Charles de Montmorency

“ From the barons of Fosseux, a branch of the Montmorency family established in Brabant in the 15th century, sprang the seigneurs de Boutteville, among whom was the duellist François de Montmorency-Boutteville, who was beheaded in 1627. His son, François Henri, marshal of France, became duke of Piney-Luxemburg by his marriage with Madeleine Charlotte Bonne Thérèse de Clermont, daughter of Marguerite Charlotte de Luxemburg, duchesse de Piney. Charles François Frédéric, the son of the marshal, was created duke of Beaufort in 1688 and duke of Montmorency in 1689. ”

“ Montcalm's position certainly looked secure for the summer. His left flank was guarded by the Montmorency, a swift river that could be forded only by a few men at a time in a narrow place, some miles up, where the dense bush would give every chance to his Indians and Canadians. His centre was guarded by entrenchments running from the Montmorency to the St Charles, six miles of ground, rising higher and higher towards Montmorency, all of it defended by the best troops and the bulk of the army, and none of it having an inch of cover for an enemy in front. ”

“ Thus by the hand of the common executioner perished these two unfortunate noblemen, who, by their rank, possessions, and personal characters, were the most illustrious victims that could have been selected in the Netherlands. Both had early enjoyed the favor of Charles the Fifth, and both had been entrusted by Philip with some of the highest offices in the state. Philip de Montmorency, Count Hoorne, the elder of the two, came of the ancient house of Montmorency in France. ”

“ The defence of Provence—a defence which took the form of a ruthless destruction of all its resources—had been entrusted to Anne de Montmorency, who henceforward became Constable of France, and exerted great influence over Francois I. Though these two campaigns, the French in Italy and the imperialist in Provence, had equally failed in 1536, peace did not follow till 1538, when, after the terrible defeat of Ferdinand of Austria by the Turks, Charles was anxious to have free hand in Germany. ”

“ He loved his people like his own children." Margaret, listening to all his generous plans on behalf of his subjects, became warmly interested in their ardent and unfortunate young king. And he wished nothing more than to marry the only sister of the King of France.
But in this early spring of 1526 Margaret had much to do beside talking with Henry d'Albret. In February Anne de Montmorency returned to France, his ransom paid, with the news that Francis was concluding a treaty with Charles, to whose sister Leonor he had been formally betrothed on the 12th February. ”

“ There is a church built for the most part in the 16th century by Anne de Montmorency. The town is a well-known resort of Parisians. To the north-east lies the fine forest of Montmorency. Bleaching and dyeing and the manufacture of lime plaster, bricks and tiles are carried on. ”

“ De Montmorency married on 25 April 1866, at Montreal, Canada, Rachel Mary Lumley Godolphin, eldest daughter of Sir John Michel [q. v.] . She survived him. By her he had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, Raymond Harvey de Montmorency (1867–1900) , captain of the 21st Lancers, distinguished himself in the charge of his regiment at Omdurman in 1898 and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry. ”

“ The prince signed everything; then he set out for Tours, which the king had assigned for his residence, receiving on the way, from town to town, all the honors that would have been paid to his Majesty himself. M. de Montmorency remained in prison.
“He awaited death with a resignation which is inconceivable,” says the author of his Memoires; “never did man speak more boldly than he about it; it seemed as if he were recounting another’s perils when he described his own to his servants and his guards, who were the only witnesses of such lofty manliness.” ”

“ We therefore decided that we would sleep out on fine nights; and hotel it, and inn it, and pub. it, like respectable folks, when it was wet, or when we felt inclined for a change.
Montmorency hailed this compromise with much approval. He does not revel in romantic solitude. Give him something noisy; and if a trifle low, so much the jollier. To look at Montmorency you would imagine that he was an angel sent upon the earth, for some reason withheld from mankind, in the shape of a small fox-terrier. ”

