Diane Françoise de Rohan Gie

House of Rohan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search For other uses, see Rohan. House of Rohan de Rohan Noble family Heraldique blason de rohan Motto: "A plus" Parent house House of Porhoët Country Drapeau de la province de Bretagne (1532).svg Duchy of Brittany

France Founded	1116; 904 years ago Founder	Alan I, Viscount of Rohan Current head	Josselin de Rohan, 14th Duke of Rohan Titles	Rohan Estate(s)	Rohan Castle Palais Rohan, Strasbourg Palais Rohan, Bordeaux Josselin Castle Château de Joyeuse Garde Château de Blain Saint-Étienne-du-Gué-de-l'Isle Sychrov Castle Hôtel de Rohan (Paris) Hôtel de Soubise Hôtel de Rohan-Guémené Hôtel de Rohan-Montbazon Cadet branches	 Blason fam fr Rohan-Guéménée.svg Rohan-Guéméné Blason fam fr Rohan-Rochefort.svg Rohan-Rochefort Blason fam fr Rohan-Soubise.svg Rohan-Soubise Blason fam fr Rohan-Gié.svg Rohan-Gié Blason fam fr Rohan du Gué de l'Isle.svg Rohan-Gué-de-l'Isle Blason fr Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc.svg Rohan-Polduc Blason fam fr Rohan-Montauban.svg Rohan-Montauban Blason fam fr Rohan-Chabot2.svg Rohan-Chabot The House of Rohan (Breton: Roc'han) is a Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to trace back to the legendary Conan Meriadoc. Through the Porhoët, the Rohan are related to the Dukes of Brittany, with whom the family intermingled again after its inception. During the Middle-Ages, it was one of the most powerful families in the Duchy of Brittany. They developed ties with the French and English royal houses as well, and played an important role in French and European history.

The only surviving branch of the family is the branch of the Rohan-Rocheforts, Dukes of Montbazon, Dukes of Bouillon and Austrian Princes of Rohan, who migrated in the early 19th century to Austria.[1][2]

Following his marriage (1645) with Marguerite de Rohan, only daughter of Henri II de Rohan, first Duke de Rohan (who died in 1638 with no male heir), Henri Chabot, a descendant of the eldest branch of the House of Chabot, from Poitou, was made Duke of Rohan in 1648 and allowed to use the name Rohan-Chabot instead of his own, thus giving birth to the House of Rohan-Chabot.

Origins The family of Rohan claimed to be descended from first kings of Brittany, and even from the legendary king Conan Meriadoc.[5]

The Rohans were descended from the Viscounts of Porhoët. According to J.-P. Soubigou, the first known viscount, Guethenoc (fl. 1028), was probably Viscount of Rennes as well and connected to the nobility of the Loire region, but he could have belonged to a Breton line holding estates around Josselin, where he built a castle.[6]

Guethenoc's son Josselin I († 1074), took part to the Battle of Hastings and conquest of England by William the Conqueror. He was granted lands in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire, and the town of Caerwent. He was the father of Mainguy, Bishop of Vannes, and Odo I, Viscount of Porhoët, Rohan and Guéméné († after 1092), who married Anne of Léon and had several sons: Geoffrey, who inherited the viscounty of Porhoët, and Alain I the Black (1084-1147), Viscount of Rohan and Castelnoec (fl. 1127), who built the castle of Rohan and was the first member of the House of Rohan.[2]

History

The Rohans’ estates in the 15th century From the 12th century to the 15th century, the Rohans kept securing and increasing their estates through marriages, acquisitions, inheritances, bequests and exchanges. Thus they became rivals of the Dukes of Brittany all through the Middle Ages, according to their interest, sometimes carrying out the most important charges of the Duchy faithfully, sometimes rebelling, as John II of Rohan did in the last years of Breton independence. The "great viscount", then more powerful than ever, controlled nearly 200,000 Bretons on about a fifth of the Breton territory.[7] The heart of the viscounty of Rohan is made of the rohannais triangle[8] (the three large fortresses of La Chèze, Josselin and Pontivy) whose center is the village of Rohan, the family's nominal fief whose castle is abandoned in favor of the other three.[9]

To counter the power of the immense fiefs of the Rohan and Rieux families, which divided the Armorican peninsula into two equal parts, the Breton dukes denied them access to the coasts[10] and blocked them in the eastern part of the duchy through the fortresses of the Marches of Neustria#Breton March, whose main strongholds were Rennes and Nantes.[11] The Rohans, then unpopular in a very Breton-tradition environment, were neutralized for the time being, and stroke back only with the French army's direct support during the campaign of 1487 in the French-Breton War, which was marked by internal divisions among the barons of Brittany (Rohan, Rieux, Laval...) who constantly changed sides.[12] In winter 1487–1488, John II was encircled by the ducal troops: his strongholds of La Chèze, Josselin, Rohan and Pontivy fell one after another in March 1488. The viscount was still coveting the ducal crown for his son but failed. In 1491, the marriage between Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII initiated the annexation of the duchy to the French crown, a union that was permanently ratified in 1532.

The Rohan family married several times into the Breton ducal family, the last time in 1407.

Henry II of Rohan chose Pontivy as the capital city of his fief. The chief of the Protestant party during Marie de' Medici’s regency Louis XIII’s reign, he was one of the greatest captains of his time.[13]

In the 17th century, members of the Rohan family began to use their genealogy and their power at the French Court to obtain the rank of prince étranger, thus coming second after the princes du sang before all dukes and peers. Their aim was to prove that the former Kings of Brittany effectively ruled and that the Rohans are directly descended from them.

These two assertions were difficult to establish at the time and are not used in the 21st-century historiography.[14] The Rohans then applied themselves to giving credence to this version through historians such as Dom Morice, but also through favour, forcing and violating history if needed. The Rohans had to force their claims through thanks to forged evidence (a common practice in these aristocratic families in the Ancien Régime).

This operation remained uncertain, the Dukes and peers of France being watchful, and the Rohans secured their position through other means: alliances with other families of princes étrangers exclusively (Lorraine, La Tour d'Auvergne and Condé), elevation of their estates into principalities, legally or not (Guéméné, Soubise, Lordship of Léon), accession to the Bishopric of Strasbourg, giving them the rank of Prince of the Empire, and the use of royal favor and their closeness to the kings (Louis XIV and Madame de Soubise, Louis XV and the Marshal of Soubise, Louis XVI and Madame de Marsan, governess of the Children of France).

In spite of attacks from rival families, the Rohans managed to base their power and impose their historical and genealogical views, which provided them with positions allowing them to secure their power and credit at Court. The greatest closeness to the King was then acquired and could not be questioned any more.

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https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/genealogie-richard-remme/I127798...