Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette d'Épernon
Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette (1592, in Angoulême – 25 July 1661), duke of Épernon and a French general, was the son of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette and Marguerite de Foix-Candale, granddaughter of the constable of Montmorency.
Through his mother's line, Bernard could also claim the English title of Earl of Kendal, originally granted to his ancestor John de Foix in 1446.
In 1622, Bernard married Gabrielle-Angélique de Verneuil, legitimised daughter of Henri IV and the Marquise de Verneuil, with whom he had a son, Louis-Charles-Gaston de Candale, and a daughter, Anne-Louise-Christine de Foix de La Valette d'Épernon.
Gabrielle-Angélique died in 1627 (some say Bernard poisoned her) and in 1634 he married Marie Ducambaut, a niece of Cardinal Richelieu.
It was not a happy marriage, as Bernard later conceived a lifelong passion for a middle-class woman named Ninon de Lartigue, who exerted absolute power over him and to whom he gave enormous sums of money.
Like his father, Bernard made a career of the military.
He was named Colonel-General of infantry and fought at the sieges of Saint-Jean-d'Angély and of Royan (1621) and at the attack of the pas de Suse (1629).
On 15 May 1633, Bernard became a Chevalier du Saint-Esprit and in 1635 he was charged by Louis XIII with restoring the order which had been disturbed by lifting of taxes and religious passions.
He fought in Picardy (1636), in Guyenne, and finally against the Spaniards, and repressed the peasants' revolt (Révolte des Croquants) in 1637.
Charged by the Prince de Condé in 1638 with leading the assault at the Siege of Fuenterrabía (Hondarribia), he refused, believing that the breach was not broad enough.
He yielded his post to Vice-Admiral de Sourdis who launched an ill-fated attack which resulted in heavy losses.
This disaster was attributed to the duke of Valette, who had nothing to do with it and who in fact deserved praise for rejoining the remains of the army and leading it to Bayonne.
Richelieu, who hated de La Valette, had him tried in front of an extraordinary court chaired by the king himself (1639).
The court returned a sentence of death but de La Valette, who knew Richelieu well, had prudently departed for England where he received the Order of the Garter.
The penalty was carried out in effigy.
In 1642 Bernard's father died, raising him to the title of duke of Épernon.
After the death of Louis XIII, Bernard returned to France where the Parliament of Paris cancelled the judgement against him (1643).
In 1648 he became governor of Guyenne.
That same year, he was responsible for transporting artillery of the Château du Hâ to arm the Château-Trompette to put down unrest resulting from the Parliament of Bordeaux's refusal to allow the departure of a shipment of corn, for fear of famine.
Bernard also served as governor of Burgundy (1654–1660) and was a guard of the theatre company of Charles Dufresne (whose most famous member was Molière).
He died in Paris in 1661.
Charles, marquis de La Valette
Charles- Jean- Marie -Félix, marquis de La Valette( 25 November 1806 in Senlis – 2 May 1881 in Paris) was a French politician and diplomat.
Charles de La Valette was Minister of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs in the government of Emperor Napoleon III.
He was French Ambassador to Constantinople before the Crimean War, then served as a government minister, before a posting to the Vatican( an ancestral family member Jean Parisot de Valette had been Grand Master of the Order of Malta).
An Anglophile, he finally returned to London in an official capacity as French Ambassador from 1869 to 1870.
The Marquis married firstly at London in 1828 Maria Garrow Birkett( who died 1831, aged 24), daughter of the late Daniel Birkett.
He married secondly in 1845 the widow of a Boston banker,, who died in 1869; he married thirdly, in 1871, Georgiana- Gabrielle de Flahaut," marquise douairière de La Valette", who died in 1907; she was sister of Emily, Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne.
Jean de Nogaret de La Valette
Jean de Nogaret de La Valette( 1527 – December 18, 1575) was a Cavalry Colonel and Lieutenant General of France.
He also participated in the Battle of Dreux in 1562, Battle of Moncontour and Battle of Jarnac in 1569 and the Siege of La Rochelle( 1572 – 1573).
He was born at Caumont- Guienne, the son of Pierre Nogaret de La Valette( 1497 – 1553) and Marguerite de L'Isle de St. Aignan( 1499 – 1535), and died in battle at the Siege of La Rochelle( 1572- 1573).
