Blacas
Encyclopedia
Blacas d'Aulps family
Blacas is the name of two old French houses which successively owned the Lordship of AupsAups
Aups is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Geography:...
castle in Provence (whose name is still spelled in the ancient form Aulps in their surname).
The first Blacas, Pierre d'Aulps, is said to have participated in the First Crusade
First Crusade
The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...
and to have stem of the House of Baux
Lords of Baux
This is a list of the Lords, Barons and Marquisses of Baux.-Lords of Baux of the House of Baux:*Pons , father of*Hugh 1 , father of*William I Hugh , father of*Raymond I , father of*Hugh II...
, whose arms are similar to those of Blacas, but with the tinctures reversed (this claimed filiation his still expressed by the two banners with the Baux arms in the coat of arms of the Dukes of Blacas). As early as the 12th century his grandson Blacacius
Blacatz
Blacatz, known in French genealogy as Blacas de Blacas III , was feudal lord of Aups and a troubadour. Sordello composed a lament on his death, inviting the kings of his time to share and eat the heart of Blacatz and thus acquire a portion of his courage.He was the father of the troubadour...
de Blacas (died 1236), called "the great warrior," distinguished himself among the most valiant knights of the court of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence
Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence
Ramon Berenguer IV , Count of Provence and Forcalquier, was the son of Alfonso II of Provence and Garsenda of Sabran, heiress of Forcalquier. After his father's death , Ramon was imprisoned in the castle of Monzón, in Aragon until he was able to escape in 1219 and claim his inheritance. He was a...
. He married Laure of Castellane, and excelled as both a soldier and a troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
. He left three sons, two named after him and one named Boniface. Blacasset
Blacasset
Blacasset, Blacassetz, Blacssetz, or Blachessetz was a Provençal troubadour of the noble family of the Blacas, lords of Aulps, in the Empire. He was probably a son of the troubadour Blacatz, as his vida alleges, though this has come into doubt. He was also distantly related to Charles I of Naples...
succeeded his father as a troubadour while Boniface succeeded in Aulps and married Ayceline of Moustiers. From this union was born another Blacasset, who accompanied Charles I to Naples. His name was immortalized by Frédéric Mistral
Frédéric Mistral
Frédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. Mistral won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 and was a founding member of Félibrige and a member of l'Académie de Marseille...
who attributed him the positioning of the chain that links up the two boulders at Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, or simply Moustiers, is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France, a part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region....
. Captured by infidels, Blacasset is supposed to have vowed that, if freed, he would stretch this chain between the boulders and from it suspend a sixteen-branched star, emblem of his family.
The first house of Blacas became extinct at the end of the 14th century, but its heiress, Philippa de Blacas, married around 1380 Rostang de Soleilhas (perhaps a relative in the male line) who then assumed the name and arms of Blacas. The present house of Blacas descends from them.
Lords of the town of Aups
Aups
Aups is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Geography:...
, the family fought with the town from 1346 to 1712. Aups won the contest in the end, becoming a direct legal dependent of the French king. The Blacas family possessed the castles of Vérignon
Vérignon
Vérignon is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Géography:...
and of Aups as well as many other domains in the current district around Aups. The most famous member of the family was Pierre-Louis de Blacas d'Aulps, Count and later 1st Duke of Blacas, Peer of France
Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas
Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, first comte, then duc, and finally prince de Blacas d'Aulps was a French antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat during the Bourbon Restoration.-Youth:He was baptized at Avignon on 11 January 1771...
, a renowned antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
and minister to King Louis XVIII during the Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
and a fervent legitimist
Legitimists
Legitimists are royalists in France who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession of the descendants of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of the July Monarchy of 1830–1848, whose kings were members of the junior...
after 1830.
The present chief of the name and arms is Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, 7th Duke of Blacas (b. 1943).
Duke of Blacas (1821)
Duke of Blacas is a title in the Peerage of FrancePeerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
. It was created by ordinance dated 30 April 1821 and Letters patent dated 11 September 1824 for Pierre-Louis de Blacas d'Aulps
Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas
Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, first comte, then duc, and finally prince de Blacas d'Aulps was a French antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat during the Bourbon Restoration.-Youth:He was baptized at Avignon on 11 January 1771...
