Henri II of Montmorency

See also: Henri, Henri II

Henri II of Montmorency (born in 1595, carried out with Toulouse the October 30th 1632), wire of Henri Ier de Montmorency, godson of the king de France Henri IV, it was Admiral de France at 17 years, Vice-roi of the News-France and governor of the Languedoc. He is the husband of Marie-Félicie of Ursins.

He took part in the wars against the Protesting S, and beat the fleet of Soubise in front of La Rochelle in 1625. Marshal of France in 1630, it intrigued with Gaston of Orleans, brother of the king, against the Cardinal of Richelieu. Condemned to died for crime of lese-majesty, it was carried out in Toulouse the October 30th 1632 (a commemorative plaque is visible in the court of the town hall of Toulouse, places of Capitole). Its confiscated goods passed to the Maison of Cop. With him the elder branch of Montmorency died out.

The death of the duke of Montmorency, one of the most considerable lords of its time, was a sign of the assertion of the royal capacity on the nobility and sounded the end of feudality. The King in person moved to punish revolted. He regulated the behavior of the States. They met from now on most of the time in Montpellier. They could not from now on discuss the tax any more.

Viceroy of the News-France of 1620 with 1625, Henri de Montmorency gave his name to famous the falls of the area of Quebec discovered by Samuel de Champlain.

Context

The edict of Nantes promulgated on April 15th, 1598 by Henri IV had made it possible to put an end to more than thirty years of religious wars which had ensanglanté the Kingdom. In Languedoc, it was accommodated with great satisfaction. It granted freedom of worship to the Protestants in all the places where this worship existed in 1157. It gave them moreover places of safety: Montpellier, Acute-Dead. The disorders calmed down.

May 14th, 1610, the good King Henri is assassinated by Ravaillac. The Protestants, who feel then threatened, gather behind the Duc of Rohan and take again the fight. In 1622, to stop the combat in Languedoc, Louis XIII sign the Peace of Montpellier which confirms the provisions of the edict of Nantes.

Beyond the interest for the Protestants, the duke of Rohan sought to satisfy his purely political ambition. Richelieu will be drawn up in front of him. After having taken La Rochelle at the end of a seat which strikes hard reformed, it comes to subject the Languedoc. Privas is taken and ransacked, Alès returns the weapons. The edict of Ale grace (June 27th, 1629) withdraws with the Protestants their political privileges and their places of safety. The king has the freehands to fight against the Protestants.

The battle of Castelnaudary

In 1630, Gaston of Orleans, the proper brother of the king Louis XIII, tries to organize a general rising of the kingdom. Henri de Montmorency, influenced by the queen Marie de Médicis (whose his woman, Marie-Félicie Orsini is cousin), and in spite of the warning statements of Richelieu, supports it. It rejoins the States of Languedoc, to which Richelieu tried to remove the right to raise the tax, and orders to the sior of the Cross, captain of his guards, to occupy the Fort of Brescou, with broad of Agde. July 22nd, 1632, the province of Languedoc makes secession of the Kingdom of France. Part of the minor nobility follows Montmorency in the rebellion but the town of Toulouse remains faithful to the king. Carcassonne and Narbonne refuses to accommodate the army of the rebels which wanders then in Languedoc without precise goal. A royal army gets under way, ordered by the marshal of Schomberg. The meeting takes place in front of Castelnaudary, on September 1st, 1632. Schomberg has 2000 to 2500 men, the insurrectionists can oppose only 1200 to him to 1500 noble little trained with the combat. The confrontation does not last more than one half an hour: seriously wounded, the duke is made prisoner.

Judged by the Parliament of Toulouse chaired by the Minister of Justice Chateauneuf for crime of lese-majesty, he is condemned to death. After he was sorry to the King and returned his stick of marshal and his cord of the Ordre of the Holy Spirit, he will be decapitated behind closed doors, in the interior court of the town hall on October 30th, 1632. Its last words were for the torturer “Strikes boldly”. A plate on the ground commemorates this execution.

External bonds

Portrait of Henri de Montmorency (years 1620)
Portrait of Henri de Montmorency (years 1630)
his genealogy on the site généanet

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