François Henri de Montmorency, Duc de Luxembourg
| François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duke of Piney-Luxembourg | |
|---|---|
Le Duc de Piney-Luxembourg
|
|
| Nickname(s) | Le Tapissier de Notre-Dame |
| Born |
8 January 1628 Paris, France |
| Died | 4 January 1695 (aged 66) Versailles, France |
| Allegiance |
 Kingdom of France
|
| Years of service | 1643 - 1694 (51 years) |
| Rank | Marshal of France |
| Battles/wars |
Franco-Spanish War War of Devolution Franco-Dutch War War of the League of Augsburg |
| Other work | Pair de France |
François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duke of Piney-Luxembourg, called Luxembourg, (8 January 1628 – 4 January 1695) was a French general, marshal of France, famous as the comrade and successor of the great Condé.
François Henri de Montmorency was born at Paris. His father, the François de Montmorency-Bouteville, had been executed six months before his birth for participating in a duel against the Marquis de Beuvron. His aunt, Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency, Princess of Condé, took charge of him and educated him with her son, the Duke of Enghien. The young Montmorency (or Bouteville as he was then called) attached himself to his cousin, and shared his successes and reverses throughout the troubles of the Fronde. He returned to France in 1659 and was pardoned, and Condé, then much attached to the , Montmorency's sister, contrived the marriage of his adherent and cousin to the greatest heiress in France, Madeleine de Luxembourg, Princess of Tingry and heiress of the Luxembourg dukedom (1661), after which he was created Duke of Luxembourg and peer of France.
At the opening of the War of Devolution (1667–68), Condé, and consequently Luxembourg, had no command, but during the second campaign he served as Condé's lieutenant general in the conquest of Franche-Comté. During the four years of peace which followed, Luxembourg cultivated the favour of Louvois, and in 1672 held a high command against the Dutch during the Franco-Dutch War. He defeated a counterattack by the forces of Prince William III of Orange at Woerden but was blocked by the Dutch Water Line. On 27 December the inundations were frozen over and he began to cross over the ice, but a sudden thaw cut his force in half. Retreating, de Luxembourg found the fortress town of Bodegraven abandoned by its garrison and ordered the entire civilian population to be burned alive with their houses. The Dutch anti-French propaganda quickly exploited this massacre and when de Luxembourg bragged to Louis XIV that he had roasted any Dutchman he could find in the town, he was surprised to find that some at court considered such cruelties unnecessary. In 1673 he made his famous retreat from Utrecht to Maastricht with only 20,000 men in face of 70,000, an exploit which placed him in the first rank of generals.
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