Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien
Encyclopedia
Louis Antoine de Bourbon, (Duke of Enghien, "duc d'Enghien" pronounced dɑ̃ɡɛ̃; the i is silent) (Louis Antoine Henri; 2 August 1772 – 21 March 1804) was a relative of the Bourbon monarchs
of France. More famous for his death than for his life, he was executed on trumped-up charges during the French Consulate
.
"Duke of Bourbon", and of Bathilde d'Orléans
, "Duchess of Bourbon". As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
, he was a Prince du Sang
. He was born at the Château de Chantilly
, the country residence of the Princes of Condé - a title he was born to inherit.
He was given the title Duke of Enghien from birth, his father already being the Duke of Bourbon and the heir of the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Bourbon being the Heir apparent
of Condé.
His mother's full name was Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans; she was the only surviving daughter of Louis Philippe d'Orléans
(grandson of the Regent
Philippe d'Orléans
) and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. His uncle was the future Philippe Égalité
and he was thus a first cousin of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French. He was also a descendant of Louis XIV
and his mistress Madame de Montespan
, his mother being a great-granddaughter of Mademoiselle de Blois
(1677–1749) and his father a great-grandson of Mademoiselle de Nantes
(1673–1743), the two surviving daughters of Madame de Montespan.
He was an only child, his parents separating in 1778 after his father's romantic involvement with one Marguerite Catherine Michelot, an opera singer, was discovered; it was his mother who was blamed for her husband's infidelity. His father had two illegitimate daughters with Marguerite.
He was educated privately by the Abbé Millot, and in military matters by Commodore de Vinieux. He early on showed the warlike spirit of the House of Condé, and began his military career in 1788. At the outbreak of the French Revolution
, he emigrated with his father and grandfather a few days after the fall of the Bastille
, and remained in exile, seeking to raise forces for the invasion of France and the restoration of the monarchy.
In 1792, at the outbreak of French Revolutionary Wars
, he held a command in the corps of émigrés organized and commanded by his grandfather, the Prince of Condé
. This Army of Condé
shared in the Duke of Brunswick's unsuccessful invasion of France.
After this, the young duke continued to serve under his father and grandfather in the Condé army, and, on several occasions, distinguished himself by his bravery and ardour in the vanguard. On the dissolution of that force after the peace of Lunéville (February 1801), he married privately Charlotte de Rohan, niece of the Cardinal de Rohan, and took up his residence at Ettenheim
in Baden
, near the Rhine.
–Pichegru
conspiracy then being tracked by the French police. The news ran that the duke was in company with Charles François Dumouriez
and had made secret journeys into France. This was false; the acquaintance was Thumry, a harmless old man, and the duke had no dealings with either Cadoudal or Pichegru. Napoleon gave orders for the seizure of the duke.
French dragoons crossed the Rhine secretly, surrounded his house and brought him to Strasbourg
(15 March 1804), and thence to the Château de Vincennes
, near Paris, where a military commission of French colonels presided by General Hulin
was hastily convened to try him.
Meanwhile, Bonaparte had found out the true facts of the case, and the accusations were hastily changed. The duke was now charged chiefly with bearing arms against France in the late war, and with intending to take part in the new coalition
then proposed against France.
The military commission, presided over by Hullin, hastily and most informally drew up the act of condemnation, being incited thereto by orders from Anne Jean Marie René Savary
, who had come charged with instructions to kill the duke. Savary prevented any chance of an interview between the condemned and the First Consul, and, on 21 March, the duke was shot in the moat of the castle, near a grave which had already been prepared.
In 1816, his remains were exhumed and placed in the Holy Chapel
of the Château de Vincennes.
and Madame de Rémusat
had begged Bonaparte for mercy towards the duke; but nothing would bend his will. The blame which the apologists of the emperor have thrown on Talleyrand or Savary is debatable, as at times he was known to claim Talleyrand created the idea, while at others took full responsibilities for the killing. On his way to St. Helena and at Longwood
, Napoleon asserted that, in the same circumstances, he would do the same again; he inserted a similar declaration in his will.
