Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne
Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon (October 22, 1605 – August 9, 1652) was ruler of the independent principality of Sedan, and a general in the French royal army. Born in Sedan, Ardennes, he was the son of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, Prince of Sedan and Elisabeth of Orange-Nassau. His brother was the renowned Turenne, Marshal of France. Raised as a Protestant, he received a military education in Holland under his uncles, Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and Frederick Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange.
He became Duke of Bouillon, and Prince of Sedan, Jametz, and Raucourt (now in Ardennes, France) at the death of his father in 1623.[1] He was appointed governor of Maastricht in the United Provinces in 1629. In 1634 he married Countess Eleonora van Berg's-Heerenberg,[1] under whose influence he converted to Catholicism.
In 1635 the Duke of Bouillon came into the service of King Louis XIII of France, and was appointed maréchal de camp (brigadier general). 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 Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons, he conspired against Cardinal 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, outside of Sedan, in 1641.
Later he submitted to King Louis XIII and Richelieu, and he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in command of the French army of Italy (1642). Having again conspired against Richelieu with Cinq-Mars, he was arrested in Casale Italy, and was released only when his wife threatened to open Sedan 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, and was one of its leaders with his brother Turenne. Cardinal Mazarin won him over (1650) by promising him high office and compensations for the cessions of Sedan and Raucourt, exchanged in 1651 for the duchies of Albret and Château-Thierry, the counties of Auvergne and Évreux, and several other lands.
He died at Pontoise, near Paris, in 1652 and was buried in Évreux.
Children
Frédéric Maurice had five sons and four daughters. The five sons were:
- Godefroy Maurice, 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 Bavaria.
- Emmanuel-Théodose, duc d'Albret (1643–1715)
- Constantin Ignace, duc de Château-Thierry (1646–1670)
- Henri Ignace, le comte d'Évreux (1650–1675)
- Mauricienne Fébronie de La Tour d’Auvergne (1652-1706) (aka Princesse d'Evreux), married 1668 Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria-Leuchtenberg (1638-1705), without issue[1]
- Élisabeth, married Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf, and had issue.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne-Bouillon. |
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- Account of the Duchy of Bouillon, by François Velde
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- Commons category link is locally defined
- Accuracy disputes from August 2012
- Articles lacking reliable references from August 2012
- 1605 births
- 1652 deaths
- People from Sedan, Ardennes
- French generals
- Dukes of Bouillon
- House of la Tour d'Auvergne
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism
- French Roman Catholics
