House of Amboise

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Arms of the House of Amboise

The House of Amboise was a French noble house, taking its name from Amboise, a town which it possessed as a seigneurie. The oldest of the house's family lines to be attested in the written sources comes from Touraine and dates to 1155. The text mentioning it traces the lives of the lords of Amboise and celebrates the virtues of each lord in turn[1]

Originally the lords of Amboise were the vassals of the first counts of Anjou but after several controversies with them the lords became independent, obtaining sizeable fiefdoms such as the Viscountcy of Thouars and Principality of Talmont. This powerful knightly family was called "the family of Mars". Its eldest branch ran until the 15th century with Louis d'Amboise, lord of Amboise, viscount of Thouars. The line of the cadet branch, with a magnificent estate at Chaumont-sur-Loire, has continued uninterrupted to this day, via Pierre d'Amboise, governor of Touraine and advisor to the French kings Charles VII and Louis XI.

Members

History

Origins

Dating back to well before 1000, the first members of the family distinguished themselves under the counts of Anjou in repulsing Viking attacks along the River Loire. Lisois de Bazougers, issue of the Bazougers and Lavardin families and founder of the house of Amboise, was the main military leader of the powerful count of Anjou Fulk III. To reward Lisois for his services, Nerra granted him Amboise (the Roman Vicus ambaciensis, Ambacques, Castrum ambacianum, then, Ambacia, Ambaces, Amboyse, and finally Amboise) shortly before 1000 and in honour of this Lisois de Bazougers changed his name to Lisois d'Amboise.

Château d'Amboise

In 1002 Lisois d'Amboise went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and, in his absence, he entrusted Touraine (of which he was sénéchal) to his brother Auger and his stronghold at Amboise (the best protected stronghold in the whole of western France) to his other brother Aubri. He returned to France in Fulk's company two years later, having both stopped off at Rome on the way back to greet Pope Sylvester II.

Crusades

Lisois's grandson Hugh of Amboise was one of the first to reply to the call from Pope Urban II in 1096. He set out from the abbaye de Noirmoutier with several lords of Touraine to fight in the First Crusade of Godefroy de Bouillon. In the following 3 years, Hugh II of Amboise fought in all the crusader battles in Palestine (the 1097 Siege of Nicaea, the June 1098 defence of Antioch, the December 1098 capture of Ma'arra, the July 1099 capture of Jerusalem and the August 1099 capture of Ascalon). Exhausted, he returned to Touraine in December 1099. He married Elisabeth de Jaligny, sister of the count of Anjou, and thus merged the two seigneuries of Amboise and became the uncontested master of Amboise, one of Touraine's main fortresses. Shortly after his marriage, he financed several construction works all around Touraine (abbeys, castles, bridges, churches and monasteries). In 1120 he decided to go once again to the Holy Land. Setting out with two of his sons and his overlord Fulk, he lost both these sons in battle and after fighting in several battles Hugh died in Jerusalem on 2 June 1129 (shortly after assisting at Fulk's marriage with Melisende of Jerusalem). He was buried on the Mount of Olives overlooking the city.

12th to 15th centuries

Arms of Louis d'Amboise : écartelé, aux 1 et 4 palé d'or et de gueules de six pièces (Amboise), aux 2 et 3 d'or semé de fleurs de lys d'azur au franc-quartier de gueules (Thouars)

After the death of Hugh, his eldest son, Sulpice III found himself at the head of several seigneuries in Touraine and he fought all his life to free himself from the patronage of his overlords the counts of Anjou and count of Vendôme, sometimes capturing them and imprisoning them at his castle in Amboise. Later he also declared war on his neighbour the count of Blois, but was captured by him and imprisoned at Châteaudun, dying there under torture on 24 August 1153. His two sons, Hervé and Hugues, captured at the same time as their father, were only freed thanks to the intervention of their cousin Henry Plantagenet, future king of England. Previously, the count of Blois had taken the precaution of razing the Amboise family fortress at Chaumont-sur-Loire in Blois's territory. His grandson, also called Sulpice, married Elisabeth de Blois, countess of Chartres, and was the first banneret knight of Touraine (an order created by Philip-Augustus in 1213 to reward his knights' bravery against the English). From this date, Sulpice had the Amboise arms as Six pals d'or et de gueules.

