Duke of Otranto

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Duke of Otranto (French: Duc d'Otrante) is a hereditary title in the Nobility of the First French Empire which was bestowed in 1808 by Napoleon Bonaparte upon the statesman and Minister of Police Joseph Fouché (1759-1820), who had been made a Count of the French Empire before.

The dukedom was named after the town of Otranto on the east coast of the Salento peninsula in Italy and created - under the French name "Otrante" - as a duché grand-fief (a rare, hereditary, but nominal honor) in the satellite Kingdom of Naples.

The ducal house of Fouché d'Otrante is still extant in the Kingdom of Sweden where the dukes have lived since the 19th century, and are considered part of the unintroduced nobility.

As of 2011, the titles are held by Charles-Louis Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 8th Duc d'Otrante (born in Stockholm, 14 March 1986).

Ancestors and descendants

Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante (21 May 1759 Le Pellerin, near Nantes, France - 25 December 1820 Trieste, then Austria-Hungary, now Italy) was a son of Julien Joseph Fouché (1719–1771) and wife Marie Françoise Croizet (1720–1793), paternal grandson of Julien Fouché (1667–1745, son of Ambroise Fouché and wife Jeanne Passedouet born in 1629) and wife Marguerite Chiron (1683–1723, daughter of Toussaint Chiron and wife Marguerite Leray, paternal granddaughter of Pierre Chiron and wife Marguerite Hillaire and maternal granddaughter of Samson Leray and wife Marguerite Caillaud) and maternal grandson of Jean Croizet (c. 1690 -, son of Guillaume Croizet born in 1649 and died in 1719 and wife Nicole Bebar) and wife Marie Chesneau.

By his marriage to Bonne Jeanne Coiquaud (1763–1812), daughter of Nicolas François Coiquaud (1732–1794) and wife Marguerite Gautier (1734–1801), paternal granddaughter of Noël Coiquaud (1689–1764, son of Charles Coiquaud and wife Catherine Recoquille born in 1655 - 1733) and wife Catherine Lahogue (1690–1758, daughter of Charles Lahogue and wife Catherine Lefevre, born in 1646 and died in 1733) and maternal granddaughter of Pierre Gautier (c. 1690 - 1737, son of Jean Gautier and wife Claire Agaisse) and wife Jacquette Boisgontier (- 1743, daughter of Guillaume Boisgontier and wife Jacquette Jolivette born in 1644 and died in 1749), the 1st Duc d'Otrante had at least one son and one daughter who reached adulthood:

• Paul Athanase Fouché d'Otrante, 4nd Duc d'Otrante (Paris, 25 June 1801 – St. Germain-en-Laye, 10 February 1886), married firstly at Finspång, 24 January 1824 Christina Baroness Palmstierna (Stockholm, 11 February 1799 – Paris, 26 April 1826), without issue, secondly in Stockholm, 18 August 1836 Vilhelmina Amalia Baroness von Stedingk (Turku, Finland, 28 January 1802 – Helsinki, Finland, 25 February 1863), daughter of Victor Friherre von Stedingk and wife Lovisa Löf, and thirdly at St. Germain-en-Laye, 9 June 1884 Fronika Marx (Lyon, 4 February 1846 – Paris, 14 March 1887); he had issue, which remained in Sweden:
  • (by second wife) Pauline Ernestine Fouché (25 June 1839 – 22 August 1906), married on 7 November 1861 Ture Greve Bielke (8 September 1829 – 28 October 1899), son of Nils Greve Bielke and wife Ebba friherrinna Sture, and had issue
  • (by second wife) Gustave Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 5rd Duc d'Otrante (Paris, 17 June 1840 – Stjernholm, 5 August 1910), married firstly in Stockholm, 2 May 1865 Augusta Baroness Bonde (Gimmersta, 30 August 1846 – Stockholm, 4 March 1872), daughter of Knut Philip Baron Bonde and wife Lady Augusta Fitzclarence, daughter of the 1st Earls of Munster, and secondly in London, 5 July 1873 Therese Baroness von Stedingk (Stockholm, 30 January 1837 – Baden-Baden, 21 June 1901), daughter of Ludvig Friherre von Stedingk and wife Lovisa von Haxthausen, and had issue, a daughter and a son:
    • (by first wife) Adelaide Augustine Fouché (Paris, 2 May 1866 – Stockholm, 12 November 1943), married in Stockholm, 14 October 1893 Frederik Mauritz Peyron (Karlskrona, 2 July 1861 – Stockholm, 8 January 1915)
    • (by second wife) Charles Louis Fouché d'Otrante, 6th Duc d'Otrante (Elghammar, 21 June 1877 – Elghammar, 31 May 1950), married at Linköping, 8 June 1906 and divorced in 1931 Hedvig Ingeborg Madeleine Countess Douglas (Gerstorp, 2 September 1886 – Drottningholm, 21 July 1983), daughter of Ludvig Count Douglas (maternal grandson of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden by Katharina Werner, Countess of Gondelsheim and Langenstein) and wife Anna Countess Ehrensvärd, and had issue, two daughters and two sons:
      • Victoria Anne Therese Fouché (Stockholm, 9 March 1907 – 6 July 2000), married firstly Elghammar, 18 August 1929 and divorced in 1937 Axel Hans Wilhelm Hjalmarsson Bennich (Stockholm, 2 April 1895 – Sundsvall, 12 July 1950), and had issue, and secondly at Elghammar, 29 August 1937 Eugen Frederik Christer Baron von Stedingk (Stockholm, 1 June 1896 – Stockholm, 30 August 1947), and had female issue
      • Margareta Fouché, (Elghammar, 28 March 1909 – 25 August 2005), married at Björnlunda, 26 January 1934 H.S.H. Gustav Albrecht Alfred Franz Friedrich Otto Emil Ernst 5th Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Berleburg, 28 February 1907 – m.i.a. in the Second World War in Russia, 1944, declared dead 29 November 1969), and had issue
      • Gustaf Douglas Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 7th Duc d'Otrante (Björnlunda, 27 November 1912 – Stockholm, 31 January 1995), married at Vendel, 21 October 1967 Metta Christine Gunnel Beata Carolina Countess von Rosen (Stockholm, 24 February 1939), daughter of Eugene Count von Rosen and wife Metta Claesdotter Breitholtz, and had issue:
        • Marguerite Ebba Fouché (Stockholm, 20 August 1968), unmarried and without issue
        • Pauline Louise Fouché (Stockholm, 14 March 1970), married on 27 May 2000 Mattias Dymling (Stockholm, 3 September 1966)
        • Josephine Madeleine Désirée Fouché (Stockholm, 23 February 1979)
        • Charles-Louis Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 8th Duc d'Otrante (Stockholm, 14 March 1986)
      • Louis Douglas Fouché (Elghammar, 5 March 1917), married in Stockholm, 20 June 1944 Birgitta Helena Christina Tham (Örebro, 11 December 1915), and had female issue:
        • Josephine Ebba Madeleine Fouché (Stockholm, 31 May 1946), married in Stockholm, 26 September 1973 Hans Olof Dyhlen (Stockholm, 23 November 1945), and had issue
        • Agneta Hélène Marie Fouché (Stockholm, 12 February 1948), married in Stockholm, 3 October 1970 H.S.H. Philipp-Reinhard 7th Fürst zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (Lich, 27 November 1934), and had issue
  • (by third wife, born before wedlock) Paul Joseph Marie Fouché d'Otrante (Ostend, 21 July 1871 – Buenos Aires, 6 November 1930), married at Villiers-sur-Morin, 24 November 1892 Amélie Adrienne Berthe Ancellin (Crécy-en-Brie, 15 January 1872 – Villiers-sur-Morin, 22 March 1963), and had female issue:
    • Madeleine Paule Fouché (Paris, 14 August 1895 – London, 25 January 1973), unmarried and without issue
    • Thérèse Berthe Fouché (Paris, 28 November 1900 – Meaux, 1 October 1985), married in Paris, 24 December 1946 Jean Arthur Plisson (Rosny-sous-Bois, 27 November 1900 – ?)
• Joséphine-Ludmille Fouché (1803 – 1893), married to Adolphe Comte de La Barthe de Thermes (1789–1869), and had issue.

See also

• French nobility
• Dukes in France
• List of French peerages

References

• The Fouché Memoirs (not genuine, but they were apparently compiled, at least in part, from notes written by Fouché)
• Gilbert Augustin-Thierry, Conspirateurs et gens de police; le complot de libelles (Paris, 1903) (English translation, London, 1903)
• Pierre Coquelle, Napoléon et l'Angleterre (Paris, 1903, English translation, London, 1904)
• Ernest Daudet, La Police et les Chouans sous le Consulat et l'Empire (Paris, 1895)
• Pierre M. Desmarest, Témoignages historiques, ou quinze ans de haute police (Paris, 1833, 2nd ed., 1900)
• E. Guillon, Les Complots militaires sous le Consulat et l'Empire (Paris, 1894)
• Louis Madelin, Fouché (2 vols., Paris, 1901)
• E. Picard, Bonaparte et Moreau (Paris, 1905)
• H. Welschinger, Le Duc d'Enghien (Paris, 1888)
• Heraldica.org (Napoleonic heraldry)