View source for Mathieu de Montmorency

{{Short description|French statesman}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = 
| name          = 
| honorific_suffix = Duke of Montmorency-Laval<br />Viscount of Montmorency-Laval
| image         = Mathieu de Montmorency-Laval JS.jpg
| caption       = ''Lithograph of Montmorency, 1820''
| office        = [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| term_start    = 14 December 1821
| term_end      = 28 December 1822
| predecessor   = [[Étienne-Denis Pasquier]]
| successor     = [[François-René de Chateaubriand]]
| birth_name    = Mathieu Jean Felicité de Montmorency-Laval
| birth_date    = {{birthdate|1767|07|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Paris|Paris, France]]
| death_date    = {{dda|1826|03|24|1767|07|10|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[10th arrondissement of Paris]]
| alma_mater    = [[Collège du Plessis]]
| party         = [[Ultra-royalist]]
| parents       = Mathieu Paul Louis de Montmorency<br />Catherine Jeanne Tavernier de Boullongne
| spouse        = {{marriage|Hortense d'Albert de Luynes<br />|1788|1826|reason=died}}
| children      = Elisabeth Hélène Pierre de Montmorency-Laval
| relations     =
| signature     = Signature de Mathieu de Montmorency-Laval.jpg
}}

'''Mathieu Jean Felicité de Montmorency, 1st Duke of Montmorency-Laval''' (10 July 1767 – 24 March 1826) was a French statesman during the [[French Revolution]] and [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]. He [[List of members of the National Constituent Assembly of 1789|was elected as the youngest deputy]] to the [[Estates-General of 1789]]. He is also known for his military expertise and his relation with Mme de Staël. When France became a republic, Montmorency turned into an [[ultra-royalist]]. Napoleon regarded him as a member of the Catholic opposition. During the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Restoration]], he became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

==Early life==
Mathieu de Montomorency was born in [[Paris|Paris, France]] on 10 July 1767. He was the son of Mathieu Paul Louis de Montmorency, vicomte de Laval (1748–1809), and Catherine Jeanne Tavernier de Boullongne (d. 1838).{{sfn|EB|2002}} Montmorency's father was a scion of one of the [[Montmorency family|oldest noble families]] in France, while his wife was the daughter of an aristocratic French planter in [[Guadeloupe]]. Montmorency went on to seek higher education at [[Collège du Plessis]], where he developed his love for the subject of philosophy and the idea of enlightenment.

His paternal grandparents were [[Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval]], 1st Duke of Laval, and Jacqueline Hortense de Bullion de Fervaques. Among his extended family was uncle, [[Anne-Alexandre-Marie de Montmorency-Laval]], 2nd Duke of Laval, and aunt, Guionne de Montmorency-Laval (wife of the 6th [[Duke of Luynes]]).<ref name="Dorothée2021"/>

In 1780, his father, a colonel of the Auvergne regiment, was appointed a ''premier gentilhomme de la chambre'' to King [[Louis XVI]]'s younger brother, the [[Louis XVIII|Comte de Provence]]. However, when Catherine was denied the corresponding rank of ''[[lady-in-waiting|dame pour accompagner]]'' to the prince's wife, [[Marie Joséphine of Savoy|Marie-Joséphine]], due to her relatively low birth, Laval resigned his post in Provence's household.{{sfn|EB|2002}} Montmorency was a very intelligent man. He was a diplomatist and a great writer. He eventually went to become a tutor for Henry, duke de Bordeaux, the grandson of [[Charles X of France|Charles X]].{{sfn|Gautier|1908|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}} }}

==Career==
Originally known by the title of ''Comte de Montmorency-Laval'', Mathieu served as an adolescent with his father in the [[American Revolutionary War|American War of Independence]] with [[Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette|Lafayette]].{{sfn|EB|2002}} America was a new nation that had built its nation on democracy and liberty. Montmorency is credited for bringing these new governmental ideas to France. He became the governor of the city and castle of [[Compiègne]], from 1804 to 1809, and from 1812 to 1814.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Archived copy | url=https://histoire-compiegne.com/wp-content/uploads/BULLETINS/01-27.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326110706/https://histoire-compiegne.com/wp-content/uploads/BULLETINS/01-27.pdf | archive-date=2024-03-26}}</ref>

