House of Melun

The family of Melun were amongst the French aristocracy since time immemorial; over the years, the family had divided into no fewer than nine different branches of which five were extinct by the birth of Louis XIV. This left four extant families - for clarity's sake, the various branches have been named by the rank of their individual heads: Prince d'Epinoy, Vicomte de Melun, Marquis de Richebourg and Marquis de Cottenes.

The following post only focuses on the family of the princes d'Epinoy as the remaining families did not appear frequently - or at all - at the French court.

Princes d'Epinoy

1. Alexandre Guillaume de Melun & (1) Louise Anne de Béthune, (2) Jeanne-Pélagie de Rohan-Chabot

Alexandre was the second son of the former Prince d'Epinoy and inherited the title when his older brother was killed at the siege of Aire. Like his brother, Alexandre was a keen soldier who participated in several campaigns for Louis XIV. Prior to his birth, the lands of his family had been divided into various families (most had gone extinct) but after having sustained a particularly unpleasant wound, he petitioned Louis XIV to have those lands restored to him. Grateful for his services on the battlefield, Louis XIV acquiesced which led to the restoration of the lands of Antoing, Cysoing and Roubaix. The lands were dearly won as he would suffer from his war wounds for the remainder of his life.

He was married initially to Louise Anne de Béthune, the daughter of the Duc de Charost. Louise Anne fell pregnant in 1666 and died in childbirth at the age of 23. The child was:

• Louise Marie Thérèse, Duchesse de Charost

Secondly, Alexandre married Jeanne-Pélagie de Rohan-Chabot, the daughter of the Duc de Rohan. At the time of their wedding, Alexandre was 32 years older than his new wife. Jeanne-Pélagie gave birth to four children:

• Marie Marguerite Françoise, unmarried
• Anne, unmarried
• Louis, Prince d'Epinoy
• François Michel Auguste, died at 17
• 
  

2. Louis de Melun & Élisabeth-Thérèse de Lorraine

Louis must have kept a very low profile as little is known of his life. He was made marèchal de camp in 1702 before dying of smallpox in 1704. His marriage was suitably grand for the seventh Prince d'Epinoy. Élisabeth-Thérèse was a princess of Lorraine and princesse de Lillebonne in her own right. She was a personal friend of the Grand Dauphin and served as lady of honour to the Princesse de Conti. 

The couple had two children:

• Louis, Prince d'Epinoy
• Anne-Julie-Adélaide, Princesse de Soubise

Élisabeth-Thérèse

3. Louis de Melun & (1) Armande de La Tour d'Auvergne, (2) Marie Anne de Bourbon

Beside the inherited title of Prince d'Epinoy, Louis was made Duc de Joyeuse after the extinction of the ducal family of that name. Louis is mostly known for his bizarre death; he was apparently killed by a stag during a hunt at his own estate at the age of 30. His body was never recovered.

Armande died just a year after their marriage at just 19. She died in childbirth; sadly, she had lost her own mother just the previous month.

Marie Anne de Bourbon was the granddaughter of Louis XIV by Madame de Montespan. She was the daughter of the Prince de Condé which made her a princess of the blood. The marriage was conducted in secret as the disparity of their ranks - despite her husband's lineage - was considerable. She appears to have been genuinely attached to Louis and was distraught by his early death. She was the head of the queen's household and as such had considerable status at court. She never remarried.

Louis had no children by either of his wives, so the title went to his nephew, a Rohan by his father's side.

Marie Anne de Bourbon