Louis, Count of Armagnac


Louis of Lorraine was the Count of Armagnac from his father's death in 1666. The Grand Squire of France, he was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Guise, itself a cadet branch of the sovereign House of Lorraine. His descendants include Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Umberto II of Italy, and Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, 11th Duchess of Cadaval.

Biography

Louis de Lorraine was born in Paris to Henri de Lorraine, Count of Armagnac and his wife Marguerite Philippe du Cambout. His younger brother, Philippe, chevalier de Lorraine, was infamously the lover of Monsieur, i.e., Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV.
He, like his father before him, was the Grand Squire of France, one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France and a member of the King's Household. At Louis' death, the post, as well as style of Monsieur le Grand was taken by his son Charles, Count of Armagnac.
At the death of his father in 1666, he inherited the title comte d'Armagnac which, although it evoked the family of the great House of Armagnac, did not entail possession of the vast lands and semi-sovereign authority wielded by the extinct, medieval Counts of Armagnac. His wife was Catherine de Neufville, youngest daughter of Nicolas de Neufville, Duke of Villeroy, who had been governor of the young Louis XIV. She was a sister of François de Neufville de Villeroy, the future governor of Louis XV. The couple had 14 children, of whom only three would have progeny;
He was buried at the Abbey of Royaumont, located near Asnières-sur-Oise in Val-d'Oise, approximately 30 km north of Paris, France. With him is his father and son, François Armand.

Issue

  1. Henri of Lorraine, Count of Brionne married Marie Madeleine d'Épinay and had issue; his great grand daughter Joséphine de Lorraine was the grand mother of Charles Albert of Sardinia thus an ancestor of the House of Savoy;
  2. Marguerite of Lorraine married at Versailles on 25 July 1675 by proxy Nuno Álvares Pereira de Melo, 1st Duke of Cadaval and had issue;
  3. Françoise of Lorraine died in infancy;
  4. François Armand of Lorraine, chevalier de Lorraine never married, Abbot of Royaumont;
  5. Camille of Lorraine, Count of Chamilly never married; died at the Château de Lunéville;
  6. Armande of Lorraine died young;
  7. Isabelle of Lorraine died in infancy;
  8. Philippe of Lorraine died in infancy;
  9. Marie of Lorraine married Antonio I, Prince of Monaco at Versailles 13 June 1688 and had issue; they were parents of Louise Hippolyte Grimaldi, suo jure Princess of Monaco; subsequent Sovereign Princes of Monaco descend from them;
  10. Louis Alphonse of Lorraine, bailli d'Armagnac never married, died in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga;
  11. Charlotte of Lorraine, Mlle. d'Armagnac never married;
  12. Anne Marie of Lorraine died in Monaco;
  13. Marguerite of Lorraine died in infancy;
  14. Charles of Lorraine, Count of Armagnac married Françoise Adélaide de Noailles, daughter of Adrien Maurice de Noailles, duc de Noailles, no issue.

    Ancestry