La Tour d'Auvergne

For the place, see La Tour-d'Auvergne.

See also: Coats of arms of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne

The House of La Tour d'Auvergne (French: [latuʁdovɛʁɲ] ) was a noble French dynasty. Its senior branch, extinct in 1501, held two of the last large fiefs acquired by the French crown, the counties of Auvergne and Boulogne, for about half a century. Its cadet branch, extinct in 1802, ruled the duchy of Bouillon in the Southern Netherlands from 1594, and held the dukedoms of Albret and Château-Thierry in the peerage of France since 1660. The name was also borne by Philippe d'Auvergne, an alleged collateral of the original Counts of Auvergne, and was adopted by the famous soldier Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne, who descended from an illegitimate line of the family.

Senior line: counts of Auvergne and Boulogne

Personal coat of arms of the counts of Auvergne and Boulogne from the House of la Tour d'Auvergne.

Although various La Tours are mentioned in the documents from the 11th and 12th century, the family history remains unclear until the 13th century, when they owned the lordship of la Tour in the county of Auvergne, hence the name.

The medieval family was related through marriages to other notable families of the French south, including Ventadour, La Rochefoucauld, and Levis-Mirepoix.

The la Tours d'Auvergne maintained close ties with the Avignon popes, and many of them became bishops and cardinals, particularly after 1352, when Guy de la Tour married Marthe Rogier of Beaufort, Popes Gregory XI's niece and Clement VI's grand niece. Their son Bertrand IV of la Tour  [ fr ] (1375–1423) married a rich heiress, Marie I, Countess of Auvergne, in 1389, with their son Bertrand V de la Tour  [ fr ] succeeding as Count of Auvergne and Boulogne in 1437.

Bertrand V's grandson Jean III de la Tour d'Auvergne (1467–1501) was the last medieval Count of Auvergne, Boulogne, and Lauraguais. By his marriage to Jeanne of Bourbon-Vendôme, he had two daughters:

• The elder daughter, Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, married John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, but died childless.
• The younger, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, married Lorenzino de Medici and gave birth to Catherine de' Medici, who inherited both Auvergne and Boulogne, when Anne died childless. Catherine also became Queen of France.

John's elder sister, Jeanne de la Tour d'Auvergne, married Aymar de Poitiers. They were the grandparents of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France.

The cadet line of this family, extinct in 1497, also owned the lordship of Montgascon. Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, the last of this line and heiress to this lordship, married three times:

• firstly, in 1506, to Charles of Bourbon, Count of Roussillon.
• secondly, in 1510, to John of Montmorency, lord of Chantilly.
• thirdly, in 1518, to her distant cousin, Francis II de la Tour, Viscount of Turenne. For her issue by the last marriage, see below.

Junior line: viscounts of Turenne and princes of Sedan

Family de Beaufort-Turenne in the 14th and 15th century.

Coat of arms of viscountcy of Turenne, duchy of Boullon, principality of Sedan:
blazon (French): écartelé, en 1 et 4 d'azur semé de fleurs de lys d'or et à la tour d'argent maçonnée et ouverte de sable (qui est de La Tour), en 2 d'or au trois tourteaux de gueules (qui est Boulogne), et 3 coticé d'or et de gueules de 8 pièces (qui est Turenne), sur le tout parti d'or au gonfanon de gueules frangé de sinople (qui est Auvergne) et de gueules à la fasce d'argent (qui est Bouillon)

Bertrand de La Tour d'Auvergne, owner of Olliergues and several other seigneuries, was the author of the junior line of the family.

He died in 1329 and was buried in Clermont-Ferrand. His great grandson William de la Tour became bishop of Rodez and Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. The latter's nephew, Agne IV of Oliergues, married in 1444 his cousin, viscountess Anne of Beaufort, succeeding to the viscounty of Turenne upon her death.

Among his children, the younger, Antony Raymond, lord of Murat, became the ancestor of the obscure line of la Tour-Apchier, which rose to prominence shortly before its extinction in the 19th century.

Henri de la Tour (1555-1623), Marshal of France

Agne IV's fifth and eldest surviving son, Anthony de la Tour, succeeded him as viscount of Turenne and had two children. The youngest, Gilles de la Tour, lord of Limeuil, had issue, including Isabeau of Limeuil, known as the mistress of Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and mother of his natural children.

