Montmorency, Henri, duc de

Montmorency, Henri, duc de, the elder, 1534–1614, constable of France

Montmorency, Henri, duc de (äNrē` dük də môNmôräNsē`), the elder, 1534–1614, constable of France; younger son of Anne de Montmorency. He was known as Henri, comte de Damville, before 1579. He took Louis I de Condé prisoner at Dreux (1562). In 1563 he succeeded his father as governor of Languedoc and in 1567 was made a marshal. A zealous Roman Catholic and adherent of the Guise family until his father's death, he was led by the subsequent decline of his family's fortunes and by the murder of his relative Gaspard de Coligny to associate himself with the moderates who favored a rapprochement with the Huguenots. He resisted royal efforts to remove him from Languedoc, where he was practically an independent sovereign; he was in alliance with the Huguenots from 1575 to 1577, but thereafter remained aloof from both parties, while attempting to bring about their conciliation. He adhered to King Henry IV in 1593 and became constable. After Henry's death (1610) he retired to his province.

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Montmorency, Henri, duc de, the younger, 1595–1632, admiral and marshal of France

Montmorency, Henri, duc de, the younger, 1595–1632, admiral and marshal of France; son of the elder Henri de Montmorency. He became governor of Languedoc in 1613 and fought in the religious and foreign wars of Louis XIII's reign. In 1632 he joined in a conspiracy of Gaston d'Orléans against Cardinal Richelieu and was captured and executed.