Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti
Encyclopedia
Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (13 August 1717 – 2 August 1776) was a French nobleman, who was the Prince of Conti
from 1727 to his death, following his father Louis Armand II
. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, a natural granddaughter of Louis XIV
. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
, he was a Prince du Sang
.
.
In 1731, he married his cousin, Louise Diane d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres
, the youngest daughter of Philippe d'Orléans
, the Régent
of France during the minority of King Louis XV of France
, and his wife Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois (daughter of Madame de Montespan).
His marriage was organised by his mother the Dowager Princesss of Conti and future mother in law the Dowager Duchess of Orléans
.
She died in childbirth at the Château d'Issy
in 1736. His younger sister, Louise Henriette de Bourbon was the mother of Philippe Égalité
. He then stayed at L'Isle-Adam
.
Louis François pursued a military career, and when the War of the Austrian Succession
broke out in 1741, he accompanied the Duke of Belle-Isle to Bohemia
. His services there led to his command of the army in Italy
, where he distinguished himself by forcing the pass of Villafranca and winning the battle of Coni
in 1744.
In 1745 he was sent to check the Austrians in Germany
. In 1746, he was transferred to the Netherlands
, where conflicts with the Maréchal de Saxe
led to his retirement in 1747 to the Château de L'Isle-Adam
.
In 1760 he bought a famous Burgundy
vineyard which at that time bore the name of La Romanée, at a high price. After the purchase he added his own name to the vineyard, which since has been known as Romanée-Conti
. The wine from this vineyard is one of the world's most expensive.
, where King Augustus III was expected to die soon. Conti was able to win the personal support of Louis XV of France
for his candidacy. However, the policy of the king's ministers was to establish the ruling house of Saxony
upon the throne in Poland, as Louis XV's daughter-in-law, Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
, was a daughter of the ailing Augustus. As a result of this conflict, Louis XV began secret communications with his ambassadors at certain influential foreign courts that were in direct opposition to the official communications being sent to those same ambassadors by his ministers. The system of couriers used to relay the king's secret messages developed later into a spy-network known as the Secret du Roi
.
Although Conti did not secure the Polish throne, he did remain in the confidence of the king until 1755, when his influence was destroyed by the intrigues of the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour
. His relationship with Louis XV deteriorated so, that when the Seven Years' War
broke out in 1756, Conti was refused the command of the army of the Rhine. Angry, he began opposing the royal government, which caused Louis to refer to him as, "my cousin, the advocate".
In 1771, Conti took the lead in opposing the chancellor, Maupeou
. He supported the parlement
s against the government and was especially hostile to Turgot
. Due to the intensity of his anti-government feelings, he was suspected of aiding an uprising which took place in Dijon
in 1775.
Conti inherited literary tastes from his father, was a brave and skillful general, and a diligent student of military history. His mistress, the cultivated Comtesse de Boufflers
(1725–1800), presided over a salon
at his home in Paris, which attracted many men of letters. Through his mistress, he became a patron of Jean Jacques Rousseau.
He was succeeded by his son, Louis François Joseph (1734–1814), who was the last person to bear the Conti title.
Prince of Conti
The title of Prince of Conti was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the house of Bourbon-Condé. It was taken from Conty, a small town of northern France, c. 35 km southwest of Amiens, which came into the Condé family by the marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Condé,...
from 1727 to his death, following his father Louis Armand II
Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti
Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father François Louis, Prince of Conti. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. His mother was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a grand daughter of Louis de...
. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, a natural granddaughter of Louis XIV
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...
. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
, he was a Prince du Sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
.
Biography
Louis François I de Bourbon was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
In 1731, he married his cousin, Louise Diane d'Orléans, Mademoiselle de Chartres
Louise Diane d'Orléans
Louise d'Orléans was the sixth daughter and last child of Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan...
, the youngest daughter of Philippe d'Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
, the Régent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of France during the minority of King Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
, and his wife Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois (daughter of Madame de Montespan).
His marriage was organised by his mother the Dowager Princesss of Conti and future mother in law the Dowager Duchess of Orléans
Françoise-Marie de Bourbon
Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Originally known as the second Mademoiselle de Blois, that style eventually gave way to the name Françoise Marie de...
.
She died in childbirth at the Château d'Issy
Château d'Issy
The Château d'Issy, at Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of France, was a small French Baroque château on the outskirts of Paris...
in 1736. His younger sister, Louise Henriette de Bourbon was the mother of Philippe Égalité
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror...
. He then stayed at L'Isle-Adam
Château de L'Isle-Adam
The Château de L'Isle-Adam, now destroyed, could be found in the town of L'Isle-Adam in the department of Val-d'Oise; it was built on an island called the Île du Prieuré The building was connected with many illustrious families; the Lords of Adams, the Dukes of Villiers, the Dukes of Montmorency,...
.
Louis François pursued a military career, and when the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
broke out in 1741, he accompanied the Duke of Belle-Isle to 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...
