Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes

Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes (5 August 1578 – Longueville, 15 December 1621) was French courtier and a favourite of Louis XIII. In 1619, the king made him Duke of Luynes and a Peer of France, and in 1621, Constable of France. Luynes died of scarlet fever near the end of that year at the height of his influence.

The first duke of Luynes

Biography
The first duke of Luynes

He was the first son of Honoré d'Albert (1540–1592), seigneur de Luynes (in today's département Bouches-du-Rhône in Provence), who was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France.[1]

Charles was brought up at court and attended the dauphin, later Louis XIII. The king shared his fondness for hunting and rapidly advanced him in favour. In 1615 he was appointed commander of the Louvre Palace and counsellor, and the following year Grand Falconer of France. He used his influence over the king in the court intrigues against the queen-mother Marie de' Medici and her favourite Concini. It was Luynes who, with Vitry, captain of the guard, arranged the plot that ended in Concini's assassination (1617) and secured all the latter's possessions in Italy and France.[2]

In the same year he was appointed captain of the Bastille and lieutenant-general of Normandy, and married Marie de Rohan, daughter of the Duke of Montbazon. He employed extreme measures against the pamphleteers of the time, but sought peace in Italy and with the Protestants.[2]

In August 1619 he negotiated the Treaty of Angoulême by which Marie de' Medici was accorded complete liberty. The same month he was made governor of Picardy and Duke of Luynes. He had recently purchased the Comté de Maillé on the Loire, about 10 miles west of Tours, and the king erected Maillé into the Duchy of Luynes, which included about 50 parishes and extended to the western wall of Tours and around it on three sides. On 14 November he was officially received as a duke and a Peer of France at a ceremony in the great hall of the Parlement of Paris.[3]

His rapid rise to power made him a host of enemies, who looked upon him as but a second Concini.[2] He suppressed an uprising of nobles in 1620.[2]

In 1621, at the king's request, Luynes agreed to lead an expedition against the Protestants in the southwest, even though Luynes had for a long time been opposed to the campaign.[4] As part of the agreement, Louis appointed him Constable of France, even though Luynes had slight military ability or achievement. He was sworn in on 2 April.[5] Luynes received the post in part by default: the obvious choice, the Duke of Lesdiguières, was a Protestant and refused to abjure. Later, after Luynes's death, Lesdiguières converted and became constable.[6] Luynes was involved in the failure of the Siege of Montauban (17 August – 2 November), for which he received much criticism, although he had not been the field commander.[7] On 15 December 1621, in the midst of the campaign, Luynes died of scarlet fever, aged 43, at Château de Longueville in Guienne.[2][8]

Family

His brother Honoré d'Albert (1581–1649), first duke of Chaulnes, was governor of Picardy and Marshal of France (1619), and defended his province successfully in 1625 and 1635.[2] His sister Antoinette d'Albert de Luynes was a lady-in-waiting to the queen.

Notes
  1. Kettering 2008, p. 10.
  2. Chisholm 1911, p. 147.
  3. Kettering 2008, pp. 100–101.
  4. Kettering 2008, pp. 194–195.
  5. Kettering 2008, pp. 166–167.
  6. Kettering 2008, pp. 102, 151, 167.
  7. Kettering 2008, pp. 1, 194.
  8. Kettering 2008, p. 1.

References
  •  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Luynes". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 147.
  • Kettering, Sharon (2008). Power and Reputation at the Court of Louis XIII: The Career of Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes (1578–1621). Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8998-5.

Further reading
  • Recommended reading (in chronological order) at the end of the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed):
    • Recueil des pieces plus curieuses qui ent este faites pendant le regne du connestable M. de Luynes (2nd ed.). 1624.
    • Le Vassor (1757). Histoire de Louis XIII. Paris.
    • Griffet (1758). Histoire du regne de Louis XIII, roi de France et de Navarre. Paris.
    • V. Cousin (1861–1863). "Le Duc et connetable de Luynes". Journal des savants.
    • B. Zeller (1879). Etudes critiques sur le regne de Louis XIII: le connetable de Luynes, Montauban et la Valteline. Paris.
    • E. Pavie (1899). La Guerre entre Louis XIII. et Marie de Medicis. Paris.
    • Lavisse (1905). Histoire de France. vi.2. Paris. pp. 141–216.

Media related to Charles d'Albert at Wikimedia Commons

French nobility
New creation Duke of Luynes
1619- 1621		 Succeeded by
Louis Charles d'Albert


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