Charles-Maurice of Monaco, Count of Valentinois
| Charles-Maurice of Monaco | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count of Valentinois | |||||
 The Family of the Duke of Valentinois, Pierre Gobert. Charles-Maurice is seen playing with a monkey. | |||||
| Born | Charles-Maurice Grimaldi May 14, 1727 Paris, France | ||||
| Died | January 18, 1798 (aged 70) Maury, Switzerland | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| |||||
| House |
| ||||
| Father | Jacques I, Prince of Monaco | ||||
| Mother | Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco | ||||
Charles-Maurice of Monaco (Monégasque: Carlu-Mauriçi de Mu̍negu;[1] 14 May 1727 – 18 January 1798), sometimes referred to as Charles-Maurice Goyon de Matignon or Charles-Maurice Grimaldi, was a Monégasque prince, he was the third surviving child and youngest son of Prince Jacques I and Princess Louise Hippolyte.
Early life and marriage
Charles-Maurice was born on May 14, 1727, to Jacques I and Louise Hippolyte of Monaco, his mother was the second female sovereign of Monaco.[1]
Marriage
On December 10, 1749, in the chapel of the Hôtel Saint-Simon in Paris (with the approval of King Louis XV dated November 1, 1749), he married Marie-Christine de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1728–1774), daughter of Jacques-Louis de Rouvroy (1698–1746), Duke of Saint-Simon by gift inter vivos, known as the "Duke of Ruffec," and his wife Catherine-Charlotte-Thérèse de Gramont (1707–1755). Marie-Christine was the granddaughter of the renowned memoirist Louis de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon (1675–1755), Duke of Saint-Simon. As his wife was a Grandee of Spain of the first class, Charles-Maurice became a Grandee of Spain of the first class jure uxoris.[2]
No children were born from this marriage, which ended in separation in 1766.
Military career
Charles-Maurice of Monaco never took his vows in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, which he left following the deaths of two of his elder brothers.[3]
Appointed guidon of the Gendarmerie in 1745, at the age of 18, he participated a few months later in the Battle of Fontenoy, during which he was wounded (May 11). Voltaire wrote a poem "likely to inflame hearts and send the handsome lords of the court to immortality"[4] in which he evokes the wounding of the Count of Valentinois in these terms: "Monaco loses its blood, and love sighs for it."[5] Promoted to ensign in the gendarmerie of Brittany on March 8, 1746, he became a sub-lieutenant in the same company in March 1747. On February 10, 1759, he was promoted to brigadier of cavalry, Lieutenant-General in the government of Normandy, and governor of Granville, Saint-Lô, Cherbourg, and the Chausey Islands.[6]
Although he is presented in a 1777 work as a Knight of the Golden Fleece,[7] Charles-Maurice de Monaco is not found in the available lists. Confusion with his status as a Grandee of Spain by right of marriage is possible.
References
- 1 2 "A Principessa Luisa Ipòlita Grimaldi (1697-1731)" (PDF) (PDF) (in Monégasque and French). National Committee of Monegasque Traditions. 2 June 2012.
- ↑ Labande 2002, pp. 123–124.
- ↑ Labande 2002, p. 219.
- ↑ Ligne, Charles Joseph prince de (1809). Œuvres choisies, littéraires, historiques et militaires du Maréchal Prince de Ligne ... Précédées de quelques détails biographiques ... et publiées par un de ses amis [C. Malte-Bruun] (in French).
- ↑ Arouet), Voltaire (pseud van François-Marie (1745). Le poème de Fontenoy (in French). de l'Imprimerie royale.
- ↑ Bois, François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye des (1774). Dictionnaire de la noblesse, contenant les généalogies, l'histoire et la chronologie des familles nobles de France (in French). Vve Duchesne.
- ↑ Paige, André René Le (1777). Dictionnaire topographique, historique, généalogique et bibliographique de la province et du diocèse du Maine (in French). Toutain.
Sources
- Tourtchine, Jean-Fred (2002). Les Manuscrits du Cèdre : Dictionnaire historique et généalogique (in French). CEDRE. ISSN 0993-3964.
- Labande, Léon-Honoré (2002). Histoire de la Principauté de Monaco (in French) (2nd ed.). Monaco: Archives du palais.