. His services there led to his command of the army in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where he distinguished himself by forcing the pass of Villafranca and winning the battle of Coni
Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo
The Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo or Battle of Cuneo was fought on the outskirts of Cuneo on September 30, 1744, in the War of the Austrian Succession...
in 1744.
In 1745 he was sent to check the Austrians in 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...
. In 1746, he was transferred to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, where conflicts with the Maréchal de Saxe
Maurice, comte de Saxe
Maurice de Saxe was a German in French service who was Marshal and later also Marshal General of France.-Childhood:...
led to his retirement in 1747 to the Château de L'Isle-Adam
Château de L'Isle-Adam
The Château de L'Isle-Adam, now destroyed, could be found in the town of L'Isle-Adam in the department of Val-d'Oise; it was built on an island called the Île du Prieuré The building was connected with many illustrious families; the Lords of Adams, the Dukes of Villiers, the Dukes of Montmorency,...
.
In 1760 he bought a famous Burgundy
Burgundy wine
Burgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône River, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from...
vineyard which at that time bore the name of La Romanée, at a high price. After the purchase he added his own name to the vineyard, which since has been known as Romanée-Conti
Romanée-Conti
Romanée-Conti is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée and Grand Cru vineyard for red wine in the Côte de Nuits subregion of Burgundy, with Pinot Noir as the sole grape variety. It is situated within the commune of Vosne-Romanée and is a monopole of the winery Société Civile du Domaine de la...
. The wine from this vineyard is one of the world's most expensive.
Candidate to the Polish Throne
In that same year, a faction of Polish nobles offered Conti the throne of PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, where King Augustus III was expected to die soon. Conti was able to win the personal support of Louis XV of France
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
for his candidacy. However, the policy of the king's ministers was to establish the ruling house of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
upon the throne in Poland, as Louis XV's daughter-in-law, Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
Marie-Josèphe of Saxony
Maria Josepha of Saxony was a Duchess of Saxony and the Dauphine of France. She became Dauphine at the age of fifteen through her marriage to Louis de France, the son and heir of Louis XV...
, was a daughter of the ailing Augustus. As a result of this conflict, Louis XV began secret communications with his ambassadors at certain influential foreign courts that were in direct opposition to the official communications being sent to those same ambassadors by his ministers. The system of couriers used to relay the king's secret messages developed later into a spy-network known as the Secret du Roi
Secret du Roi
For a period of over twenty years, King Louis XV split his diplomacy into official and secret channels. The secret channels became collectively known as the King's Secret , established in 1745...
.
Although Conti did not secure the Polish throne, he did remain in the confidence of the king until 1755, when his influence was destroyed by the intrigues of the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
. His relationship with Louis XV deteriorated so, that when the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
broke out in 1756, Conti was refused the command of the army of the Rhine. Angry, he began opposing the royal government, which caused Louis to refer to him as, "my cousin, the advocate".
In 1771, Conti took the lead in opposing the chancellor, Maupeou
René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou
René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou was a French politician, chancellor of France, whose attempts at fiscal reform signalled the failure of enlightened despotism in France.-Biography:...
. He supported the parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
s against the government and was especially hostile to Turgot
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune , often referred to as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Turgot was a student of Francois Quesnay and as such belonged to the Physiocratic school of economic thought...
. Due to the intensity of his anti-government feelings, he was suspected of aiding an uprising which took place in Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
in 1775.
Conti inherited literary tastes from his father, was a brave and skillful general, and a diligent student of military history. His mistress, the cultivated Comtesse de Boufflers
Marie-Charlotte Hippolyte de Campet de Saujon
Marie-Charlotte Hippolyte de Campet de Saujon, by marriage Countess of Boufflers , was a French lady of letters and salon hostess...
(1725–1800), presided over a salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
at his home in Paris, which attracted many men of letters. Through his mistress, he became a patron of Jean Jacques Rousseau.
He was succeeded by his son, Louis François Joseph (1734–1814), who was the last person to bear the Conti title.
Issue
| Name | | Portrait | Lifespan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louis François Joseph de Bourbon Louis François II de Bourbon, prince de Conti Louis François Joseph de Bourbon was Prince of Conti, succeeding his father Louis François de Bourbon. His mother was Louise Diane d'Orléans, the youngest daughter of Philippe d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans, the Regent of France during the minority of King Louis XV of France... Prince of Conti |
 |
1 September 1734 - 13 March 1814 |
Born in Paris, he was known as the Count of La Marche before succeeding to the House of Conti; married his first cousin Princess Maria Fortunata of Modena Maria Fortunata d'Este Maria Fortunata d'Este was a Modenese princess by birth and a princess of the blood of France by marriage. By her marriage to a second cousin Louis François Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, she became the Countess of La Marche and later the Princess of Conti and was a member of the French court... , who was a daughter of Louise's older sister, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans; had no legitimate issue; died in Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... at the age of 79; |
| X de Bourbon |
 |
26 September 1736 | Born at Issy, the child was a stillbirth; |