a marshal of France.-Biography:The vicomte de Turenne was born at the castle of...
and Elisabeth of Nassau
Elisabeth of Nassau
Countess Elisabeth of Nassau was the second daughter of prince William of Orange and his third spouse Charlotte of Bourbon...
. His brother was the famous Turenne
Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne,often called simply Turenne was the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family. He achieved military fame and became a Marshal of France...
, Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
. Raised as a Protestant, he received a military education in Holland under his uncles Maurice of Nassau-Orange and Frederick Henry of Nassau-Orange
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...
.
He became duc de Bouillon, and prince of Sedan, Jametz
Jametz
Jametz is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France....
, and Raucourt
Raucourt-et-Flaba
Raucourt-et-Flaba is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
(now in Ardennes
Ardennes (département)
Ardennes is a department in the northeast part of France named after the Ardennes area.- History :The department is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was named after the Ardennes hills, which are located in northeast France, southern...
département, France) at the death of his father in 1623. He was appointed governor of Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
(United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
) in 1629. In 1634 he married Eleonora van Berg's-Heerenberg, under whose influence he converted to Catholicism.
In 1635 the duc de Bouillon came into the service of King Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
, and was appointed maréchal de camp (i.e. brigadier general
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
). He was deprived of his offices in the United Provinces after engaging in negotiations with Spain (the arch-enemy of the United Provinces) in 1637.
Along with the comte de Soissons
Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons
Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons , was a French nobleman, the son of Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons and Anne de Montafié...
, he conspired against Richelieu, and with the support of Spanish troops he and the comte de Soissons defeated the French royal troops sent after them at the Battle of La Marfée
Battle of La Marfée
The Battle of La Marfée was a battle of the Thirty Years' War near Sedan, France on 6 July 1641, between the troops of Louis XIII under Marshall Gaspard III de Coligny and those of the Holy Roman Empire under Prince Louis de Bourbon, the Count of Soissons and Dreux & Duke Frédéric Maurice de La...
, outside of Sedan, in 1641.
Later he submitted to King Louis XIII and Richelieu, and he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in command of the French army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
(1642). Having again conspired against Richelieu with Cinq-Mars, he was arrested in Casale
Casale Monferrato
Casale Monferrato, population 36,058, is a town and comune in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy, part of the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the...
(Italy), and was released only when his wife threatened to open Sedan
Sedan, France
Sedan is a commune in France, a sub-prefecture of the Ardennes department in northern France.-Geography:The historic centre is built on a peninsula formed by an arc of the Meuse River. It is around from the Belgian border.-History:...
to the Spaniards (1642). During this misfortune, he promised to cede the strategic border principalities of Sedan and Raucourt to France.
In 1650 he joined the Fronde
Fronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
, and was one of its leaders with his brother Turenne. Mazarin won him over (1650) by promising him a high office and compensations for the cession of Sedan and Raucourt, exchanged in 1651 for the duchies of Albret
Duke of Albret
Duke of Albret was a title in the French nobility.It was created in 1550 for the King of Navarre, Henry II. He died in 1555 and was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Joan III. The duchy was made into a peerage for her in 1556...
and Château-Thierry
Château-Thierry
Château-Thierry is a commune in northern France about east-northeast of Paris. It is a sub-prefecture of the Aisne department in Picardy.-History:...
, the counties of Auvergne
Auvergne (province)
Auvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne. It is now the geographical and cultural area that corresponds to the former province....
and Évreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
, and several other lands.
He died at Pontoise
Pontoise
Pontoise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...
, near Paris, in 1652 and was buried in Évreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
.
Children
Frédéric Maurice had five sons and four daughters. The five sons were:- Godefroy MauriceGodefroy Maurice de La Tour d'AuvergneGodefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne was a French nobleman and member of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, one of the most important families in France at the time...
, 3rd duc de Bouillon (1641–1721) - Frédéric Maurice, comte d'Auvergne (1642–1707) married Princess Henriette Françoise von Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Marquise de Bergen-op-Zoom and had 13 children; grandfather of Maria Henriette Leopoldine de La Tour d'Auvergne], mother of Charles Theodore, Elector of BavariaCharles Theodore, Elector of BavariaCharles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...
. - Emmanuel-Théodose, duc d'AlbretCardinal de BouillonEmmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne was a French prelate and diplomat, known as the Cardinal de Bouillon.-Biography:...
(1643–1715) - Constantin Ignace, duc de Château-Thierry (1646–1670)
- Henri Ignace, le comte d'Évreux (1650–1675)
His daughter Élisabeth married Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf
Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf
Charles de Lorraine was the third Duke of Elbeuf and member of the House of Lorraine. He succeeded his father Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf, to the Duchy-Peerage of Elbeuf. His mother was an illegitimate daughter of Henry IV of France and Gabrielle d'Estrées...
(grandson of a legitimised daughter of Henry IV
Catherine Henriette de Bourbon
Catherine Henriette de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was an illegitimate daughter of King Henri IV and his long-term maîtresse en titre Gabrielle d'Estrées. She married into the Princely House of Guise.-Early years:...
) and had issue.