Françoise d'Amboise, duchess of Brittany. (1427-1485) - Louis d'Amboise's eldest daughter, who became duchess by her marriage to Peter II, Duke of Brittany

Contrary to the assertions of Père Anselme, the Amboise family descended in this era via John I of Amboise, lord of Berry, son of Sulpice's brother Hugh of Amboise. This John found himself at Philip-Augustus's side at the French victory at battle of Bouvines. His son John II had two sons, Pierre II and Hugh, guaranteeing the Amboise line via two distinct lines. Pierre (originator of the older branch, which died out with Louis d'Amboise's death in 1469) married Jeanne de Rohan. Hugh was the origin of the Chaumont-d'Amboise branch, which survives to the present. Hugh's son John III of Amboise married Jeanne de Beaumont (direct descendant of Louis the Pious). He made his début in the Hundred Years' War with Philip VI of France and died at the Battle of Crecy on 26 August 1346.

John III's son Hugh fought alongside his cousin Bertrand Duguesclin at the sieges of Ardres and Balinghem and died at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, as did his eldest son. Having lost his father and grandfather at Agincourt, Pierre d'Amboise inherited several fiefdoms in Blésois, Berry and Touraine, such as Chaumont-sur-Loire, Meillant, Preuilly, Bussy, Sagone, etc. He married Anne de Beuil, daughter of the count of Sancerre, and they had 17 children. His sons occupied high office at the start of the 16th century, the best known being Georges d'Amboise (1460–1510), cardinal and first minister of Louis XII. Under Georges' rule taxes were not increased and he succeeded in reestablishing equitable justice for all, whilst he was also one of the main figures behind introducing the Renaissance into France. Pierre's eldest son, Charles I of Amboise, was a favourite of Louis XI and worked heavily to give France the borders it has today. Count of Brienne, knight of the Ordre de Saint-Michel, governor of Île-de-France, Champagne and Burgundy, he fought in several wars in northern and eastern France. He had one son, Charles II d'Amboise de Chaumont, who accompanied king Charles VIII in his first Italian war, in October 1494.

16th century

Charles II d'Amboise, governor of Gênes and of Milan, viceroy of Lombardy (1473-1511)
Château d'Amboise at the Renaissance

1500 was a pivotal year between the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Among Pierre d'Amboise's nine sons, six headed for a church career. One was Georges d'Amboise (a cardinal who tried and failed to become pope in 1503), John I of Amboise (bishops and duke of Langres), Louis I of Amboise (bishop of Albi), Pierre d'Amboise (bishop of Poitiers), Jacques d'Amboise (bishop of Clermont-Ferrand) and Hémery d'Amboise (grandmaster of the order of Saint John of Jerusalem based on Rhodes). The three other sons headed for a military career - Charles was governor of Île-de-France, Champagne and Burgundy, John was lord of Bussy and governor of Normandy, and Hugh was baron of Aubijoux and captain of the légionnaires of the Languedoc. Of his eight daughters, five married gentlemen from the highest families of the kingdom (Hanguest, Rochechouart, Gouffier, Tristan de Castelnau, Crespin) and two became abbesses (of Fontrevault and Saint-Ménéhould, with Madeleine d'Amboise at the latter).

At the start of the 16th century, five members of the family died in the Italian Wars, notably at the battles of Marignan and Pavia - these were:

  • Hugh of Amboise, baron of Aubijoux, distinguished himself at the battle of Fornoue and was made king's lieutenant-general in Tuscany by Charles VIII.
  • Georges III of Amboise, Baron of Charenton, lord of Chaumont and Meillant, son of Charles II d'Amboise, gouvernor of Milan.(On his death all the Amboise family lands passed to his aunt Catherine d'Amboise, and then to the house of La Rochefoucault via Antoinette d'Amboise, niece of Catherine.)
  • Jacques d'Amboise, seigneur de Bussy.(son of John, governor of Normandy).
  • Guy d'Amboise, seigneur de Ravel, son of Charles I of Amboise
  • Charles II d'Amboise de Chaumont, viceroy of Lombardy, seigneur de Chaumont - led the French artillery at the capture of Alexandria and Tirano and acted as one of the main French generals in the Italian Wars, and was rewarded for his services by Louis XII by being made Grand Master of France (1502), marshal of France (1504, replacing the maréchal de Gié), then admiral of France (1508, replacing his father-in-law Louis Malet de Graville). In 1503, Charles II d'Amboise had an illegitimate son, Michel d'Amboise, in Naples, whose descendants still exist.

