Gramont, Philibert, comte de
Gramont, Philibert, comte de
(fēlēbâr` kôNt də grämôN`), 1621–1707, French courtier at the court of King Louis XIV. He fought with distinction in the early campaigns of the prince de CondéCondé, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de,1621–86, French general, called the Great Condé; son of Henri II de Condé. Among his early victories in the Thirty Years War were those of Rocroi (1643), Freiburg (1644), Nördlingen (1645), and Lens (1648).
..... Click the link for more information. and at first followed Condé in the FrondeFronde
, 1648–53, series of outbreaks during the minority of King Louis XIV, caused by the efforts of the Parlement of Paris (the chief judiciary body) to limit the growing authority of the crown; by the personal ambitions of discontented nobles; and by the grievances of
..... Click the link for more information. , but in 1654 he made his peace with the court, of which he was thereafter a chief member. Exiled (1662) for having attempted to rival Louis in a love affair, he went (1663) to the court of King Charles II of England. A prominent figure there, he married Elizabeth Hamilton, with whom he returned to France in 1664. It was to her brother, Anthony HamiltonHamilton, Anthony,
1646?–1720, French author of Scottish descent, b. Ireland. He spent much time in France, where he became a master of the French language. He fought in the Dutch Wars for Louis XIV and commanded an Irish regiment for James II in 1687.
..... Click the link for more information. , that the aged courtier gave the anecdotal material Hamilton used in writing Gramont's memoirs. The memoirs, although they reveal Gramont as a witty and insolent cad, are an invaluable source for the social history of his period. The spelling Grammont, always used in the title of the memoirs, is an old error.