Francis II de la Tour d'Auvergne, viscount of Turenne (1497–1532) was the eldest son of Anthony de la Tour and husband of Anne de la Tour de Montgascon (see above). Their grandson, Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne (1555–1623), is remembered as a faithful adherent of Henri IV's Huguenot cause and Marshal of France. His first wife was Charlotte de la Marck, heiress to the principality of Sedan and to the duchy of Bouillon. Upon her death, Henry inherited her titles and dominions and remarried Elisabeth of Orange-Nassau, William the Silent's daughter.

Hoping to succeed the Orange leaders of the Netherlands, their son and heir Frederic Maurice of the Tour d'Auvergne (1605–1652) remained in the Dutch service until his marriage to Eléonore-Catherine-Fébronie de Wassenaar de Berg, which was effected against his family's wishes in 1634 and led to his conversion to Catholicism.

Compromised in the Cinq-Mars conspiracy, he was pardoned on condition that he would exchange his principalities of Sedan, Jametz, and Raucourt - highly important strategically - for the titles of duke of Albret and duke of Château-Thierry in the French peerage. This exchange was formalized in 1651. Although Frederic Maurice was promised to take rank from the original creation of the duchy of Château-Thierry for Robert III of the Marck in 1527, this could never be effected due to vocal opposition of other dukes-peers.

The younger brother of Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, (1611–1675), is undoubtedly the most illustrious member of the family. Among the most successful generals in French military history. A grateful Louis XIV honored Turenne with burial at the royal necropolis at Saint-Denis and Napoléon considered him to be the greatest military commander of all times.

Later history: Dukes of Bouillon and Albret

Frederic-Maurice's son, Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (1641–1721), was the first member of his family to become a truly sovereign duke of Bouillon. This happened in 1678 when the Duchy of Bouillon was finally reconquered from the Spaniards by the Marshal de Créquy. Apart from his ducal titles, Godefroy-Maurice also held the title of Count of Évreux. He became the Grand Chamberlain of France in 1658 and governor of Auvergne in 1662. All these titles would remain in the La Tour d'Auvergne family for more than a century.

The family were created Foreign Princes in France in 1651, this entitled them to the style of [Most Serene] Highness at the French court in which they lived.

Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, comte d'Évreux, builder of Élysée Palace. Portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud (ca. 1720), now in the Metropolitan Museum

Godefroy-Maurice's younger brother, Count Frederic Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (1642–1707), was a prominent general in the service of the Dutch. He married Henrietta von Hohenzollern (1648–1698), heiress to the marquessate of Bergen-op-Zoom, a title which passed to their children. After their line became extinct in 1732, Bergen devolved upon Count Palatine Johann Christian von Sulzbach (1700–1733), who had married an heiress, Marie Henriette Leopoldine de La Tour d'Auvergne, in 1722.

Godefroy-Maurice's wife, Marie Anne Mancini (1649–1714), best remembered for her literary pursuits and for her patronage of La Fontaine, was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Their eldest son Louis married the heiress to the dukedom of Ventadour but predeceased his parents. The Duchy of Bouillon and other titles passed to their second son, Emmanuel Théodose (1668–1730), whose fourth wife was Louise Henriette Françoise de Lorraine. Another son, Frédéric-Jules, Prince d'Auvergne (1672–1733), married an Irish adventuress.

Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne (1706–1771) was Emmanuel-Théodose's son and the 5th Duke of Bouillon. His wife was his brother's widow, Maria Karolina Sobieska, the granddaughter of King John Sobieski of Poland. Their only daughter, Marie Louise Henriette Jeanne de La Tour, was a famous adventuress and was guillotined in 1793. Although officially married to Jules de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, she had an illegitimate son who died in infancy by her cousin, Charles Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.

Her brother, Godefroy Charles Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1728–1792), was the 6th Duke of Bouillon. He married Louise de Lorraine, known prior to marriage as Mademoiselle de Marsan. He served with distinction in the Seven Years' War and was elected to the Royal Academy of Sculpture and Painting in 1777. In just three months, he squandered almost a million livres on his mistress, an opera singer, thus bringing his family to the verge of ruin. Although the 6th duke embraced the French Revolution enthusiastically, the Duchy of Bouillon was annexed by the Republic within three years after his death. His only son, Jacques Léopold Charles Godefroy, incapacitated by a road accident, died in 1802, leaving no issue of his marriage to a Princess of Hesse-Rheinfels. As a consequence, the main line of the La Tour d'Auvergne family became extinct.