The judicial murder of Enghien shocked the aristocrats of Europe, who still remembered the bloodletting of the Revolution and thus lost whatever conditional respect they may have entertained for Napoleon. Either Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe
(deputy from Meurthe
in the Corps législatif
) or Napoleon's chief of police, Joseph Fouché
, said about his execution "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute", a statement often rendered in English as "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder." The statement is also sometimes attributed to French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Sometimes the quote is given as, "It was worse than a crime; it was a mistake."
's War and Peace
. The vicomte de Mortemart, a French émigré
who supposedly knew the duke personally, is the focus of attention of the Russian aristocrats gathered at Anna Pavlovna Sherer's home:
The actress Marguerite-Joséphine Wiemer
, known as "Mademoiselle George", was indeed Napoleon's mistress, but there is no evidence that the duc d'Enghien had anything to do with her, or that the story preserved to posterity by Tolstoy's masterpiece was anything more than one of the pieces of gossip and conspiracy theories current around Europe at the time.
.
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
of France. More famous for his death than for his life, he was executed on trumped-up charges during the French Consulate
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
.
Biography
The Duke was the only son of Louis Henri de BourbonLouis Henry II, Prince of Condé
Louis Henri de Bourbon was the Prince of Condé from 1818 to his death.-Life:He was the only son of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé and his wife, Charlotte de Rohan....
"Duke of Bourbon", and of Bathilde d'Orléans
Bathilde d'Orléans
Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans, Princess of Condé , was a French princess. She was sister of Philippe Égalité, the mother of the executed duc d'Enghien and aunt of Louis-Philippe King of the French...
, "Duchess of Bourbon". As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
, he was a Prince du Sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
. He was born at the Château de Chantilly
Château de Chantilly
The Château de Chantilly is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency...
, the country residence of the Princes of Condé - a title he was born to inherit.
He was given the title Duke of Enghien from birth, his father already being the Duke of Bourbon and the heir of the Prince of Condé, the Duke of Bourbon being 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....
of Condé.
His mother's full name was Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans; she was the only surviving daughter of Louis Philippe d'Orléans
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as le Gros , was a French nobleman, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of...
(grandson of the Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
Philippe d'Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
) and Louise Henriette de Bourbon. His uncle was the future Philippe Égalité
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror...
and he was thus a first cousin of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French. He was also a descendant of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
and his mistress Madame de Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan
Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise of Montespan , better known as Madame de Montespan, was the most celebrated maîtresse en titre of King Louis XIV of France, by whom she had seven children....
, his mother being a great-granddaughter of Mademoiselle de Blois
Françoise-Marie de Bourbon
Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Originally known as the second Mademoiselle de Blois, that style eventually gave way to the name Françoise Marie de...
(1677–1749) and his father a great-grandson of Mademoiselle de Nantes
Louise-Françoise de Bourbon
Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan. She was said to have been named after her godmother, Louise de La Vallière, the woman that her mother had replaced as the king's...
(1673–1743), the two surviving daughters of Madame de Montespan.
He was an only child, his parents separating in 1778 after his father's romantic involvement with one Marguerite Catherine Michelot, an opera singer, was discovered; it was his mother who was blamed for her husband's infidelity. His father had two illegitimate daughters with Marguerite.
He was educated privately by the Abbé Millot, and in military matters by Commodore de Vinieux. He early on showed the warlike spirit of the House of Condé, and began his military career in 1788. At the outbreak of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, he emigrated with his father and grandfather a few days after the fall of the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
, and remained in exile, seeking to raise forces for the invasion of France and the restoration of the monarchy.
In 1792, at the outbreak of French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, he held a command in the corps of émigrés organized and commanded by his grandfather, the Prince of Condé
Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé
Louis Joseph de Bourbon was Prince of Condé from 1740 to his death. A member of the House of Bourbon, he held the prestigious rank of Prince du Sang.-Biography:...
