Michel du Motier | |
|---|---|
| Marquis de La Fayette | |
| Born | Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Motier (1731-08-13)13 August 1731 Kingdom of France |
| Died | 9 July 1759(1759-07-09) (aged 27) Minden,Minden-Ravensberg,Prussia |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | Gilbert du Motier |
| Father | Edouard du Motier, marquis de Vissac |
| Mother | Marie Catherine de Suat, dame de Chavaniac |
Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Motier, Marquis de La Fayette[1] (13 August 1731 – 9 July 1759) was acolonel in the FrenchGrenadiers.
Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert was the son of Edouard Motier de La Fayette, the Lord of Champetières and Marquis de Vissac (1669–1740), and Marie Catherine de Suat, dame de Chavaniac (1690–1772).[2]
Themarquis title and Lord of Chavaniac passed to him from his elder brother, Jacques-Roch du Motier (1711–1734), upon his death on January 18, 1734 while fighting the Austrians at Milan in theWar of Polish Succession.[3]
The Marquis de La Fayette was acolonel in the FrenchGrenadiers and was a Knight of theOrder of Saint Louis. On 9 July 1759, he was killed by a cannonball at theBattle of Minden during theSeven Years' War, he was killed by a cannonball.[4][5]
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On 22 May 1754, he married Marie Louise Jolie de la Rivière (1737–1770), the daughter of the Marquis de la Rivière, a rich nobleman fromBrittany. She was a heiress of an ancient line of powerful nobles with vast estates and her family had ties to the "noblesse de la robe",the royal family's inner circle of courtiers.[6] Her maternal grandfather was the Comte de La Rivière, until his death in 1770 commander of theMousquetaires du Roi, or Black Musketeers, KingLouis XV's personal horse guard.[7] Together, they were the parents of a son who was born at thechâteau de Chavaniac, inChavaniac-Lafayette, nearLe Puy-en-Velay, in theprovince ofAuvergne (nowHaute-Loire):[8][a]
The death of his father has been argued to be a factor in Gilbert du Motier's decision to fight against the British in theAmerican Revolutionary War. Only two years old when his father died,[10] Gilbert du Motier became marquis and Lord of Chavaniac, but the estate went to his mother.[5] Perhaps devastated by the loss of her husband, she went to live in Paris with her father and grandfather,[7] leaving their son to be raised inChavaniac-Lafayette by his paternal grandmother, Mme de Chavaniac, who had brought the château into the family with her dowry.[11] His widow and her father died in 1770, leaving Michel's 12-year-old son orphaned.[4]
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