Henry de La Trémoille

Henri de La Trémoille (22 December 1598 – 21 January 1674) was the (3rd) Duke of Thouars, (2nd) Duke of La Tremoille, and Prince of Talmond and Taranto.

He was the son of Claude de La Trémoille and his wife, Charlotte Brabantina of Nassau, and a descendant of the medieval general Louis de La Trémoille.

La Trémoille married his first cousin, Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne, in 1619. She was the daughter of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, and his second wife Countess Elisabeth of Nassau. They had five children: Henri Charles, Louis Maurice, Élisabeth, Marie Charlotte de la Trémoille, and Armand-Charles.

La Trémoille's father, Claude, had converted to Protestantism during the French Wars of Religion, but La Trémoille converted to Catholicism around the time Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII suppressed the Huguenot rebellion at the siege of La Rochelle in 1628. His wife sent the children to her relatives in the Netherlands, making sure they were brought up Calvinist. She also maintained a Reformed court with church services, something which her husband tolerated.

Following the siege, La Trémoille continued to serve in the French army, being wounded in action in Italy. Following that campaign, La Trémoille switched to a political career.

In 1668, Henri afflicted with the gout, left the businesses of his duchy to his elder son. He died on 21 January 1674, seventy-five years old, and was buried in Thouars.

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