FOURTH DUKE D'AVARAY
ANGEL EDOUARD THEOPHILE DE BÉSIADE (1802-1887)
Duke from 1859-1887
Son of the preceding Duke.
He married Mathilde de Rocheouart de Mortemart (1802-1887) on 2 February 1825 .
Her father was Victor Louis Victurnien of Rochechouart d Montemart .Count of the Empire.
They had two children;-
1. Antonie Besiade D'Avaray.(1825-1897)
In 1847 she married Auderic de Moustier (1823-1888)
2. Jules Victor Camille Besiade D'Avaray 1827-1894)
Married Armande Sequier (1827-1894) in 1855.
Chateau d' Brissac. Mortemart family's home.
Portrait of Henri d'Artois, Count of Chambord (1820-1883).
At the bottom of the document is an autograph signed by his hand:
"Given to the Duchess of Avaray, Lucerne, June 27, 1862, Henry".
"Comtesse Antonia D'Avaray du Moustier et son fils Edouard"
Countess Auderic de Moustier.
Their daughter Louise Marie ( Antonie) (1825-1897) married
Edouard Antide Leonel Auderic- Count de Moustier (1823-1888)
She was killed in the Charity Fire on 1897-The BAZAR DE LA CHARITE was an annual charity event organized by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris from 1885 onward. It is best known for the fire at the 1897 bazaar that claimed 126 lives, many of them aristocratic women, the most eminent of whom was the Duchess of Alençon, sister of the famous Empress Sissie of Austria and one time fiancée of King Ludwig 11 of Bavaria.
On May 3, the Bazar had a successful dry run in which 4,500 francs were earned. On May 4 the papal nuncio arrived at 3 p.m. and chatted with the Duchesse d'Alençon before departing. Sales were brisk, the women looked lovely in filmy light dresses, the Duchesse d'Alençon handsome in black satin with a long train, her hair dressed with a new, and, as it turned out, highly inflammable lotion. By 4 p.m. there were 1,600 or 1,700 visitors. Time to start up the cinema camera, which, since there was no electricity, was illuminated by a Molteni ether lamp. The projectionist, unable to see clearly, asked his assistant for more light. The assistant struck a match. An explosion: flames spread across the ceiling, hot tar dropped from the roof onto lawn and chiffon dresses, the entire structure burned so violently and so rapidly that within 10 minutes nothing was left but the dying and the dead. Eyewitness accounts of the inferno are of a horror that would not be considered printable today - wedding rings annealed to fleshless fingers, melted combs fused to scalps - and the tales of rescue attempts are not always reliable. Waiting coachmen plunged into the flames to rescue their mistresses, or failed to according to the highly politicized press. Some concierges in the area, which was still fashionably residential, are said to have shut their doors to the pleas and cries; the doors to the Rothschild stable were opened wide. One woman described how she stepped over bodies, not all of them dead, to get out. The Duc d'Alençon escaped; his duchess stayed at her post "almost as if she were awaiting death," someone said. Paris's most fashionable undertaker was told to supply in haste a large number of pine coffins and then changed them to better quality when he learned who would lie in them. The usual figure of about 125 dead is only an estimate and does not include those who died later. The bodies were for the most part so badly burned that only a scrap of clothing or a ring served for identification, with many tragic errors. The Duchesse d'Alençon, who had been reported safe, was identified by her teeth, leading to the new discipline of forensic dentistry.
He married Mathilde de Rocheouart de Mortemart (1802-1887) on 2 February 1825 .
Her father was Victor Louis Victurnien of Rochechouart d Montemart .Count of the Empire.
They had two children;-
1. Antonie Besiade D'Avaray.(1825-1897)
In 1847 she married Auderic de Moustier (1823-1888)
2. Jules Victor Camille Besiade D'Avaray 1827-1894)
Married Armande Sequier (1827-1894) in 1855.
Anne Victurnienne Mathilde de Rochechouart de Mortemart is the youngest daughter of Victor Louis Victurnien de Rochechouart de Mortemart, count of the Empire (1780-1834) of the Chateau's Rambouillet and of Anne Eléonore Pulchérie de Montmorency-Fosseux (1776-1863 ), his wife.
She married in 1825 with Ange Édouard Théophile de Bésiade, third Duke of Avaray, cavalry officer under Charles X and president of the Agricultural Circle. She is the mother of two children, Antonie de Bésiade d'Avaray (1825-1897), countess Audéric Du Moustier, and Jules Victor Camillede Bésiade (1827-1894), 4th Duke of Avaray on the death of his father. The Duchess of Avaray, renowned for her conversation, held a popular salon for fifty years in her hotel in the rue de Grenelle in the Faubourg Saint-Germain. She died of a syncope in her castle of d'Avaray.
Madame le Duchess d'Avaray -nee Mortemart. 1860.
Chateau d 'Ramblouitte
Chateau d' Brissac. Mortemart family's home.
Bedroom in the Chateau de Brissac.
Louis Victor De Rouchchouart.
2nd Duke of Montmarte 1636-1688.
Duke de Vivonne
Ancestors of the Matilde -Duchess D'Avaray.
Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart. Duke of Mortemart (1600-1675 )
Jean-Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart.
Ninth Duke 'd Mortemart 1757-1771.
Marquis d' Everly .Prince de Tonnay -Charente.Pair de France.
Great-Grandfather of Matilde Duchess d'Avaray.
Victorian-Bonaventure -Victor de Rouchchouart Montemart 1817-1823
Marquis de Montemarte.
Grandfather of the Duchess d'Avaray.
Brother of Matilde Duchess D'Avaray/
Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart
(10 February 1847 – 3 February 1933),
Duchess of Uzès
She was the niece of Matilde. Duchess D'Avaray,
Francoise-Athanasius de Rochechouart de Mortemart,
Marquise of Montespan (1640 – 1707)
Madame de Montespan was the most celebrated mistress of the Sun King Louis XIV of France by whom she had seven children.The King legitimized all the children born from this liaison, and they were given the name Bourbon.
Born into one of the oldest noble families of France, the House of Rochechouart- Madame de Montespan was called by some the "true Queen of France"' during her romantic relationship with Louis XIV due to the pervasiveness of her influence at court during that time.Her so-called "reign" lasted from around 1667, when she first danced with Louis XIV at a ball hosted by the king's younger brother,Phillipe I Duke of Orléans at the Louvre Palace, until the 1680s.She is an ancestress of several royal houses in Europe, including those of Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal.
Athénaïs was considered "astonishingly beautiful" by the standards of her time. She had large, blue eyes, long, thick, corn-colored hair that fell in curls about her shoulders, and a curvaceous, voluptuous body.[She was droll, amusing and used her considerable wit- which she inherited from the Montemart side- to mock others. She also had an extravagant and demanding nature and possessed enough charm to get what she wanted. She was expensive and glorious, like the Palace of Versailles itself. Her apartments were filled with pet animals and thousands of flowers; she had a private gallery, and costly jewels were showered upon her. She was highly discriminating as regards to the quality of the gems; returning them if they did not meet her exacting standards. Her love for food and her numerous pregnancies caused her to gain weight in her late thirties.
Madame de Montespan and her children.(1677)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise-Ath%C3%A9na%C3%AFs_de_Rochechouart,_Marquise_de_Montespan
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Ninth Duke 'd Mortemart 1757-1771.
Marquis d' Everly .Prince de Tonnay -Charente.Pair de France.
Great-Grandfather of Matilde Duchess d'Avaray.
Victorian-Bonaventure -Victor de Rouchchouart Montemart 1817-1823
Marquis de Montemarte.
Grandfather of the Duchess d'Avaray.
Comte Henri De Montemart
Brother of the Duchess d'Avaray.
René de Rochechouart - Duke of Montemart (1804-1893)
Brother of Matilde Duchess D'Avaray/
Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart
(10 February 1847 – 3 February 1933),
Duchess of Uzès
She was the niece of Matilde. Duchess D'Avaray,
Francoise-Athanasius de Rochechouart de Mortemart,
Marquise of Montespan (1640 – 1707)
Madame de Montespan was the most celebrated mistress of the Sun King Louis XIV of France by whom she had seven children.The King legitimized all the children born from this liaison, and they were given the name Bourbon.
Born into one of the oldest noble families of France, the House of Rochechouart- Madame de Montespan was called by some the "true Queen of France"' during her romantic relationship with Louis XIV due to the pervasiveness of her influence at court during that time.Her so-called "reign" lasted from around 1667, when she first danced with Louis XIV at a ball hosted by the king's younger brother,Phillipe I Duke of Orléans at the Louvre Palace, until the 1680s.She is an ancestress of several royal houses in Europe, including those of Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal.
Athénaïs was considered "astonishingly beautiful" by the standards of her time. She had large, blue eyes, long, thick, corn-colored hair that fell in curls about her shoulders, and a curvaceous, voluptuous body.[She was droll, amusing and used her considerable wit- which she inherited from the Montemart side- to mock others. She also had an extravagant and demanding nature and possessed enough charm to get what she wanted. She was expensive and glorious, like the Palace of Versailles itself. Her apartments were filled with pet animals and thousands of flowers; she had a private gallery, and costly jewels were showered upon her. She was highly discriminating as regards to the quality of the gems; returning them if they did not meet her exacting standards. Her love for food and her numerous pregnancies caused her to gain weight in her late thirties.
Madame de Montespan and her children.(1677)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise-Ath%C3%A9na%C3%AFs_de_Rochechouart,_Marquise_de_Montespan
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The Duchesse d'Avaray, born of de Rochechouart-Mortemart, died on Saturday, at the castle of Avaray, in her eighty-fifth year, in the midst of the profound affiliation of her family. The letters are sent from the Marquis d'Avaray, son of the duchess; Count A. de Moustier, his son-in-law;Count d'Avaray, Count Elie d'Avaray, Count Renaud de Moustier, Count Edouard de Moustier, Count Georges de Moustier, MM. Antoine and Bernard d'Avaray, of MM. Jean and François de Moustier, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The Due d'Avaray survived his wife, after a union that lasted sixty years.
Of the three brothers of the duchess, only the Duke de Mortemart remains, former deputy of the Rhone. His second brother, former deputy of Seine-Inférieure, left an only son, today Marquis de Mortemart.The third was the father of the Duchess of Uzès. The Duchesse d'Avaray also had a sister, married to Count Hippolyte de Bernis.
The funeral will take place today in the parish church of Avaray.