Montmorency was the Deputy of [[Montfort-l'Amaury]] in the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]] from 28 March 1789 until 30 September 1791,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1891-1116-43|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613204443/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1891-1116-43|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 June 2023|title=print &#124; |website=The British Museum}}</ref> joining as its youngest member. He moved to the left side of the [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]], shifting from the [[Estates of the realm|Second Estate]], the nobility.{{sfn|EB|2002}}  On 17 August, he was appointed as the secretary of the assembly.{{sfn|Gautier|1908}} Montmorency fought the aristocracy under the tutelage of the [[abbé Sieyès]]. He moved the abolition of armorial bearings on 19 June 1790.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=788}} 

===French Revolution===
[[File:Château d'Ormesson.jpg|thumb|Château d'Ormesson]]
Before 20 April 1792, he and [[Louis, comte de Narbonne-Lara|Count de Narbonne]], the Minister of War, went to inspect the troops. Around the [[Storming of the Tuileries]] in August, Montmorency fled to [[Coppet]] to live with [[Germaine de Staël]] and [[Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt]]. In January 1793, he accompanied her to [[Boulogne-sur-Mer]], where she sought refuge in England. On 17 June 1794, his brother, an [[Abbot]], was guillotined.{{sfn|''Biographie des hommes vivants''|1818}} Montmorency started to study the church father, [[Augustine]]. <!--In August he was expelled from Bern.--> In May 1795, he lived in [[Yverdon]]. He returned to Paris to see his relatives. He was arrested as an [[émigré]] on 26 December, but released after a few days.{{sfn|''Assemblée nationale''}} Montmorency lived at [[Château d'Ormesson]] [[:fr:Ch%C3%A2teau d%27Ormesson|fr]] on an estate in [[Ormesson-sur-Marne]]. De Staël and Constant joined him there and Montmorency visited them in 1797 in [[Luzarches]].{{sfn|Staël|2012|p=110}}

===First French Empire===
In 1799, the [[French Consulate|Consulate]] seized power in a [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|military coup]] led by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. In 1803, he again joined the [[Coppet group]] and accompanied de Staël to Paris. In May 1804, Napoleon was granted the title [[Emperor of the French]] by the French {{Lang|fr|[[Sénat conservateur]]}},<ref>{{cite web |last=Thierry |first=Lentz |title=The Proclamation of Empire by the Sénat Conservateur |url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/lentz_proclamation.asp |access-date=15 August 2014 |website=napoleon.org |publisher=Fondation Napoléon |archive-date=23 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323213424/http://www.napoleon.org/en/reading_room/articles/files/lentz_proclamation.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> which ended the [[French Consulate]] and began the [[French First Republic]]. In August 1811, he traveled with de Staël in Switzerland. [[François-Emmanuel Guignard]], De Montmorency, [[Mme Récamier]] were exiled by Napoleon.<!--He took back his place in the Upper House (17 August 1813?)..{{sfn|''Assemblée nationale''}}-->

Napoleon's army won victories in the [[War of the Third Coalition]] against [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], and allied states.<ref>{{cite web |title=Battle of Austerlitz |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/43578/Battle-of-Austerlitz |access-date=15 August 2014 |website=Britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-date=8 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008022110/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/43578/Battle-of-Austerlitz |url-status=live }}</ref> French dominance was reaffirmed during the [[War of the Fourth Coalition]], before Napoleon's final defeat at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815.<ref name="Summerville2005">{{cite book |last1=Summerville |first1=Christopher |title=Napoleon's Polish Gamble: Eylau & Friedland 1807 - Campaign Chronicles |date=30 September 2005 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-84415-260-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwCSAwAAQBAJ |access-date=27 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

===Bourbon Restoration===
At the beginning of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], he was promoted to the rank of ''[[maréchal de camp]]'', but in March 1815, (at beginning of the [[Hundred Days]]) he accompanied [[Marie Thérèse of France]] from Bordeaux to London and met with [[Louis XVIII]] in [[Ghent]], who was forced to flee.{{sfn|''Biographie des hommes vivants''|1818}} After the [[Battle of Waterloo]] and the final defeat of [[Napoleon]], he was made a [[Peerage of France|peer of France]] and received the title of ''Vicomte de Montmorency-Laval''. He was instrumental in convincing [[Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu]] to replace his former friend and former Bonapartist [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord]] as the new [[List of Prime Ministers of France|Prime Minister of France]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=788}}{{sfn|EB|2002}} In 1817, Montmorency bought [[Arboretum de la Vallée-aux-Loups|Vallée-aux-Loups]] from his friend [[François-René de Chateaubriand|Chateaubriand]].