“ On the northern side of the realm things had gone just as badly. Philibert of Savoy, commanding for Philip with Spanish and English troops, marched into France as far as to the Somme, and laid siege to St. Quentin, which was bravely defended by Amiral de Coligny. Anne de Montmorency, coming up to relieve the place, managed his movements so clumsily that he was caught by Count Egmont and the Flemish horse, and, with incredibly small loss to the conquerors, was utterly routed (1557) . Montmorency himself and a crowd of nobles and soldiers were taken; the slaughter was great. ”

“ Montmorency had gone to Paris and had remained there with her child, under the same ‘protection’ as before. Finding his secret safe from the world, he began unconsciously to dismiss it from his mind, the more rapidly as Alma’s relations towards him became more and more those of a devoted sister. Presently his old enthusiasm came back upon him, and with it a sense of new power and mastery. He began to feel an unspeakable sacredness in the tie which bound him to the woman he loved ”

“ Montmorency continually threw his influence in favor of peace and moderation, slapping the Guises, however, in his utterances. “The Duke Montmorency said there was nothing more necessary for the maintenance of the king’s estate than the sincere observance of the edict of pacification, and such as labour to the contrary are neither friends to the king nor his crown ”

“ Montmorency Family. L Great distinction of, 16; motto of, 18. See also Laval.
Montmorency, Henri, Duc de (1595-1632) . In 1620 purchased the viceroyalty of New France from the Comte de Soissons, his brother-in-law, and retained Champlain as his lieutenant; in 1624 conveyed his rights as viceroy to Henri de Levi, Duc de Ventadour; served at the sieges of Montaubon and Montpellier, and in 1625 captured the islands of Ré and Oleron. ”

“ A few moments later Mademoiselle de Montmorency asked for her mother, but she could not come, for she was almost out of her mind with grief. They told her she was ill. She therefore asked for her sister, the Duchesse de Montmorency, who came at once. She said to her: ‘Tell all my companions at the Abbaye-aux-Bois that I am giving them a great example of the nothingness of human life. ”

“ He adopted strong reactionary and ultramontane views, and became minister of foreign affairs under Villèle in 1821. He recommended armed intervention in Spain at the Congress of Verona in October 1822, but he resigned in December, being compensated by the title of duke and the cross of the Legion of Honour in the next year. He was elected to the French Academy in 1825, though he appears to have had small qualifications for the honour, and in the next year became tutor to the six-year-old Henri, duke of Bordeaux (afterwards known as the comte de Chambord) . ”

“ The Council of Blood learned a good lesson from the Holy Inquisition, which took care that even Death should not defraud it of its victims. Proceedings were instituted against the memory of Montigny, as had before been done against the memory of the marquis of Bergen. [1268] On the twenty-second of March, 1571, the duke of Alva pronounced sentence, condemning the memory of Florence de Montmorency, lord of Montigny, as guilty of high treason, and confiscating his goods and estates to the use of the crown ”

“ Montmorency had the advantage through his powerful character, his industry, and will; the Guises through their skill in winning the people and the interests to their side; in the Church, in the army, in the Parlement their influence was great and was carefully developed. On the other hand, the immense ransoms exacted from Montmorency in 1559 for himself and his relatives impoverished his estate, and the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was unpopular and diminished his credit. Thus, after the death of Henry II the advantage lay with the younger rivals of the Constable. ”

“ Monsieur de Montgommery will be sought for and inquired for to-morrow and the day after; but in a week's time the matter will begin to die out, and in a month he will not be mentioned at all. Nothing is forgotten so speedily as a friend; and we must help to change the subject of common gossip. My conclusion is, then, that the culprit must neither die nor live; he must disappear.'
"'So be it!' said the dauphin. 'Let him go; let him leave France! He has property and connections in England; let him take refuge there.'
"'Not by any means, Monseigneur,' Montmorency replied. 'Death is too much ”