January 23, 1887
"The Times- Picayune from New Orleans Louisiana USA"
THE DUCHESS D'AVARAY, who died yesterday at the age of 85, in Paris was on her paternal side a Montemart. Her mother was a Montmorency ; but even that old a noble house cannot claim kinship with the Virgin Mary, or descent from the Angel Gabriel, as do the Mortem art family. The first of the Avaray name who distinguished himself was a marquis, who for devotion to the absent royal family during Napoleon's reign was rewarded at the restoration with a dukedom; and when Louis XVIII bestowed this title on his faithful companion he also authorized the Dukedom quarter the royal arms with his own and to change the family motto into "Vicit iter durum pietas." It was to him that that fat Bourbon King gave a spittoon set with diamonds, a present which greatly scandalized pretty Mme. du Cayla and other ladies of court circles. The present Duke is the son of this favorite of Louis XVIII. On his marriage to Mile, de Montemart in 1825 they went to live in the mansion in the Rue de Grenelle that he had inherited from his father. This street of the Faubourg St. Germain contains a great many hotels belonging to ancient noble families, some of which have, however, changed hands a good many times since they were built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For more than half a century after her marriage the Duchess presided over one of the most aristocratic and typical salons of the "noble" faubourg. By her tact, distinguished manners and powerful family connections, she made her mansion one of the most influential centers of Parisian fashionable life. No social distinction was more highly esteemed than an invitation to one of her afternoon receptions, or evening dinners for which the most careful discrimination in the selection of guests was exercised. I cannot better give the accurate measure of her social influence than by saying that she was the "grande dame" of her day, who received the greatest number of real visits; at other houses people felt that they had paid their social debt when they had left their cards, but at the Hotel d'Avaray a personal call was felt to be necessary. It was not at all unusual for as many as eighty or a hundred visitors to pass up the monumental Louis XV stairway to the salon on the second floor in a single afternoon in order to pay their respects to the lady of the house. The Duchess and her principal guests were all staunch legitimates ; and since she closed her salon five years ago there has been nothing like it in French society. The Duke d'Avaray, who survives his. wife, was a cavalry officer under Charles X. On the downfall of that king the Duke accompanied, him into exile, and at his death transferred his devotion to the Count de ' Chambord, The Duchess bore him two children, the Marquis d'Avaray, who has two sons, the Counts Herbert and Elie d'Avaray, and a daughter who married the Marquis da Moustier. Besides several grandchildren there are four great grandchildren, and besides all these the death of the old Duchess throws into mourning a great many families of the Faubourg St. Germain".
The Duke d'Avaray did not survive the pain that he had felt three weeks ago at the lost of his wife. He was born the same year as the Duchess in 1802. He also dies the same year as she. His title passes to his son, Camille de Besiade d'Avaray, married to Ms. Armande Séguier, of whom he had two sons, Hubert and Elie d'Avaray.
"Journal de Monaco" February 8 1887.
Death Notice of Matilde Duchess d'Avaray
Portrait of Henri d'Artois, Count of Chambord (1820-1883).
At the bottom of the document is an autograph signed by his hand:
"Given to the Duchess of Avaray, Lucerne, June 27, 1862, Henry".
"Comtesse Antonia D'Avaray du Moustier et son fils Edouard"
Wedding invitation of the Moustier son' s wedding 1883.
Countess Auderic de Moustier.
Their daughter Louise Marie ( Antonie) (1825-1897) married
Edouard Antide Leonel Auderic- Count de Moustier (1823-1888)
Countess Auderic Moustier
She was killed in the Charity Fire on 1897-The BAZAR DE LA CHARITE was an annual charity event organized by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris from 1885 onward. It is best known for the fire at the 1897 bazaar that claimed 126 lives, many of them aristocratic women, the most eminent of whom was the Duchess of Alençon, sister of the famous Empress Sissie of Austria and one time fiancée of King Ludwig 11 of Bavaria.
On May 3, the Bazar had a successful dry run in which 4,500 francs were earned. On May 4 the papal nuncio arrived at 3 p.m. and chatted with the Duchesse d'Alençon before departing. Sales were brisk, the women looked lovely in filmy light dresses, the Duchesse d'Alençon handsome in black satin with a long train, her hair dressed with a new, and, as it turned out, highly inflammable lotion. By 4 p.m. there were 1,600 or 1,700 visitors. Time to start up the cinema camera, which, since there was no electricity, was illuminated by a Molteni ether lamp. The projectionist, unable to see clearly, asked his assistant for more light. The assistant struck a match. An explosion: flames spread across the ceiling, hot tar dropped from the roof onto lawn and chiffon dresses, the entire structure burned so violently and so rapidly that within 10 minutes nothing was left but the dying and the dead. Eyewitness accounts of the inferno are of a horror that would not be considered printable today - wedding rings annealed to fleshless fingers, melted combs fused to scalps - and the tales of rescue attempts are not always reliable. Waiting coachmen plunged into the flames to rescue their mistresses, or failed to according to the highly politicized press. Some concierges in the area, which was still fashionably residential, are said to have shut their doors to the pleas and cries; the doors to the Rothschild stable were opened wide. One woman described how she stepped over bodies, not all of them dead, to get out. The Duc d'Alençon escaped; his duchess stayed at her post "almost as if she were awaiting death," someone said. Paris's most fashionable undertaker was told to supply in haste a large number of pine coffins and then changed them to better quality when he learned who would lie in them. The usual figure of about 125 dead is only an estimate and does not include those who died later. The bodies were for the most part so badly burned that only a scrap of clothing or a ring served for identification, with many tragic errors. The Duchesse d'Alençon, who had been reported safe, was identified by her teeth, leading to the new discipline of forensic dentistry.
The Bazar de la Charité was an annual charity event organized by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris from 1885 onwards. It is best known for the fire at the 1897 bazaar that claimed 126 lives, many of them aristocratic women, the most eminent of whom was the Duchess of Alençon, née Duchess Sophie in Bavaria,[1] sister of the famous Empress Sisi and onetime fiancée of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
The Bazar de la Charité was held annually in a variety of locations by a consortium of charitable organizations that shared renting fees, reducing costs and grouping potential buyers.
Fire of 1897
In 1897 the Bazar was held in a large wooden shed, 80 by 13 meters, at Rue Jean-Goujon 17, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Within this shed a fantasy medieval street was built with wood, cardboard, cloth and papier-mache. Exits were not properly marked.[2] These incidences would contribute considerably to the disaster.[3] A novel attraction at this Bazar was a cinematography.
On the afternoon of 4 May, the second of the planned four days of the bazaar, the projectionist's equipment (using a system of ether and oxygen rather than electricity) caught fire.[The resulting blaze, and the panic of the crowd, claimed the lives of 126 people, mostly aristocratic women. Over 200 people were additionally injured from the fire.The disaster was reported nationally and internationally.
Some of the visitors fleeing through the courtyard were saved by the cook and manageress of the Hôtel du Palais, M. Gauméry and Mme Roche-Sautier (respectively), who helped them escape the fire through the kitchen windows to the adjoining building.[6] The identification of charred remains by the use of dental records was a landmark in the early history of forensic dentistry.[7] Among the victims was Henri Feulard, a leading French dermatologist.
In the aftermath of the disaster, an anonymous benefactor donated 937,438 francs to the charitable purposes for which the bazaar had been organised, equivalent to the amount raised by the previous year's bazaar.[8]
Chapel of Our Lady of Consolation
An expiatory chapel, Notre-Dame de Consolation, was built on the location of the Bazar. This chapel is dedicated to victims of fire and serves the Italian Catholic community in Paris.
More information here about the fire:-
Antonie's husband -Count Moustier was a French explorer and a writer.
Count Auderic de Moustier and his son.
Their son - Jean Marie Victor de Moustier -
died at the Chateau D'Avaray on October 17 1874 at the age of 17.
"Voyage from Constantinople to Ephesus"
by Auderic de Moustier.
One of Moustier's sketches in his book.
His bother - Desle Marie Francois Rene Lionel - (1817- 1869)
Marquis de Moustier was Ambassador to Constantinople.
where he died in 1888.
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FIFTH DUKE D"AVARAY
JULES VICTOR CAMILLE DE BEZIADE (1827-1894)
Duke from 1887-1894.
Son of the previous.
Camille Duke of Avaray, the Count of Bourbon-Basset, Ligier de Saint-Pierre, de Barberey, Prince Georges Stirbey (son of the Wallachian prince Barbu Ştirbei) and the Baron de Hauteclocque.
Camille married Antoinette Armande Irene Sequier (1835-1916) on May 2 1855.
Her parents were Pierre Armand Sequier- Baron Sequier (1803-1876) )
and Charlotte Josephine Honorine Le Peletier D' Rosanbo (1820-1880)
They had two sons:-
1. Hubert de Beziade (1856-1930)
2. Elie de Beziade (1858-1917)
Wedding invitation of the Duke d'Avaray and Armande Sequier.
Monsieur Le Comte D'Avaray -
Jules Victor Camille d Béziade
avec.
Mademoiselle Armande Sequier.
Antoinette Armande Iréne Séguier
Bénédiction Nuptiale
Donnée a Paris le Mercredi 2 Mai 1855
en L'Église de Saint Surplice
Familles apprentées:
D'Avaray; De Mortemart; De Montmorency: Seguier.
Pierre Séguier,
(born May 28, 1588, Paris—died Jan. 28, 1672,
Chancellor of France under King Louis XIII and King Louis XIV
in the critical period during which monarchical power was consolidated.
Baron Armand-Pierre Séguier, (1803-1876)
Armand, Duchess D'Avaray's father.
. 1867 illustration of the French
lawyer Armand-Pierre Seguier. Armand was advising auditor at the French
royal court in 1826. He resigned in 1848 and devoted himself to
mechanics. He became a free member of the Academy of Sciences in 1833.
French inventor of a tubular boiler with water circulation, a small
steamer and an automatic scale to weigh and distribute currencies. In
1839 he also invented the first folding camera with bellows.
He became a lawyer in 1824, then advising auditor at the royal court in 1826. He resigned in 1848 and devoted himself to mechanics, becoming a free member of the Academy of Sciences in 1833.
He died in Paris on 14 February 1876, aged 72.
Armand-Pierre Séguier (French, 1803 – 1876)
‘Still Life with Plaster Casts’1839 – 1842
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Louis Honore Felix la Peletier de Rosanbo .
Armande's maternal ancestor.
Birth announcement of Hubert Béziade 'd Avaray. .
Le Comte D'Avaray ( Jules Victor Camille d' Béziade d'Avaray)
et La Comtesse (née Antoinette Armande Iréne Séguier)
Pour la naissance de leur fils
Edouard Joseph Hubert Marie d' Béziade d'Avaray
Paris le 15 Avril 1856.
Rose their daughter-in-law who married Hubert describes them in her book as follows:-
" My handsome father-in-law Camille liked me and I was very fond of him.He was a gentle soul,lacking decision ,completely dominated by his wife Armand's force of character and imense fortune over which she always kept close control. She was not of equal rank as her husband .She was a thoroughly unpleasant woman with obnoxious habits. She had pretty feet and hands and snappy black eyes but her skin was greasy and yellow and rarely washed out of consideration for her health. Her lips were thin and tightly pinched.She went to the best couturiers in Paris but always looked unkempt. She was extremely intelligent and well versed in law and wrote with some ability. Her attitude towards me was complex.I was good tempered and understood her and humored her. but got the feeling that she saw me as an intruder. In the beginning she allied herself with me against her son "Will he never stop gambling ?" "Take him with you where he can't gamble!" Later on I was to blame for all her son's trespasses.
