Léon de Montesquiou

Léon de Montesquiou
Léon de Montesquiou by Maurice Joron
Born	(1873-07-14)14 July 1873 Briis-sous-Forges
Died	25 September 1915(1915-09-25) (aged 42) Souain
Nationality	French
Occupation	Essayist

Léon de Montesquiou (14 July 1873 – 25 September 1915) was an artistocratic French essayist, militant royalist and nationalist. He played a leading role in the right-wing Action Française movement before World War I (1914–18). He enrolled in the army during the war and was killed in action.

Léon Odon Marie Anatole de Montesquiou-Fezensac was born on 14 July 1873 in Briis-sous-Forges, Seine-et-Oise. His father was an officer and had married a francophile woman of the high Romanian nobility, Princess Marie Bibesco, whose father he had known during the campaigns of the Empire. He was raised in the family chateau of Courtanvaux until the age of ten, then was sent to the Stanislas Catholic school in Paris. After graduating he entered the École de Droit, and at the same time studied violin at the Conservatoire.

Montesquiou performed his military service as a private soldier from 13 November 1894 to 24 September 1895 in the 115th Infantry Regiment, and was in one of the units designated to witness the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. He exercised with the 103rd Infantry Regiment in 1897, 1901, 1903 and 1905. He was always rated very well, and advanced steadily in rank, becoming a sub-lieutenant of the reserve in 1900. He obtained his bachelor's degree and then in 1899 wrote his doctoral thesis on the suppression of duelling. He enrolled at the bar but never pleaded.

On 20 June 1899 Montesquiou attended the first public meeting organized by the committee of the Action Française at the Salle des Agriculteurs, and publicly support the organization that evening. From then on he was in constant correspondence with Maurras, to whom the adherence of the well-born young man was important. In 1900 he joined the Ligue de la patrie française, but then moved over to the Action française due to his exchanges with Maurras. His only reservation about the movement was that France was still proudly Republican, far from monarchist. He contributed to the revue grise from 1900, writing firmly nationalistic articles that were later collected into books such as Le Salut public (1901) and La Raison d'État (1902).

Montesquiou was definitely converted to the royalist cause in August 1901. He was one of the few members of the old aristocracy to play a leading role in the Action Française movement. He became an increasingly important member of the movement. In September 1902 he was put in charge of the notes de quinzaine in the Action française review. By the end of December 1902 was chairman of the board of Action française review, which had just been incorporated as a public limited company. He then organized a successful conference in Marseille followed by a series of conferences in the provinces from 1903 onward. He became one of the best and most active speakers of the movement. In January 1905 he became Secretary General of the new Ligue d'Action française.