Louis Antoine, Duke of Rohan

Louis-Antoine-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, 6th Duke of Rohan (20 April 1733 – 29 November 1807), Prince, Count and Baron of Léon, Duke of Chabot, then 6th Duke of Rohan in 1791, was a French aristocrat and general officer.

Early life

Rohan-Chabot was born on 20 April 1733. He was the son of Guy Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, Viscount of Bignan, Lieutenant General of the King's Armies (French: Lieutenant Général des armées), and, his first wife, Yvonne Sylvie du Breil de Rays (1712–1740). In 1726, his father became famous for an altercation with Voltaire. From his parent's marriage, he had an elder sister, Marie Sylvie Alias Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot (who married Jean Baptiste Louis de Clermont d'Amboise, Marquis de Reynel and Marquis de Montglas), and a younger brother, Charles Rosalie de Rohan-Chabot, Count of Jarnac (who married Guyonne Hyacinthe de Pons Saint Maurice and, after her death in 1761, Elisabeth Smith). After his mother's death in 1740, his father married Lady Mary Apolonia Scolastica Stafford-Howard (the daughter of William Stafford-Howard, 2nd Earl of Stafford, de jure 3rd Baron Stafford).

His paternal grandparents were Louis de Rohan-Chabot, 3rd Duke of Rohan, and Marie Élisabeth du Bec-Crespin de Grimaldi, Marquise de Vardes. His maternal grandparents were Charles du Breil, Marquis de Rays and Sylvie de La Boissiere de Brantonnet.

Career

He began serving in the King's Armies at the age of fourteen. In 1748, he served in the Flanders campaigns as a cornet. In 1749, he became Colonel in the Grenadier Regiment and mestre de camp of the Royal Foreign Cavalry Regiment in 1756, which he commanded at the Battle of Hastembreke, the capture of Minden, Hanover (1757), the Battle of Krefeld (1758), Minden (1759), Kloster Kampen (1760), and the Battle of Warburg. He conducted himself admirably in the Seven Years' War, which earned him the nickname "the young hero" by Marshal Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Duke of Belle-Isle. In 1763, he was promoted to Brigadier of Cavalry, to Maréchal de camp in 1772, and to Lieutenant General in 1781.

In 1769, he inherited the estate of his cousin, Henriette Charlotte de Chabot, widow of Charles-Hannibal de Rohan-Chabot, including the Château de Marouatte.

French revolution

In 1791, he inherited the estate of his first cousin, Louis Marie de Rohan-Chabot, 5th Duke of Rohan, and Peer of France, who also died without surviving issue. In the midst of French Revolution, he became the 6th Duke of Rohan and head of the House of Rohan-Chabot.

An emigrant from 1790 to 1792, he maintained correspondence with Madame du Barry in 1793 and was convinced of having received a loan of 200,000 pounds from her to support the War in the Vendée.

In 1794, his Château de Pontivy was confiscated and he had to sell several of his properties, Château de Blain, Château de Josselin, Château de Kerguèhennec, to Louis de Janzé during the Revolution. He died in Paris in 1807, before the Restoration, which allowed his son, Alexandre-Louis-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, to buy back several of the family estates from the Viscount of Janzé in 1814: the châteaux of Pontivy and Josselin, still held by the Dukes of Rohan.

Personal life

On 12 April 1757, he married Élisabeth-Louise de La Rochefoucauld (1740–1786), daughter of Jean Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld, Duke of Anville, Lieutenant-General of the Naval Armies, and Marie Louise Nicole de La Rochefoucauld, Lady of La Roche-Guyon. On the death of his mother-in-law, Marie Louise Nicole de La Rochefoucauld, in 1797, his two surviving children inherited the estate of La Roche-Guyon. Before her death on 12 December 1786, they were the parents of:

Alexandre-Louis-Auguste de Rohan-Chabot (1761–1816), who married Anne Louise Élisabeth de Montmorency, daughter of Anne Léon de Montmorency, Duke of Montmorency and Charlotte-Françoise de Montmorency-Luxembourg, suo jure 4th Duchess of Montmorency (granddaughter of Charles II de Montmorency-Luxembourg), in 1785. She was sister to Anne Charles François de Montmorency, 5th Duke of Montmorency.
Alexandrine Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot (1763–1839), who married, as his second wife, her maternal uncle Louis Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld, 6th Duke of La Rochefoucauld (widower of Louise-Pauline de Gand de Mérode), in 1780. After he was executed in September 1792 during the September Massacres of the Reign of Terror, she married Boniface Louis André de Castellane, Marquis of Castellane, in 1810.
Armand Charles Just de Rohan-Chabot (1767–1792), who was executed in September 1792 during the September Massacres; he died unmarried.

On 14 March 1798, he remarried to Adélaïde Suzanne de Vismes, widow of Jean-Benjamin de La Borde (guillotined in 1794), and daughter of Pierre-Martin de Vismes and Marie-Louise Legendre. He did not have any children with his second wife.

The Duke died in Paris on 29 November 1807 and was buried at the Château de La Roche-Guyon.

References

^ Sainte-Marie, Anselme de (1879). Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France,... (in French). Firmin Didot frères, fils et Cie. pp. 231–232. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
^ Martin, Georges (1 January 1996). Histoire et généalogie des maisons de Chabot et de Rohan-Chabot (in French). FeniXX. ISBN 978-2-307-39435-8. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
Courcelles, Jean B. (1827). Histoire généalogique et héraldique des pairs de France, des grands dignitaires de la couronne, des principales familles nobles du royoume, et des maisons princières de l'Europe: préc ́dé de la généalogie de la maison de France (in French). L'Auteur ; Bertrand. pp. 207–208. Retrieved 17 July 2024.

French nobility
Preceded byLouis Marie de Rohan-Chabot	Duke of Rohan 1791–1807	Succeeded byAlexandre de Rohan-Chabot

Categories: