Bernard de Nogaret (La Valette) de Nogaret de la Valette d'Épernon (1592 - 1661)

Born 1592 in Angoulême, Angoumois, France

Ancestors

Husband of Gabrielle Angélique (Verneuil) de Verneuil — married 12 Dec 1622 in Lyon, France

Husband of Antoinette Alice (Faudoas) de la Valette D Epernon — married 1639 in France

Descendants

Died 25 Jul 1661 at about age 69 in Paris, Île-de-France, France

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Bernard La Valette was a member of the aristocracy in Europe.

Biography

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^[1].

Married Gabrielle A. Verneuil in 1622

Married Marie Du Cambout from 1627 to 1638

Married Alice-Antoinette De Barbezan-Faudoas 1639 in France

Died July 25, 1661 in Paris, France, at 69 years of age. His body was interred after 7/25/1661 in Cadillac, France

1. Fled France when Cardinal Richelieu accused him of complicity with the enemy (Huguenots) at the battle of Fontarable (1636) ; first to the Netherlands then to Glamorganshire, Wales.
2. Heir to the title " Duc d'Epernon" since his elder brother inherited a title from his mother.
3. Named after his uncle, His father the duc d'Epernon's brother .
4. Executed in effigy (a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule) on 6/6/1639.
5. Returned to France in 1643 and was rehabilitated, and lived in his estate Louches where he died.

Notes

Chateau de Loches: Designed and occupied by Henry II of England and his son, Richard the Lionheart during the 12th century, the castle withstood the assaults by the French king Philip II in their wars for control of France until it was finally captured by Philip in 1204.[1] Construction work immediately upgraded Loches into a huge military fortress.The castle would become a favorite residence of Charles VII of France, who gave it to his mistress, Agnès Sorel, as her residence. It would be converted for use as a State prison by his son, King Louis XI who had lived there as a child but preferred the royal castle in Amboise.During the American Revolution, France financed and fought with the Americans against England and King Louis XVI used the castle of Loches as a prison for captured Englishmen.At the time of the French Revolution, the château was ransacked and severely damaged. Some major restoration began in 1806 but today there are parts visible as ruins only. Owned by the Commune of Loches, the castle and the adjacent ancient Church of Saint-Ours are open to the public, Château de Loches has been recognised as a monument historique since 1861 and is listed by the French Ministry of Culture.

Bernard Nogaret DE LA VALETTE, 2nd Duke d'Epernon b: 1592 d: 1661 Paris, Fr. (Duke De La Valette 1622-31; as 2nd Duke d'Epernon 1642-61; Col. General of Infantry 1642-61; Governor of the provinces of Bourgogne and Bresse; peerage extinct 1661; dukedom sold to Pardaillian-Gondrin, Sg de Savignac.) Arms: Quarterly: A, per pale quarterly Castile and Leon, and Aragon; B, per pale Navarre and Aragon-Sicily; C, per pale Saxony and Or plain (Bordeaux-Puy-Paulin); D, per pale, quarterly de La Pole and Azure on a bend argent three pairs of wings sable, and quarterly Foix and Béarn. Over all Nogaret-La Valette.

Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette (1592, 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. Gartered arms of Bernard de Nogaret de Foix, Duc d'Épernon, KG^[2]

Married 3rd wife Alice-Antoinette De Barbezan-Faudoas 1639 in France

From Article; Sunday, January 13, 2013, 00:20 by Denis De Lucca

"Incidentally, it is revealed in Girard’s 1659 book entitled The History of the Life of the Duke of Epernon (1554-1642) that Bernard de Nogaret de la Valette in 1639 was exiled to England where he married Antoinette (also known as Alice) Faudoas, an exiled French Huguenot residing in Wales, who became his third wife.

After Bernard returned from his political exile to France in 1643 shortly after his father’s death, Antoinette’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren – some of whom emigrated to America – used the surnames de Valette, de la Valette, de la Vallette or simply Vallette, sometimes also the peerage name of Epernon and even what seems to have been the anglicised version of that French peerage name, Epperson."

Prof. De Lucca is the director of the International Institute for Baroque Studies and head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Malta. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

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.

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_de_Nogaret_de_La_Valette_d%27%C3%89pernon
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_de_Nogaret_de_La_Valette_d%27%C3%89pernon

See also:

• Bernard de Nogaret de La Valette d'Épernon

• Jean Louis de Nogaret de la Valette (French Wikipedia)

• Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), p. 669. Accessed 21 May 2006

• Musée du Louvre > Sculptures françaises > La Renommée (with photo)

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Cheryl Caudill for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Cheryl and others.

• WikiTree profile D Epernon-2 created through the import of GedTem12:18.ged on Dec 19, 2011 by Jack Templeton. See the Epernon-2 Changes page for the details of edits by Jack and others.