Louis-Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld (4 July 1743,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

- 4 September 1792,

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Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

) was a French nobleman and politician. He was a member of the House of La Rochefoucauld (one of the oldest and most famous French noble families, originating in La Roche in the 10th-11th centuries) and a major lord under the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for ...

. He also played a political role in 1789 early on in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

before being executed in the

September Massacres The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by '' fédérés'', gu ...

. He was a duke, initially with the title 'duc d'Enville' or 'duc d'Anville' and later with that of 6th duc de La Rochefoucauld. He was a cousin to François Alexandre Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt and Ambroise-Polycarpe de La Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville.

Life

He was a son of Jean-Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld de Roye (killed in the 1746 Duc d'Anville expedition) and Marie-Louise-Nicole de La Rochefoucauld. In 1762,he married Louise-Pauline de Gand de Mérode, but they had no children. That same year he inherited the title of duc de La Rochefoucauld on the death of his grandfather Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld (29 September 1690 - 1762). His second marriage was in 1780 to his niece Alexandrine Charlotte de Rohan-Chabot - this marriage was also without issue. He was one of the keenest French defenders of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, befriending and translating for

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

- in Paris in 1783 he and Franklin published ''Constitutions des Treize États-Unis de l'Amérique'' (''Constitutions of 13 United States of America''). He was also passionate about natural sciences and travelled to England, Sweden (where he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Savoy. His friends also included Desmarest, Dolomieu, Saussure,

Turgot Turgot may refer to: * Turgot of Durham ( – 1115), Prior of Durham and Bishop of St Andrews * Michel-Étienne Turgot (1690–1751), mayor of Paris * Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727–1781), French economist and statesman * Louis Félix Étienn ...

Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...

. He served as president of the Société royale de médecine and the

Académie royale des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

. In 1786, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. He was elected as a deputy to the

Estates General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...

and was one of the 47 deputies from the nobility who joined forces with the

Third Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...

on 25 June 1789. He proposed article XI of the 1789 Declaration - that article was adopted. Worried by the turn of events, he became a member of his department's directory after the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

split. Early July he opposed Pétion and

Louis Pierre Manuel Louis Pierre Manuel (July 1751 – 14 November 1793) was a republican French writer, municipal administrator of the police, and public prosecutor during the French Revolution who was arrested, trialled and guillotined. Life Revolutionary ...

and after the events of 10th August 1792 he resigned and left Paris to escape the people's anger. He was arrested at Gisors whilst escorting his wife and mother from Forges to the château de La Roche-Guyon, accompanied by Dolomieu. He was killed on 4 September 1792 by volunteer troops from

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

and

Orne Orne (; nrf, Ôrne or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

.Frédéric Bluche, ''Septembre 1792. Logiques d'un massacre'', Paris, Robert Laffont, 1986, , p 103 The city authorities and Dolomieu tried in vain to save him.

References

Bibliography (in French)

* Jules Michelet, ''Révolution française'' * Daniel Vaugelade
''Le Salon physiocratique des La Rochefoucauld'', Publibook, 2001 * Daniel Vaugelade, ''La Question américaine au XVIIIe siecle à travers la correspondance du duc Louis Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld'', Publibook, 2005 * Solange Fasquelle, ''Les La Rochefoucauld : une famille dans l'Histoire de France'', Perrin, , {{DEFAULTSORT:La Rochefoucauld, Louis De People of the Ancien Régime
Members of the French Academy of Sciences People executed during the French Revolution French people of the American Revolution 1743 births 1792 deaths Members of the American Philosophical Society