. This Army of Condé
Army of Condé
The Army of Condé was a French field army during the French Revolutionary Wars. One of several émigré field armies, it was the only one to survive the War of the First Coalition; others had been formed by the Comte d'Artois and Mirabeau-Tonneau...
shared in the Duke of Brunswick's unsuccessful invasion of France.
After this, the young duke continued to serve under his father and grandfather in the Condé army, and, on several occasions, distinguished himself by his bravery and ardour in the vanguard. On the dissolution of that force after the peace of Lunéville (February 1801), he married privately Charlotte de Rohan, niece of the Cardinal de Rohan, and took up his residence at Ettenheim
Ettenheim
Ettenheim is a town in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.In the Middle Ages, Ettenheim belonged to the Archbishop of Strasbourg. It gained its Charter in 1302.In 1973 it was incorporated into the Ortenaukreis.-Districts:...
in Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, near the Rhine.
Death
Early in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, heard news which seemed to connect the young duke with the CadoudalGeorges Cadoudal
Georges Cadoudal , sometimes called simply Georges, was a French/Breton politician, and leader of the Chouannerie during the French Revolution....
–Pichegru
Charles Pichegru
Jean-Charles Pichegru was a French general and political figure of the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars.-Early life and career:...
conspiracy then being tracked by the French police. The news ran that the duke was in company with Charles François Dumouriez
Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez...
and had made secret journeys into France. This was false; the acquaintance was Thumry, a harmless old man, and the duke had no dealings with either Cadoudal or Pichegru. Napoleon gave orders for the seizure of the duke.
French dragoons crossed the Rhine secretly, surrounded his house and brought him to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
(15 March 1804), and thence to the Château de Vincennes
Château de Vincennes
The Château de Vincennes is a massive 14th and 17th century French royal castle in the town of Vincennes, to the east of Paris, now a suburb of the metropolis.-History:...
, near Paris, where a military commission of French colonels presided by General Hulin
Pierre-Augustin Hulin
Pierre-Augustin Hulin was a French general under Napoleon Bonaparte who took part in the storming of the Bastille, the trial of the Duke d'Enghien, and the foiling of the Malet coup.- Early life :...
was hastily convened to try him.
Meanwhile, Bonaparte had found out the true facts of the case, and the accusations were hastily changed. The duke was now charged chiefly with bearing arms against France in the late war, and with intending to take part in the new coalition
Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition was a conflict which spanned from 1803 to 1806. It saw the defeat of an alliance of Austria, Portugal, Russia, and others by France and its client states under Napoleon I...
then proposed against France.
The military commission, presided over by Hullin, hastily and most informally drew up the act of condemnation, being incited thereto by orders from Anne Jean Marie René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary
Anne Jean Marie René Savary, 1st Duc de Rovigo , French general and diplomat, was born at Marcq in the Ardennes.-Biography:...
, who had come charged with instructions to kill the duke. Savary prevented any chance of an interview between the condemned and the First Consul, and, on 21 March, the duke was shot in the moat of the castle, near a grave which had already been prepared.
In 1816, his remains were exhumed and placed in the Holy Chapel
Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes
The Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes is a Gothic chapel within the fortifications of the château de Vincennes near Paris, France. It was founded in 1379 by Charles V of France to house relics of the passion of Christ...
of the Château de Vincennes.
Impact of death
The duc d'Enghien was the last descendant of the House of Condé; his grandfather and father died after him, but without producing further heirs. It is now known that JoséphineJoséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...
and Madame de Rémusat
Madame de Rémusat
Claire Élisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes de Rémusat . She married at sixteen, and was attached to the Empress Josephine as dame du palais in 1802....
had begged Bonaparte for mercy towards the duke; but nothing would bend his will. The blame which the apologists of the emperor have thrown on Talleyrand or Savary is debatable, as at times he was known to claim Talleyrand created the idea, while at others took full responsibilities for the killing. On his way to St. Helena and at Longwood
Longwood, Saint Helena
Longwood is a settlement and a district of the British island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon was exiled from 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. France owns the land around Napoleon's original grave, but the United Kingdom retains full sovereignty....
