- Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre
Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre (16 August 1688 at
Dijon – 16 March 1781, at theHôtel Matignon ,Paris ), was a French noble, descendant of a family which traced its origins to the 12th century. His chief title was that of Marquis of Cruzy and Vauvillers, later 1stDuc de Clermont-Tonnerre , a new creation which elevated him to thePeerage of France . He was Constable, hereditary Grand-Master ofDauphiné andMarshal of France . [citebook|title=Re-Writing the French Revolutionary Tradition|author=R. S. Alexander|pages=137|year= 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|id=ISBN 0521801222]He had a successful military career in the armies of Louis XV, notably at defeat of Cumberland's Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian forces at
Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 alongside Marshal de Saxe. Clermont-Tonnerre led the decisivecavalry charge which defeated the tenacious but ill-led allied forces. After theBattle of Lauffeld in 1747 he was named Marshal of France.In 1714 he had married Antoinette Potier de Rovion (1685-1754). They had three children:
* Jules Charles Henri, (1720–1794), 2nd Duc de Clermont-Tonnerre.
* Madeleine-Louise Jeanne (1722–1769).
* François Joseph (1727–1809), Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre.He remarried in 1756 with Marguerite Pauline de Prondre.
Between 1715 and 1723 the château of Vauvillers was built for him. It was his principal residence between campaigns. In later years he worked to improve the economy of his domain, opening a
forge . A new church was built in Vauvillers in 1773 and remains largely unchanged today.He was made a Chevalier of the
Order of Saint Louis in 1717 and admitted to theOrder of the Holy Spirit in 1724. At thecoronation of Louis XVI in 1775, by then aged 87 and the senior living Marshal of France, Clermont-Tonnerre, served as the sword-bearer. It was on this occasion that he was named Duc de Clermont-Tonnerre and elevated to the peerage.At his death in 1781, he had attained the age of 93, exceptional of the period.
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