Bouillon Succession

In 1780, the 6th Duke of Bouillon developed a friendship with Philippe d'Auvergne, a British naval officer imprisoned in France. As a family legend had it, the Dauvergne family represented a collateral branch of the ancient Counts of Auvergne, which had moved to the island of Jersey sometime in the 13th century. In 1787, the 6th Duke recognized this legendary connection and adopted Philippe d'Auvergne, calling on him to succeed his own son in the case the latter were to die without male issue.

In 1809 Napoleon endorsed an arrangement, whereby the La Tour estates and liabilities pertaining to the 1651 exchange devolved upon the French state. The 6th Duke's Château de Navarre and the Hôtel d'Évreux in Paris were bequeathed to the Empress Josephine and her relatives. The Hôtel d'Évreux was subsequently renamed the Élysée Palace and currently serves as the official residence of the President of France. As for the Duchy of Bouillon, its citizens recognized Philippe d'Auvergne as their legitimate ruler and duke.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Congress of Vienna, however, awarded the sovereignty of the duchy to the King of the Netherlands, whereas the private property holdings of the former dukes were to be redistributed by special arbitration either to Philippe d'Auvergne or to an Austrian claimant, Charles-Alain-Gabriel de Rohan-Guéméné, who was the last duke's closest relative in the female line. The issue was eventually settled in Rohan's favor. Philippe d'Auvergne committed suicide September 16 or 18, 1816, in the Holmes Hotel, a small hotel located at Great Smith Street in Westminster.

In 1817, Rohan was sued by other claimants to the La Tour d'Auvergne estate, including the duc de Bourbon, the duc de La Tremoille, the princesse de Bourbon-Condé and the princesse de Poix. All were related to the 7th duke of Bouillon on his maternal side. Seven years later, their claims were upheld by a court in Liège, and Rohan had to step down as duke.

In the 1820s, the La Tour name and inheritance were disputed between the families of La Tour d'Auvergne d'Apchier, which represented the last known surviving line of the La Tour d'Auvergne before its eventual extinction in 1896, and "La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais", a French noble family whose kinship to the Dukes of Bouillon is unestablished. In 1859 Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais, Marquis de Saint-Paulet (1823–1871) was awarded with the hereditary papal title of Prince by Pope Pius IX. ^[1] From the latter family, Prince Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne-Lauraguais (1876–1914) married in 1904 Elisabeth Berthier de Wagram (1885–1960), daughter of the third Prince de Wagram and a descendant, in female line, of the Rothschild dynasty.