“ Under these circumstances, I feel that I cannot do wrong in obeying the Queen’s orders, and that your Majesty might write to the King on the subject of Montmorency’s release in perfect confidence that such a suggestion will not be taken amiss in any quarter. Undoubtedly this great and honoured lady (Madame de Montmorency) has shown the utmost kindness and attention to the Queen during the whole of her residence in France; she has never failed to support her in every way, and on her assistance, advice, and loyalty the Queen has been always able to reckon ”

“ The church spire of the former is one of the most beautiful objects in view from Montmartre, the church itself, which was desecrated in the revolution, having been restored by Napoleon. St. Denis is celebrated, in the Catholic annals, by the fact of the martyr, from whom the name is derived, having walked after decapitation, with his head under his arm, all the way from Paris to this very spot.
Montmorency is a town of no great size or importance, but lying on the side of a respectable mountain, in a way to give the spectator more than a profile, it appears to be larger than it actually is. ”

“ I have heard a trustworthy person relate how the Connétable de Montmorency, in the days of his greatest favour, discoursing of this with the king, made no difficulty or scruple in telling him that if he wanted to exterminate the heretics of his kingdom he would have to begin with his Court and his nearest relations, naming the queen, his sister. To which the king replied: “Do not speak of her; she loves me too well. She will never believe except as I believe, and never will she take any religion prejudicial to my State.” ”

“ History must do justice even to the men whose brutal violence she stigmatizes and reproves. In the case of Anne do Montmorency it often took the form of threats intended to save him from the necessity of acts. When he came upon a scene of any great confusion and disorder, “Go hang me such an one,” he would say; “tie yon fellow to that tree; despatch this fellow with pikes and arquebuses, this very minute, right before my eyes; cut me in pieces all those rascals who chose to hold such a clock-case as this against the king ”

“ The humiliation of the Bourbons was proportionate to the exaltation of their rivals. Montmorency received, from the lips of the King himself, advice to retire to his domain of Chantilly, a rustication and disgrace which left the veteran Constable no resource but to ally himself with the princes of the blood. These were deliberating at Vendôme, with d'Andelot and their other confidential partisans, as to the means of opposing the authority of the Guise, when they received the overtures and exhortations of the Constable, who pressed and prevailed with the King of Navarre to repair to court. ”

“ Then George got round at the back of Harris and saw it.
“Why, here it is all the time,” he exclaimed, indignantly.
“Where?” cried Harris, spinning round.
“Stand still, can’t you!” roared George, flying after him.
And they got it off, and packed it in the teapot.
Montmorency was in it all, of course. Montmorency’s ambition in life, is to get in the way and be sworn at. If he can squirm in anywhere where he particularly is not wanted, and be a perfect nuisance, and make people mad, and have things thrown at his head, then he feels his day has not been wasted. ”

“ On April 19 she sent for Antoine of Navarre, the duke of Guise, the constable, and the two marshals, Brissac and St. André, to whom she declared that she had been badly advised hitherto, and that she now trusted to their support. Montmorency at once proposed to ask the nuncio to petition His Holiness to send money and troops to the help of Catholic France. But Spain, not Rome, was the political cornerstone of the Catholic world, and it was now that the momentous resolution was taken to invite Philip II to lend assistance. ”

“ CAN GIVE THAT A MAN IS NOT HER LOVER
"'MONSIEUR de MONTMORENCY,' said the dauphin, as he entered the room, angry and cast down, 'if you had not held me back, I should be better content with myself and you than I am at present.'
"'Permit me to say, Monseigneur,' Montmorency replied, 'that you talk like a hot-headed youth, and not like the king's son. Your days do not belong to you ”

“ With all her fine qualities of heart and soul, she had a temperament that saved her from much of the suffering she thoughtlessly inflicted upon others. The many violent passions she roused do not seem to have disturbed at all her own serenity. The delicate and chivalrous nature of Mathieu de Montmorency, added to his years, gave his relations to her a half-paternal character, but that he loved her always with the profound tenderness of a loyal and steadfast soul is apparent through all the singularly disinterested phases of a friendship that ended only with his life. ”