Armande would now and then permit herself to trespass gleefully on the forbidden ground of romance and adventure, urging me to tell her stories of my gay activities. All of a sudden wrapping herself in frigidity she would stop me suddenly;"Enough of this foolery. I only wanted to see how far you go.One day you will go too far! I learned to watch for and avoid the trap."
Armande's family Chateau Mareil le Gyon.
From"The Last of a Race" the book by Rose Mercy-Argenteau their daughter in law.
"The Chateau Mareil- le- Gyon belonged to the Sequier family.It was situated close to Paris and a convenient distance to travel .Armande made the rules, so as it was her family's home .that was where the family spent their summers. The Chateau D'Avaray was in the Loire Valley and too far.The old Duke and his wife spent their summers there. It suited Hubert ,and me just fine as we were closer to Paris if the country life got a bit too boring.
The large room were almost bare of furniture- but what was there where of the best quality. Big tapestries and wall hanging with priceless antiques and heavy silver. . The lonesome country life bored Hubert and he did not even spend Sunday with the family but sped back to Paris as soon as he could. I when to church with the elders and attended the receptions my mother-in-law arranged.
The food was as odd as the house and its furniture. It was abundant- first soup. an entrée ,fish, roast, a cold dish ,two vegetables and to end it all cheese and dessert .It exactly tasted the same owing to the Duchess's strange fancy to a "roux" -a brown butter sauce covering every dish. Even the old Duke who who rarely summoned the spirit to criticize anything was irritated by the constant appearance of this sauce at dinner time and would call out in despair :-"Enfin pourquoi toujours ce roux? Pourquoi pas pour changer quelquefois une sauce blanche méme?" Translated-" Why the brown sauce every day -can't we have a white sauce for a change," The old Duchess reply was always the same -" A white sauce is nice but the brown sauce has more nutrition."
Armande- Duchess d'Avaray and her daughter-in-law Rose had a battle over Antoine -her grandson- who was next in line to be Duke.After Hubert and Rose's scandalous divorce Armande went to court to keep the boy in France when Rose returned to Belgium to live. Rose had the boy abducted from the Chateau D'Avaray when he was six years old but he was soon returned to France.Later on he spent more time with his mother but when he was 16 she found him in bed with his tutor's wife.When she fired the tutor and his wife- Antoine left with them and the old Duchess took them in.
--------------
"Society in Paris"
By Count Paul Vasili.
"The present Count d'Avaray is a gentleman of about sixty years of age, who married Mademoiselle Sêguier. He never cared for the stormy life of a politician, and the intimate joys of domestic life were sufficient to fill his time. His two sons are married:one Hubert Beziade is the husband of Mademoiselle de Mercy Argenteau , the other son Eli that of Mademoiselle Hinnisdael
The first of these ladies is a person of rare beauty, full of life freshness and health.She reminds one of a portrait by Rubens,,and cheers up our responding age with her joyous, vibrating and perhaps a little too self -asserting personality. Her beauty is aristocratic and accomplished in every respect,, but her mind is not so refined. She allows herself to be carried away by joy and the impulses of her youth, and I have detected in her a love for reality in preference to ideals- which makes her rather vulgar and unpoetic. She sees the broad lines of the world but does not grasp its fine details. Were I not afraid to appear too severe I would liken her charm, proceeding from that beautiful person ,to the loud notes of a brass band , after listening to which the sweet tones of the fiddles and flutes are in a string quartet.
The Comtesse D'Avaray is very different from her sister-in-law.Though not regular her features are striking and anything but commonplace: Her mind is lively and ready witted , her judgement uncommonly independent and her principles are most straightforward .There is a certain piquancy in the contrast existing between great self-will ,and strong resolution and an unconventional mind.The Comtesse Davaray is a very reserved and seems,at first sight not possessed of great powers of conversation; but as soon as she speaks one is struck by the rare originality of her mind and the degree of solid knowledge, which young though she is, she has managed to acquire."
![Catalogue des tableaux et objets d'art principalement du XVIIIe siècle [...] : [vente du 5 juin 1919]](https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/i/?IIIF=/8d/ad/81/4a/8dad814a-d528-4369-8d06-9e428caed385/iiif/1003_doucet_CV04569_19190606_000001.tif/full/!500,500/0/default.jpg)
Catalog of the Duchess D'Avaray's auction in Paris on June 6 1919.
Armande de Bésiade, née Séguier, Duchess of Avaray (1835-1916) was the wife of Jules-Victor-Camille de Bésiade, 5th Duke of Avaray (1827-1894);
"Catalog of paintings and objects d'art mainly form the eighteenth century.
Two important paintings by Vincent (1778) relating to history of the Duchesse D'Avaray' s family in Loraine.
Sculptures and marble busts by Breton (1776). Ceramics and various objects bronzed and furnishing, Clocks and various chairs of the eighteen century .Pieces from the Louis XV and Louis XVI period.
All this has been put to auction after the the death of Armande- Duchesse D'Avaray .Content is from the Chateau Mareil-le-Guyon (Seine-et-Oise) The chateau was inherited from her father, was sold on her death.
The auction will take place at the Hotel Drouot Paris on Friday June 6 1919 at 2:00 pm."
When Armande married the Camille the Duke D'Avaray she kept tight control on her money She never had a good relationship with her son Hubert -as he was a big gambler and when she died her money went to her grandson Antoine.The Duchess died at the age of 89 in 1916 A few years before she started spending money and squaring her fortune ,that she was so careful with all her life. Her two sons- Hubert and Eli Beziade had to try and cover the debt she incurred.They decided to auction off some of the treasures that the family housed in the Hotel D'Avaray in Paris as well as at the Chateau Mareil-le-Guyon . Auctions were held in Paris and in New York where the antiques fetched very good prizes. This helped to cover the cost of the old Duchess's spending.Soon after, in 1920 they sold the Hotel D'Avaray to the the Dutch to use as their Embassy in Paris.
Even Enrico Caruso the famous tenor bought an imperial gown from the auction in New York City .Several Universities like Harvard and Detroit as well as the Metropolitan and Brooklyn Museums bought from the auction.
The painting below was purchased by the Museum of Versailles at the Paris auction.
Painting that hung in the Chateau Mareil -by Francoise-Andre Vincent
The Marquise of La Galaiziere being created Chancellor of Loraine.
This was Armande Sequier's ancestor.
Embroidered silk top -18th century.
From the Duc D'Avaray Collection.
Metropolitan Museum .New York.
In March 1922 Jules Ratzkowsku ,the art appraisal of the French Government .brought another art collection of the Duc d'Avaray to Houston Texas to be auctioned off. The collection was on view for two weeks in the Rice Parlors.It was valued at $2,000.000.
A consisted of a wealth of fine paintings, rich tapestries ,sculptured ivories and antique furniture, Ancient relics in bronze and painted china.A silver banqueting service by the French silversmith J B C Odiot .This was a wedding gift from Emperor Napoleon in 1803 to the Duc d"Avaray .A seven hundred year old hand carved cupboard a gift from the Queen of Spain. A Sevres vase with the crest of the Duc d' Richelieu on it. Drawing room furniture covered in silk damask priced at $20.000 Also some Eugene Giliany paintings.
Painting by Eugene Giliany. "Bell Epoch "Paris.
Painting by Eugene Giliany. "Bell Epoch "Paris.
Chicago Tribune- 1916.
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SIXTH DUKE D'AVARAY.
EDWARD JOSEPH HUBERT MARY de BEZIADE (1856-1930)
Duke from 1894-1930.Son of the previous Duke.
Duke from 1894-1930.Son of the previous Duke.
He married on 5 February 1883 in Paris France to Rosalie (Rose) de Mercy Argenteau.
She was born in 1862 in Liége Belgium and died in 1825 in Tampa. Florida. USA.
They had one son:-
Antoine-Hubert-Louis-Camille-Maurice Béziade ( 1885.-1921)
(Divorced February 3, 1892.)
The Duke on the right with his wife Rose and her uncle the Prince Chamay.
She was born in 1862 in Liége Belgium and died in 1825 in Tampa. Florida. USA.
They had one son:-
Antoine-Hubert-Louis-Camille-Maurice Béziade ( 1885.-1921)
(Divorced February 3, 1892.)
The Duke on the right with his wife Rose and her uncle the Prince Chamay.
Rose's impression of the Duke of D'Avaray in her own words:-
"Hubert was a good looking ,well groomed, extremely self satisfied young man His naturally curly hair was carefully combed and flattened out as if ironed. In spite of his looseness of features , his puffy yellow-white skin, his lightly bulging eyes of insipid blue, the tout ensemble was not unpleasing He was tall well built but the absolute lack of athletic exercise, or any outdoor sports, made him at twenty five more like a stately majordomo than a alert active young man. A scion of the Royalist party bending a knee to ask in marriage the only daughter of an ardent Bonapartist because she happened to be a belle of the season. He agreed to my selection of a bride as he would have agreed to the purchase of a good looking horse or a fine ornament.- with no feeling of delicacy."
CARNET D'UN MONDAIN :-
A crazy world at the marriage of the Count of Avaray with Mlle de Mercy-Argenteau.
One hour in line to arrive to greet the happy couple.
Miss Rose de Mercy pale and ravishing in her ultra-simple dress, a Christian vestal skirt, in white wool, with a long train, sliding on the carpets with softness and softness swan plumage. Corsage of large white silk in breastplate, molding its slender waist. The hair Coises la Malvina (it is the new fashion, borrowed from the Restoration), and a large veil of tulle enveloping all the toilet.,
Her mother- the Countess de Mercy-Argenteau, so perfectly beautiful and graceful, with her blond hair, her queen like profile and her elegant figure, seemed like the bride's sister .
She had chosen a very serious dress, all in black velvet, with such a robe. An old gold hat, crested on the dazzling gold of her hair. Couldn't be more severe and she only looked prettier. Poor countess! One does what one can!
Near rgw Count of Avaray, the Marquise d'Avaray, his mother, a very noble bathroom blue velvet eye of the King. Blue hat enhanced with old lace and crowned with feathers.
Around the newlyweds the Duchess d'Harcourt, aunt of Mlle de Mercy, in garnet velvet mixed with pale pink, with superb sable. Garnet velvet hood with a tuft of pink feathers.
The Countess d'Qultremont, sister of Madame d'Harcourt and of Count Eugène de Mercy, charming dress in slate gray velvet, all sparkling with steel. Bodice with bib, embroidered with steel. Slate velvet hat, lined with steel and crowned with feathers.
The Princess of Henin, in satin and large green velvet; Baroness de Brienen, in nuanced lapis blue; the duchessse of La Rochefoucauld Bisaccia, wrapped in a czarine pelisse in satin medlar, embellished with jet embroidery of the same color and framed with sable sable. Hood of plush medlar with bouquet of turquoise feathers.
