1472
By the Act of September 8, 1472, his father gave the barony to Guillaume (William) de Montmorency when he was eighteen. This would normally have gone to his older brother, Jean de Nivelle, but he had been disinherited.
Also in 1472, Guillaume de Montmorency entered the service of Charles V of Anjou, Count of Maine and Guise and soon he became chamberlain and advisor.
1484
He participated in the États généraux (Estates General) of 1484 at Tours “en tant que député de la noblesse de Paris lors de la minorité de Charles VIII et devient par la suite chambellan du roi de France”.
The same year, his maternal (arrière-petit-fils) Uncle Pierre III d'Orgemont, died without children. His property was divided between his nephews. Guillaume received the seigneurie of Chantilly.ly. Guillaume de Montmorency reconstructed the chapel of the château in 1507. In 1515, he obtained, by pontifical “bull”, the right to celebrate the Mass and all the sacraments in this chapel.
MARRIAGE
Guillaume married on 17 July 1484, ANNE POT, dame de La Rochepot*, Damville et de Châteauneuf, comtesse de Saint-Pol (b. 1470). She was the niece of Philippe Pot, grand sénéchal de Bourgogne (Burgundy).
1498
On July 11, 1498, Guillaume attended the coronation of Louis XII and then accompanied the king in Touraine where he was appointed Superintendent of Forestry and gamekeeper. He also received the post of captain and governor of the royal château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
During the first expedition of Louis XII into Italy, 1499-1500, Guillaume de Montmorency was at his side when he took over Genoa and Milan.
1503
In 1503 he was appointed captain of the Bastille Saint-Antoine (protecting the eastern gate of Paris, on the right bank, the Bastille Saint-Antoine is known as the Bastille) and he moved to Lyon, the royal army led by the Chevalier Bayard and participated in the campaign in Italy.
1509
When he returned, he was rewarded for his fidelity with the post of Governor of Orléans. During the fourth Italian war, in 1508, he was named to the Council of Regency alongside Anne de Bretagne.
Guillaume was the designated captain of the Château de Vincennes and was made Chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint-Michel. He then received the post of captain of the castle of Vincennes, then concierge and guard of the castle of Beauté-sur-Marne.
Anne Pot died in 1510.
KNIGHTHOOD
Guillaume was knighted in honor of Louise of Savoy, Duchess of Angoulême, mother of François of Angoulême (future King François I), and he was created a Knight of the Order of St. Michael. He resigned the captaincy of the Bastille Saint-Antoine in favor of his son Anne, in 1516.
1524
When the imperial army invaded the province in 1524, having driven the French out of Milan, François I repelled the attack and continued his march to Italy. But he failed to win Pavia (1525).
Charles V was about to enter France, to invade Paris. The parliament of Paris asked Guillaume de Montmorency to protect the capital, “et de récolter auprès du parlement de Paris des fonds pour faire libérer François Ier, fait prisonnier à la bataille de Pavie. Il est signataire du Traité de Madrid qui permet de libérer le roi” (help please). The Parliament of Paris was in a difficult situation due to the severe terms of the treaty of neutrality signed with Henry VIII. This would be the last time that Guillaume de Montmorency would travel to France.
1531
Guillaume de Montmorency, the great Baron, died on May 24, 1531, in Chantilly, after serving four glorious kings. He was laid to rest in the collégiale de Saint-Martin de Montmorency, which he had raised, next to his wife, Anne Pot, Lady of La Rochepot and Damville. The column of black marble of his tomb is still visible today.
Guillaume and Anne had seven children, the most famous being the great Anne, Constable of France. Guillaume also had one illegitimate son - i.e., Guillaume, bâtard (bastard). CHILDREN OF GUILLAUME & PHILIPPE DE MONTMORENCY
ANNE, DUC DE MONTMORENCY
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* SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
Renowned for its castle and its vast forest, the royal city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, place of residence of many kings of France and birthplace of Louis XIV, has preserved much heritage from its rich past.
Former royal residence, the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was built in the 16th century for King François I and today houses the National Antiquities Museum. Besides the prestigious archaeological collections, the tour of the castle also takes in the Gothic Sainte-Chapelle chapel and a splendid interior courtyard.