Known for strong reactionary, [[ultramontanism|ultramontane]], and [[Ultra-royalist]] views, Felicite became the French [[List of Foreign Ministers of France|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] under [[Jean-Baptiste Guillaume Joseph, comte de Villèle]] in December 1821. He recommended armed intervention in Spain to restore [[Ferdinand VII]] at the [[Congress of Verona]] in October 1822. However, he resigned his post in December, being compensated by the title of ''Duc de Montmorency-Laval'' and the cross of the [[Legion of Honour]] soon after.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=788}}{{sfn|EB|2002}}

He was elected to the [[Académie Française]] in 1825, with few qualifications for the honour. The following year, he was named tutor to the six-year-old heir to the throne, the [[Henri, comte de Chambord|Duc de Bordeaux]], but died two months after receiving the appointment.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=788}}{{sfn|EB|2002}}

==Personal life==
[[File:Elisabeth de Montmorency-Laval (1790-1834).jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of his daughter, Élisabeth de Montmorency-Laval, ''later'' Duchess of Doudeauville]]
In 1788, Mathieu de Montmorency married his first cousin Pauline Hortense d'Albert de Luynes (1774–1858), the daughter of [[Louis Joseph d'Albert de Luynes|Louis Joseph d'Albert]], 6th [[Duke of Luynes]], and Guionne de Montmorency-Laval (a daughter of [[Guy André Pierre de Montmorency-Laval]], 1st [[Duke of Laval]]). Her only sibling was [[Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes]], 7th Duke of Luynes, a member of the [[Chamber of Peers (France)|Chamber of Peers]].<ref name="Dorothée2021">{{cite book |last1=Dorothée |first1=Dino |title=Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1841-1850 |date=16 March 2021 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-075685-8 |page=460 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Memoirs_of_the_Duchesse_De_Dino_Afterwar/OD0kEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT460 |access-date=17 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref> Together, they were the parents of:

* Élisabeth Hélène Pierre de Montmorency-Laval (1790–1834), who married [[Sosthènes I de La Rochefoucauld]], 2nd [[Duke of Doudeauville]], the son of [[Ambroise-Polycarpe de La Rochefoucauld]], 1st Duke of Doudeauville, and heiress Bénigne-Augustine Le Tellier de Louvois, in 1807. To the marriage, Elisabeth brought the [[Château d'Esclimont]] at [[Saint-Symphorien-le-Château]] and the [[Château de Bonnétable]] in [[Bonnétable]].<ref name="Courcelles1822">{{cite book |last1=Courcelles |first1=Jean Baptiste Pierre Jullien de |title=Histoire généalogique et héraldique des pairs de France: des grands dignitaires de la couronne, des principales familles nobles du royaume et des maisons princières de l'Europe, précédée de la généalogie de la maison de France |date=1822 |publisher=L'auteur |page=31 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Histoire_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogique_et_h%C3%A9raldique_d/HUb5OX3a0NgC&pg=RA16-PA31 |access-date=17 June 2024 |language=fr}}</ref>

The Duke died on 24 March 1826.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=788}}{{sfn|EB|2002}} He was discovered seated lifeless at the end of the Good Friday Liturgy in St. Thomas d'Aquin church in the fashionable St. Germain des Près faubourg.{{sfn|EB|2002}} His widow, who outlived the Duke and their only child, died at her home, the [[Château de Bonnétable]], in 1858.<ref name="Bibliographic1873">{{cite book |title=Host Bibliographic Record for Boundwith Item Barcode 30112002644547 and Others |date=1873 |page=66 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Host_Bibliographic_Record_for_Boundwith/fDxKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR66 |access-date=20 June 2024 |language=fr}}</ref>

===Extramarital relationships===
Despite being married he actually paid very little attention to his wife. Due to the very relaxed nature of marriages, he often was seen without his wife.{{sfn|Gautier|1908|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}} }} In actuality, Montmorency was madly in love with another cousin by the name of Marquise de Laval. When Laval died in Summer 1790, Montmorency went to a great depression.{{sfn|Gautier|1908|p={{page needed|date=May 2020}} }} Reportedly, Madame de Staël brought Montmorency out of his depression through writing a series of letters to each other. After the death of her husband, [[Albert Jean Michel de Rocca]], in 1818, Montmorency became the legal guardian of de Staël's children. Like [[August Schlegel]], he was one of her intimates until the end of her life.