The Maréchale de Mac-Mahon, the Maréchal et la Maréchale Canrobert, the Comtesse de Pourtalès, returned on purpose, in a moss dress and golden autumn leaf hood; the Countess of Kersaint in lilac satin; the Baroness de Noirnlont, in periwinkle blue satin, periwinkle feathered hat the Duke and Duchess of Gramont, the Prince of Leon, the Prince of Line, the Duke and Duchess of Mirepoix, the Count Karl de MercyArgenteau, the Duchess of Uzès, the Duke and Duchess of Sabran, the Duchess of Luynes, General Count Fleury, the Duke of Montmorency, General de Galliffet, the Baron and Baroness of Saint-Priest, the Count and Countess of Alidigné, viscount Maurice Fleury, Mr. Charles Bocher, the count of Alsace, the count and the countess of Beaumont, the baroness of Carayon-Latour ,. the Countess of Ayguevives, the Marquise d 'Espeuilles,the Marquis du Lau, Count Wladimirde Mostesquiou, the Prince and Princess of Béarn, the Viscountess of Bernis, Mme Gavini, the Due and Duchess of Caraman, the Prince of Bauffremont, the Count Pierre de Brissac, the Count of Rougé, the the age Baroness, Baroness Sénancourt, the Septimius Count de Dampierre, Mr. Carolus-Duran, Count Lambertye, Viscount of Janzé, Armand counts and François de Gontaut, Count Goluchowski the Gurowski count, the Marquise de Sinety , the Count and Countess of Espeuilles, the Duke and Duchess of Fitz-James, the Count and Countess of Harcourt, Countess Aymar de La Rochefoucauld, the Baron and Baroness of Beyens, the Count and Countess of Merode, the prince and princess of Ligne, the count of Toustain, the count of Praslin, the count of Béthune, etc., following the next almanac
Le Comte De Mercy -Argenteau.
Diplomat and Austrian Diplomat during the time of Maria Theresa.
He accompanied Marie -Antoinette to France when she married the French Dauphin and later became the doomed Queen of France who lost her head on the guillotine.
He accompanied Marie -Antoinette to France when she married the French Dauphin and later became the doomed Queen of France who lost her head on the guillotine.
One of Rosalie's ancestors.
Chateau Argenteau. Birthplace in Belgium.
The Last Duchess of D'Avaray.
Rosalie-(Rose) de Mercy Argenteau -Princess de Montglyon.
July 18 1862 -July 25 1925.
Rose with her son Antoine.
On the photo above the Duchess is seen in front of the Chateau d' Avaray.
Prince de Chimay. Rose's grandfather.
Rose's great grandfather Francoise-Joseph Phillipe de Riquet (1771-1843 Comte de Carman was the 16th Prince de Chamay from 1804-1843. In 1830 he bought the nearby Chateau de Menars that
belonged to Madame Pompadour. The mistress of Louis XV bought the
chateau in 1760 by selling some pearl bracelets to pay the first
installment of 1,000,000 livers.
Chateau de Menars.
Rose with her son Antoine.
Rosalie-(Rose) de Mercy Argenteau -Princess de Montglyon was born in Belgian at the Chateau Argenteau.The Princess was an intimate of kings, a masked ball butterfly for whom a ride on the Prince of Wales' yacht was a routine getaway.Her son, a pampered French marquis descended from a nobleman who saved the king of France's life, liked fast and loose cars and fast and loose friends.
Somehow private scraps of their lives ended up - covered in dust, stuffed in a crate, for sale cheap - in the Gas Plant Antique Arcade on Central Avenue .
"My dear old Nanny Goat," begins the 100-year-old letter from the Marquis D'Avaray to his mother, the Princess de Montglyon. Only the aristocracy could get away with that "Nanny Goat" without courting ridicule. The marquis' letter slams the Prince of Furstenberg (distant relation to fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg). Though rich, he cheated a musician out of a tip.
"The Prince of Furstenberg has disgusted me more than ever," the marquis huffs and puffs. ". . . he gave two francs and evidently finding it too much took back some change out of the plate."
He's apparently writing from the seaside. He tells his mother he watched a squadron of warships leave that afternoon.There are photos as well: Earlier shots show a spiffy young dandy, hand tucked into a pocket below his watch fob. Later photos show him as a man with a receding hairline of middle age. He's a soldier now. He's wearing a World War I French army uniform.
The mother strikes a different pose: plump, wrapped in black, elaborately hatted, a pedigreed pooch at her side. In one group shot she's surrounded by about 30 other swells, the men in derby s, the women in fur stoles.Among the photos and letter is the black-rimmed calling card, elegantly minimalist in the facts it conveys: Marquis D'Avaray, 85 Rue de Grenelle.
A final memento is a funerary envelope, sent in October 1917 from son to mother. Someone has died. The message ends with a reference to the war: "May God make this year a happy one for me."
The family's star ascended during the French Revolution when an earlier D'Avaray saved the future King Louis XVIII from a guillotine mob. Later in exile, the king dubbed him "my liberator."
The Princess, intimate of kings in her own right, was Rose de Mercy Argenteau, Princesse de Montglyon. In 1924, she published a memoir called "The Last of a Race."
She tells of the estrangement from her marquis son and partly explains that estrangement by saving much of the ink in the book for her pet collies.Misbehavior of the rich and famous isn't a modern invention. The princess is frank about her morphine addiction and fondness for hashish cigarettes, both of which she later conquered."So that was what I was! Just That! A helpless rag, a moribund sordid wreck, devoid of dignity, fit for the contempt of a lackey and a chambermaid!" she writes.
The Last of a Race goes silent after about 1918. You imagine an increasingly batty lady, her hair coiled under a frilly hat despite the bobbed cuts fashionable in the flapper 1920s.
She's alone. The war wiped out much of the European nobility, along with her estate, flattened by the kaiser's artillery. But there were always the dogs.
The D'Avaray's sold their lavish Parisian town house, located at 85 Rue de Grenelle. It became the embassy of the Netherlands.The marquis served in World War I, but post-war living proved more dangerous. A car crash killed him in 1921.
The aristocratic title went to his cousin. He, too, died childless, so the D'Avaray line died out in 1941. The Last of a Race was more prescient than the princess knew.
Now the family's artifacts gather dust in downtown St. Petersburg Florida USA , remnants from some long-forgotten estate sale. The pictures are pasted to scrapbook pages. The buyer was likely a 1930s version of a Princess Diana groupie.
Then the groupie died in Florida retirement and the stuff moldered in an antique dealer's crate. What are the items worth? Who knows. Everyone who knew the marquis and the princess are dead.
But for a few years in the early 1900s, the marquis was the scourge of the French Riviera. Princesses took to the spas of central Europe with Russian grand dukes. Mothers were called Nanny Goats.-and no one scoffed.
"My dear old Nanny Goat," begins the 100-year-old letter from the Marquis D'Avaray to his mother, the Princess de Montglyon. Only the aristocracy could get away with that "Nanny Goat" without courting ridicule. The marquis' letter slams the Prince of Furstenberg (distant relation to fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg). Though rich, he cheated a musician out of a tip.
"The Prince of Furstenberg has disgusted me more than ever," the marquis huffs and puffs. ". . . he gave two francs and evidently finding it too much took back some change out of the plate."
He's apparently writing from the seaside. He tells his mother he watched a squadron of warships leave that afternoon.There are photos as well: Earlier shots show a spiffy young dandy, hand tucked into a pocket below his watch fob. Later photos show him as a man with a receding hairline of middle age. He's a soldier now. He's wearing a World War I French army uniform.
The mother strikes a different pose: plump, wrapped in black, elaborately hatted, a pedigreed pooch at her side. In one group shot she's surrounded by about 30 other swells, the men in derby s, the women in fur stoles.Among the photos and letter is the black-rimmed calling card, elegantly minimalist in the facts it conveys: Marquis D'Avaray, 85 Rue de Grenelle.
A final memento is a funerary envelope, sent in October 1917 from son to mother. Someone has died. The message ends with a reference to the war: "May God make this year a happy one for me."
The family's star ascended during the French Revolution when an earlier D'Avaray saved the future King Louis XVIII from a guillotine mob. Later in exile, the king dubbed him "my liberator."
The Princess, intimate of kings in her own right, was Rose de Mercy Argenteau, Princesse de Montglyon. In 1924, she published a memoir called "The Last of a Race."
She tells of the estrangement from her marquis son and partly explains that estrangement by saving much of the ink in the book for her pet collies.Misbehavior of the rich and famous isn't a modern invention. The princess is frank about her morphine addiction and fondness for hashish cigarettes, both of which she later conquered."So that was what I was! Just That! A helpless rag, a moribund sordid wreck, devoid of dignity, fit for the contempt of a lackey and a chambermaid!" she writes.
The Last of a Race goes silent after about 1918. You imagine an increasingly batty lady, her hair coiled under a frilly hat despite the bobbed cuts fashionable in the flapper 1920s.
She's alone. The war wiped out much of the European nobility, along with her estate, flattened by the kaiser's artillery. But there were always the dogs.
The D'Avaray's sold their lavish Parisian town house, located at 85 Rue de Grenelle. It became the embassy of the Netherlands.The marquis served in World War I, but post-war living proved more dangerous. A car crash killed him in 1921.
The aristocratic title went to his cousin. He, too, died childless, so the D'Avaray line died out in 1941. The Last of a Race was more prescient than the princess knew.
Now the family's artifacts gather dust in downtown St. Petersburg Florida USA , remnants from some long-forgotten estate sale. The pictures are pasted to scrapbook pages. The buyer was likely a 1930s version of a Princess Diana groupie.
Then the groupie died in Florida retirement and the stuff moldered in an antique dealer's crate. What are the items worth? Who knows. Everyone who knew the marquis and the princess are dead.
But for a few years in the early 1900s, the marquis was the scourge of the French Riviera. Princesses took to the spas of central Europe with Russian grand dukes. Mothers were called Nanny Goats.-and no one scoffed.
Rosalie, Duchess of Avaray, Princess of Montglyon (1862 - 1925)
Archive of Associated Letters, Receipts & Ephemera from "The Most Extravagant Women in Paris".
Archive of Associated Letters, Receipts & Ephemera from "The Most Extravagant Women in Paris".
An interesting collection of just over 70 items, virtually all either letters or receipts addressed to The Duchess of Avaray, who was famously described by the San Francisco Call newspaper in 1901 as "The Most Extravagant Woman in Paris". The majority are in French, the remainder are in English. Among the many items included are:
Autograph letters to the Duchess from the author Andre Bellessort (1921 1pp als on Perrin & Cie stationery), Charles Rouillard (1903 1pp Parisian architect), Major-General (retd.) Robert Avery (1839-1912, an undated 1pp letter of introduction addressed to Tiffany & Co. regarding a scent bottle originally belonging to Marie Antoinette which the Duchess wanted to sell), the New York lawyer Paul Fuller (1917 tls), the journalist Ida Zeitlin undated 3pp als, wishing to set up a meeting to tell her side of a potential story regarding a disagreement, as well as three pages of notes in Zeitlin's hand regarding details for a possible book and film deal of the story of her life; a series of eight 1903 als to "cher Princesse" from "Mathilde", apparently from a juvenile, probably with a family connection?,
Various letters and invoices from jewelers, dressmakers, milliners requesting payment for their services, with varying degrees of politeness. An 1887 invoice from the Parisian Jewelers Fontana requests the sum of 12,623 Francs for a number of rings etc. In addition there are a number of solicitors & lawyers letters relating to legal problems and arrangements.
A couple of items of correspondence written by the Duchess, the contents often including her financial situation or the sale of jewellery ("...I must before leaving tell you how cruelly I am miserable - it is only at 5.20 that I heard Mr Bremont tell me that Mr B had failed to having this loan for me...Mr Baites is a very shady man and has left me here in the cruelest complication...he only wants me to be out of it and step in my place..."
Belgian by birth, The Comtesse Rosalie de Mercy-Argenteau led something of a wild life before (and after) her dowerless marriage to the Duke d'Avaray, one of the richest nobles in France. His fortune soon diminished following her extravagant spending - it was estimated that during an eighteen month period, she spent $100,000 on underwear alone. Following her divorce and handsome settlement in 1889, her lavish spending on luxuries still continued, often leading to financial scrapes, as some of the letters attest. She applied to get custody of their son, the Marquis d'Avarary in 1901, many believed to get a larger settlement from the Duke, though to no avail. She split her time between England and France, often going under the title of the Princess of Montglyon (an hereditary Mercy-Argenteau title), living the high life, before settling in Florida in around 1905. She lived there until her death in 1925 aged 63.
-----------------------------------------------
Antoine Marquis d'Avaray, who has just met with his death in an automobile accident in the neighborhood of Boulogne, was 35 years of' age and only son of Hubert, sixth Duke d'Avaray. He was far richer than his father, for the latter's mother, the eccentric old Duchess d'Avaray (daughter and heiress of Baron Seguier), who died in 1916, was found to have bequeathed all her fortune not to her son, but to her grandson. Relations between father and son were not of the most cordial description, and' thus it happened that the duke, finding himself with the ancestral Chateau of d'Avaray, in the department of the Lola-er-Cher, and the stately old D'Avaray family mansion, on the Rue de Grenelle, in Paris, on his hands, rented the latter on a long lease to the Dutch government for use as its legation. As such it is now occupied by Queen "Wilhelmina's envoy, Jonkheer John Loudon,.
It is understood that the property of the old Seguier Duchess of d'Avaray will now pass to her own son, the sixth duke, as the next heir of his son who has just been killed. Having no other issue by his union with Rosalie Countess de Mercy d'Argenteau, a celebrated beauty in her day, the dukedom will pass on his demise to his nephew, Count Bernard d'Avaray, only son of that late Count Elie d'Avaray who was for so many years the vice president and the most active governor of the French Jockey club.
Duke Hubert of d'Avaray is the chief of the historic house of Beziade, which was already flourishing in the Base-Pyrenees in 1314, and whose members played a most Important role in the reign of King Henry IV, winning fame for their loyalty and for their chivalrous devotion to the monarch.
An Antoine d'Avaray was grand master of the household of the royal Comte de Provence prior to the great revolution at the close of the eighteenth century. When the insurrection broke out, it was Antoine Count d'Avaray who organized all the means for his master's wonderful flight from the palace of Luxembourg and from France. The Comte de Provence narrowly escaped' capture and the fate of his unfortunate brother, Louis XVI, on the guillotine. The Comte de Provence assumed the title of Louis XVIII . Louis XVIII was not unmindful of what he owed to the Count d'Avaray, both in connection with his escape and with his devoted and unselfish service throughout all the long and dreary years of exile, for not only did he transform- in 1799 the Marquis of Avaray into a dukedom, but also caused the armorial bearings of the house to be adorned with the addition of the royal lilies of France and with the Heraldic motto, selected by the sovereign himself, of "Vicit iter durum pietas."
Society and Town: Salons: A very elegant dinner, Monday the day before yesterday, at the home of Mme Comtesse Pillet-Will, in her charming town house on rue Parquet. Among the guests:
Duc and Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld, Prince and Princesse Amédée de Broglie, Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Breteuil, Marquis d'Avaray, Comte Boni de Castellane, Vicomte Henri de Vogüé, Comte and Comtesse Frisch de Fels, Comte de Rohan Chabot, Comte de Laborde.
LE FIGARO :- 27 MAY 1908
Marquis d'Avaray Killed in Accident.
June 1921.
Antoine Marquis d'Avaray, who has just met with his death in an automobile accident in the neighborhood of Boulogne, was 35 years of' age and only son of Hubert, sixth Duke d'Avaray. He was far richer than his father, for the latter's mother, the eccentric old Duchess d'Avaray (daughter and heiress of Baron Seguier), who died in 1916, was found to have bequeathed all her fortune not to her son, but to her grandson. Relations between father and son were not of the most cordial description, and' thus it happened that the duke, finding himself with the ancestral Chateau of d'Avaray, in the department of the Lola-er-Cher, and the stately old D'Avaray family mansion, on the Rue de Grenelle, in Paris, on his hands, rented the latter on a long lease to the Dutch government for use as its legation. As such it is now occupied by Queen "Wilhelmina's envoy, Jonkheer John Loudon,.
It is understood that the property of the old Seguier Duchess of d'Avaray will now pass to her own son, the sixth duke, as the next heir of his son who has just been killed. Having no other issue by his union with Rosalie Countess de Mercy d'Argenteau, a celebrated beauty in her day, the dukedom will pass on his demise to his nephew, Count Bernard d'Avaray, only son of that late Count Elie d'Avaray who was for so many years the vice president and the most active governor of the French Jockey club.
Duke Hubert of d'Avaray is the chief of the historic house of Beziade, which was already flourishing in the Base-Pyrenees in 1314, and whose members played a most Important role in the reign of King Henry IV, winning fame for their loyalty and for their chivalrous devotion to the monarch.
An Antoine d'Avaray was grand master of the household of the royal Comte de Provence prior to the great revolution at the close of the eighteenth century. When the insurrection broke out, it was Antoine Count d'Avaray who organized all the means for his master's wonderful flight from the palace of Luxembourg and from France. The Comte de Provence narrowly escaped' capture and the fate of his unfortunate brother, Louis XVI, on the guillotine. The Comte de Provence assumed the title of Louis XVIII . Louis XVIII was not unmindful of what he owed to the Count d'Avaray, both in connection with his escape and with his devoted and unselfish service throughout all the long and dreary years of exile, for not only did he transform- in 1799 the Marquis of Avaray into a dukedom, but also caused the armorial bearings of the house to be adorned with the addition of the royal lilies of France and with the Heraldic motto, selected by the sovereign himself, of "Vicit iter durum pietas."
Antoine-Hubert-Louis-Camille-Maurice Béziade ( 1885.-1921)
Marquis d'Avaray.
Antoine Beziade's father, Hubert was alive when he died so when Hubert died in 1930- the title went to his brother Elie's son.As he had no children the line became extinct at his death in 1941.
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SEVENTH DUKE D'AVARAY.
MARIE BERNARD EDOUARD de BEZIADE (1884-1941)
Duke from 1930-1941,
Nephew of the preceding Duke
.
LINE EXTINCT.
Mother of the last Duke D'Avaray
Melanie Marie Gabrielle Antoinette d'Hinnisdal. (1861-1911)
Married 9 February 1884 to Elie de Besiade D'Avaray (1858-1917)
They had one son ;-
Bernard Edouard de Besiade D'Avaray (1884-1941)
The last Duke D'Avaray.
Marriage Certificate .D'Avaray Hinnisdal.
Herman -Count of Hinnisdal.
Count Elie d'Avaray, appointed the day before yesterday President of the Jockey Club, belongs to the very ancient and illustrious family of Besiade, a native of Bearn, known since the fourteenth century; the name of Avaray comes from a seigniors of Orléanais and was added under Henri IV. Thréophile de Besiade was Marquis of Avaray in 1667. He was covered with glory during the Spanish war of succession;it is found on many battlefields, including Denain.
The friend and devoted adviser of Louis XVIII in exile was made duke in 1814, peer of France in 1815, duke and peer in 1818. His descendants were constantly the defenders of monarchical and religious ideas. The present duke, brother of the new president of the Jockey Club, is the fourth Duke of Avaray. Their mother, the Duchess of Avaray, belongs, as we have said, to the illustrious family of Barons Séguier.
Hinnisdal,
Hinnisdal,
Herman -Count of Hinnisdal.
Parents of Melanie Hinnisdal -mother of the last Duke of d'Avaray .
Herman d' Hinnisdal and Victorine Constance de Choiseul-Daillecourt.
She was the daughter of Raymond Joachim Ambroise Herman of Hinnisdal.
Comte d'Hinnisdal et du Saint Empire Baron de Fumal.
Eugéne d Hinnisdal (1864-1911)
Brother of Melanie Marie Gabrielle Antoinette d'Hinnisdal as a boy .
Chateau de Regnière-Écluse.
Since its acquisition around the year 1039 the Hinnisdal family has owned the chateau for nearly a millennium.The year 1553 is engraved on the stone fireplace of the library . Herman, Count of Hinnisdal, landscaped the park and castle in its current form.
Domaine de Chantemerle- also belonged to Bernard the last Duke D'Avaray .
He inherited from his mother's family.
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Dukes of D'Avaray in chronological order :-
First :- 1799-1811 : Antoine Louis François de Béziade (1759-1811),
Second:- 1817-1829 : Claude Antoine de Béziade (1740-1829)
Father of the previous.
Father of the previous.
Third:- 1811-1859 : Joseph Théophile Parfait de Béziade (1770-1859)
Son of the previous.
Son of the previous.
Fourth:-1859-1887 : Ange Édouard Théophile de Béziade (1802-1887)
Son of the previous.
Son of the previous.
Fifth :-1887-1894 : Jules Victor Camille de Béziade (1827-1894)
Son of the previous.
Son of the previous.
Sixth:- 1894-1930 : Édouard Joseph Hubert de Béziade (1856-1930)
Son of the previous.
Son of the previous.
Seventh :- 1930-1941 Marie Bernard Édouard de Béziade
.Nephew of the previous.
(Line Extinct)
.Nephew of the previous.
(Line Extinct)
On the side of the church in Avaray is the side chapel where the Béziade family is buried.
Coat of Arms - Dukes of Avaray.
Marquis Claude Theophile de Béziade. (1655-1745)
Positions of the bodies in the crypt.
Sauveterre -Bearn.
BESIADE FAMILY.
AVARAY, a French territorial title belonging to a family some of whose members have been conspicuous in history. The Béarnaise family named Bésiade moved into the province of Orléanais in the 17th century, and there acquired the estate of Avaray. In 1667 Théophile de Bésiade, marquis d'Avaray, obtained the office of grand bailiff of Orleans, which was held by several of his descendants after him. Claude Antoine de Bésiade, marquis d'Avaray, was deputy for the bailliage of Orleans in the states-general of 1789, and proposed a Declaration of the Duties of Man as a pendant to the Declaration of the Rights of Man; he subsequently became a lieutenant-general in 1814, a peer of France in 1815, and duc d'Avaray in 1818. Antoine Louis François, comte d'Avaray, son of the above, distinguished himself during the Revolution by his devotion to the comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., whose emigration he assisted. Having nominally become king in 1799, that prince created the estate of Ile-Jourdain a duchy, under the title of Avaray, in favour of the comte d'Avaray, whom he termed his “liberator.”
