Victurnien-Jean-Baptiste de Rochechouart de Mortemart

Victurnien Jean-Baptiste Marie de Rochechouart, prince of Tonnay-Charente then 9th duke of Mortemart (8 February 1752, in Everly – 4 July 1812, in Paris) was a French general and politician. He came from the Mortemart branch of the house of Rochechouart, named after the barony of Mortemart in Haute-Vienne, later raised to a marquisate and finally in December 1650 to a peer-duchy.

Life

Victurnien-Jean-Baptiste was the second son of Jean-Victor de Rochechouart (1712–1771), duke of Mortemart and of Charlotte Nathalie de Manneville. In October 1768 he joined the artillery school in Strasbourg. On 20 March 1774 he was made colonel of the régiment de Lorraine-Infanterie, later rising to brigadier of infantry on 1 January 1784 and maréchal-de-camp on 9 March 1788.

After taking part in the second Assembly of Notables and supporting Protestants' claims in the parlement (where he appeared as a peer),[1] on 24 March 1789 he was elected a noble deputy for the bailliage of Sens in the Estates General of 1789. There he supported Jacques Necker's plans, but opposed the reforms demanded by the majority of the assembly – he notably protested against the suppression of the rights of péage and minage. He resigned on 20 April 1790[1] and left France the following year. He fought with the royalist army in the 1792 campaign and then moved to England, where he was welcomed by George III with "kindness"[2] and "distinction".[1]

Commanding the régiment de Mortemart (a French émigré corps in British pay), de Mortemart returned to continental Europe in autumn 1794 and the following year joined the force which landed on Guernsey. In 1796 he moved to Portugal, where he served until 1802. His regiment was disbanded at the Peace of Amiens[1] and de Mortemart returned to France "where he lived peacefully".[1] Napoleon I made him a member of the conseil général for the Seine department[3] on 26 March 1812, but he died suddenly in July that year from a vicious fever.[1]

De Mortemart was also a man of letters, leaving behind several unedited works "of a superior quality",[3] such as a poem on the theme of Joseph in Egypt and a verse translation of John Milton's Paradise Lost, along with several tales and light poems.[3]

Ancestry, marriage and issue

He married twice:

Notes

References

External links

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