House of Rohan

House and Cadet-Branches 

The House of Rohan is from Brittany and claims their descent from the earliest Kings of England. At court the Rohans were given the title of Prince étranger or Foreign Prince - an honour only a few families who permanently resided at court had.

This house is one of the largest noble families with plenty of cadet-branches which means that the story of the House of Rohan is more the story of separate houses. To give a better illustration of this I have attempted to make an illustration of the different cadet-branches springing from the original family of Rohan.

Of these the lines of Rohan-Chabot and Rohan-Rochefort are still existing while the others have gone extinct.

In an attempt to keep the history of this house as understandable as possible the following alliances, titles and family members are divided into the different branches.

Rohan-Montauban

Traced back to 1180 but ended in 1494.

Rohan-Guéméné

Dating back to 1375 the branch of Rohan-Guéméné is the result of the union between Jean de Rohan and Jeanne d'Évreux (also known as Jeanne of Navarre). 

For alliances and titles see Rohan-Chabot

Rohan-Gué-de-l'isle

Branch beginning around 1270 and ended in 1530.

Rohan-Polduc

A cadet-branch of the Rohan-Gué-de-l'isle it was established in 1500 and died out three centuries later in 1800. The family never became prominent at court due to their participation in the Pontcallec conspiracy after which they went into exile in Spain. 

Rohan-Rochefort

Created in 1693 when Charles de Rohan-Guéméné was given the added title of Prince de Rochefort and consequently titled himself as Charles de Rohan-Rochefort.

Since the surviving members of the Rohan-Rochefort family are the eldest survivors they maintain all the titles previously scattered between the different branches (Prince de Rochefort, Prince de Soubise, Duc de Rohan-Rohan, etc.)

Alliances through marriage (the first is the member of Rohan-Rochefort):

Charles de Rohan-Rochefort - Éleonore Eugénie de Béthisy de Mézières = 3 children (the current House of Savoy are directly descended from this couple through their daughter)

Charles Jules de Rohan-Rochefort - Marie Henriette Charlotte d'Orléans-Rothelin = 2 children

Charlotte Louise de Rohan-Rochefort - Louis Antoine Henri de Bourbon, Duc d'Enghien (executed by Napoleon)

Titles held by the Rohan-Rochefort:

Prince de Rochefort

Prince de Montauban 

Rohan-Soubise

Sprung from the branch of Rohan-Guéméné the line began in the marriage of Francois de Rohan and Anne de Rohan-Chabot. Anne bought the Lordship of Soubise which was made a principality in 1667 - court gossip would have it that Louis XIV did it to please her since she was then his mistress.

Alliances:

François de Rohan - Anne de Rohan-Chabot = 2 children

Hercule Mériadec de Rohan - Anne Genviève de Lévis = 5 children

Jules-Francois-Louis de Rohan - Anne-Julie de Melun = 5 children

Charles de Rohan - Anne Marie Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne = 0 children

                              - Anne-Thérèse de Savoie-Carignan = 1 child

Victoire Armande Josèphe de Rohan - Henri Marie Louis de Rohan = 5 children

Titles:

Duc de Rohan-Rohan

Duc de Ventadour

Prince de Maubuisson

Prince de Soubise

Prince d'Epinoy

Marquis de Roubaix

Rohan-Gié

Originally from 1541 this branch was caught up in the religious wars in France during this period. The family was Protestant and supported Henri IV who rewarded them with the Duchy of Rohan. The family is thought to have been swallowed up in the union of Marguerite de Rohan (herself a member of Rohan-Gié) and Henri Chabot.

Rohan-Chabot

Descended from the Protestant Rohan-Gié branch in 1645 Marguerite de Rohan married the Catholic Henri Chabot which ended the former line and created that of Rohan-Chabot. From then on the Rohan-Chabots were Catholic. It should be noted that this is the only Rohan branch to descend through the female line.

Alliances: 

Marguerite de Rohan-Chabot - Henri de Chabot = 6 children

Henri-Louis-Marie de Rohan-Chabot - Marie Élisabeth de Bec-Crespin de Grimaldi = 11 children

Louis II de Rohan-Chabot - Françoise de Roquelaure = 6 children

Louis-Marie-Bretagne de Rohan-Chabot - Charlotte de Crussol d'Uzès = 3 children

Titles:
Duc de Rohan
Prince de Leon
Marquis de Blain
Comte de Porhoët
Comte de Moret