Charles de La Porte, 1st Duke of La Meilleraye (1602 inParis – 8 February 1664 in Paris) was a French nobleman and aMarshal of France. He was marquis then duke ofLa Meilleraye andpeer of France, baron ofParthenay and ofSaint-Maixent, count ofSecondigny, seigneur of Le Boisliet, La Lunardière, La Jobelinière and Villeneuve.
Originally from Poitou, he found himself orphaned at a very young age and, like his first cousinCardinal Richelieu, he was adopted by their uncle Amador de La Porte, Grand Prior of France, who ensured their education.
Lieutenant General of Brittany in 1632, he was appointed Governor ofNantes, from which he allowedCardinal de Retz to escape in 1654. He was regularly present on the battlefields. He was appointedGrand Master of Artillery of France the same year, and acquired the reputation of being the best General for sieges; he was nicknamed "the taker of cities".
In 1635, he was promoted toLieutenant-General. In 1636, Cardinal Richelieu sent him toPort-Louis to make the city's citadel impregnable and said of him :
One of the men of the greatest merit, the most constant favor and the most fulfilled of his time.
In 1639 he becameMarshal of France after takingHesdin.In 1641, he bought the barony of Parthenay.
In 1642, after aten-month siege, he conqueredPerpignan andSalses-le-Château, completing the conquest ofRoussillon.
AppointedSuperintendent of Finances in 1648, he remained loyal to the King during the troubles ofThe Fronde.
In 1663, a year before his death,Louis XIV promoted his lands of Parthenay andGâtine Vendéenne to a Duchy-peerage, under the name of Duchy of La Meilleraye, based onParthenay and the current commune ofBeaulieu-sous-Parthenay (Deux-Sèvres). This immense domain was divided up and the abandoned castle fell into ruins by the end of the 18th century.
The new Duke of La Meilleraye lacked neither skill nor political finesse. Even before the establishment of theFrench East India Company, he conceived the audacious plan of colonizing Madagascar, then calledDauphine Island, and founded his own maritime trading company.
In 1630 he married Marie Coiffié de Ruzé d'Effiat, daughter of MarshalAntoine Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis d'Effiat and sister of theMarquis of Cinq-Mars, with whom he had one son:
Widowed in 1633, he remarried in 1637 Marie de Cossé, daughter of François de Cossé-Brissac, who brought him a dowry of 400,000 livres and the government ofPort-Louis. They had no children.
In 1653, he legitimized Charles de Montgogué, the son he had with Catherine Fleury.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
.svg) | ThisKingdom of France-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
