Duke of Caraman

Duke of Caraman

Creation date10 May 1830
Created byCharles X
PeerageFrance
First holderLouis Charles Victor de Riquet, 1st Marquis of Caraman
Present holderPhilippe de Riquet, 7th Duke of Caraman
Subsidiary titlesMarquis of Caraman
Count of Caraman
Baron of Bonrepos
Former seat(s)Château de Bonrepos
Château d'Anet
Château des Caramans [fr]
Château de Boussu

The Duke of Caraman was a title created in the Peerage of France on 10 May 1830 for the French diplomat Louis Charles Victor de Riquet, 1st Marquis of Caraman.[1]

History

Portrait of Pierre-Paul Riquet, 1st Baron of Bonrepos
Portrait of Pierre-Paul II Riquet, 1st Count of Caraman
Portrait of Victor Maurice de Riquet, 3rd Count of Caraman, by Charles-Alexandre Debacq, 1841

The Riquet family is originally from Languedoc (Béziers). They were ennobled by King Louis XIV on 20 November 1666 when Pierre-Paul Riquet, the engineer responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi, was created Baron of Bonrepos (French: Baron de Bonrepos) in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.[2] On 5 August 1670, Baron Riquet acquired the County of Caraman, also in Haute-Garonne, from Paul d'Escoubleau, Marquis of Sourdis, for his second son, Pierre-Paul II Riquet, who became the Count of Caraman (French: Comte de Caraman). As Pierre-Paul II died unmarried without issue, he transferred, by deed of cession, the County of Caraman to his nephew, Victor François de Riquet de Caraman (the eldest son of his late brother), in 1722.[3]

The 2nd Count, Victor-François de Riquet de Caraman, married Louise Portail (a daughter of Antoine Portail, president of the Parlement of Paris), and was gifted the Château de Roissy in Roissy-en-France, Val-d'Oise by his father-in-law, which was renamed the Château des Caramans [fr]. Pélagie de Riquet de Caraman, a granddaughter of the 2nd Count (through Louis de Riquet de Caraman), married Baron Maurice-François de Mac Mahon [fr], parents of Patrice de MacMahon, 1st Duke of Magenta, the 3rd President of France.[4]

During the French Revolution, the property of the Counts of Caraman was confiscated and the Château de Roissy was pillaged and destroyed in 1793. They later regained their Hôtel particulier on the Rue Saint-Dominique in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.[3] In 1817, the 4th Count, Louis Charles Victor de Riquet de Caraman, was created Marquess of Caraman (French: Marquis de Caraman) by King Louis XVIII. He was further ennobled on 10 May 1830 by King Charles X, shortly before the July Revolution (during which Charles was forced to abdicate in favor of his cousin, Louis Philippe I, as hereditary Duke-Peer of Caraman (French: Duc de Caraman).[1] The title, however, was not followed by letters patent, making it an incomplete irregular title. The ducal title was, however, confirmed by Imperial Decree on 19 June 1869 and letters 4 May 1870, in favor of the 1st Duke's grandson, Victor Charles Emmanuel de Riquet de Caraman. When he died unmarried in 1919, the ducal title died with him, however, the title of "Duke of Caraman" was taken up proprio motu by the descendants of his brother.[1]

Barons of Bonrepos (1666)

Counts of Caraman (1670)

Marquesses of Caraman (1817)

Dukes of Caraman (1830)

Other branches

Another son of the 3rd Count (and younger brother to the 1st Duke of Caraman), Maurice Gabriel Joseph de Riquet de Caraman (1765–1835), a French general and politician, was created Baron of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I in 1813. The title was confirmed, and elevated to Hereditary Count by King Louis XVIII by letters patent on 3 July 1818. He lived at Château de Boussu (in the Hainaut Province, Belgium). Upon his death without male issue in 1835, the titles became extinct.[1]

The youngest son of the 3rd Count (and younger brother to the 1st Duke of Caraman), François-Joseph-Philippe de Riquet (1771–1843), became the 16th Prince of Chimay on 24 July 1804 following the death of his childless maternal uncle, Philippe Gabriel Maurice Joseph de Hénin-Liétard, 15th Prince of Chimay.[5] His son, Joseph de Riquet de Caraman, was created Prince of Caraman in the Dutch nobility in 1824 (he succeeded his father as the 17th Prince of Chimay in 1843).[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who", of the Sovereigns, Princes and Nobles of Europe. Harrison & Sons. 1914. p. 438. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Histoire". www.bonrepos-riquet.fr. Bonrepos-Riquet. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Un personnage clé, Victor-Maurice de Riquet, comte de Caraman". Le Petit Journal (in French). 5 July 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  4. ^ Chesnaye-Desbois, Franc̜ois Alexandre Aubert de La (1778). Dictionnaire de la noblesse, contenant les généalogies, l'histoire & la chronologie des familles nobles de France, l'explication de leur armes, & l'état des grandes terres du royaume ...: On a joint à ce dictionnaire le tableau généalogique, historique, des maisons souveraines de l'Europe, & une notice des familles étrangères, les plus anciennes, les plus nobles & les plus illustres ... (in French). La veuve Duchesne. pp. 125–129. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  5. ^ Roque, Louis de la (1863). Armorial de la Noblesse de Languedoc. Généralité de Toulouse. tom. 1 (in French). p. 288. Retrieved 29 July 2022.