Francois-Henri de Montmorency, Duc de Luxembourg (8 January 1628-4 January 1695) was a Marshal of France under King Louis XIV of France.
Biography[]
Francois-Henri de Montmorency was born in Paris, France in 1628 to the noble Montmorency family, and he was educated alongside Louis, Grand Conde. In 1661, he married the heiress of the duchy of Luxembourg, making him Duke and a Peer of France. He served as the Conde's lieutenant-general in Franche-Comte during the War of Devolution, and he was given a high command in the Franco-Dutch War due to his friendship with Louvois. On 27 December 1672, he ordered for the entire population of the abandoned Dutch fortress of Bodegraven to be burned alive with their houses, and some at Louis XIV of France's court saw his cruelty as unneccessary. In 1674, he was made captain of the Garde du Corps and a Marshal of France, and he was given command of the Army of the Rhine in 1676. In 1680, a quarrel with Louvois led to him serving some months in the Bastille prison, and he returned to being Captain of the Guards after leaving the prison. During the War of the Grand Alliance, he replaced Louis de Crevant as commander of the French army in the Spanish Netherlands, winning at Fleurus in 1690 and Leuze in 1691. In 1692, he defeated the Dutch at Steenkirk, and his greatest victory occurred in 1693 at Neerwinden, sending a large number of captured colors to the Notre Dame cathedral after his victory there. On his return to Versailles in 1695, he fell ill and died.