Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu
| Armand de Vignerot du Plessis | |
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Full name
Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis
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| Born | 13 March 1696 |
| Died | 8 July 1788 (aged 92) |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Catherine de Noailles Élisabeth Sophie of Lorraine Jeanne Catherine Josèphe de Lavaulx |
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Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duke of Richelieu ([aʁmɑ̃d de viɲeʁot du plesis]; 13 March 1696 – 8 August 1788), was a French soldier, diplomat and statesman. Joining the army, he participated in three major wars and eventually rose to the rank of Marshal of France.
He was the son of Armand Jean de Vignerot du Plessis, 2nd Duke of Richelieu, who in turn was a great-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu, the prominent French statesman who had dominated France in the early 17th century.
Louis François Armand de Vignerot du Plessis was born in Paris, and Louis XIV of France was his godfather. In his early days, he was thrice imprisoned in the Bastille: in 1711 at the instance of his stepfather, in 1716 in consequence of a duel, and in 1719 for his share in the Cellamare Conspiracy of Giulio Alberoni against Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the regent for Louis XV of France.
Apart from his reputation as a man of exceptionally loose morals, he attained, in spite of a deplorably defective education, distinction as a diplomat and general. He was the French ambassador to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, in Vienna from 1725 to 1729.
In 1733-1734, he served in a Rhine campaign during the War of the Polish Succession. The following decade during the War of the Austrian Succession he fought with distinction at Dettingen and Fontenoy, where he directed the grapeshot upon the British columns, and three years afterwards he made a brilliant defence of Genoa.
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