"Encyclopedia Britannica 1911"
Besiade family hails from Béarn, where they were originally named of VOYRIE,
They became Dukes of Avaray, in 1799.
This family gave several lieutenants General of the armies of the King and of the Knights of the Holy Spirit. They enjoyed the honors of the Court from 1754 to 1782. Claude-Antoine de Besiade, marquis of Avaray, lieutenant-general, was named peer of France in 1815, master of the wardrobe of the King, in 1816, and Duke of Avaray.
Arnaud of the Voyrie, said of Besiade, Sauveterre, which:
Jean, who follows;
Archambault, who died before 1639, lieutenant of the baile of Sauveterre in 1586, including one girl, legatee of his uncle in 1639;
Jacques de Besiade said Sauveterre, Lord of Avaray and the mound, Munein and Saint-Martin, died in limestone, Armagnac, on 16 October 1639, buried on 20 October in the Church of Avaray, first Footman's wardrobe of Henri IV and Louis XIII
John of Voyrie, Besiade said, regent (schoolmaster) of the town of Sauveterre in 1595, married to Jeanne to Bachoue 1575, of Andrein, which:
Jean, who follows;
Don't..., legatee of his uncle in 1639, married to Espiute near Sauveterre in N...
Don't..., legatee of his uncle in 1639, married to René DUBOIS, sewing (41)
John of Voyrie, Besiade said, Lord of Munein, married by contract at Sauveterre April 23, 1613, Anne Arrindolle, daughter of John of Arrindolle, notary and jurat of Sauveterre, which:
Jacques, Squire, Lord of Saint-Martin, Munein, Oreite, died before 1665, married by contract signed on 16 July 1658 to Catherine of kinks, Lady of the domengeature of St. Mary of crank in Ossau, Abbess of Aste and Belesten, daughter of Jean of kinks, crank gear Lord of Sainte-Marie de crank, and Catherine Espalungue, and remarried to Joseph of Sorberio;
Theophilus, who follows;
Jean-Jacques, Lord of Oreite, who died shortly after 1663, burial in the Cathedral of Lescar, doctor of theology, Canon of Lescar, Buzy cure;
Jean-Jacques, Lord of Saint-Gladié, priest, Canon of Lescar, Buzy cure;
John, Lord of Camu, d. March 3, 1701, priest, Canon of Lescar; in Lescar
Mary, died at Pau on 31 March 1676, married by contract of January 5, 1635 to Jean de Gassion, baron Camou and Audaux, marquis of Gassion, first president to the Parliament of Navarre;
Anne, married by contract of December 13, 1646, to Pierre de Pedemont, Lord of Mount, Adviser to the Parliament of Navarre, and widower of Marie of kinks.
Theophile de Besiade, Knight, Lord of Avaray, Munein, of Oreite, of Saint-Gladié, Camu, of Saint-Martin, born about 1617, and private, buried in Avaray December 30, 1681, ordinary gentleman of the Chamber of the King, his councils of State Advisor Advisor of the Duke of Orléans, grand-bailli of Orléans on April 26, 1667, first wife by contract signed in Paris on 23 March 1652 to Marie of Estangs, daughter of Estangs, Lord of Escrennes Theodoric, and Anne Bigot, which:
Claude-Theophilus, who follows;
Louis, baptized in Avaray March 28, 1656;
Marie-Charlotte, who died in 1688, married to Francis of ESCOUBLEAU, Marquess of Sourdis, Lord of Gaujac Estillac, died at the castle of Gaujac (33) September 21, 1707;
Marie-Françoise, born in 1664, buried in Avaray on 3 June 1692.
Theophile de Besiade married at Marboué (28) on 1 August 1665 to Dorothea Barthon Montbas, daughter of François Barthon, Viscount Montbas, and Denise of mesh, Pierre de Neufchaise, Lord of Persac widow, remarried to Guillaume Millet. Deputy Governor of the Dauphin,
Claude-Théophile Besiade, marquis of Avaray, baron of Lussay and Courbouzon, the brush-Montmort, Monein, of Camu, Oreite, Saint-Martin, Saint-Gladié, born in Paris on 2 may 1655, died in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, April 7, 1745, Knight of the orders of the King, Grand-bailli of Orleans, lieutenant general of the armies of the King, Ambassador to Switzerland, lieutenant-general of the Government of Picardy and the towns of Péronne, Roye and Montdidier December 23, 1718, Grand Cross of Saint-Louis on July 3, 1719, Knight of the Holy Spirit 2 February 1739, married by contract on November 6, 1691, Catherine - Angélique Foucault, born in 1662, died in Paris on April 27, 1728, daughter of Joseph Foucault, Councillor of State, Secretary of the Board, Director of finance and intendant of Caen, and Marie Métezeau, which:
Catherine Angélique, born in 1695, died at Pau on January 14, 1763, buried St. Martin's Church, married by contract of December 3, 1719 to Jean-Louis, marquis of United;
Jean Théophile, County of Avaray, born October 29, 1696, died of a wound received at the battle of Guastalla on 10 October 1734, brigadier of the armies of the King;
Olympus, born in 1698, died in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, August 25, 1776, married to André Le Picart, marquis of Aubercourt;
Charles-Theophile, who follows.
Charles-Theophile BESIADE, marquis of Avaray, baron of Lussay, Courbouzon, of the brush-Montmort, etc..., born November 4, 1701, baptized in Avaray November 9, dead of smallpox to the army of Flanders in Antwerp on May 30, 1746, grand-bailli of sword of Orleans, Marshal of the camps and armies of the King in 1744, married by contract on 13 December 1735 and in Paris, Saint-Roch, on 13 December, Marguerite - Elisabeth Mégret to D'etigny, daughter of Francois-Nicolas Mégret, Lord of D'etigny, Passy, Councillor of State, large usher of France, and Marguerite Beaucousin;
N..., born and died in Avaray November 9, 1736;
Théophile Charles, marquis of Avaray, born in 1737, died in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, April 17, 1757, colonel of the grenadiers to France in 1754, married at Versailles on 1 July 1754 to Elisabeth-Guillotine-Francoise of Baschi, daughter of François, count of Baschi Saint-Estève, and Charlotte-victory the Normant of Étioles;
Claude-Antoine, which follows.
Claude-Antoine de Besiade, marquis then (August 16, 1817) Duke of Avaray, born on 16 July 1740 in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, who died on 25 April 1829, Pair de France, Knight of the orders of the King, lieutenant general of the armies of the King, master of the wardrobe of the King, grand-bailli sword of Orleans, Deputy of the nobility of the Orleans in the States General, married on 5 April 1758 to Angelique-Adelaide-Sophie de Mailly, born in 1740, died July 25, 1823, daughter of Louis de Mailly, County of Rubempré, marquis of Nesle, and Anne-Francoise-Elizabeth the Arbaleste of the borders, including:
Antoine-Louis-François, County and (1799), then Duke of Avaray, born in Paris on 8 January 1759, d. in Madeira on 4 June 1811, and was buried in the Church of Avaray, Commander of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, Marshal of the camps and armies of the King, Captain of the guards of the County of Provence in 1791;
Adelaide-Henriette-Elisabeth, born February 2, 1762 in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, deceased in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, July 24, 1785, Lady to accompany the Countess of Artois, married in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, on June 7, 1781, Edme-Charles-François, marquis of serious, born in 1754, killed at Quiberon on 21 July 1795, son of Charles-Francois, serious count, Lord of Durfort, and Marie-Anne-Eleonore de Grave of Solas;
Augustine-Olympus-Sophie, born July 7, 1765 in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, died in 1809, married in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, November 9, 1784 to Antoine-René of Escoubleau de Sourdis, son of Rene-Alexandre of Escoubleau, marquis of Sourdis, and Marie-Françoise Beudet;
Armand-Louis-Théophile, born September 11, 1766 in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, shot at Quiberon in 1795, Knight of Malta;
Joseph-Théophile-perfect, following.
Joseph-Théophile-perfect Besiade, Duke of Avaray, Pair de France, born October 22, 1770 in Paris, Saint-Sulpice, d. 14 April 1859, lieutenant general of the armies of the King in 1824, married to Aimée Julie Michel of Drak'tharon, born on February 25, 1800 in 1783, died in Blois on 1 October 1859, daughter of Pierre - François Michel, Drak'tharon, and Sophie de Besne County:
Sophie-Angelique-Laure-Rosalie, born in 1801, married in 1819 to Charles Shakerley;
Angel-Edouard-Theophilus, who follows;
Louis-Charles-Théophile, born on 26 April 1818, deceased in Baden-Baden November 30, 1878, first marriage in April 1867 to Jeanne HUCK, married on 19 April 1868 in Paris to Emilie Hirth, daughter of Charles Hirth and Albertine Merkel, without issue .
Angel-Edouard-Théophile of BESIADE, Duke of Avaray, born in Avaray November 22, 1802, died February 2, 1887 in Paris, gentleman of the Chamber of King Charles X, married in Paris on 1 February 1825 to Anne Mathilde Victurnienne de Rochechouart-Mortemart, born in Paris on the 9th August 1802, died in the castle of Avaray January 1, 1887, daughter of Victor-Louis-Victurnien de Rochechouart, Mortemart, and Pulcheria Eleonore de Montmorency marquis, which:
Jules-Victor-Camille, who follows;
Louise-Marie-Antonie, born in Paris on November 20, 1825, died in Paris on 4 April 1897, married in Paris on 11 May 1847 to Antoine-Antide-Leonel-Auderic, County of Moustier, born June 12, 1823, died in the chapel-under-Crécy March 25, 1888, son of Clement Edward,. Marquis Moustier, and Marie-Caroline-Antoinette de La Forest.
Jules-Victor-Camille BESIADE, Duke of Avaray, born in Paris November 29, 1827, d. at St.-Le-Guyon on November 1, 1894, married to May 2, 1855-Antoinette-Armande-Irene Séguier Avaray, born in Paris on January 5, 1835, died August 9, 1916, in St.-Le-Guyon daughter of Armand-Pierre, baron Séguier, and Charlotte-Joséphine-Honorine Pelletier-of-Aunay, which:
Edward, who follows;
Élie-Marie-Pierre-Victor, County of Avaray, born in Paris, 7th arr., on 25 February 1858, d. February 11, 1917, lieutenant of cavalry, in Paris, 7th arr., staff officer, married in Paris, 7th arr., February 11, 1884 at Marie-Gabrielle-Constance-Melanie, Countess of HINNISDAL and the Holy Roman Empire, born in Paris, 7th arr., on June 14, 1861, died in Paris, 7th arr., November 12, 1911, daughter of Herman, count of Hinisdal and the Holy Roman Empire, and Victorine de Choiseul to Aillecourt,
Bernard Mary, Edward, Viscount then Duke of Avaray, last of the name, born in Paris, 7th arr., on October 26, 1884, died in Paris, 8th arr., on 27 February 1941.
