Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Duke of Mortemart (1600 – 26 December 1675) was a French nobleman and father of the ''Marquise de Montespan''. He was a friend of the French King

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

Biography

Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart was the son of Gaspard de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquis of Mortemart, and of Louise de Maure, ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

'' Countess of Maure. His younger brother, Louis de Rochechouart de Mortemart, died without children in 1669. He spent a great part of his childhood with the future king of France

, until the assassination of the latter's father, Henry IV, in 1610. In 1630, he was named the First Gentleman of the Chamber to Louis XIII, which entitled him to a pension of 6000

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

. He also maintained the confidence of the powerful

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 ...

and was an intimate of the Spanish-born queen,

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unti ...

. He and his some of his descendants cultivated what became known as the ''esprit Mortemart'', a particular type of wit which ''allowed impossible things to be said''. He was popular at the royal court, although his brother Louis and his cousin François de Rochechouart had been banished for their involvement in the

Day of the Dupes Day of the Dupes (in french: la journée des Dupes) is the name given to a day in November 1630 on which the enemies of Cardinal Richelieu mistakenly believed that they had succeeded in persuading King Louis XIII of France to dismiss Richelieu fr ...

in November 1630, when the enemies of Cardinal Richelieu mistakenly believed that they had succeeded in persuading Louis XIII to dismiss Richelieu from power. In 1632, he married Diane de Grandseigne (1615 – 11 February 1666), the daughter of Jean de Grandseigne, Marquis de Marsillac, and of Catherine de La Béraudière, ''dame de Villenon''. A year after his marriage, he was created a Knight of the Orders of the King. During his infancy, till he succeeded his father, he was known as the Marquis de Vivonne, a subsidiary title which was raised to a

duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

in 1668. When his father died in 1643, he took the title of ''Marquis de Mortemart''. On 23 December 1663,

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 ...

raised the

Marquisate A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman w ...

of Mortemart, to a

. The same day,

Anne de Noailles Anne de Noailles, 1st Duke of Noailles (died 15 February 1678) was the great-grandson of Antoine, 1st comte de Noailles. He played an important part in the Fronde and the early years of the reign of Louis XIV, became captain-general of the newly ...

became Duke of Noailles; the two families were united in 1723 when Gabriel's grandson, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse, the son of ''Madame de Montespan'', married a granddaughter of Anne,

Marie Victoire de Noailles ''Marie Victoire'' Sophie de Noailles, Countess of Toulouse (Versailles, 6 May 1688 – Paris, 30 September 1766), was a French noble and courtier. Her second spouse was Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse, the youngest legitimized ...

In 1669, he was named Governor of Paris. Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart died in Paris on 26 December 1675.

Arms

''Parti de trois et coupé de un, qui font huit quartiers: 1, de gueules au croissant de vair (Maure); 2, d'azur à trois fleurs de lys d;or au bâton de gueules (Bourbon); 3, de gueules a neuf mâcles d'or (Rohan); 4, burelé d'argent et d'azur à trois chevrons de gueules (La Rochefoucauld); 5, d'argent à la guivre d'azure engoulant un enfant au naturel (Milan); 6, de gueules aux chaînes posées en croix, sautoir et orle d'or (Navarre); 7, de gueules au pal de vair (des Cars); 8, d'hermine plain (Bretagne); sur le tout, fascé-ondé-enté d'argent et de gueules (Rochechouart).''

Issue

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortemart, Gabriel de Rochechouart de

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

1600 births 1675 deaths 1 17th-century French people 17th-century peers of France Peers created by Louis XIV