, only surviving son of Alexandre-Pierre de Blacas, Lord of Aulps, Vérignon, Fabrègues, etc., Knight of Saint-Louis
Order of Saint Louis
The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis was a military Order of Chivalry founded on 5 April 1693 by Louis XIV and named after Saint Louis . It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, and is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles...
(known as le marquis de Blacas). He had headed the French cabinet
Pierre Louis de Blacas d'Aulps ministry
The Pierre Louis de Blacas d'Aulps ministry was a de facto cabinet ministry of France that lasted from 13 May 1814 to 19 March 1815, during the First Restoration of Louis XVIII as king.-Officials:...
from 13 May 1814 to 19 March 1815, during the First Restoration. The 1st Duke had been previously made an hereditary Peer (without specific rank) as early as 17 August 1815, and had been created Count of Blacas in the French Peerage by ordinance dated 31 August 1817, but having not been regulated by Letters patent, this previous comital title did not become hereditary. In 1830, he refused to recognize Louis-Philippe as King of the French and so lost his seat in the House of Peers. Later, he also received, by diploma dated 23 June 1838, the Austrian title of Prince, hereditary in the male line (with the title of Count for cadet sons).
- Pierre-Louis de Blacas d'AulpsPierre Louis Jean Casimir de BlacasPierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, first comte, then duc, and finally prince de Blacas d'Aulps was a French antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat during the Bourbon Restoration.-Youth:He was baptized at Avignon on 11 January 1771...
, Count and then 1st Duke of Blacas, 1st Prince of Blacas (1771-1839) - Louis de Blacas d'AulpsLouis, Duke of BlacasLouis Charles Pierre Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, 2nd Duke of Blacas, 2nd Prince of Blacas was a French nobleman and antiquarian. He was the son of Pierre-Louis de Blacas d'Aulps, 1st Duke of Blacas and of his wife Henriette-Marie-Félicité du Bouchet de Sourches de Montsoreau...
, 2nd Duke of Blacas, 2nd Prince of Blacas (1815–1866), son of the 1st Duke - Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, 3rd Duke of Blacas, 3rd Prince of Blacas (1847-1866), son of the 2d Duke
- Pierre de Blacas d'Aulps, 4th Duke of Blacas, 4th Prince of Blacas (1853-1937), brother of the 3rd Duke
- Stanislas de Blacas d'Aulps, 5th Duke of Blacas, 5th Prince of Blacas (1885-1941), son of the 4th Duke
- Pierre de Blacas d'Aulps de La Baume-Pluvinel, 6th Duke of Blacas, 6th Prince of Blacas (1913-1997), son of the 5th Duke
- Casimir de Blacas d'Aulps, 7th Duke of Blacas, 7th Prince of Blacas (1943-), son of the 6th Duke
The Heir Apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
is the present holder's only son Marquis Louis-Stanislas de Blacas d'Aulps.
The family seat is now the Château d'Ussé
Château d'Ussé
The Château d'Ussé is located in the commune of Rigny-Ussé in the Indre-et-Loire département, in France. The stronghold at the edge of the Chinon forest overlooking the Indre Valley was first fortified in the eleventh century by the Norman seigneur of Ussé, Gueldin de Saumur, who surrounded the...
(Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
), inherited in 1885.
Arms
Argent, a star of sixteen points gules. Two banners gules, a star of sixteen points argent, crossed in saltier behind the shield surmounted by a coronet of prince and supported by two wild men proper, under the mantel and ducal coronet of a Peer of France (the mantle azur lined with ermine and fringed with gold). Motto: PRO DEO, PRO REGE. Crest: An oak sinople issuant from a French Baron's coronet proper. War-cry: VAILLANCE.According to Frédéric Mistral
Frédéric Mistral
Frédéric Mistral was a French writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language. Mistral won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 and was a founding member of Félibrige and a member of l'Académie de Marseille...
, the family crest is canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
because blacas also means "white oak" in Provençal