Eugène-Alexandre de Montmorency-Laval
{{Short description|French nobleman}}
{{infobox royalty
| name = Eugène-Alexandre de Montmorency-Laval
| title = Duke of Laval
Marquis of Montmorency
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Eugène-Alexandre de Montmorency-Laval
| birth_date = {{birth date|1773|07|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1851|04|02|1773|07|20|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| house = House of Montmorency
House of Laval
| father = Anne-Alexandre-Marie de Montmorency-Laval
| mother = Marie Louise Mauricette de Montmorency-Luxembourg
| spouse = {{marriage|Maximilienne de Béthune-Sully
|1802|1833|reason=died}}
{{marriage|Constance de Maistre
|1833|1851|reason=died}}
| issue =
}}
Eugène-Alexandre de Montmorency-Laval, 4th Duke of Laval (20 July 1773 – 2 April 1851), was a 19th-century French soldier.
Early life
Eugène-Alexandre was born on 20 July 1773.{{cite book |last1=Saint-Allais |first1=Nicolas Viton de |title=Annuaire historique, généalogique et héraldique de l'ancienne noblesse de France |date=1835 |publisher=L'auteur |page=201 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annuaire_historique_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogique_et_h/9TwVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA201 |access-date=26 June 2024 |language=fr}} He was the fourth son of Anne-Alexandre-Marie de Montmorency-Laval, 2nd Duke of Laval, and Marie-Louise de Montmorency-Luxembourg (1750–1829), a daughter of Count Joseph Maurice Annibal de Montmorency-Luxembourg. Among his siblings were elder brother, Anne-Adrien-Pierre de Montmorency-Laval, the French ambassador to the United Kingdom.{{cite book |last1=Viton) |first1=M. de Saint-Allais (Nicolas |last2=Saint-Allais |first2=Nicolas Vinton de |title=Nobiliaire universel de France: ou Recueil général des généalogies historiques des maisons nobles de ce royaume |date=1873 |publisher=Au Bureau du Nobiliaire universel de France, Réimprimé à la Librairie Bachelin-Deflorenne |page=310 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nobiliaire_universel_de_France/hsUEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA310 |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=fr}}
His paternal grandparents were Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval, 1st Duke of Laval, and Jacqueline de Bullion de Fervaques.{{cite book |last1=Bois |first1=François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des |title=Dictionnaire généalogique, héraldique, chronologique et historique, contenant l'origine et l'état actuel des premières Maisons de France, des maisons souveraines & principales de l'Europe... les familles nobles du royaume... par M. D. L. C. D. B. [Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois]. |date=1761 |publisher=chez Duchesne |page=712 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dictionnaire_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogique_h%C3%A9raldique/v39Byr7t_yUC&pg=PA712 |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=fr}}
Career
Like his elder brother Achille (who died of a wound he received in the defense of Bundenthal), he fought in the campaigns of 1793, 1794 and 1795, in the Army of Condé. Returning to France, he became a member of the right-wing royalist organisation known as the Chevaliers de la Foi (Knights of Faith).{{Cite book |last=Irving |first=Henry Brodribb |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaIVAAAAYAAJ |title=Occasional Papers Dramatic and Historical |publisher=Bickers and Sons |year=1906 |location=London |pages=185–227}}
He became Marshal of the King's Camps and Armies and a Knight of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis, before he was promoted to Lieutenant-General of the Armies.
In 1837, he inherited the title of Duke of Laval from his brother Anne-Adrien-Pierre. Before that, he was called the Marquis of Montmorency.
Personal life
File:Chateau de Beaumesnil.jpg]]
In 1802, he married Maximilienne de Béthune-Sully (1772–1833), widow of the Count of Chârost, heiress to the Château de Beaumesnil. Having vowed to have a chapel built there if the Bourbons returned to power, they kept their word on the accession of King Louis XVIII and the chapel was consecrated in 1820.
After the death of his first wife, he married Françoise Xavière Nicole Constance de Maistre (1793–1882) on 26 November 1833 in Genoa. She was a daughter of Joseph de Maistre, Count of Maistre, a philosopher who was the author of the St Petersburg Dialogues.
The Duke died, without issue, on 2 April 1851, upon which the dukedom of Laval became extinct. He left the Château de Beaumesnil to his brother-in-law, Rodolphe de Maistre, Count of Maistre.{{cite book |last1=Buckley |first1=Cornelius Michael |title=Stephen Larigaudelle Dubuisson, S.J. (1786–1864) and the Reform of the American Jesuits |date=24 October 2013 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-6232-1 |page=165 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Stephen_Larigaudelle_Dubuisson_S_J_1786/jRfdAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |access-date=26 June 2024 |language=en}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.nga.gov/collection/provenance-info.47346.html Montmorency, Eugène-Alexandre de, 4th duc de Laval, French, 1773 - 1851] at the National Gallery of Art
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|fr}}
{{s-bef | before = Anne-Adrien-Pierre de Montmorency-Laval}}
{{s-ttl | title = Duke of Laval|years=1837–1851}}
{{s-non | reason = Extinct}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montmorency-Laval, Eugene Alexandre de}}