(Vol. viii., pp. 461. 549.; Vol. ix., p. 3.)
There appearing to be a strong feeling that a correct edition of these
_Memoirs_ should be published, with the present inaccurate notes thoroughly
revised, I send you a few notes from a collection I have made on the
subject.
The proper orthography of the name is "Gramont," and the family probably
originally came from Spain. Matta's friend, the Marquis de Sevantes,
asserts the fact; and it is corroborated by the fact, that on the occasion
of the Marshal de Grammont's demanding the hand of the Infanta Maria
Theresa for Louis XIV., the people cried, "Viva el Marescal de Agramont,
que es de nuestro sangue!" And the King of Spain said to the Marshal after
the presentation of his sons, the Counts de Guiche and De Louvigny, "Teneis
Muy Buenos y lindos hijos y bien se hecha de ver que los Agramonteses salen
de la sangue de Espana."
The Grammont family had been so enriched and ennobled by its repeated
marriages with the heiresses of great families, that, like many noble
houses of our own times, members of it hardly knew their own correct
surname: thus, in the famous declaration of the parliament of Paris against
the Peers in 1717, on the subject of the Caps, it was said:
"The Grammonts have determined on their armorial bearings, and hold to
those of the house of Aure. The Count de Grammont said one day to the
Marshal, What arms shall we use this year?"
The Grammonts in the male line are descended from Sancho Garcia d'Aure,
Viscount de l'Arboust. Menaud d'Aure, his lineal representative, married
Claire de Grammont, sister and heiress of Jean, Seigneur de Grammont, and
daughter of Francis, Seigneur de Grammont, and Catherine d'Andoins his
wife.
Menaud d'Aure is the ancestor who is disguised in the _Memoirs_ as
"Menaudaure" and "Menodore;" and in the notes, coupled with "la belle
Corisande," they are styled two of the ancestresses of the family
celebrated for their beauty.
Philibert, who was styled Philibert de Grammont and de Toulongeon, Count de
Grammont and de Guiche, Viscount d'Aster, Captain of fifty men at arms,
Governor and Mayor of Bayonne, Seneschal of Bearne, married on Aug. 7,
1567, Diana, better known as "La belle Corisande" d'Andouins, Viscountess
de Louvigny, Dame de Lescun, the only daughter of Paul Viscount de
Louvigny; who, although a Huguenot, was killed at the siege of Rouen,
fighting under the command of the Duke de Guise. They had two children:
Antoine, subsequently the first duke, and Catherine, who married Francois
Nompar de Chaumont, Count de Lauzun, the ancestor of the celebrated Duke de
Lauzun, who was first introduced at court by his relative the Marshal de
Grammont.
This Philibert, Count de Grammont, was killed at the siege of La Fere in
Aug. 1580. The connexion between his widow, the fair Corisande, and Henry
IV., was subsequent to the Count's death.
The Duchy Peerage was created on Dec. 13, 1643. Antoine, the first duke,
married, firstly, on Sept. 1, 1601, Louise, eldest daughter of the Marshal
de Roquelaure; she died in 1610, leaving Antoine, subsequently the Marshal
Duke de Grammont, and Roger, Count de Louvigny, killed in a duel in
Flanders on March 18, 1629. The Duke de Grammont married, secondly, on
March 29, 1618, Claude, eldest daughter of Louis de Montmorency, Baron de
Boutteville; and had Henri, Count de Toulongeon, who died unmarried on
Sept. 1, 1679; Philibert, the celebrated Chevalier de Grammont, who was
born in 1621; and three daughters.
The Marshal de Grammont was one of the most celebrated men of the court of
Louis XIV.: he was a favourite both of Richelieu and Mazarin, and married a
niece of the former; and, as a wit, was not inferior to his brother the
Chevalier. He sided with the Court during the wars of the Fronde; whilst
the Chevalier in the first instance joined the Prince of Condé, probably
from their mutual connexion with the Montmorency family. The Marshal died
at Bayonne, on July 12, 1678, aged seventy-four years, leaving four
children, of whom the Count de Guiche and the Princess de Monaco are well
known.
The Chevalier de Grammont received his outfit from his mother, and joined
the army under Prince Thomas of Savoy, then besieging Trin in Piedmont,
which was taken on Sept. 24, 1643. The notes to the _Memoirs_ say May 4,
1639; but that {205} was a former siege by the French, then under the
command of the Cardinal de la Vallette.
Probably this will be as much as you can afford space for at present, and I
will therefore reserve any farther communications for a future Number.