Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis

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Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, portrait by an unknown artist

Louis-François-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis (born March 13, 1696 in Paris - † August 8, 1788 in Paris), since 1715 the 3rd Duke of Richelieu, 3rd Duke of Fronsac , Prince of Mortagne , 3rd Marquis du Pont-Courlay, Count of Cosnac, Baron von Albret , Barbezieux , Coze and Saugeon as well as Peer of France , member of the Académie française since 1720 and Marshal of France since 1748 .

He was the youngest great-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu . His godparents were Maria Adelaide of Savoy and Louis XIV. Apart from his reputation as a man of relaxed morals, he distinguished himself as a diplomat and general - despite his poor training. Thanks to the protection of the Marquise de Prie, he was ambassador to Vienna from 1725 to 1729 and served in the War of the Polish Succession in 1733/34 in the Rhine campaign. His real career began ten years later. In the War of the Austrian Succession he distinguished himself in the Battle of Dettingen and the Battle of Fontenoy ; three years later he was involved in the brilliant defense of Genoa . At the beginning of the Seven Years' War he drove the English out of Menorca in 1756 by conquering the fortress of San Felipe . In 1757/58 he carried out raids in the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , with which he earned the nickname "Petit Père de la Maraude". After the wars he threw himself back into court intrigues, favored Madame Dubarry and supported his nephew, the Duc d'Aiguillon . Louis XVI was not favorable to him.

In his younger years he was imprisoned in the Bastille three times : in 1711 in connection with his stepfather, in 1716 after a duel, and in 1719 for his involvement in Alberoni's conspiracy against the regent Philippe II. Charles de Bourbon, duc d'Orléans (→ Conspiracy of Cellamare ).

He was married three times: the first time against his will to Anne-Catherine de Noailles; the second time in 1734 with Marie Elisabeth Sophie, Mademoiselle de Guise (thanks to an intrigue of his schoolmate Voltaire , as he claimed); finally, at the age of eighty-four, with Jeanne Catherine Josèphe de Lavaulx of Lorraine nobility, widowed by an Irish diplomat. The son from his marriage to Elisabeth, Louis Antoine du Plessis, Duke of Fronsac, was the father of the future Prime Minister Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de Richelieu .

literature

  • Hubert Cole: gentleman of his century. Louis François Armand, Duke of Richelieu, 1696–1788 . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1967.
  • The amours of Marshal von Richelieu: with samples from the secret life story , from the French by Jacob Meno Valett, reviews by Nicholas Chamfort and Choderlos de Laclos and an essay by Benedetta Caveri, Frankfurt, Eichborn 1990, series Die Other Bibliothek , ISBN 978- 3-8218-4072-7 .

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