Armand Charles de la Porte, duc de Meilleraye

Armand Charles de La Porte, 2nd Duke of La Meilleraye (1632 – 9 November 1713), was a French general, who was Grand Master and Captain General of Artillery. In addition, he was made a French peer, Duke of La Meilleraye, prince de Château-Porcien, Marquis of Montcornet, as well as Count of La Fère and of Marle. He married a niece of Cardinal Mazarin.

Biography

The son of

Charles de La Porte Charles de La Porte (1602 in Paris – 8 February 1664 in Paris) was a French nobleman and general. He was marquis then duke of La Meilleraye, duke of Rethel and peer of France, baron of Parthenay and of Saint-Maixent, count of Secondigny, ...

(called "

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

de La Meilleraye") and nephew of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, Armand Charles was Marquis of La Porte. He later became Marquis of La Meilleraye and then Duke of Mayenne. He served as Grand Master of the French Artillery in 1646 or 1648.

Marriage

On 1 March 1661 he married Hortense Mancini, the favourite niece and heiress of the immensely wealthy Cardinal Mazarin. Upon his marriage, he became Duke Mazarin.

Children

The duke and his wife had four children: # Marie Charlotte de La Porte (28 March 1662 – 13 May 1729) married Louis Armand de Vignerot, Marquis of Richelieu. # Marie Anne de La Porte (1663 – October 1720) became an abbess. # Marie Olympe de La Porte (1665 – 24 January 1754) married Louis Christophe Giqault, Marquis of Bellefonds and of Boullaye; # Paul Jules de La Porte, Duke Mazarin and of La Meilleraye (25 January 1666 – 7 September 1731) married Félice Armande Charlotte de Durfort. The marriage proved quite unhappy due to the duke's mistreatment of his wife and general strange behaviour. He was miserly and extremely jealous, and mentally unstable. His strange behaviour included preventing milkmaids from going about their job (to his mind, the cows' udders had strong sexual connotations), having all of his female servants' front teeth knocked out to prevent them from attracting male attention, and chipping off and painting over all the "dirty bits" in his fantastic art collection. He forbade his wife to keep company with other men, made midnight searches for hidden lovers, insisted she spend a quarter of her day at prayer, and forced her to leave Paris and move with him to the country. In 1668 Hortense fled France, in order to escape her abusive husband and eventually settled in England, where she became a mistress of King Charles II. He died in the castle of La Meilleraye, today in ruins, ( Beaulieu-sous-Parthenay) in 1713.

Sources

* Guyard de la Fosse, ''Histoire de Mayenne'' *

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, fr. 11. 468 * M. Pinard, ''Chronologie militaire'', t. IV, p. 201 * ''Relation d' Ezéchiel Spanheim'' * Grosse-Duperon, ''Souvenirs du Vieux-Mayenne'' * Grosse-Duperon, ''Etude sur Fontaine-Daniel'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Porte, Armand-Charles De La 1632 births 1713 deaths 17th-century French people 18th-century French people Dukes of Mayenne Dukes of France French generals French nobility 17th-century peers of France 18th-century peers of France Peers created by Louis XIV