François-Henri de Franquetot de Coigny

François-Henri de Franquetot de Coigny
Governor of Les Invalides
In office 1816–1821
Preceded by	Jean Mathieu Philibert Sérurier
Succeeded by	Louis-Antoine de Lignaud de Lussac
Personal details
Born	François-Henri de Franquetot de Coigny (1737-03-28)28 March 1737 Paris, France
Died	19 May 1821(1821-05-19) (aged 84) Paris, France
Spouse	Marie Jeanne de Bonnevie
Relations	François de Franquetot de Coigny (grandfather) Françoise, duchesse de Praslin (granddaughter)
Parent(s)	Jean, Marquis de Coigny
Awards	Marshal of France
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of France  Portugal
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War Battle of Hastenbeck Battle of Krefeld Battle of Minden French Revolutionary Wars

François-Henri de Franquetot de Coigny, duc de Coigny (28 March 1737 – 19 May 1821) was a Marshal of France.

Early life

He was the son of Jean, Marquis de Coigny (1702–1748) and the grandson of François de Franquetot de Coigny, another Marshal of France.[1] When he was eleven, his father was killed in a duel and at age fifteen, de Coigny entered the musketeers.[2]

Career

De Coigny first served in the Seven Years' War where as a cavalry general he took part in the conquest of Hanover. Having fought at Hastenbeck and Minden, he transferred to the army of the Count of Clermont under whom he served in the Battle of Krefeld.

Promoted to Colonel General of the Dragoons in 1771, the following year he was appointed Governor of Cambrai. In 1787 he was made a peer of France. When the French Revolution broke out De Coigny decided to emigrate. In 1791 he joined the émigré army with whom he served against the French Republic during the early stages of the French Revolutionary Wars. He commanded the Maison du Roi until its disbandment in 1792, after which he was charged by the Count of Provence with several diplomatic missions.

De Coigny entered Portuguese service thereafter and, following the abdication of Napoleon, ultimately returned to France. From 1816 to 1821 he was Governor of Les Invalides. In 1816, De Coigny was made a Marshal of France. He died on 19 May 1821.

Marriage and issue

De Coigny was married to Marie Jeanne de Bonnevie. Together, they were the parents of a son and daughter:

• François Marie Casimir de Franquetot, marquis de Coigny (1756–1816), who married Louise Gabrielle de Conflans (1743–1825), a daughter of Louis de Brienne de Conflans d'Armentières.[3]
• Jeanne-Françoise-Antoinette "Fanny" Franquetot de Coigny (1778–1807), who married Horace Sébastiani (later the French Minister of Foreign Affairs), in 1806. She died in childbirth while in Constantinople in 1807, a few days before Sultan Selim III was deposed. Sébastiani later married Aglaé-Angélique-Gabrielle de Gramont, the widow of Russian General Count Alexander Davidoff and a daughter of Héraclius, duc de Gramont.[4]

Descendants

Through his only daughter, he was a grandfather of Françoise, duchesse de Praslin, who was believed to have been murdered by her husband, Charles de Choiseul, Duke of Praslin in August 1847. While awaiting trial by the Chamber of Peers, the Duke committed suicide by arsenic.[3] Following hard on the heels of the Teste–Cubières political corruption scandal revealed in May 1847, the affair only added to the popular discontent with the July Monarchy which culminated in the French Revolution of 1848.

References

1. Histoire de la Maison royale de France (in French). 1879. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
2. Combles, Waroquier de (1785). État de la France, ou les vrais marquis, comtes, vicomtes et barons (in French). Clousier. p. 132. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
3. Lowndes, Marie Belloc (June 28, 1913). "The Praslin Murder: A Famous French Mystery Case" (PDF). Harper's Weekly. LVII (2949): 12–13, 23–24.
4. Thomas Raikes, A Portion of the Journal Kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq., from 1831 to 1847, Vol. II, Longman, Brown, Green etc., London, 1856, p.40

French nobility
Preceded by François de Franquetot de Coigny	Duke of Coigny 1759–1821	Succeeded by Augustin-Gustave de Franquetot de Coigny