Charles François II. De Montmorency-Luxembourg

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Charles François Frédéric II. De Montmorency-Luxembourg (born on December 31, 1702 in Paris ; died on May 18, 1764 there ) was the Duke of Piney- Luxembourg and Montmorency . He was Marshal of France from 1757 .

Life

Coat of arms of the House of Montmorency-Luxembourg

He was the son of Charles François I de Montmorency-Luxembourg (1662–1726) and thus the grandson of François-Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg ; he traced his noble lineage back to Hugo Capet . The king gave him the post of governor of Normandy in autumn 1718, after he had signed up as colonel of an infantry regiment in the spring . He served in Spain during the war of the Quadruple Alliance in 1719 and was involved in the conquests of Fontarabie , Saint Sebastian and Urgell and the unsuccessful siege of Roses .

After his father's death in 1726, as Duke he also inherited the dignity of Pairs of France and other lands. While before 1726 he could only call himself Duke of Montmorency, from 1726 he called himself only Duke of Luxembourg. On January 9, 1724, he married Marie-Sophie Colbert (December 22, 1711 - October 29, 1747), a granddaughter of Jean-Baptiste Colbert . He had two children with her:

  • Anne-Maurice (died 1760, married 1745 to Anne-Louis-Alexandre de Montmorency, Prince of Robecq )
  • Anne François de Montmorency-Luxembourg (December 9, 1735 - May 22, 1761), married in 1752 to Louise Françoise Pauline de Montmorency-Luxembourg, three children

Montmorency-Luxembourg traveled to the Netherlands in 1724. In the War of the Polish Succession , he participated as an officer in the siege of Kehl , which was captured in 1733. From 1734 he held the rank of brigadier in the Rhine Army and served under the leadership of Berwick and d'Asfeld in battles in Trarbach , Ettlingen and in the siege of Philippsburg in 1735. In 1738, Luxembourg was appointed Maréchal de camp . In the First Silesian War he was used from 1741 in the Bavarian Army, which also fought in Austria and Bohemia. He took part in the Second Silesian War in the Battle of Sahay , in the conquest and defense of Prague and the conquest of Frauenberg on the Vltava . Back in the Rhine Army, he took part in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 and was deployed in Flanders (sieges of Menen and Friborg ).

In 1744, Luxembourg returned to France for a longer leave from the front. In January he was knighted by the Holy Spirit , in April he founded an academy in Rouen , in May he was appointed lieutenant general by the king. In the following years he took part in further campaigns by King Louis XV. participated during the Austrian War of Succession in Alsace and the Netherlands, for example in the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 and in the sieges of Tournai and Antwerp . His regiment had other missions in Roucourt and Lauffeldt in 1747. He was then on leave due to the death of his wife.

In his second marriage, on June 29, 1750, the Duke married Madeleine Angélique Neufville de Villeroy , who had also been widowed for a number of years. As the "Duchess of Luxembourg" she gave up her previously notorious lifestyle. Just a month later, Luxembourg was appointed captain of the 3rd Company of the Royal Life Guard. In 1756 he was assigned a military position in Normandy. From February 24, 1757 he held the rank of Marshal of France. During the Seven Years' War in 1758 an English landing in Normandy was feared, which Luxembourg was supposed to prevent through defensive measures. It did not take place - this was to be Luxembourg's only assignment as Marshal of France.

The ducal couple stayed mostly at the royal court, but regularly visited the estates, especially in Montmorency. In the years 1757 to 1762 they gave shelter to Jean-Jacques Rousseau and helped him to escape in 1762 after the publication of his novel Émile .

After his death in 1764, his titles were divided between the heirs, since his son and his grandson had died before him and therefore only female descendants existed. The new Duke of Piney was his great-nephew Anne Charles Sigismond de Montmorency-Luxembourg (1737-1803). Duchess of Montmorency became his granddaughter Charlotte Anne Françoise de Montmorency-Luxembourg (* 1757), who then married the widely related Anne Léon II. De Montmorency-Fosseux in 1767.

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