House of La Trémoille
The House of La Trémoille is an old French family which derives its name from a village (now La Trimouille) in the department of Vienne.
The family has been known since the middle of the 11th century, and since the 14th century its members have been conspicuous in French history. To this family belonged the lines of the counts of Joigny, the marquis of Royan and counts of Olonne, and the marquis and dukes of Noirmoutier.
Contents
Heirs of the crown of Naples
Anne de Laval (23 September 1505, Vitré - 1554, Craon), titular Princess of Tarento, was a French noblewoman and nominal pretender to the Kingdom of Naples. She was the daughter of Guy XVI, Count of Laval, and of Charlotte of Aragon, Princess of Taranto.[1] She was the only child of Charlotte to marry and leave heirs, thereby keeping alive in her descendants the claim of the exiled king, Federigo IV, to Naples. On 23 January 1521 she married François de la Trémoïlle, vicomte de Thouars.[1] The marriage not only brought the La Trémoïlles the countship of Laval and the Neapolitan claim in 1521, but also the rank of princes étrangers at the French court.[2]
Her eldest son, Louis III de La Trémoille, became the first duc de Thouars in 1599, while her second son, Georges, and third son, Claude, founded the cadet branches of the marquis de Royan and the ducs de Noirmoutier, respectively.[3]
Current status
Louis Jean Marie de La Trémoïlle (8 February 1910 – 9 December 1933), prince and 12th duc de La Trémoïlle, 13th duc de Thouars and premier duke of France, 13th prince de Tarente and 17th prince de Talmond,[4] was the only son and heir of Louis Charles de La Trémoïlle, 12th duc de Thouars and 12th Prince of Taranto. All four of his sisters married princes or dukes.
He was the last male of one of the most historically significant noble families of France. His death extinguished the last but one (i.e., the House of Rohan) of France's most renowned prince étranger families, whose struggles and alliances with the Valois and Bourbon kings of France constitute no small part of the history of the ancien régime.
He was killed in a fire at the estate of Leander J. McCormick in Whitchurch, Hampshire, England, at the age of 23. Some[who?] noted at the time that his mysterious death by fire in England evoked the martyrdom at English hands of Joan of Arc five centuries earlier, who had been betrayed by the young duke's ancestor, Georges de la Trémoille, founder of the fortune of the House of La Trémoïlle.[5] He died unmarried and left no known descendants.
Although the 1944 Almanach de Gotha states that his successor as 14th duchesse de Thouars was the eldest of his four sisters, Princess Charlotte (1892-1971),[4] the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels of 1991 refrains from doing so,[6] and a 1959 ruling of the French courts declared that hereditary titles may only be transmitted "male-to-male" in "modern law".[7] (The original grant of the dukedom, in July 1563 by Charles IX, stipulated that it was heritable by both male and female successors, although when erected into a pairie by King Henri le Grand in 1599, the letters patent restricted succession to the peerage to male heirs,[8] restrictions which are inapplicable to the title of pretence, Prince of Taranto, traditionally borne by the representative heir to the historical throne of Naples, which was heritable in the female line).
Jean Charles Lamoral, the only son of the 13th duke's eldest sister, had de La Trémoïlle appended to his own princely surname in the Kingdom of Belgium as "Prince de Ligne de La Trémoïlle" on 20 December 1934,[6] and his only son, Jean Charles, bears the same title and name.[6]
Chief line
Viscounts of Thouars (elevated to duke 1563), Princes of Talmont, etc.
- Louis I de La Trémoille
- Louis II de La Trémoille, son, called the chevalier sans reproche, defeated and captured Francis II, Duke of Brittany at the Battle of Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier (1488), distinguished himself in the Italian Wars, and was killed at the Battle of Pavia (1525).
- Charles I de La Trémoille, son, died in his father's lifetime and under his command at the Battle of Marignano (1515).
- François II de La Trémoille, son, acquired a claim on the Kingdom of Naples by his marriage with Anne de Laval, daughter of Charlotte of Aragon
- Louis III de La Trémoille, son, became duke of Thouars in 1563, and his son
- Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille, princesse de Condé (1568–1629) daughter of the above
- Claude de La Trémoille, son, turned Protestant, was created a peer of France in 1595, and married a daughter of William the Silent in 1598.
- Henri de La Trémoille, son of Claude, 3rd duke of Thouars (died 1674)
- Henri Charles de La Trémoille, son of Henry (died 1672)
- Charles Belgique Hollande de La Trémoille, son of Henry, 4th duke of Thouars (died 1709)
- Marie Armande Victoire de La Trémoille, daughter of the above, wife of Emmanuel Théodose de La Tour d'Auvergne
- Charles Louis Bretagne de La Trémoille, son of Charles-Belgique, 5th duke of Thouars (died 1719)
- Charles Armand René de La Trémoille, son of Charles-Louis, 6th duke of Thouars (died 1741)
- Jean Bretagne Charles de La Trémoille, son of Charles-Armand, 7th duke of Thouars (died 1792)
- Charles Bretagne Marie de La Trémoille, son of Jean-Bretagne, 8th duke of Thouars (died 1839)
- Louis Charles de La Trémoille, son of Charles-Bretagne, 9th duke of Thouars (died 1911)
- Louis Charles Marie de La Trémoille, son of Louis-Charles, 10th duke of Thouars (died 1921)
- Louis Jean Marie de La Trémoille, son of Louis-Charles-Marie, 11th duke of Thouars (died without issue 1933)
Notable family members
- Guy, sire de la Trémoille, standard-bearer of France, was taken prisoner at the Battle of Nicopolis (1396), and
- Georges de la Trémoille(c. 1382 - 6 May 1446) was count of de Guînes, the favorite of King Charles VII of France, took part in the Praguerie and was captured at Agincourt (1415).
- Jean de la Trémoille (1377-1449)
- Marie Anne de La Trémoille, princesse des Ursins (1642–1722)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Almanach de Gotha, La Trémoïlle. Justus Perthes, 1944, p.463. French.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Furstlicher Hauser Bande XIV, C.A. Starke Verlag, Ligne, Limburg, 1991, pp. 498-499. German.
- ↑ Heraldica.org, Francois Velde, Nobility and Titles in France, 18 June 2008, retrieved 31 July 2011
- ↑ Pere Anselme, Histoire de la Maison Royale de France et des Grands Officiers de la Couronne, Editions du Palais Royal, Paris, 1967. Chapitre V: Thouars Duché-Pairie, p. 145. French.
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