Armand Charles de la Porte, duc de Meilleraye

Armand-Charles de La Porte, Duc de La Meilleraye (1632 – 9 November 1713), was a French general, who was Grand Master and

Captain General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Comma ...

of Artillery.

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, sei ...

(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-Charles was marquis de La Porte. He later became marquis de

La Meilleraye La Meilleraye-de-Bretagne (; br, Melereg-Breizh) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire ...

and then duc de

Mayenne Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ill ...

. He served as Grand Master of the French Artillery in 1646 or 1648. On 1 March 1661 he married

Hortense Mancini Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin (6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699), was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, and a mistress of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She was the fourth of the five famous Mancini s ...

, the favourite niece and heiress of the immensely wealthy

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis X ...

. Upon his marriage, he became duc Mazarin. In addition, he was made a French peer, duc de

, prince de

Château-Porcien Château-Porcien () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France. The communes ...

, marquis de Montcornet, as well as comte de La Fère et de Marle. The duke and his wife had four children: * Marie Charlotte de La Porte Mazarin (28 March 1662 – 13 May 1729), who married Louis Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, comte d'Agénias, duc d'Aiguillon; * Marie Anne de La Porte Mazarin (1663 – October 1720), who became an abbess; * Marie Olympe de La Porte Mazarin (1665 – 24 January 1754), who married Louis Christophe Giqault, marquis de Bellefonds et de Boullaye; * Paul Jules de La Porte, duc Mazarin et de La Meilleraye (25 January 1666 – 7 September 1731), who 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 from 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 Beaulieu-sous-Parthenay (, literally ''Beaulieu under Parthenay'') is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. See also *Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department The following is a list of ...

) in 1713.

Sources

* Guyard de la Fosse, ''Histoire de Mayenne'' * Bibliothèque nationale de France, fr. 11. 468 * M. Pinard, ''Chronologie militaire'', t. IV, p. 201 * ''Relation d'

Ezéchiel Spanheim Ezekiel, Freiherr von Spanheim (also Ézéchiel, and known as Baron Spanheim) (7/18 December 1629 – 14/25 November 1710) was a Genevan diplomat and scholar. Life He was born at Geneva, the eldest son of Friedrich Spanheim the Elder. After 16 ...

'' * Grosse-Duperon, ''Souvenirs du Vieux-Mayenne'' * Grosse-Duperon, ''Etude sur

Fontaine-Daniel Saint-Georges-Buttavent is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. The commune has three villages: Saint-Georges-Buttavent, Fontaine-Daniel and La-Chapelle-au-Grain. See also *Communes of the Mayenne department The follo ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Porte, Armand-Charles De La 1632 births 1713 deaths 17th-century French people 18th-century French people Dukes of Mayenne French generals 17th-century peers of France 18th-century peers of France Peers created by Louis XIV