| François Louis de Bourbon | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King of Poland (titular) | |||||
 | |||||
| Prince of Conti | |||||
| Reign | 9 November 1685 - 22 February 1709 | ||||
| Predecessor | Louis Armand | ||||
| Successor | Louis Armand II | ||||
| Born | (1664-04-30)30 April 1664 Hôtel de Conti (quai Malaquais),Paris,Kingdom of France | ||||
| Died | 22 February 1709(1709-02-22) (aged 44) Hôtel de Conti (quai Conti),Paris,Kingdom of France | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | Marie Thérèse de Bourbon | ||||
| Issue | Marie Anne, Princess of Condé Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon | ||||
| |||||
| House | Bourbon-Conti | ||||
| Father | Armand, Prince of Conti | ||||
| Mother | Anne Marie Martinozzi | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
François Louis de Bourbon,le Grand Conti (30 April 1664 – 22 February 1709),[1] wasPrince de Conti, succeeding his brother,Louis Armand de Bourbon, in 1685. Until this date, he used the title ofPrince of La Roche-sur-Yon. He was proclaimed as the King of Poland in 1697. He is the most famous member of the Conti family, acadet branch of thePrinces of Condé. As a member of the reigningHouse of Bourbon, he was aprince du sang.
Born at theHôtel de Conti (quai Malaquais) in Paris, François was the son ofArmand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti andAnne Marie Martinozzi,[2] daughter of Girolamo Martinozzi and niece ofCardinal Mazarin, through her mother. He had one older brother,Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti (1661–1685), who marriedMarie Anne de Bourbon, the illegitimate daughter of KingLouis XIV of France and his mistress,Louise de La Vallière.
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Conti's mother, Anne Marie Martinozzi was one of theMazarinettes, nieces of the powerfulCardinal Mazarin. Conti's mother was described as being possessed of a beautiful appearance, blonde hair, a sweet temper, generous, with a lot of wit and intelligence.[3]
Conti's father on the other hand, although seen as intelligent, suffered from a deformity and was considered something of acypher. Having a reputation for vacillating between debauchery and extreme piousness, his strange behaviour was noted by his contemporaries.
His father died in 1666 fromsyphilis when Conti was just two years old. Its possible that he passeddown the disease to his son Francois. Conti's mother died when he was eight years old from anapoplexy.[4]
In his parents respective wills, they entrusted their two now orphaned sons to the care of theDuchess of Longueville, their paternal aunt, and the guardianship of the two boys to their uncle the Grand Condé. The Grand Condé despite his enmity against Conti's father, would become particularly attached to François-Louis and make him his protégé hoping to groom him for military life. Louis-Francois cousin, and son of the Grand Condé,Henri Jules was not given to such pursuits and mentally unstable.
François-Louis and his brother were educated byClaude Fleury[5] alongside the DauphinLouis de Bourbon. Fleury remarked that François-Louis could not sit still, but that this was natural for his age and that nevertheless he had a good memory and remembered what he was taught.[6]
François-Louis also had an Italian valet, who accompanied him throughout his education, and as a result he “spoke Italian almost as if it was his natural language".[7]
In 1682, Conti and several other young men at the highest levels of the French aristocracy were involved in a scandal, when it was discovered that they had formed a society dedicated to the "italian vice".[8]
Among the other members were thecomte de Vermandois[8] (the king's son), Prince de Turenne, son of theDuke of Bouillon andAnne Marie Mancini, the Chevalier de Sainte-Maure[8](ménin tothe Dauphin), theChevalier de Mailly, the Comte de Roucy andMarquise de Créquy[8] son of Marechal de Créquy, thecomte de Marsan[8] brother ofChevalier de Lorraine - who was himself the lover of the king's brother theDuke of Orleans.
This led to Conti being banished from court toChantilly where his uncle, the Grand Condé could keep a watchful eye over him.
