Luynes

Luynes, a territorial name belonging to a noble French house. The family of Albert, which sprang from Thomas Alberti (d. 1455), seigneur de Boussargues, bailli of Viviers and Valence, and viguier of Bagnols and Pont St Esprit in Languedoc, acquired the estate of Luynes (dep. of Indre-et-Loire) in the 16th century. Honoré d’Albert (d. 1592), seigneur de Luynes, was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV., and became colonel of the French bands, commissary of artillery in Languedoc and governor of Beaucaire. He had three sons: Charles (1578-1621), first duke of Luynes, and favourite of Louis XIII.; Honoré (1581-1649), seigneur de Cadenet, who married Charlotte Eugénie d’Ailly, countess of Chaulnes, in 1619, and was created duke of Chaulnes in 1621; and Léon, seigneur de Brantes, who became duke of Luxemburg-Piney by his marriage in 1620 with Margaret Charlotte of Luxemburg.

By her marriage with Claude of Lorraine, duke of Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan, the widow of the first duke of Luynes, acquired in 1655 the duchy of Chevreuse, which she gave in 1663 to Louis Charles d’Albert, her son by her first husband; and from that time the title of duke of Chevreuse and duke of Luynes was borne by the eldest sons of the family of Luynes, which also inherited the title of duke of Chaulnes on the extinction of the descendants of Honoré d’Albert in 1698. The branch of the dukes of Luxemburg-Piney became extinct in 1697.

Charles (1578-1621), the first duke of Luynes, was brought up at court and attended the dauphin, who later became Louis XIII. The king shared his fondness for hunting and rapidly advanced him in favour. In 1615 he was appointed commander of the Louvre and counsellor, and the following year grand falconer of France. He used his influence over the king in the court intrigues against the queen-mother Marie de Medici and her favourite Concini. It was Luynes who, with Vitry, captain of the guard, arranged the plot that ended in Concini’s assassination (1617) and secured all the latter’s possessions in Italy and France. In the same year he was appointed captain of the Bastille and lieutenant-general of Normandy, and married Marie de Rohan, daughter of the duke of Montbazon. He employed extreme measures against the pamphleteers of the time, but sought peace in Italy and with the Protestants. In 1619 he negotiated the treaty of Angoulême by which Marie de Medici was accorded complete liberty. He was made governor of Picardy in 1619; suppressed an uprising of nobles in 1620; and in 1621, with slight military ability or achievement, was appointed constable of France. His rapid rise to power made him a host of enemies, who looked upon him as but a second Concini. In order to justify his newly-won laurels, Luynes undertook an expedition against the Protestants, but died of a fever in the midst of the campaign, at Longueville in Guienne, on the 15th of December 1621.

His brother Honoré (1581-1649), first duke of Chaulnes, was governor of Picardy and marshal of France (1619), and defended his province successfully in 1625 and 1635. Louis Auguste d’Albert d’Ailly (1676-1744), duke of Chaulnes, also became marshal of France (1741). Louis Joseph d’Albert de Luynes (1670-1750), prince of Grimberghen, was in the service of the emperor Charles VII., and became field-marshal and ambassador in France.

Several members of the family of Albert were distinguished in letters and science. Louis Charles d’Albert (1620-1690), duke of Luynes, son of the constable, was an ascetic writer and friend of the Jansenists; Paul d’Albert de Luynes (1703-1788), cardinal and archbishop of Sens, an astronomer; Michel Ferdinand d’Albert d’Ailly (1714-1769), duke of Chaulnes, a writer on mathematical instruments, and his son Marie Joseph Louis (1741-1793), a chemist; and Honoré Théodore Paul Joseph (1802-1867), duke of Luynes, a writer on archaeology.

For the first duke see Recueil des pièces les plus curieuses qui ont esté faites pendant le règne du connestable M. de Luynes (2nd ed., 1624); Le Vassor, Histoire de Louis XIII. (Paris, 1757); Griffet, Histoire du règne de Louis XIII., roi de France et de Navarre (Paris, 1758); V. Cousin, “Le Duc et connétable de Luynes,” in Journal des savants (1861-1863); B. Zeller, Études critiques sur le règne de Louis XIII.: le connétable de Luynes, Montauban et la Valteline (Paris, 1879); E. Pavie, La Guerre entre Louis XIII. et Marie de Médicis (Paris, 1899); Lavisse, Histoire de France, vi.2, 141-216 (Paris, 1905).