Guy-André de Montmorency-Laval

Guy-André de Montmorency-Laval (21 October 1686 – 7 March 1745), Marquis of Lezay and Magnac, Baron of La Marche, was a French aristocrat.

Early life

Guy-André was born on 21 October 1686. Like all the elders of the Laval and Montmorency family, his baptismal name was Guy, and he was referred to as a "Count of Laval" before any other title. He was the son of Pierre III de Laval-Montmorency (c. 1657–1687),[a] and Marie Thérèse Françoise de Salignac (d. 1726), Marquise of Magnac, Countess of Fontaines-Chalandray.

His paternal grandparents were Guy-Urbain de Laval-Montmorency, Baron of la Plesse, known as the Marquis de Laval-Lezay, and Françoise de Sesmaisons.[2] His maternal grandparents were Antoine de Salignac, Marquis of Magnac and Lamothe-Fénelon, and Catherine de Montbéron.[3]

Career

Montmorency was First Colonel of the Mortemart regiment, formerly Conflans. He was injured by a musket shot on 15 October 1715, at the siége of Fribourg. In all the letters and commissions he received from the King, he regarded him as a cousin.[4]

Cellamare conspiracy

Montmorency was involved in the Cellamare conspiracy, the plot against the Regent of France, Philippe d'Orléans that aimed to depose him of his position and place Philip V, then King of Spain, as the new regent of France.[5] His role in the plot was referenced in the memoirs of Baroness de Staal, the correspondences of Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans, the memoirs of Marshal Claude de Villars and the memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon.[2] Also involved was the Duke of Richelieu, who was then having a romantic affair with one of the Regent's daughters, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans.[6] After the plot was uncovered, Montmorency was interrogated at the Bastille and imprisoned at the Fortress of Vincennes. By 1720, however, the guilty members were all pardoned and allowed to return to their residences.[7]

Personal life

In 1722 Montmorency married Marie-Anne de Turménies de Nointel (1684–1756), the widow of Mathieu de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis of Bayers.[b] She was the daughter of Jean de Turménies de Nointel and Marie Anne Le Bel.[8] Their children were:[9]

• Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval (1723–1798), created 1st Duke of Laval in 1758; he married Jacqueline Hortense de Bullion de Fervaques in 1740.[9]
• Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval (1724–1808), the Bishop of Condom, Metz and Orléans who was made a Cardinal by Pope Pius VI in 1789.[10]
• Guyonne-Marie-Christine de Montmorency-Laval, who married Henri-François de Grave, Marquis of Grave, in 1740.[4][11]
• Marie-Anne de Montmorency-Laval (1725–c. 1780), who married the Belgian Duke Hyacinthe-François de Looz-Corswarem.[12]

He died in Paris on 7 March 1745.[6] His widow died on 17 November 1766.[4]

Notes

1. Pierre III de Laval-Montmorency (c. 1657–1687), Marquis of Laval-Lezay, Marquis of Magnac, Count of La Bigeotière, Count of Fontaine-Chalendray, Lord of La Plessé, premier Baron de La Marche, served as Lieutenant-General for the King in Upper and Lower La Marche.[1]
2. From her marriage to Mathieu de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis of Bayers (1660–1721), she was mother to Marie Louise Françoise de La Rochefoucauld (wife of Count Gabriel Léopold Le Prud'homme, de Fontenoy and Count Christophe François Louis Le Prud'homme, de Fontenoy); Mathieu-Roch de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis of Bayers (1714–1749).[8]

References

1. B, D. L. C. D. (1761). Dictionnaire généalogique, héraldique, historique et chronologique: contenant l'origine [et] l'etat actuel des premieres maisons de France, des maisons souveraines [et] principales de l'Europe ... (in French). chez Duchesne. p. 712. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
2. Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy duc de (1961). Memoires de Saint-Simon: 1722-1723; Appendices (in French). Gallimard. p. 833. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
3. Revue de Saintonge & d'Aunis: bulletin de la Société des archives (in French). 1898. p. 270. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
4. Bois, François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des (1775). Dictionnaire de la noblesse, contenant les généalogies, l'histoire et la chronologie des familles nobles de France (in French). Vve Duchesne. p. 422. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
5. Périgueux, Société historique et archéologique du Perigord (1897). Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du Perigord (in French). p. 103. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
6. Dumas, Alexandre (18 November 2013). Chroniques de la Régence (in French). La Librairie Vuibert. p. 169. ISBN 978-2-311-10017-4. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
7. Saint-Simon, Louis de Rouvroy duc de (1972). Historical Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon: A Shortened Version. H. Hamilton. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
8. Ripault-Desormeaux, Joseph Louis (1764). Histoire de la maison de Montmorenci (in French). Desaint & Saillant. p. 142. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
9. Fisquet, Honoré Jean P. (1864). La France pontificale ... histoire chronologique et biographique des archevêques et évêques de tous les diocèses de France. [21 vols. Vol. 1, 2are of the 2nd ed. No more publ.] (in French). p. 105. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
10. Caiani, Ambrogio A. (20 September 2012). Louis XVI and the French Revolution, 1789-1792. Cambridge University Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-107-02633-9. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
11. "GRAVÉ DE LA RIVE, HENRI-FRANÇOIS – Volume V (1801-1820)". www.biographi.ca. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
12. Goethals, Félix-Victor; Goethals, Fel Vict (1857). Miroir des Notabilités nobiliaires de Belgique, des Pays-Bas et du Nord de la France: I (in French). Polack-Duvivier. p. 924. Retrieved 27 June 2024.

French nobility
Preceded by Pierre III de Laval-Montmorency	Marquis of Lezay 1687–1745	Succeeded by Guy-André-Pierre de Montmorency-Laval