===Descendants===
Through his daughter Élisabeth, he was a grandfather of six, including:<ref name="noblesse1867">{{cite book |title=Annuaire de la noblesse de France et des maisons souveraines de l'Europe |date=1867 |publisher=Champion |page=101 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annuaire_de_la_noblesse_de_France_et_des/GpZAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA101 |access-date=17 June 2024 |language=fr}}</ref> Ambroisine de La Rochefoucauld (who died young);<ref name="Courcelles1827"/> [[Stanislas de La Rochefoucauld]], 3rd Duke of Doudeauville (who married Marie de Colbert-Chabanais);<ref name="Tellier1987">{{cite book |last1=Tellier |first1=Luc-Normand |title=Face Aux Colbert: Les le Tellier, Vauban, Turgot... et L'Avènement du Libéralisme |date=1987 |publisher=[[PUQ]] |isbn=978-2-7605-2289-3 |page=701 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Face_Aux_Colbert/7-vFKDLGHh8C&pg=PA701 |access-date=17 June 2024 |language=fr}}</ref> Hortense de La Rochefoucauld (who died young);<ref name="Courcelles1827"/> [[Sosthène II de La Rochefoucauld]], 4th Duke of Doudeauville (who was also created [[Duke of Bisaccia]]; he married Princess Yolande of Polignac, a daughter of Prime Minister Prince [[Jules de Polignac]], and, after her death, Princess Marie de Ligne, youngest daughter of [[Eugène, 8th Prince of Ligne]]);<ref name="noblesse1867"/> Augustin de La Rochefoucauld (who died young);<ref name="Courcelles1827">{{cite book |last1=Courcelles |first1=Jean Baptiste Pierre Jullien de |title=Histoire généalogique et héraldique des pairs de France: des grands dignitaires de la couronne, des principales familles nobles du royaume et des maisons princières de l'Europe, précédée de la généalogie de la maison de France |date=1827 |publisher=L'auteur |page=114 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Histoire_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9alogique_et_h%C3%A9raldique_d/85xfAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA7-PA114 |access-date=17 June 2024 |language=fr}}</ref> and Marie de La Rochefoucauld (who died young).<ref name="Courcelles1827"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite web|url=http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/(num_dept)/13916|title=Mathieu, Jean, Félicité de Montmorency-Laval - Base de données des députés français depuis 1789 - Assemblée nationale |ref={{sfnRef|Assemblée nationale}}|website=www2.assemblee-nationale.fr}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Montmorency, Mathieu Jean Felicite de Mont-Morency-Laval |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |year=2002 |location=Chicago, IL |ref={{sfnRef|EB|2002}} }}
*{{Cite book  |last=Gautier |year=1908 |first=Paul |title=Mathieu de Montmorency et Madame de Staël |publisher=Plon |location=Paris |pages=1–42 }}
*{{Cite book |title=Biographie des hommes vivants:... |year=1818 |publisher=L.G. Michaud |ref={{sfnRef|Biographie des hommes vivants|1818}}|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BS4HAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA490 490]}}
*{{cite book |last=Staël |first=Anne Louise Germaine de |date=2012 |title=Selected Correspondence |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-011-4283-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YPfRBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT110 110]}}

'''Attribution:'''
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Montmorency, Mathieu Jean Félicité de Montmorency-Laval, Duc de |volume=18 |page=788}} Endnotes:
** M. Vétillard, ''Notice sur la vie de M. le duc Mathieu de Montmorency'' (Le Mans, 1826)
** P. Gautier, ''Mathieu de Montmorency et Mme de Staël, d'après les lettres inédites de M. de Montmorency à Mme Necker de Saussure'' (1908), for his curious relations with [[Anne Louise Germaine de Staël|Mme de Staël]]
** Madame de Boigne (Adélaïde d'Osmond) Mémoires: Récits d'une tante, [[Mercure de France]], t.2

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Fairweather |first=Maria |year=2013 |title=Madame de Stael |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1-4721-1330-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7TCeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT132 ~132]|ref=none}}

{{Académie française Seat 37}}
{{Ministry of Joseph de Villèle}}
{{Foreign Ministers of France}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montmorency, Mathieu De}}
[[Category:1767 births]]
[[Category:1826 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Montmorency-Laval|Mathieu]]
[[Category:Politicians from Paris]]
[[Category:French counter-revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Burials at Picpus Cemetery]]
[[Category:People of the French Revolution]]
[[Category:People of the Ancien Régime]]
[[Category:People of the Bourbon Restoration]]
[[Category:French Ultra-royalists]]
[[Category:19th-century French diplomats]]
[[Category:People of the First French Empire]]
[[Category:Dukes of Montmorency]]
[[Category:Coppet group]]
[[Category:Peers of France]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of France]]