With his wife, Jeanne de St Lary de Bellegarde, he had a son, Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette( 1554 – 1642) and a daughter, Helen Nogaret de La Valette( 1548-?).
Pierre Nogaret de La Valette
Pierre Nogaret de La Valette( 1497– 1553), Seigneur de Valette, was born in Toulouse, the son of Bernard Nogaret de La Valette and his wife Anne Bretolene Rouergue( 1480 – 1530).
Pierre built the present castle Caumont on his return from the Italian wars he made with Francis I. Pierre was a military man who fought in the Italian Wars.
With his wife, Marguerite de L'Isle de St. Aignan( 1499 – 1535), he had four children:
Bernard de La Valette, Seigneur de Coppadel( 1521 -?), Gabrielle( 1523–1548), Pierre( 1525– 1545), and Jean de Nogaret de La Valette( 1527 – 1575).
Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette
Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette (1554–1642), created Duke of Épernon, was a powerful member of the French nobility at the turn of the 16th century.
He was deeply involved in plots and politics throughout his life.
He was born at Caumont in Gascony, the son of Jean de Nogaret de La Valette and Jeanne de Saint-Lary de Bellegarde.
His father and grandfather being both military men, it was natural that young Jean Louis would choose a soldier's life.
He fought on the Catholic side in the French Wars of Religion; at the Siege of La Rochelle (1572–1573), he first came to the notice of the duc d'Anjou, the future Henry III of France.
By December 1578, Nogaret had been accepted into Henri's most intimate circle of favourites, "Les Mignons".
In 1581, Henry sold him the town of Épernon, at the same time raising it to the rank of a duchy thus creating Nogaret the first duc d'Épernon.
The new duke of Épernon was highly favored by Henry, who showered titles upon him, among them maître de camp of the Champagne regiment (1579), Governor of Fère (1580), Colonel-general of the infantry (1581), First Gentleman of the King's Chamber (1582), Chevalier de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit, Governor of Boulonnais, Loches, Lyon, Metz and its surrounding areas (1583), Chevalier des Ordres du roi (1584), and Governor of Provence (1586).
At the death of the duc de Joyeuse (1587) he was awarded the titles of Admiral of France, Governor of Normandy, of Caen, and of Le Havre.
After the assassination of Henry III in 1589, Épernon opposed the accession of Henry of Navarre
(Henry IV of France) and attempted to install an independent government in Provence.
His attempt failed and in 1596 he was obliged to submit himself to the king, which he did.
He had not forgiven or forgotten, however, and in 1610 he was involved in the conspiracy that resulted in the assassination of Henry IV by Ravaillac, who lodged, in his preparatory visits to Paris, with Épernon's mistress, Charlotte du Tillet.
He played a large part in the immediate acceptance of Henri's widow, Marie de' Medici, as regent, her son Louis XIII being then too young to rule.
The duc d'Épernon was active in government until 1618 or so; in 1617, he participated in the persecution and murder of the Huguenots in Guienne.
He was named military governor of Guienne in 1622, where he lived quietly for more than ten years in the Château de Cadillac.
In 1634, however, his deteriorating relationship with Henri de Sourdis (brother and successor of Cardinal François de Sourdis) led to a public altercation in which Épernon struck Sourdis.
Furious
, Sourdis demanded his excommunication and Épernon was disgraced and exiled.
He gave up his post at Guienne in 1638 and died in the Château de Loches in January 1642 at the age of 88.
Jean Louis and his wife Marguerite were buried at Saint-Blaise de Cadillac, Gironde.
The tomb, built of marble and surmounted by a winged female figure in bronze, was inspired by the great royal tombs at Basilica of Saint Denis and by the monument of Anne de Montmorency.
The tomb was destroyed in 1792 and the bronze statue of Fame by Pierre Biard now resides in the Louvre; other fragments of the tomb, including marble heads of the duke and duchess, are in the museum of Aquitaine, in Bordeaux.
Through his son Pierre's granddaughter Anne Catherine de La Valette (1653–1699) and her husband Daniel Collot-d'Escury, Seigneur de Landauran (1643–1714), he is an ancestor of actress Audrey Hepburn.
The arms of the Duke of Épernon are a white castle on a blue field, surmounted by three gold fleur-de-lis.
Salomon de La Broue
Salomon de La Broue (circa 1530 – circa 1610) was a French or riding-master and Gascon gentleman.
