Louis, 4th duc de Noailles
Encyclopedia
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
– 22 August
1793 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, France
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...
) was a French peer
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
and 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...
. He married Catherine de Cossé-Brissac, on 25 February 1737. They had four children: John Paul Duc d'Ayen, Adrienne Catherine de Noailles, Emmanuel de Noailles
Emmanuel-Marie-Louis, marquis de Noailles
Emmanuel Marie Louis de Noailles, marquis de Noailles was ambassador at Amsterdam from 1770 to 1776, at London 1776–1783, and at Vienna 1783–1792. He was the second son of Louis, 4th duc de Noailles. Lafayette visited him, in 1776, before embarking for America, as he promised.-See also:*...
, and Philippine Louise de Noailles.
He was the son of Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné
Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné
Françoise Charlotte Amable d'Aubigné, Duchess of Noailles was the wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles, 3rd Duke of Noailles. She was the niece of Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de Maintenon, and her heiress.-Biography:...
, niece of Madame de Maintenon. He was a nephew of Marie Victoire de Noailles
Marie Victoire de Noailles
Marie Victoire Sophie de Noailles, Countess of Toulouse , was the daughter of Anne Jules de Noailles, the 2nd Duke of Noailles, and his wife, Marie-Françoise de Bournonville...
, daughter in law of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
.
He bore the title of duc d'Ayen until his father
Adrien-Maurice, 3rd duc de Noailles
Adrien Maurice de Noailles, 3rd Duke of Noailles was a French aristocrat and soldier.-Biography:Son of Anne Jules de Noailles, he inherited the title duc de Noailles on his father's death in 1708....
's death in 1766, when he became duc de Noailles. He married Cathérine Françoise Charlotte de Cossé-Brissac, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. He served in most of the wars of the eighteenth century without particular distinction, but was nevertheless made a 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...
in 1775. He refused to emigrate during the 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...
.
The duc's widow, granddaughter, and daughter-in-law were 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 on 22 July 1794, twenty-five days after the duc's brother
Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy
Philippe de Noailles, comte de Noailles and later prince de Poix, duc de Mouchy, and duc de Poix à brevêt , was a younger brother of Louis de Noailles, and a more distinguished soldier than his brother...
and sister, sister-in-law, their daughter-in-law, and niece were 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. Another granddaughter, Adrienne
Adrienne de La Fayette
Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, marquise de La Fayette , the daughter of Jean de Noailles, and Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau, married Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette....
, wife of the Marquis de LaFayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
, was saved due to the efforts of James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, then-America's Minister to France. Adrienne and the Marquis are buried with the Noailles and the other nobles who fell to the guillotine at Picpus Cemetery
Picpus Cemetery
The Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in the city of Paris, France. It was created from land seized from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the Revolution. It contains the remains of French aristocrats who had been guillotined during the French Revolution...
.
Louis de Noailles was succeeded by his eldest son, Jean de Noailles. The titles remain among the 4th duc's descendants in the 21st century.