Born at
Chantilly, Oise, Henri was the son of
Henri de Montmorency, 3rd Duke of Montmorency, and his second wife, Louise de Budos. He was the godson of
King Henri IV and was constantly receiving marks of the royal affection. Henri's name and his personality rendered him at an early age the darling of the court and the people. By 1612, he was raised to the office of
Grand Admiral. Henri succeeded to his father's title of
Duke of Montmorency in 1614 and was also governor of
Languedoc. With influence from Marie de Medici, he married
Maria Felicia Orsini, an Italian noblewoman. In 1620, he was made viceroy of
New France, a post he held until 1625. Henri wrested several important places from the Protestants and was present at the sieges of
Montauban and
Montpellier. On the renewal of the civil war in 1625, the fleet sent from Holland to aid the French king was placed under his command. In 1625, Henri defeated the French
Protestant fleet under
Soubise and seized the islands of
Ré and
Oléron, but the jealousy of
Cardinal Richelieu deprived him of the means of following up these advantages. In 1628–1629, Henri took command of a royal army to fight the forces of
Henri, Duc de Rohan, in
Languedoc, and he bested that famous leader of the Huguenots. In 1630, Henri won renown as a military leader in
the war against the Spaniards in
Piedmont (Italy). He defeated the Piedmontese at the
Battle of Avigliana, where he charged across a ditch at the head of the gendarmes of the king, captured
Carlo Doria, the enemy general, with his own hand, and fought like a common soldier until the enemy was completely driven from the field. This victory was followed by the raising of the
siege of Casal and the taking of
Saluzzo. For these achievements, he was appointed a
Marshal of France later in the same year. At the height of his fame and influence, he was solicited to join the opponents of
Cardinal Richelieu,
Louis XIII's chief minister. Disliking Richelieu's attempts to rein in the influence of his class, in 1632, using his position as governor of Languedoc, he raised levies of troops and money, joined the party of
Gaston, Duke of Orleans (the king's brother) and took command of an army of six or seven thousand. Negotiation was tried in vain; Henri was confronted and defeated by
Marshal Schomberg at the
Battle of Castelnaudary (1 September 1632). Trying to emulate his victory at Avigliana, Henri led a charge into the royal camp at the head of a few horsemen. He cut his way through six ranks of infantry amidst a continuing shower of shot and fought against overwhelming numbers, until his horse dropped dead. Severely wounded, he was captured. Abandoned by Gaston, he was doomed to death by the remorseless Richelieu, as an example to the rest of the plotting nobility. In vain his life was begged for by all ranks throughout France. The only palliation of punishment that could be obtained from Louis XIII was that the execution should be in private. Henri was therefore beheaded in
Toulouse's
town hall 30 October 1632, by a
guillotine-like device (according to the memoirs of
Jacques, vicomte de Puysegur). His title passed to his sister,
Charlotte Marguerite, Princess of Condé. ==References==