In front of the castle spreads out a magnificent park featuring a landscaped garden great wandering. Built by Le Notre, the Terrasse (terrace) of the park (2,400 x 30 meters) offers an open view of the River Seine, the West of Paris and the La Defense district. A viewpoint indicator helps to identify the surrounding sites.
Not far from the park, you can also walk in the old town along the pedestrian streets lined with old houses and mansions of the 17th and 18th centuries.
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The duc de Montmorency was a renowned collector of art. Not only in pieces of pottery, table service, e.g., plates, but also of decorative items; also Italian floor tiles; and much religious art.
Montmorency was brought up at Amboise with the future King François I, whom he followed into Italy in 1515, distinguishing himself especially at Marignano.
Montmorency was named captain of the Bastille in 1516 and became governor of Novara.
In 1518 he was one of the hostages in England for Francis I's debt to Henry VIII for the city of Tournai. He returned to France to attend a short and unsuccessful peace conference between the French and the Holy Roman Empire in May 1519.
The following year he was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold and afterwards had charge of diplomatic negotiations in England when relations between the two countries again began to sour.
Successful in the defence of Mézières (1521), and as commander of the Swiss troops in the Italian campaign of the same year, he was made Marshal of France in 1522 by King François I, accompanied the king into Italy in 1524, and was taken prisoner with the king at Pavia in 1525.
Montmorency was released soon afterwards, and helped negotiate the king’s release. He was one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Madrid in 1526, and in 1530 reconducted the king's sons into France. (These were the two sons that were held as ransom by the King of Spain in exchange for their father’s release.)
In 1532, Montmorency was elected to be a Knight of the Garter (G.B. “KG”) under King Henry VIII, probably as a result of the earlier negotiations he facilitated between England and France.
Shortly after François's release in 1526, Montmorency received the governorship of Languedoc, which remained in his family until 1532.
On the renewal of the war by Charles V's invasion of France in 1536, Montmorency compelled the emperor to raise the Siege of Marseilles. He afterwards accompanied the king of France into Picardy, and on the termination of the Netherlands campaign marched to the relief of Turin. In 1538, on the ratification of the ten years' truce, he was rewarded with the office of Constable of France.
He was made Constable of France in 1538. Montmorency's enemies at court and his policy of peace with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V finally led to his disgrace (1541), which lasted until François's death (1547). He did not return to public life until the accession of Henri II in 1547.
King Henry II restored him to a degree of favor limited by the countervailing influence of François and Charles de Guise. In 1548 he repressed the insurrections in the south-west, particularly at Bordeaux, with great severity, and in 1549-50 conducted the war in the Boulonnais, negotiating the treaty for the surrender of Boulogne on 24 March 1550.
In 1551 his barony was erected into a duchy, whereupon he became a duke*.
* THE DUCAL TITLE
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His armies took Metz from the Spanish in 1552. His attempt to relieve St. Quentin resulted in his defeat and captivity (10 August 1557) at Saint-Quentin by Emmanuel Philbert of Savoy, and he did not regain his liberty until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559.
Supplanted in the interval by the Guises, he was treated with coldness by the new king, François II, and dismissed; compelled to give up his mastership of the royal household. His son, François, however, was appointed Marshal by way of indemnity.
He was restored to his offices and dignities by Catherine de' Medici on the accession of Charles IV in 1560. He joined with his former enemies, the Guises, in the Huguenot war of 1562.
Though the arms of his party were victorious at Dreux (1562), he himself fell into the hands of the enemy, and was not liberated until the treaty of Amboise (19 March 1563).
The Battle of Saint-Denis was fought on 10 November 1567 between Catholics and Protestants during the French Wars of Religion in Saint-Denis near Paris, France.
Anne de Montmorency with 16,000 Royalists fell on Condé's 3,500 Huguenots. The Huguenots surprisingly held on for some hours before being driven off.
The Protestants were defeated, but the Catholic commander Anne de Montmorency received the death-blow of which he died in Paris two days later, on 12 November 1567.
After living alone most of her adult life due to her husband being away fighting and otherwise serving his kings, as most women in her position did during those times, now Madeleine de Savoie, would live 19 years alone in widowhood. Madeleine de Savoie, duchesse de Montmorency, died in 1586.
