Philibert de Gramont

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Portrait of Philibert de Gramont

Philibert de Gramont (* 1621 ; † January 30, 1707 ), comte de Toulongeon since 1679 , was a French officer, court and nobleman at the court of Louis XIV. He was best known for his love affairs and left memoirs that were a valuable picture from court life in the 17th century.

Life

Philibert was a son of Antoine II. De Gramont and a younger half-brother of Marshal Antoine III. de Gramont from the noble family Gramont .

From his youth he was destined for the clergy, " but was not to be induced to accept it, but rather devoted to lust, and especially to play " (Zedler, 1733). He joined the army, first served under Condé , to whose party he belonged during the Fronde , and then under Marshal Turenne . He took part in the siege of Trino in 1643 and in the following years in the battles near Freiburg im Breisgau , Nördlingen , Lens and the abandonment of the siege of Arras , but did not rise because the Cardinal Mazarin was not well disposed to him. In 1654 he was reconciled with the French royal court and became one of the most important members.

In 1662 Gramont was expelled from court because he did not want to end a liaison with Mademoiselle de La Mothe-Houdancourt, on whom the king himself had his eye. Gramont went to England to the court of King Charles II , where he also enjoyed a great reputation. In England he married Elizabeth Hamilton, the daughter of Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet of Donalang, and granddaughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, with whom he returned to France in 1664 . After he had reconciled again with the French court, he accompanied the king to Franche-Comté in 1668 , to the Netherlands in 1672 and took part in the sieges of Maastricht , Cambrai and Namur .

The Count of Toulongeon, his brother Henri († 1679), made him heir and the king made him lieutenant-général (general governor) of Béarn . Gramont later ceded this dignity to his cousin, the Marquis de Feuquières.

Gramont died at the age of 86.

progeny

His marriage to Elizabeth Hamilton († June 3, 1708 ) resulted in two daughters:

  1. Claude-Charlotte de Gramont († 1739); married Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Stafford in 1694
  2. Marie Elizabeth de Gramont (1667-1706); Nun, abbess of Sainte-Marine-de-Poussay

Works

Philibert de Gramont bequeathed Mémoires du chevalier de Gramont , edited by his brother-in-law Anthony Hamilton and published in London in 1713 , and again by Sainte-Beuve in Paris in 1866 .

German translation: The Chevalier of Gramont. Hamilton's Memoirs and History. [Translated and edited] by Karl Federn. 2 volumes. Munich, Georg Müller 1911

literature

personal data
SURNAME Gramont, Philibert de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French officer, court man and nobleman at the court of Louis XIV.
DATE OF BIRTH 1621
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1707