In 1683, Conti assisted the Imperialists inHungary, and while there, he wrote some letters in which he referred to King Louis XIV asle roi du théâtre; because of this, and because of an early engagement at the side of the Turks, in 1685, on his return toFrance, he was temporarily banished toChantilly.
Conti was the protégé of his uncle,Louis de Bourbon,le Grand Condé, whose granddaughter,Marie Thérèse de Bourbon (1666–1732), he married at thePalace of Versailles on 22 January 1688, before the assembled court. Marie Thérése along with her sisters were called "dolls of the blood" (French: les poupées du sang) because of their small stature.
The bride was passionately in love with her husband, and although the couple would go on to have seven children, his attentions were focused elsewhere. It was well known at court that he was in love with his wife's sister-in-law,Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, wife ofLouis III, Prince of Condé, who was the eldestlegitimated daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress,Madame de Montespan.[citation needed]Marie Anne de Bourbon, the daughter of Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, was thought to have been the fruit of this affair.[citation needed] It was also noted, however, that he hadhomosexual tendencies[9] and did not pay his wife much attention. He lived as alibertine, engaging in numerous love affairs with members of both sexes. His scandalous philandering and debaucheries caused tension and distance within the family, and earned him the nickname ofle Grand Conti.[citation needed]
He served in the French army, but he never managed to achieve a rank higher thanlieutenant-general. In 1689, he accompanied his intimate friend,François Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, to theNetherlands, and shared in the French victories atFleurus,Steinkirk, andNeerwinden. On the death of his cousin,Jean Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville (1646–1694), and in accordance to his will, Conti claimed the principality ofNeuchâtel againstMarie d'Orleans-Longueville, Duchess de Nemours (1625–1707), a sister of the Duke.[10]
He failed to obtain military assistance from theSwiss, and by the King's command, yielded the disputed territory to Marie d'Orleans, although the courts of law had decided in his favour. In 1697, King Louis XIV offered him thePolish crown, and by means of bribes, theAbbé de Polignac secured his election.[10] On 27 June 1697, he was formally proclaimed as theKing of Poland byCardinal Radziejowski.
Conti started rather unwillingly for his new kingdom, probably, as theDuke of Saint-Simon remarks, owing to his affection for Louise-Françoise de Bourbon.[10] He departed on theRailleuse, under CaptainJean Bart, on 6 September 1697.[11]
When he reachedDanzig, he found his rivalAugustus II,Elector of Saxony, already in possession of the Polish crown. Conti returned to France, where he was graciously received by King Louis XIV, although Saint-Simon says the King was vexed to see him again. But the misfortunes of the French armies, during the earlier years of theWar of the Spanish Succession, compelled the King to appoint Conti, whose military renown stood very high, to command the troops in Italy.[10]
On 4 February 1699, Conti purchased theChâteau d'Issy, a smallFrench Baroque château on the outskirts of Paris, bought for the sum of 140,000livres. The estate remained the property of the Princes of Conti until theRevolution of 1789, when it was confiscated asbiens nationaux.
The Prince of Conti fell ill and died on 22 February 1709 at theHôtel de Conti (quai Conti), his death calling forth exceptional signs of mourning from all classes.[10][1] He died from a combination ofgout andsyphilis. He was buried alongside his mother at his estate inL'Isle-Adam, Val-d'Oise, near Paris.
He was succeeded as Prince de Conti by his eldest son,Louis Armand II de Bourbon (1696–1727).
Conti marriedMarie Thérèse de Bourbon, aged 22, who was the daughter ofHenri Jules, Prince of Condé and PrincessAnne Henriette of the Palatinate. They had the following seven children together:
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Conti, Princes of s.v. François Louis de Bourbon".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 28.
Media related toFrançois Louis, Prince of Conti at Wikimedia Commons
François Louis, Prince of Conti Born: 30 April 1664 Died: 22 February 1709 | ||
| French nobility | ||
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| Preceded by | Prince of Conti 9 November 1685 – 22 February 1709 | Succeeded by |
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*died without issue | ||