Edouard-Joseph-Hubert-Marie de BÉSIADE, marquis, then Duke of Avaray, born in Paris on April 15, 1856, died in Paris on January 23, 1930, married in Paris on 3 February 1883 (divorced February 3, 1892) in Rosalie-francoise-adelaide-caroline-eugenie-marie of MERCY ARGENTEAU, born at Argenteau, Belgium, on July 18, 1862, daughter of Eugène, count MercyD' Argenteau of, and Louise Riquet of Caraman - Chimay:
Antoine Hubert-Louis-Camille-Maurice, marquis of Avaray, born in Argenteau October 1, 1885, died in an automobile accident near Boulogne-sur-Mer on May 31, 1921.
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"Lord of Sauveterre. "(Jacques de Besiade, dit Sauveterre, valet of the king's wardrobe.) -
He had from his marriage:
(i) Jacques de Besiade, Esquire, who was admitted to the States of Béarn- on August 25, 1649, for the seigniory of Saint-Alartin, which his father had donated to him, (C. 718, fos 13, v. 8) - July 16, 1658, in Bielle: Marriage contract between noble Jacques de Besiade, squire, lord of Alunein, Saint-Alartin, Oreite, and other places, assisted by: damoiselle Alarie (sic) \ TArrindolle, lady of Alunein, his mother;Messire Jean de Gassion, ordinary adviser of the king in his Council, president in the court of the parliament of Navarre, lord baron of Cajjiou, Audaux and other places, his brother-in-law; Al. Alc Pierre d'Arrindolle, Sieur d'Osserain, advisor to the King, Ordinary Master of the Accounts Chamber of Navarre, his uncle; noble Jean-Jacques de Besiade, lord of Oreite, canon of the cathedral church of Lescar, and noble Jean de Besiade, lord of Saint-Gladie, canon of the said church, his brothers, on the one hand; and damsel Catherine de Codure [Coudure], of Bielle en Ossau, lady of the domengeadure of Sainte-Alarie dud7t ~ lîeu and abbess, in her part, of Aste and Belesten, assisted by: Dame Catherine d'Espalungue, her mother, authorized by Mr. Jean de Pédemont, councilor of the king in the said court of parliament, her husband; noble Pierre de Piedmont, his brother-in-law; noble Antoine d'Espalungue, lord of Casaux de Louvie and abbot of Beost; noble Jean d'Espalungue, marshal of battle, armies of the king, sieur de Mont, his uncles; noble Antoine de Peyre, captain and lord of Saint-Abit; Al "Jacques de Laborde, of Bielle, his first cousin, Pierre de Alédalon, of Arudy, Jean de Peyre, of the place of Bielle, his uncles, Ramon de Trescaze, parish priest of Louvie-Soubiron, Jean de Trescaze, prosecutor of the king at the parsan of Ossau, Nicolas de Tresarrieu, Abcl de Trescaze, his cousins on the paternal side, noble Antoine de Camanere, Sieur de Sevignacq, Ramon de Camanere, Sieur de Pedainxs, Alc Jean de Peyre, and Paul de Bordeu, his first cousins Catherine, on the other hand, was heir to the house of Coudure and of her belongings, and constituted 12,000 dowry tournaments (E. 1867, f 20) .-- Jacques de Besiade died without posterity, and Catherine de Coudure remarried, by a contract of February 1, 1665, to the noble Joseph of Sorberio, emblazoned in No. 1 of YzArmorial (first part);
The house of Besadade d'Avaray, which for more than two hundred years has occupied such a considerable rank in the French aristocracy, hails from Bearn. Until recently she was considered to be of ancient nobility. The Chesnaye des Bois, Saint-Allais, the Chevalier de Courcelles, and the other authors who had given genealogies attributed to it a remote origin and brought back the filiation of some noble man Amanieu de Besiade to which the King of France would have On January 3, 1314, as a reward for his services, donation of thirty livres tournaments, the others at Ramond Amanieu de Besiade, Co-Lord of Muning, great-grandson of the preceding, who would have made in 1469 donation of an annual annuity of fifty morlas soils to the Carmelite monks established in Sauveterre. There exists in the memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon a severe appreciation of the origin of the Avaray Besiad; but as it is too often the case for this author to express himself in very unfair terms about the personalities who have had the misfortune to displease him, so far his attack has been of little importance. Henry IV., Said Saint-Simon, among other things, had brought two valets from Béarn, one of whom had the name Jeanne, and the other Béziade, who for a long time were valets. Beziade, Joanne's comrade, who has become Saumery's family name, had a job at the door of some city, for the entrances, which Henry IV. Had sent him and continued. The son of him continued in this profession; but he went up to work and grew rich so that his son did not want to feel it and preferred a musket. He showed valor and aptitude he had jobs in the war, he married a sister of Foucault, long after steward of Caen, finally Councilor of State, who was a woman full of spirit of intrigue and who had considerable friends. When he married he took the name of Avaray; he became lieutenant general. The family of Besiade d'Avaray had, moreover, during the great research begun in 1666, made recognize his former nobility by judgment of Mr. de Machault, intendant of Orleans several of its members had been admitted during the fifteenth century to get into the coaches of the King, and it was reasonable to suppose that she had obtained this honor only after having proved the chivalric nobility prescribed by the regulations. In reality, the family of Besiade d'Avaray obtained only by favor the judgment of maintenance of nobility granted him by M. de Machault in 1668 and was admitted to the honors of the Court only with the dispensation of proof, probably because of of his brilliant military services. We find in the manuscripts of Chérin the curious following note which was sent on November 24, 1781 to the Count de Vergennes: The proofs made in 1739 by the Marquis d'Avaray, grandfather of that of today, have for based a judgment rendered in 1668 by "M. de Machault, intendant of Orleans, and this judgment is based on false titles for the times before the last century. M. de Clerembault speaks of this judgment in these terms the titles on which this judgment was rendered were seen in originals in the year 1739 and recognized as false for all the primordial to those of the fifteenth century when the truth begins and we received them all for the proof of the Order of the Holy Ghost only because they had been admitted as good by M. de Machault, in his quality of commissioner of the King, in order to avoid a criminal trial which would have disgraced the king's commissioner. All that can be said about this family is that it is said to have originated in Béarn, that it came to settle in Orléans at the end of the reign of Henry IV, that Jacques de Besiade d'Avaray was valet of Monarch's wardrobe in 1608 and that Jacques is the great-uncle of the Knight of the Orders. It is only nowadays that the true origin of the family of Bésiade d'Avaray has been determined in a precise manner in the very remarkable genealogy that M. de Dufau de Maluquer has given in the second volume of his Armorial of Béarn. As this historian has pointed out, since the 15th century the Avaray Besiad have enough illustrations and the glorious services they rendered to their rulers are too fine titles of nobility for them to need to claim an extraction. feudal that must be relegated to the realm of fable. It follows from the work of M. de Dufau de Maluquer that the family of Bésiade d'Avaray had the primitive name that of La Vovrie and that it had for cradle the house, not noble, of the Voyrie , located in Munein, in Navarre. At the end of the sixteenth century it owned in a suburb of Sauveterre the house, also not noble, of Besiade whose name she kept. Andre de Besiade was in 1587 regent, that is to say, schoolmaster, in Sauveterre. Jean de la Voyrie performed the same duties in 1595. Jacques de Besiade, known as Sauveterre, named after his place of origin, appointed in 1608 first valet of King Henry IV's wardrobe, then usher of the Secret Council of King Louis XIII , was the craftsman of the fortune of his family became very rich. He acquired in Blaisois August 14, 1626 considerable land of Avaray which he kept the name, then by contract of April 6, 1629 land and noble houses of Munein, Oreite, Saint-Martin, Tabaille and Camu, located around Sauveterre , in Bearn, and died before December 6, 1640 without leaving posterity. Jean de la Voyrie, said of Besiade , older brother of this character, ruler in Sauveterre in 1593, had married around 1700 honest woman Jeanne de Bachoue, from an honorable family ennobled towards the end of the sixteenth century which a branch was perpetuated until today under the name of Barraute Bachoue. According to the proof of nobility made in 1779 by Theophile d'Avaray to be admitted to the Order of Malta, this contract was passed on June 13, 1578 before Michel Doliber, notary at Sauveterre, with the consent of noble Jean de Besiade, esquire, Cosgr de Muning, father of the groom but this act in which the groom is called Arnaud, instead of Jean, is obviously false. Jean de la Voyrie, otherwise of Bésiade, son of precedents, married by contract passed in Sauveterre on April 23, 1613 Anne d'Arrindolle, daughter of master Jean d'Arrindolle, notary and jurat of this city, and took in this act no nobiliary qualification. He collected by inheritance from his uncle Jacques de Besiade, said Sauveterre, Sgr d'Avaray, the noble land of Munein for which he was admitted to the states of Béarn December 6, 1640. He left two daughters whose eldest married in 1635 Marquis de Gassion, first president of the Parliament of Navarre, and four sons:
1 ° Jacques de Besiade, admitted to the States of Bearn in 1649 for the seigneury of Saint-Martin that his father had left him, died without posterity;
2 ° Theophilus, who continued the descent
3 ° Jean-Jacques, canon of Lescar, admitted to the States of Béarn in 1668 because of his lordship of Saint-Gladie, died in 1695,
4 ° Jean, canon of Lescar, admitted to the States of Béarn because of his lordship of Camu, died in 1701. The latter had his coat of arms officially registered with the General Armorial of 1696 of gold to a doguin of sand .
1 ° Jacques de Besiade, admitted to the States of Bearn in 1649 for the seigneury of Saint-Martin that his father had left him, died without posterity;
2 ° Theophilus, who continued the descent
3 ° Jean-Jacques, canon of Lescar, admitted to the States of Béarn in 1668 because of his lordship of Saint-Gladie, died in 1695,
4 ° Jean, canon of Lescar, admitted to the States of Béarn because of his lordship of Camu, died in 1701. The latter had his coat of arms officially registered with the General Armorial of 1696 of gold to a doguin of sand .