, Napoleon asserted that, in the same circumstances, he would do the same again; he inserted a similar declaration in his will.
The judicial murder of Enghien shocked the aristocrats of Europe, who still remembered the bloodletting of the Revolution and thus lost whatever conditional respect they may have entertained for Napoleon. Either Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe
Antoine Jacques Claude Joseph, comte Boulay de la Meurthe
Antoine Jacques Claude Joseph, comte Boulay de la Meurthe , was a French politician and magistrate, son of an agricultural labourer, born at Chamousey ....
(deputy from Meurthe
Meurthe
Meurthe is a former département of France. Its préfecture was Nancy. It ceased to exist following the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany in 1871.-General characteristics:...
in the Corps législatif
Corps législatif
The Corps législatif was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any legislative body.-History:The Constitution of the Year I foresaw the need for a corps législatif...
) or Napoleon's chief of police, Joseph Fouché
Joseph Fouché
Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante was a French statesman and Minister of Police under Napoleon Bonaparte. In English texts his title is often translated as Duke of Otranto.-Youth:Fouché was born in Le Pellerin, a small village near Nantes...
, said about his execution "C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute", a statement often rendered in English as "It was worse than a crime; it was a blunder." The statement is also sometimes attributed to French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. Sometimes the quote is given as, "It was worse than a crime; it was a mistake."
Tolstoy
The killing of the duc d'Enghien is discussed in the opening book of Leo TolstoyLeo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
. The vicomte de Mortemart, a French émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
who supposedly knew the duke personally, is the focus of attention of the Russian aristocrats gathered at Anna Pavlovna Sherer's home:
The group about Mortemart immediately began discussing the murder of the duc d'Enghien. "After the murder of the Duc, even the most partial ceased to regard [Buonaparte] as a hero. If to some people he ever was a hero, after the murder of the duc there was one martyr more in heaven and one hero less on earth." The vicomte said that the duc d'Enghien had perished by his own magnanimity, and that there were particular reasons for Buonaparte's hatred of him.(...)
It was an anecdote, then current, to the effect that the duc d'Enghien had gone secretly to Paris to visit Mademoiselle George; that at her house he came upon Bonaparte, who also enjoyed the famous actress' favors, and that in his presence Napoleon happened to fall into one of the fainting fits to which he was subject, and was thus at the Duc's mercy. The latter spared him, and this magnanimity Bonaparte subsequently repaid by death. The story was very pretty and interesting, especially at the point where the rivals suddenly recognized one another; and the ladies looked agitated.
The actress Marguerite-Joséphine Wiemer
Marguerite Georges
Marguerite Georges was a French stage actor. She belonged to the most famous French actors of her time. She is also known for her affair with Napoleon.- Biography :...
, known as "Mademoiselle George", was indeed Napoleon's mistress, but there is no evidence that the duc d'Enghien had anything to do with her, or that the story preserved to posterity by Tolstoy's masterpiece was anything more than one of the pieces of gossip and conspiracy theories current around Europe at the time.
Dumas
The killing of the duc d'Enghien is also treated in The Last Cavalier by Alexandre Dumas. For example:[T]he dominant sentiment in Bonaparte's mind at that moment was neither fear nor vengeance, but rather the desire for all of France to realise that Bourbon blood, so sacred to Royalist partisans, was no more sacred to him than the blood of any other citizen in the Republic.
"Well, then", asked Cambacérès, "what have you decided?"
"It's simple", said Bonaparte. "We shall kidnap the Duc d'Enghien and be done with it."
Film
La mort du duc d'Enghien en 1804 (1909) was a one reel silent film directed by Albert CapellaniAlbert Capellani
Albert Capellani was a French film director and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed 168 films between 1940 and 1922...
.
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 2 August 1772 – 21 March 1804 His Serene Highness the Duke of Enghien