Bullant and Prieur executed the tomb of the constable and his wife, in the church of Saint-Martin de Montmorency. Chapelle du Lycee Banville, Moulins. Tombeau du Duc de Montmorency. File number m500201_001003_p.
Picture of the recumbent Anne and Madeleine de Savoie, the Monument du coeur d'Anne de Montmorency, XVI° siècle, musée du Louvre, Paris.
See more photographs of the Montmorency family at the photo album I prepared on this site. Click the link:
François (17 June 1530 – 6 May 1579) . He succeeded to the title of duc de Montmorency upon the death of his father. He was also Count of Dammartin; Baron of Chateaubriant; Lord of L'Isle-Adam; Grand Master of France; and Peer of France. He married in 1557, against his will, Diane de France, duchesse d’Angoulême, the natural daughter of King Henri II.
There is a portrait each of François and Diane on this article: François de Montmorency (Wikipedia).
Once he became duke, François continued the house of Montmorency's rivalry with the Guise family which did nothing but increase. He was sent with an embassy to Queen Elizabeth I of England to get from her a commitment to observe a peace treaty. After King Henri II died, he had to yield the title of Grand Master, inherited from his father, to the Duke of Guise, but under the new king, he was given the position of Marshal of France in 1559. In 1572, he was sent to Queen Elizabeth I of England to get her to sign an alliance with France. It was on this occasion that he was created an Honorary Knight of the Order of the Garter. He had been Governor of the City of Paris, but his incapacity to control the Parisian mutineers ultimately meant he had to give up that post, whereupon he left the city a few days before the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. It was he who discreetly took down the corpse of Gaspard de Coligny, his cousin, from the gallows of Montfaucon, where he was hanging (see Gaspard de Coligny, above).
In 1574, Charles IX appointed him to the court, but the hatred was so strong between him and the Duke of Guise meant he had to leave again. Not having anything more to lose, he took part in the plot of Malcontents, the "Third Party" with the duke of Alençon, but he was stopped and locked up in the Bastille with the Marshal of Cossé-Brissac. He was released in April 1575, and the King recognized his innocence by letters, recorded at the Parliament. He died in the Castle of Écouen on 6 May 1579.
Henri I de Montmorency was born on 15 June 1534 at Chantilly. He was seigneur of Damville; Count of Dammartin and Alais; Baron of Chateaubriant; and Lord of Chantilly and Écouen. He became the duc de Montmorency on his brother's death in 1579. He was Marshal of France under King Charles IX and also governor of Languedoc (1563-1614). As a leader of the party called the “Politiques” he took a prominent part in the French Wars of Religion. In 1593 he was made Constable of France, but King Henry IV showed some anxiety to keep him away from Languedoc, which he ruled like a sovereign prince. He died on 2 April 1614. Two portraits of him are in a short article on: Henri I de Montmorency (Wikipedia).
Charles, seigneur de Méru (1537-1612) married a daughter of Artus de Cossé. He later became Duc de Damville et Pair de France (a peer).
Gabriel, seigneur de Montbéron (d. 1562).
Guillaume, seigneur de Thoré (d. 1593 - X d'Humières).
Eléonore (d. 1557) married François III de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon. They had one child, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon.
Jeanne (1528-1596) married Louis III de la Trémoïlle, comte de Sully.
Catherine married Gilbert III de Lévis, duc de Ventadour. They had a child: Anne de Lévis, duc de Ventadour (1569-1622), who married Marguérite de Montmorency (1572-1660).
MARIE DE MONTMORENCY (1540-) married HENRI, COMTE DE FOIX-CANDALE, the Comte de Candale, d’Astarac, et de Bénauges, the Governor of Bordeaux. Marie was the mother Marguérite de Foix-Candale, the Comtesse de Candale.
FOIX-CANDALE FAMILY |
Anne, abbesse de Caen.
Louise, abbesse de Cerry.
Madeleine, abbesse de Caen (-1598).
I’m fascinated with Madeleine de Savoie. I have visited some travel sites and seen pictures of the area. I want to go there maybe on my next trip to France. I’ll post some on the Montmorency photo album in the near future. In the meantime, I’m discovering there is a French cake called Gateau de Savoie. I’ve been checking out images of the cake on Google, and it is baked in all sorts of shapes and sizes. I’ll post a few that I like soon. Here’s one recipe for the cake, and some links below it to see some more. Enjoy!