Partial family tree

Family tree

Robert IV  [ fr ] (d. 1194) Count of Auvergne Bertrand I [2] (d. 1208) Lord of La Tour Robert de Clermont Guy II  [ fr ] (d. 1222) Count of Auvergne Bernard I (d. 1253) Lord of La Tour Thiebault d'Auvergne [3] supposed ancestor of the Dauvergnes of Jersey William X (d. 1247) Count of Auvergne Bernard II (d. 1270) Lord of La Tour Robert V of Auvergne (d. 1277) Count of Auvergne Bertrand II (d. 1296) Lord of La Tour Robert VI (1250–1314) Count of Auvergne Beatrix of Rodez Bernard III (d. 1325) Lord of La Tour Bertrand de La Tour Lord of Oliergues Robert VII (died 1325) Count of Auvergne Bertrand III (d. 1361) Lord of La Tour Bernard de La Tour  [ fr ] (d. 1361) Cardinal Agne I de La Tour [4] (d. 1354) Lord of Oliergues Godefroy d'Auvergne Lord of Montgascon Guy (d. 1375) Lord of La Tour Jean de La Tour  [ fr ] (d. 1374) Cardinal Bertrand de La Tour (d. 1382) Bishop of Toul and Puy Bernard de La Tour (d. 1394) Bishop of Langres Henri de La Tour (d. 1415) Bishop of Clermont Marie I (1376–1437) Countess of Auvergne Bertrand IV de La Tour  [ fr ] (d. 1423) Agne II de La Tour (d. 1404) Lord of Oliergues Bertrand V de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (d. 1461) Count of Auvergne Jeanne de La Tour d'Auvergne m. Béraud III  [ fr ], Dauphin of Auvergne Agne III de La Tour (d. 1415) Lord of Oliergues Guillaume de La Tour (d. 1470) Bishop of Rodez; Patriarch of Antioch Bertrand II de La Tour (d. 1450) Lord of Oliergues Bertrand VI de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1417–1497) Count of Auvergne Louise de La Trémoille (1432–1474) Godefroi de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1469) Lord of Montgascon Gabrielle de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1486) m. Louis I, Count of Montpensier Isabelle de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1488) m. Guillaume de Châtillon-Blois  [ fr ] Agne IV de La Tour (d. 1489) Viscount of Turenne Anne de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1512) m. Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany Jean I de La Tour d'Auvergne (1467–1501) Count of Auvergne Jeanne de Bourbon-Vendôme (1465–1512) Godefroi de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1497) Baron of Montgascon Gilles de La Tour Abbot of Vigeois  [ fr ] Antoine de La Tour (d. 1527) Viscount of Turenne Antoine Raymond de La Tour [5] (1471–aft. 1524) Baron of Murat John Stewart, Duke of Albany (d. 1536) Regent of Scotland Anne de La Tour d'Auvergne (1496–1524) Countess of Auvergne Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne (1498–1519) m. Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino Anne de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1530) Lady of Montgascon François de La Tour (d. 1532) Viscount of Turenne Gilles de La Tour Lord of Limeuil Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589) heiress of Auvergne Claudine de La Tour d'Auvergne (1520–1591) François de La Tour d'Auvergne (1526–1557) Viscount of Turenne Eleonore de Montmorency Renée de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1548) Abbess of Paraclet Léonarde de La Tour d'Auvergne (d. 1560) Abbess of Paraclet Isabelle de La Tour (d. 1609) m. Scipion Sardini  [ fr ] Antoinette de La Tour (d. 1608) m. Charles Robert de La Marck  [ fr ] Antoine de La Tour Lord of Murat Jean de La Tour (d. aft. 1593) Lord of Alagnac Charlotte de La Marck (1574–1594) Duchess of Bouillon Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1555–1623) Duke of Bouillon Elisabeth of Nassau (1577–1642) Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne (1556–aft. 1580) m. Honorat I of Savoy  [ fr ] Martin de La Tour (d. aft. 1629) Baron of Murat Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne (1600–1665) m. Henri de La Trémoille Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (1605–1652) Duke of Bouillon Éléonore de Bergh  [ fr ] (1613–1657) Elisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne (1606–1685) m. Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Duras  [ fr ] Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne (1611–1675) Marshal of France Charlotte Nompar de Caumont (1623–1666) Henri Corret illegitimate half-brother of Marshal Turenne Jacques de La Tour (d. aft. 1667) Baron of Murat Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne (1635–1680) m. Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne [6] (1636–1721) Duke of Bouillon Marie Anne Mancini (1649–1714) Frédéric-Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1642–1707) Count of Auvergne Frances of Hohenzollern-Hechingen  [ fr ] (1642–1698) Margravine of Bergen-op-Zoom Emmanuel-Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne (1643–1715) Cardinal Mauricette-Fébronie de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1652–1706) m. Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus, Duke of Bavaria-Leuchtenberg Mathurin Corret (1645–1705) Lord of Kebauffret Jean de La Tour Baron of Murat James Louis Sobieski (1667–1737) Anne Geneviève de Lévis (1673–1727) Louis-Charles de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1665–1692) Prince of Turenne Marie Armande de La Trémoille (1677–1717) Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne (1668–1730) Duke of Bouillon Louise Henriette Françoise de Lorraine (1707–1737) Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (1679–1753) Count of Évreux Marie Anne Crozat (1696–1729) Louise Julie de La Tour d'Auvergne (1679–1750) m. François-Armand de Rohan-Guéméné  [ fr ] Élisabeth-Éléonore de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1665–1746) Abbess of Torigny  [ fr ] Louise-Émilie de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1667–1737) Abbess of Montmartre Henri-Oswald de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] (1671–1747) Archbishop of Tours and Vienne; Cardinal François-Egon de La Tour d'Auvergne (1675–1710) Margrave of Bergen-op-Zoom Marie Anne d'Arenberg (1689–1736) Jean-Maurice (1675–1739) Count of La Tour d'Apchier Louise Françoise Angélique Le Tellier (1698–1719) Anne Marie Christine de Simiane (1683–1722) Charles Dauvergne [7] m. Elizabeth Corbet Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702–1725) m. James Francis Edward Stuart Armande de La Tour d'Auvergne (1697–1717) m. Louis de Melun, Duke of Joyeuse Frédéric Maurice Casimir de La Tour d'Auvergne (1702–1723) Prince of Turenne Maria Karolina Sobieska (1697–1740) Charles Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne (1706–1771) Duke of Bouillon Marie Hortense Victoire de La Tour d'Auvergne (1704–1741) m. Charles Armand René de La Trémoille Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1722–1739) m. Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise Marie Charlotte de La Tour d'Auvergne (1729–1763) m. Charles Juste de Beauvau, Prince of Craon Maria Henriette de La Tour d'Auvergne (1708–1728) m. John Christian, Count Palatine of Sulzbach Olivier Louis Corret (1699–1749) Charles Dauvergne (b. 1724) Clementina Walkinshaw (1720–1802) Charles Edward Stuart (1720–1788) Count of Albany Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (1725–1793) Jules Hercule Mériadec de Rohan (1726–1800) Prince of Guéméné Louise of Lorraine (1718–1788) Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne (1728–1792) Duke of Bouillon Jean Bretagne Charles de La Trémoille (1737–1792) Duke of La Trémoille Charlotte de Rohan (1737–1760) m. Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé Anne Louise Marie de Beauvau [8] (1750–1834) m. Philippe Louis, Prince-Duke of Poix Louis Claude Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (1719–1747) Colonel of the Régiment de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] Nicolas François Julie de La Tour d'Auvergne (1720–1790) Colonel of the Régiments de La Tour d'Auvergne and de Boulonnais  [ fr ] Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albany (1753–1789) ~ Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan Charles Godefroi de Rohan (1748–1749) Henri Louis Marie de Rohan (1745–1809) Prince of Guéméné Hedwig of Hesse-Rotenburg (1748–1801) Jacques Léopold de La Tour d'Auvergne (1746–1802) Duke of Bouillon Charles Bretagne Marie de La Trémoille [8] (1764–1839) Duke of La Trémoille Louis Henri Joseph [8] (1756–1830) Prince of Condé Louise Adélaïde [8] (1757–1824) Princess of Condé Théophile Corret de La Tour d'Auvergne (1743–1800) First Grenadier of France Philippe d'Auvergne [8] (1754–1816) Vice-Admiral RN; Duke of Bouillon Corbet James d'Auvergne  [ frr ] (1765–1825) Captain RN; Lieutenant-Governor of Heligoland Victoire Adelaide de Rohan (b. 1779) Charles Alain de Rohan [8] (1764–1836) Duke of Bouillon Marie Louise Josephine de Rohan (1765–1839) m. Charles Louis Gaspard de Rohan-Rochefort Godefroy Maurice Marie Joseph de La Tour d'Auvergne (1770–1849) Colonel of the Régiment de La Tour d'Auvergne  [ fr ] Berthe de Rohan (1782–1841) Duchess of Bouillon Louis Victor Mériadec de Rohan  [ de ] (1766–1846) Duke of Bouillon Camille de Rohan  [ cs ] (1800–1892) Duke of Bouillon Benjamin de Rohan (1804–1846) Aurélie-Marie-Joséphine-Héloïse de Bossi  [ fr ] (1809–1889) Maurice César de La Tour d'Auvergne (1809–1896) "Duke of Bouillon" Arthur de Rohan (1826–1885) Alain de Rohan  [ fr ] (1853–1914) Duke of Bouillon Alain de Rohan  [ cs ] (1893–1976) Duke of Bouillon Karl Anton Rohan  [ de ] (1898–1975) Karl Rohan (1934–2008) Duke of Bouillon Albert Rohan (1936–2019) Duke of Bouillon

See also

• Duchess of Bouillon
• Duke of Bouillon

References

• Marek, Miroslav. "Genealogy of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne". Genealogy.EU.^{[ self-published source ][ better source needed ]}
• Account of the Duchy of Bouillon, by François Velde

1. Spangler, Jonathan (January 2017). "Les Princes étrangers: Truly Princes? Truly Foreign? Typologies of Princely Status, Trans-Nationalism and Identity in Early Modern France". Martin Wrede and Laurent Bourquin, eds., Adel und Nation in der Neuzeit: Hierarchie, Egalität und Loyalität 16.-20. Jahrhundert (Thorbeke Verlag).
2. De La Chesnaye-Desbois and Badier, Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, 3rd edition (1876) vol. 19, p. 55.
3. James Bertrand Payne, An Armorial of Jersey (1859) p. 56.
4. Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, v. 19, p. 57.
5. Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, v. 19, p. 62.
6. Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, v. 19, p. 59.
7. Armorial of Jersey, p. 59.
8. "The six claimants to the Duchy of Bouillon". G. R. Balleine, The Tragedy of Philippe d'Auvergne (1973) p. 46.