View source for Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti

{{short description|French nobleman}}
{{multiple issues|
{{one source|date=February 2012}}
{{more footnotes|date=February 2012}}
}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Armand de Bourbon
| title = [[Prince of Conti]]
| image = Musée du Vieux Nîmes86.jpg
| succession = [[Prince of Conti]]
| reign = 11 October 1629 – 26 February 1666
| predecessor = [[François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti]]
| successor = [[Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti]]
| house = [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon-Conti]]
| issue = [[Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti]]<br>[[François Louis, Prince of Conti]]
| father = [[Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646)|Henri II, Prince of Condé]]
| mother = [[Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency]]
| spouse = [[Anne Marie Martinozzi]]
| birth_date = {{birth_date|1629|10|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1666|2|26|1629|10|11|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Pézenas]], [[Languedoc]], France
| signature = Signature of Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti at the marriage of the future Grand Condé in February 1641.png
}}
'''Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti''' (11 October 1629{{snd}}26 February 1666), was a French nobleman, the younger son of [[Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646)|Henri II, Prince of Condé]] and [[Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency]], daughter of [[Henri I de Montmorency|Henri I, Duke of Montmorency]]. He was the brother of ''[[Louis, Grand Condé|le Grand Condé]]'' and [[Anne Geneviève de Bourbon|Anne Geneviève, Duchess of Longueville]]. As a member of the reigning [[House of Bourbon]], he was a ''[[Prince du Sang]]''.
== Early life ==
[[File:Blason Armand, prince de Conti (1626 † 1666).svg|thumb|right|140px|[[Coat-of-arms]] for Armand, Prince of Conti.]]
The title of [[Prince of Conti]] was revived in his favor at the time of his birth in 1629. With the title Armand also inherited the [[Château de L'Isle-Adam]] and its estate, which had been passed down to his mother Charlotte Marguerite after the death of her brother, [[Henri II de Montmorency]].
Conti was considered intelligent  but due to a slight deformity and having a weak constitution<ref>{{Cite book |last=Menzies |first=Sutherland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74b1DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22prince+de+conti%22+martinozzi&pg=PA119 |title=Political Women (Vol. 1 of 2): Volume 1 |date=2020-08-05 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7524-1256-7 |language=en}}</ref> he was destined for a clerical career and studied [[theology]] at the [[university of Bourges]], but although he received several [[benefice]]s, including the abbeys of [[Abbey of Cluny|Cluny]] and [[Abbey of Saint Denis|Saint Denis]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Europe 1450-1750|last=Karmen|first=Henry|pages=78|isbn=9780415147279|year=1999|publisher=Routledge|location=London}}</ref> he did not take [[holy orders|orders]].
He was described as "a cypher" by a contemporary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Retz |first=Jean François Paul de Gondi de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErrTAAAAMAAJ&q=+%22prince+of+conti%22+sister |title=Memoirs of the Cardinal de Retz: Containing the Particulars of His Own Life, with the Most Secret Transactions at the French Court [during the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin] and the Civil Wars [occasioned by It. To which are Added Some Other Pieces |date=1774 |publisher=Evans |pages=192 |language=en}}</ref> and seen as debauched. Conti's relationship with his brother was not good and he was despised by the Grand Conde. Conti was a patron of [[Molière|Moliere]] and [[Jean de La Fontaine|La Fontaine]].
He played a conspicuous part in the intrigues and fighting of the [[Fronde]], became in 1648 commander-in-chief of the rebel army, and in 1650 was with his brother (Condé) and brother-in-law ([[Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville|Longueville]]) imprisoned at [[Château de Vincennes|Vincennes]].<ref name="EB19112">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Conti, Princes of|display=Conti, Princes of s.v. Armand de Bourbon|volume=7|page=28}}</ref>
== Life in prison ==
Said to be "mystic" and "full of strange ideas", Conti turned slightly mad while in prison.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} (this might have been a symptom of the syphilis which would lead to his death) Having a secret passion for his sister the [[Anne Geneviève de Bourbon|Duchess of Longueville]], he invented tricks to make her notice him. He would later like her become a fervent jansenist.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ladurie |first=Emmanuel Le Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3IAU2sECocC&dq=%22prince+de+conti%22+jansenist&pg=PA247 |title=Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV |date=July 2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-47320-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Marni |first=Archimede |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yR5WRMgb40gC&dq=%22prince+de+conti%22+mystic+traite+de+la&pg=PA66 |title=Allegory in the French Heroic Poem of the Seventeenth Century |publisher=Ardent Media |language=en}}</ref> He tried [[alchemy]] and potions for some time and eventually bruised himself with a [[spatula]]. This episode was ultimately fortunate for him because he could no longer be refused external help from physicians, some of whom would pass letters and pleas to the outside world which sped up his eventual release.
