Louis Armand de Bourbon (30 April 1661 – 9 November 1685) was

Prince of Conti Prince of Conti (French: ''prince de Conti'') was a French noble title, assumed by a cadet branch of the princely house of Bourbon-Condé. History The title derives its name from Conty, a small town in northern France, c. 35 km southwest ...

from 1666 to his death. He was the son of Armand de Bourbon and

Anne Marie Martinozzi Anne Marie Martinozzi, Princess of Conti (1637 – 4 February 1672) was a French aristocrat and court official. She was a niece of King Louis XIV of France's chief minister Cardinal Mazarin, and the wife of Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. ...

, the daughter of Girolamo Martinozzi and

Laura Margherita Mazzarini Laura Margherita Mazzarino (4 May 1608–9 June 1685) was the daughter of Pietro Mazzarino and Ortensia Buffalini. Life and career On 9 July 1634 she was married to Count Girolamo Martinozzi (b. 1610). They had two daughters: Anna Maria (Rome, 1 ...

, elder sister of

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

. As a member of the reigning

House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre in the 16th century. A br ...

, he was a Prince du Sang. He was a son-in-law of King

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, who was his namesake.

Biography

Louis Armand was born at the Hôtel de Conti (quai Malaquais) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. In August 1679 he acted as the groom in the proxy marriage where

Marie Louise d'Orléans Marie Louise d'Orléans (; 26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689) was Queen of Spain from 1679 to 1689 as the first wife of King Charles II. She was born ''petite-fille de France'' as the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Princes ...

married

Charles II of Spain Charles II (6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700) was King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. The last monarch from the House of Habsburg, which had ruled Spain since 1516, he died without an heir, leading to a European Great Power conflict over the succ ...

. In 1680 he married

Marie Anne de Bourbon Marie Anne de Bourbon, ''Légitimée de France'', born Marie Anne de La Blaume Le Blanc, by her marriage Princess of Conti then Princess Dowager of Conti, ''suo jure'' Duchess of La Vallière and of Vaujours (; 2 October 1666 – 3 May 1739) was ...

, the illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV and his first mistress,

Louise de La Vallière Françoise-Louise de La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess of La Vallière and Vaujours (6 August 1644 – 6 June 1710) was a French nobility, French noblewoman and the Royal mistress, mistress of King Louis XIV of France from 1661 to 1667. La Vallière ...

. The bride and groom were respectively thirteen and eighteen years old at the time. Since neither of them had been instructed on what to expect on their first night together, it ended up in disaster, with Marie Anne fleeing in despair and the prince not wanting to share the bed of a woman again. He served with distinction in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

in 1683, and, against the wish of the King, went to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, where he helped the Imperialists defeat the Turks at Gran in the same year. He died on 9 November 1685 at the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...

from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

, which he contracted from his wife. While she recovered after some time, the Prince succumbed after five days. Having no descendants, he was succeeded as Prince of Conti by his younger brother,

François Louis de Bourbon François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1 ...

(1664–1709).

Ancestry

References

Sources

* * * * 1661 births 1685 deaths Nobility from Paris Louis Armand 1

Louis Armand Louis François Armand (; 17 January 1905 – 30 August 1971) was a French engineer and senior civil servant who managed several public companies, as well as had a significant role in World War II as an officer in the Resistance. He became the ...

Deaths from smallpox in France 17th-century peers of France {{France-noble-stub