His treatise on riding, published as the "Preceptes Principaux" in 1593, was the first to have been written in French.
Like Antoine de Pluvinel, he was a pupil of Gianbattista Pignatelli.
De La Broue was "écuyer" to Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, the first Duke of Épernon, and "écuyer ordinaire" of the in the reign of Henri IV.
De La Broue, like Pluvinel, was one of the founders of the old French "haute école".
His methods centred on calmness in hand, freedom and lightness in order to obtain the best results from the horse; he rejected the use of force or constraint in training.
Jean-Baptiste de Lavalette
Not to be confused with Jean- Baptiste de La Valette, captain in the Régiment de Normandie, killed in 1674 at the siege of Grave.
Jean- Baptiste de Lavalette or Louis Jean- Baptiste de Lavalette or Louis Jean- Baptiste de Thomas de la Valette, Count of la Valette, was a former noble turned Robespierrist.
He was elected lieutenant colonel commanding the Lombards battalion in September 1792.
He served as commanding officer, leader of popular society, military governor, and lieutenant colonel.
He was guillotined the 10 Thermidor Year II( 28 July 1794) in the wake of Thermidorian Reaction, as a Hanriot assistant and a Robespierrist,
Henry de Nogaret de La Valette
Henry( Henri) de Nogaret de La Valette( died 1639) was the eldest son of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette( 1554 – 1642), first Duke of Épernon and Admiral of France, and his wife Marguerite de Foix( 1567 – 1593), comtesse de Candale.
From his mother Henri inherited the title of Comte de Candale, becoming the 7th of that line.
Henri made a career of the military, serving under Richelieu, in the armies of Guienne, of Picardy and of Italy.
He was created duc de Candale in 1621, but that title became extinct upon his death and his brother Bernard succeeded him as the 8th Comte de Candale.
Bernard de la Salle
Bernard de la Salle, was a French mercenary captain during the Hundred Years War.
His story is mentioned in the Chronicles of Froissart
At the beginning of his career, in 1359, Bernard de la Salle, also known as Bernardon de la Salle, was in the service of Jean de Grailly Captal de Buch.
On Monday, November 18, 1359, he climbed the castle of Clermont- en- Beauvaisis with steel grabs.
However, after the Treaty of Brétigny( 1360) He and his men found themselves umemployed and so become one of the 30 or so, so- called Tard- Venus bandits.
that ranged the French country side pillaging towns.
In 1368, he is still in France with Bérard d' Albret, Gaillard de la Motte, Bernard d' Eauze and Bour de Badefol.
In 1369, along with Bernard de Wisk and Hortingo de la Salle, he captured Belleperche Castle, where Isabella of Valois, Duchess of Bourbon) lived.
The castle was, however, besieged by the troops of the Dukes of Bourbon and Burgundy.
The Duke of Bourbon was her son, and Frossart tells us that the siege redoubt he organized was as strong and as well fortified as a good town might have been.
The" Free companies" in the castle were expelled, but they took the duchess with them as hostage.
Isabella was also mother- in- law of King Charles V of France, and remained a prisoner of Bernard de la Salle until 1372, when the king arranged for the ransom to be paid.
Louis de Nogaret de La Valette
Louis de Nogaret de La Valette( 8 February 1593, in Angoulême – 28 September 1639, in Rivoli) was a Roman Catholic cardinal and lieutenant general in the French Army.
Louis was the third son of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette( 1554 – 1642) and Marguerite de Foix- Candale.
As early as age 6, he received the abbey of Grandselve.
In 1611, he left this abbey to François de Joyeuse and became Archbishop of Toulouse in his place.
He also became Grand Almoner of France of King Louis XIII of France.
In 1621, Pope Paul V made him cardinal- deacon of Sant'Adriano al Foro.
Louis also was the commander of an army in the Thirty Years' War, commanding a French detachment alongside the army of Bernard of Saxe- Weimar in the summer of 1635.
Together, they took Bingen, lifted the Siege of Mainz, conquered Zweibrücken and withdrew the army from Mainz back to Lorraine after desertion sapped it of two- thirds of its men.
" Cardinal de La Valette" served in the war under Cardinal Richelieu, which earned him the nickname of" cardinal valetservant cardinal").

Question: Who is the paternal grandfather of Bernard De Nogaret De La Valette D'Épernon?