François Adhémar de Monteil, comte de Grignan (15 September 1632 – 30 December 1714) was a French aristocrat, remembered chiefly for being Lieutenant-Governor of Provence and the beloved son-in-law of

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

Life and career

François de Castellane-Ornano-Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan was born in the Provençal village of

Grignan Grignan (; oc, Grinhan) is a commune in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It has a Renaissance castle and is mentioned in the letters that Madame de Sévigné wrote to her daughter, Madame de Gr ...

in 1632. He was the eldest of 11 children. At the death of his father, on 4 August 1668, he inherited the title of Count of Grignan. While still young, he engaged upon a military career. In 1654, he became colonel of the Champagne Regiment. Two years later, he became Capitaine-Lieutenant of the soldiers of the Household Cavalry of Queen Anne. He was married three times, first to Angélique-Claire d'Angennes, daughter of the Marquis de Rambouillet. They had two daughters, then Angélique died in 1665. One year later, Grignan married Marie-Angélique du Puy-du-Fou, who died shortly after giving birth to a son, who died in infancy. As a 36-year-old twice-widower, he met and fell in love with the 23-year-old daughter of the illustrious Madame de Sévigné,

Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, comtesse de Grignan (10 October 1646 – 13 August 1705), was a French aristocrat, remembered for the letters that her mother, Madame de Sévigné, wrote to her. Life Françoise-Marguerite was born in Paris, ...

. On 4 December 1668, Madame de Sévigné wrote to her cousin Bussy, “At long last, the prettiest girl in France is marrying – not the prettiest boy – but one of the most honest men in the kingdom: he is Monsieur de Grignan.”Letter from Madame de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin, 4 December 1668. Grignan was indeed remarkably ugly (his ugliness being a frequent family joke) yet tall, graceful, athletic, and charming. He married Mademoiselle de Sévigné in Paris on 27 January 1669. That same year, Louis XIV named Grignan the lieutenant general of the King in Provence. Grignan was thus obliged to leave Paris and return to his family castle in the south of France. For nearly forty years afterward, he and Madame de Grignan lived an extravagant vice-regal existence in Provence. Every year, he presided at the opening of the Etats at Lambesc, seated on a throne-like chair with the Archbishop of Aix on his right and the Intendant of Provence on his left. In 1673, Grignan laid siege to the city of Orange, reclaiming the territory for France.

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

upon hearing the news of Grignan's victory, was heard remarking at dinner, "''Je suis fort content de Grignan'' (I am very happy with Grignan)". Grignan died at the age of 83 at an inn on the road from

Lambesc Lambesc () is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. In 2018, it had a population of 9,799. Lambesc is located in the heart of Provence at the foot of the Côtes mountain rang ...

Marseilles Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. He was buried in Marseilles in the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel.

Bibliography

*Madame de Sévigné. ''Correspondence''. Texte établi, présenté et annoté par

Roger Duchêne Roger Duchêne (3 February 1930 – 25 April 2006) was a French biographer specializing in the letters of Madame de Sévigné. Duchêne became a member of l'Académie de Marseille in 1972, and received the Grand Prize of l'Académie du Vaucluse e ...

. Paris:

Bibliothèque de la Pléiade The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...

. 1973-78. 3 vol.. *Frances Mossiker. ''Madame de Sevigne: a life and letters''. New York: Knopf. 1983. . *Fitzgerald, Edward and Mary Eleanor Fitzgerald Kerrich. ''Dictionary of Madame de Sévigné''. New York: Burt Franklin. 1941 *André, Marius. ''Guide de Grignan: Son Château et ses souvenirs'' Marseille: 1962.

References

External links

Mme de Sévigné sur le site de Roger Duchêne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grignan, Comte de 1632 births 1714 deaths People from Drôme Counts of Grignan