1600 to 1792

Charles-Jules d'AMBOISE (1647-1687)
Charles-Eugène d'AMBOISE.(1852-1891)
Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire
Manoir du Clos Lucé
Georges-Charles d'Amboise (18 May 1819, Amboise-8 July 1888, Paris)
Château de Pray, at Chargé, near Amboise

In the 18th century, the three sons of John of Amboise (Michel's son) occupied high office in France. The eldest, François d'Amboise, baron of La Chartre-sur-le-Loir, was privy councillor and maître des requêtes to Henri IV. The middle son, Adrien d'Amboise, was almoner to the king and bishop of Tréguier, and the youngest Jacques d'Amboise, rector of the university of Paris. Their cousin, Louis de Bussy d'Amboise, nicknamed "le brave Bussy", was at that time a favourite of the king's brother the duke of Alençon and a lover of the king's sister Marguerite, as well as being an excellent duellist (later becoming the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas's novel La Dame de Monsoreau). Louis's father, Jacques de Clermont-d'Amboise, had inherited the seigneuries of Bussy and Saxefontaine from cardinal Georges II d'Amboise, cardinal of Rouen.

Antoine d'Amboise, son of François, continued the line as lord of Neuilly and of Clos Lucé at Amboise. By a brevet of 30 August 1643, Louis XIII made him maréchal de camp and governor of the citadel of Trin in Piedmont. He fought in several battles in Italy and, in 1650, he gave his name to his regiment, from then on known as the régiment d'Amboise. Married to Anne de la Illière, they had only one child, Charles-Jules d'Amboise, godson of Mazarin and of the duchesse de Savoie.

Charles-Jules d'Amboise, married Charlotte de Gast. He was colonel of the régiment d'Amboise then colonel of the régiment de Touraine. In 1668, after the death without issue of his cousin François-Jacques d'Amboise, comte d'aubijoux and grandson of Louis d'Amboise d'Aubijoux, he recovered the full arms of the Amboise family: "six pals d'or et de gueules".[2] Charles-Jules died on 28 February 1627 and was buried with his ancestors in the church of the cordeliers d'Amboise, though this was later destroyed in the Revolution.

Charles-Jules's grandson Henri-Michel d'Amboise was colonel of the compagnie des grenadiers of Touraine and knight of the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis. During the 1789 French Revolution he was elected deputy for the nobility for Touraine and in 1793 was imprisoned in Abbaye de Port-Royal de Paris, only being released in 1794 after Maximilien de Robespierre's death. He saved his château du Clos Lucé at Amboise (former residence of Leonardo da Vinci). Henri-Michel was buried on 25 October 1812 in the cemetery of Amboise beside the duke of Choiseul - his tomb is now a monument historique.

1792 to present

After the death of Henri-Michel, his son, Georges-Alexis d'Amboise who lived at château de Pray, near Amboise, left France for England. In London he married Louisa Barwell, daughter of Richard Barwell, MP. Georges-Alexis accompanied king Louis XVIII, and the princes to Ghent during the Hundred Days. After the battle of Waterloo he returned to France as a captain in the compagnie du Luxembourg. On 8 July 1819, Louis XVIII personally decorated him with the royal légion d'honneur.

Georges-Charles d'Amboise, (his son), and Charles-Eugène d'Amboise, (his grandson), only returned to France at the end of the 19th century. They both set up home in Provence, near Arles. For more than a century, the descendents of Charles-Eugène d'Amboise remained in this region, and at the start of the 21st century there are still two direct male descendents of this noble family - Alain-Georges d'Amboise and his brother Thierry d'Amboise.

Bibliography

  1. ↑ A treatment of the work may be found in (French) Georges Duby: " Le Chevalier, la femme et le prêtre ", p.244.
  2. ↑ Jugement de maintenue de Voisin de la Noiraye, intendant de la généralité de Tours
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