GÂTEAU DE SAVOIE
Cuisson : 45 mn
Ingrédients (pour 6 personnes) :
- 6 oeufs
- 250 g de sucre
- 150 g de farine
- 50 g de fécule
- un zeste de citron
Préparation :
Battre les jaunes d'oeufs et le sucre jusqu'à ce qu'ils blanchissent et gonflent un peu.
Dans un saladier à part, mélanger la farine + la fécule + le zeste de citron.
Dans un autre saladier, battre les blancs d'oeufs bien fermes.
Mettre une cuillère de blancs d'oeufs dans le sucre et tourner très fort.
Puis une cuillère du mélange de farine, puis une cuillère de blancs d'oeufs etc.
Cuire 5 mn à 200°C puis 40 mn à 150°C.
BLOG: Ma p’tite cuisine by Audrey (Audrey’s recipe, in French)
Journal des Femmes: Recipe for Gâteau de Savoie
VIDEO: Le Gâteau de Savoie: A recipe
The rue de Montmorency is a street in the historic Le Marais quarter of Paris, part of the city's 3rd arrondissement in the historical heart of the capital. It runs from the rue du Temple to the rue Saint-Martin (at number 212).
Named in 1768 after the Montmorency family, prominent residents of Le Marais during the Renaissance period. The Montmorency family is one of the oldest and most distinguished families in France, derived from the city of Montmorency, now in the Val-d'Oise département, about 9 miles NW of Paris.
As the Montmorency was a noble family, the street lost its name at the French Revolution. Therefore, it was known between the end of the French Revolution and 1806 as the rue de la Réunion.
Château de Chantilly (Domaine de Chantilly).
Château de Chantilly – Historical Characters (L'encyclopédie du patrimoine architectural français).
Château de Chantilly - the Montmorencys (le dossier pédagogique et le parcours Renaissance).
Château d’Écouen, XVIe siècle (L'encyclopédie du patrimoine architectural français).
Château d’Écouen - Musée de la Renaissance.
Château d'Écouen Museum (Musée Renaissance brochure).
Anne, duc de Montmorency (by Jean-François Campion). This is a good-looking lineage site.
Jean II de Montmorency, Descendancy (by Miroslav Marek, on genealogy.eu).
Madeleine de Savoie (by Jamie Allen). An “OK” site.
Marguérite De Foix-Candale (Jamie Allen's Family Tree). An “OK” site.
Montmorency Genealogy (website by Leo van de Pas).
Anne de Montmorency (Wikipedia, in English).
Anne, duc de Montmorency (another Wikipedia, in French).
The Duc de Montmorency (on answers.com).
Guillaume and Anne de Montmorency, Association de Sauvegarde de Chantilly et de son Environnement (in French).
Hôtel de Montmorency (Wikipedia, in French).
Les Montmorency: Guillaume and Anne (in French).
Montmorency (Municipality, Val-d'Oise, France), by Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat, Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache. This is a good page with colorful text.
Montmorency, Val d'Oise, France, by Renald Morency. This includes brief history of the family.
Byrne, Janet S.
“Monuments on Paper”. New York City, NY: Metropolitan Museum, pp. 25-29.
Encyclopaedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, ed. Hugh Chisholm (Cambridge: at the University Press, 1911) Vol. 18: 787-88.
"Famille d'Orgemont". Archive sur Racines et histoire. Consulté le 11 octobre 2010. The link to the PDF file is currently unavailable (on racineshistoire.com).
Field of the Cloth of Gold (Tudor History).
"The patronage power of early modern French noblewomen", by Sharon Kettering. The Historical Journal 32/4 (Dec. 1989) pp. 817-841 JSTOR.
Montmorency (in French); on the Histoire Europe website.
Bedos Rezak, Brigitte. Anne de Montmorency: Seigneur de la Renaissance (La France au fil des siècles) (French Edition).
Decrue, F. Anne de Montmorency (Paris, 1885), and Anne, duc de Montmorency (Paris, 1889).
Gady, Alexandre. Les Hôtels particuliers parisiens ( Paris, Éditions Parigramme, 2008, pp. 313-314.
Mirot, Léon. Les d’Orgemont, leur origine, leur fortune, le boiteux d’Orgemont (Paris: Champion, 1913). In French.
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