== Later life ==
Released when [[Cardinal Mazarin]] went into exile, he wished to marry Charlotte-Marie de Lorraine (1627–1652), the second daughter of [[Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchesse de Chevreuse|Madame de Chevreuse]], the confidante of the queen, [[Anne of Austria]] (wife of King [[Louis XIII of France]]), but was prevented from doing so by his brother Condé, who was now supreme in the state. He was concerned in the [[Fronde]] of 1651, but soon afterwards became reconciled with Cardinal Mazarin, and in 1654, married the [[Mazarinettes|cardinal's niece]], [[Anne Marie Martinozzi]], as well as secured the government of [[Guienne]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Conti, Princes of|display=Conti, Princes of s.v. Armand de Bourbon|volume=7|page=28}}</ref> They had two sons, [[Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti|Louis Armand]] and [[François Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti|François Louis]].
He took command of the army, which in 1654, invaded [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] through [[Catalonia]], where he captured three towns from the Spanish. He afterwards led the French forces in [[Italy]], but after his defeat before [[Alessandria]] in 1657, he retired to [[Languedoc]], where he devoted himself to study and [[mysticism]] until his death.<ref name="EB1911"/>
At [[Collège de Clermont|Clermont]], Conti had been a fellow student of [[Molière]]'s, from whom he secured an introduction to the court of King [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], but afterwards, when writing a treatise against the stage entitled, ''Traité de la comédie et des spectacles selon les traditions de l'Église'' (Paris, 1667), he charged the dramatist with keeping a school of [[atheism]]. Conti also wrote ''Lettres sur la grâce'', and ''Du devoir des grands et des devoirs des gouverneurs de province''.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Conti died on 26 February 1666 at [[Pézenas]] at the Château de la Grange-des - Prés in Languedoc, France, likely from [[syphilis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Virginia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLraAyhMePEC&q=%22prince+de+conti%22+&pg=PA76 |title=Molière: A Theatrical Life |date=2002-05-16 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-01238-6 |language=en}}</ref>
==Issue==
Armand married [[Anne Marie Martinozzi]], the daughter of Girolamo Martinozzi and [[Laura Margherita Mazzarini]], elder sister of Cardinal Mazarin.{{sfn|Hillman|2016|p=10}} They had the following children:
#[[Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti]] (1661–1685), married [[Marie Anne de Bourbon]], the eldest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress, [[Louise de La Vallière]], and died childless.
# [[François Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti|François Louis, Prince of Conti]] (1664–1709), known as "''le Grand Conti''", married [[Marie Thérèse de Bourbon]], daughter of [[Henri-Jules de Bourbon, prince de Condé|Henri Jules, Prince of Condé]] (Armand's nephew), and had issue.
==Ancestry==
{{unsourced section|date=December 2022}}
{{ahnentafel
| collapsed = yes | align = center
| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;
| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;
| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;
| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;
| 1 = 1. '''Armand, Prince of Conti'''
| 2 = 2. [[Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646)|Henri II, Prince of Condé]]
| 3 = 3. [[Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency]]
| 4 = 4. [[Henri, Prince of Condé (1552–1588)|Henri I, Prince of Condé]]
| 5 = 5. [[Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille]]
| 6 = 6. [[Henri I de Montmorency|Henri I, Duke of Montmorency]]
| 7 = 7. [[Louise de Budos|Louise de Budos, Lady of Vachères]]
| 8 = 8. [[Louis, Prince of Condé (1530–1569)|Louis I, Prince of Condé]]
| 9 = 9. [[Éléonore de Roye]]
| 10 = 10. [[Louis III de La Trémoille|Louis III de La Trémoille, Duke of Thouars]]
| 11 = 11. Jeanne de Montmorency
| 12 = 12. [[Anne de Montmorency|Anne, Duke of Montmorency]]
| 13 = 13. [[Madeleine of Savoy]]
| 14 = 14. Jacques de Budos, Viscount of Portes
| 15 = 15. Catherine de Clermont-Montoison
}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book |title=Female Piety and the Catholic Reformation in France |first=Jennifer |last=Hillman |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 }}
{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Bourbon]]|11 October|1629|26 February|1666}}
{{s-roy|fr}}
{{succession box |
before= [[François de Bourbon, prince de Conti|François de Bourbon]] |
title= [[Prince de Conti]] |
years= 1629&ndash;1666 |
after= [[Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti|Louis Armand]] }}
{{s-rel|ca}}
{{succession box | title=[[Abbot of Cluny]] | before=[[Cardinal Richelieu]] | after=[[Cardinal Mazarin]] | years=1642–1654}}
{{s-end}}
{{Princes of Conti}}
{{Prince of the Blood (House of Bourbon)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourbon, Armand de, prince de Conti}}
[[Category:1629 births|Conti, Armand de Bourbon, prince de]]
[[Category:1666 deaths|Conti, Armand de Bourbon, prince de]]
[[Category:17th-century French military personnel]]
[[Category:17th-century French writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:Grand masters of France]]
[[Category:House of Bourbon-Conti|Armand]]
[[Category:Jansenists]]
[[Category:Nobility from Paris]]
[[Category:Princes of Conti|Armand de Bourbon, prince de]]
[[Category:French male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century peers of France]]
[[Category:People of the Fronde]]
[[Category:Royal reburials]]