Theophilus of Bésiade, admitted to the States of Béarn in 1668 as lord of Munein, gathered in the estate of his great-uncle the domain of Avaray, in Blaisois, was ordinary gentleman of the room of the King, his adviser in his Councils of State and private, great bailiff of Orleans, found means to be maintained in his nobility on February 18, 1688 by judgment of Mr. de Machault, intendant of Orleans, after proving his filiation since 1469, and died in 1682. He married Marie des Etangs by a contract concluded in Paris on March 23, 1652, and left a son, Claude-Théophile de Bésiade, born in 1655, first known as Marquis d'Avaray, married on November 6, 1691 Catherine Foucault, daughter of a director of finance, steward of Caen, died in Paris in 1745, had a brilliant military career and was lieutenant general of the King's armies, ambassador to Switzerland and Grand Cross of St. Louis. It was this last character who had built in 1718 rue de Grenelle, in Paris, the beautiful hotel of Avaray that his descendants have preserved to this day. He had lost his eldest son, Jean-Théophile, brigadier of the armies of the King, who died without an alliance in 1734 as a result of wounds received at the Battle of Guastalla. It was his second son, Charles, Marquis d'Avaray, born in 1701, marshal of camp, married in 1735 to Miss d'Etigny, died in 1746, who continued the descendants. Everyone knows the admirable fidelity that Antoine-Francois, Count d'Avaray, born in Paris in 1759, grandson of the preceding, showed with respect to King Louis XVIII at the time of emigration. This prince, in testimony of his gratitude, authorized M. d'Avaray by letters patent of September 24, 1801 to load his coat of arms with the coat of arms of France and conceded at the same time the motto "Vicit iter durum pietas", which is still that of his family. M. d'Avaray had not the joy of seeing the reestablishment of the legitimate monarchy, and died on June 4th, 1811, without having been married, on the island of Madeira, where he had gone to restore his health. Claude-Antoine de Besiade, Marquis d'Avaray, born in 1740, father of the preceding, married in 1758 to Mlle de Mailly-Nesle, was marshal of camp and lieutenant-general of the Orleanais when he was named deputy to the Estates General of 1789 by the nobility of the bailiwick of Orleans. The Marquis d'Avaray sat on the right of this assembly, was imprisoned during the Terror, went to join the Princes in exile as soon as he recovered his liberty and did not return to France until the time of the Restoration. Louis XVIII., Filled with favors the father of his faithful servant, appointed him lieutenant-general of his armies, summoned him to the House of Peers on the basis of an ordinance of August 17, 1815, and renewed him by letters patent of the 16th of December following the authorization to load his coat of arms of the shield of France and finally conferred on him the hereditary title of duke by ordinance of August 31, 1817 confirmed by letters patent of December 8 following. The Duke of Avaray was authorized by new letters patent of September 7, 1822 to erect as a majorat his hotel in Avaray, Paris, and the domains he owned in the department of Loiret-Cher. He died in 1829 in the castle of Avaray. He had survived not only his eldest son, mentioned above, but also his second son, Theophilus, Knight of Malta, who was one of the victims of Quiberon in 1790. This was his third son, Joseph Parfait de Besiade, Duke of Avaray, born in 1779, lieutenant-general of the king's armies in 1824, peer of France by hereditary right in 1829, resigned in 1832, married in London in 1800 to Mademoiselle de Tharon, died in 1859, who continued the descent. Ange-Théophile, third duke of Avaray, son of this one, married in 1820 to Mlle de Mortemart, died in 1887, was gentleman of the room of king Charles X; he was the grandfather of the current duke, born in 1856, who still owns the castle of Avaray.
Bachve's main alliances of Barraute, Gassion 1630, Barton de Montbas, Escoubleau de Sourdis, Mégret d'Etigny 1731, Boeil 1719, Baschi de Saint-Estève 1734, Mailly 1758, Grave 1781, Michel de Tharon 1800, Rochechouart-Mortemart 1825, Moustier 1847, Séguier 1855, Mercy-Argenteau 1883, Hinnisdal 1884, etc
The tradition traces the affiliation of the Béiade (or Béziade) of Avaray in the fourteenth century in the person of Amanieu de Bésiade who allegedly accompanied Louis Hutin, King of Navarre, in his wars. By the seventeenth century, genealogists had unveiled the legendary character of these origins and their more modest extraction. The family of Besiade descends from the non-noble family of La Voyrie, and possesses, in a suburb of Sauveterre-de-Bearn, the house of Besiade, from which it takes its name.
In the 16th century, Jacques de Besiade left his homeland of Béarn to go to Paris. He continues the charges to the Court and is enriched, allowing him to buy several lands including Avaray he bequeathed, to his death to his nephew Theophilus of Besiad (v. 1614-1682) . Real courtier, the latter obtains, in 1667, the office of bailiff of the bailiwick of Orleans (which is passed on from generation to generation in the family). A year later, he definitively brought his family into the nobility of France thanks to a judgment of maintenance obtained by M. de Machault, attendant of Orleans.
When he died, his son, Claude Théophile de Bésiade (1655-1745) , took the title of Marquis d'Avaray and began a military career. Beginning as the king's page, he chained the sieges during the wars of Holland (1672-1678) and the League of Augsburg (1688-1697). He became lieutenant general during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) and was sent to command Naples and Spain. Appointed lieutenant general of Picardy, he was ambassador in Switzerland between 1715 and 1726. The marquis was eventually appointed commander of the army of the Rhine during the winter of 1733-1734. Thus, he became one of the best soldiers of the reign of Louis XIV.
Originally destined for an ecclesiastical career, his son Charles Theophilus de Besiade ([1700] -1746) , did not take long to follow in his footsteps by participating in the wars of Louis XV. He takes over the regiment of his older brother who died in combat and intervenes notably in Flanders and on the Rhine.
His younger son, Claude Antoine de Besiade (1740-1829) , also engaged in the profession of arms to the rank of Colonel of the Crown Regiment. At the same time, he holds the position of master of the Comte de Provence's wardrobe. However, the French Revolution redirected his career towards politics: he was elected deputy of the nobility at the Estates General of 1789. Not being able to leave the kingdom later, he was imprisoned under the Terror then exiled in his lands under the Empire. When the monarchy returned, the Marquis d'Avaray accumulated the honors and finally inherited the title of duke after the death of his son Antoine Louis François.
Nicknamed "the liberator" by the Count of Provence, Antoine Louis François de Besiade (1759-1811) is one of his confidants. He organizes, indeed, his flight to Koblenz on June 21, 1791 and accompanies him throughout his exile in Russia and England. As a reward for his services, the prince appointed him captain of his guards, marshal of camp, and made him duke. Fragile health, he died in 1811 without descendants.
The family of Mercy-Argenteau is, for its part, from the Germanic Empire. The best-known member of this military family is Florimond Claude de Mercy-Argenteau (1727-1794) . A diplomat in the service of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, he represented her in Turin or St. Petersburg. He is also one of the craftsmen of the Franco-Austrian alliance which is concretized by the marriage of the Archduchess Marie-Antoinette and the dolphin of France, future Louis XVI. Without heirs, he bequeaths all his wealth and property to his distant cousin François Joseph Charles Marie, count of Mercy-Argenteau (1780-1869).
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Claude Antoine de Bésiade, Marquis d'Avaray, Baron de Lussan, Lord of Létion, Courbouson and La Brosse-Montmort , Peer of France (17.8.1815),
2nd Duke d'Avaray
(6.2.1817), Duke and hereditary peer (31.8.1817), patent letters of
8.12.1817, lieutenant-general of the French Army, knight of the Order of
Saint Louis (1771), knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit (30.9.1820),
officer of the Legion of honor (29.8.1823), deputy of the nobility
(1789), born in 1740, died in 1829. Married in 1758 to Angélique
Adélaïde Sophie Charlotte de Mailly-Nesle of the Counts of Mailly, born
in 1740, died in 1823.
Children:
Children:
- 1. Antoine Louis François, Count d'Avaray, 1st Duke d'Avaray
(9.6.1799), Field Marshal of the French Army (1795), Commander of the
Order of Saint John of Jerusalem by brief of the Emperor of Russia (26.1
.1800), born in 1759, died in 1811.
2. Adélaïde Henriette Elisabeth , maid of honor of the Countess d'Artois (1780-1785), born in 1762, died in 1785. Married in 1781 to Edmé Charles François, count de Grave, colonel of Guyenne horse hunters (1785), born 1753, died 1795.
3. Augustine Olympe Sophie, maid of honor of the Countess of Provence (5.12.1784-1789), born in 1765, died in 1809. Married in 1784 to Antoine René d'Escoubleau, Marquis de Sourdis, field marshal of the French Army, born in 1767, died in 1849.
4. Armand Louis Théophile, Viscount d'Avaray , knight of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, born in 1766, died (shot) in 1795.
5. Joseph Théophile Parfait, Count d'Avaray, Marquis d ' Avaray (1817), 3rd Duke d'Avaray(25.4.1829), field marshal (3.8.1814), lieutenant-general of the French Army (22.2.1824), peer of France (23.7.1829), knight of honor and devotion of the Sovereign Order of Malta, officer of Legion of honor, knight of the Order of Saint Louis (1814), born in 1770, died in 1859. Married in 1800 to Aimée-Julie Michel de Tharon of the Counts of Tharon, born in 1783, died in 1859.
Children:
- 1 .. Sophie Angélique Louise Rosalbe
, born in 1801, died in 1882. Married in 1819 to Charles Peter
Shakerley, 1st baronet Shakerley, born in 1792, died in 1857. Divorced
in 1830. Married (II) to the Marquis of Herrera .
2 .. Ange Edouard Théophile, Marquis d'Avaray (1829), 4th Duke d'Avaray (11.4.1859), cavalry officer of the French Army, gentleman of the king's chamber, born in 1802, died in 1887. Married in 1825 with Anne Victurnienne Mathilde de Rochechouart de Mortemart, born in 1802, died in 1887.
Children:
- 1 ... Louise Marie Antonie
, born in 1825, died (in the Bazaar de la Charité fire) in 1897.
Married in 1847 to Edouard Antide Lionel Audéric, Count of Moustier,
born in 1823, died in 1888.
2 .. Jules Victpr Camille, Marquis d'Avaray (1859), 5th Duke d'Avaray (2.2.1887), born in 1827, died in 1894. Married in 1855 to Antoinette Armande Irene Seguier de los Barons Séguier, born in 1835, died in 1916.
Children:
-
1
.... Edouard Joseph Hubert Marie, Marquis d'Avaray (1887),
6th Duke d'Avaray
(1.11.1894), born in 1856, died in 1930. Married in 1883 to Rosalie
Françoise Caroline Thérèse Eugénie Marie de Mercy -Argenteau of the
counts of Mercy-Argenteau, born in 1862, died in 1925. Divorced in 1892.
Son:
- Antoine Hubert Louis Camille Marie, Marquis d'Avaray (1894), born in 1885, died (in a car accident) in Boulogne on 31.5.1921.
Son:
- Marie Bernard Edouard, 7th and last Duke d'Avaray (23.1.1930), born in 1884, died on 27.2.1941.
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Thank you for this great information. The 2nd wife of 3) Louis Charles Théophile, Count d'AVARAY, Emilie born HIRTH, was born in our city. That's a reason for some genealogy researches done by me as member and researcher of our local history association. She spent a public effigy of saint mary / wayside shrine in 1892, at the meadows in her home village Gaggenau (Murg valley, Baden, Germany), which is stil existing. That time she spent the shrine, she was widowed around 14 years, but still held the name and title "duc d'Avaray" (Gräfinn von Avaray), what is carved to the shrine. Has anybody more information about her / her husband Luis Charles Theophile lived in Baden-Baden?
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