Bauffremont is a French family which derived its name from a village in the Vosges

Vosges

Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...

, outside of Orléans

Orléans

-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...

, now spelt Beaufremont

Beaufremont

Beaufremont is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....

. The family traces itself to Liébaud, sire de Bauffremont, in 1090. They are descended from the female line of the Courtenay

House of Courtenay

The House of Courtenay was an important dynasty in medieval France originating from the castle of Courtenay in the Gâtinais , going back to the 10th century. The dynasty descended from Athon, the first lord of Courtenay, apparently himself a descendant of the Counts of Sens and from Pharamond,...

.

History

In consequence of an alliance with the house of Vergy, the Bauffremonts established themselves in Burgundy

Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...

 and Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

. In 1448 Pierre de Bauffremont, lord of Charny

Charny, Côte-d'Or

Charny is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...

, married Marie, a legitimized daughter of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. In 1527 the family acquired by marriage the properties of the Vienne-Listenois family.

Nicolas de Bauffremont, his son Claude, and his grandson Henri, all played important parts in the states-general of 1576, 1588 and 1614, and their speeches have been published.

On June 8, 1757 Louis de Bauffremont (1712–1769) was made a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (inheritable by all male-line descendants); on August 21 and September 27 this title was recognised in France. In 1759 Louis was first styled as cousin du roi by King Louis XV

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

.

Alliance with the House of Courtenay

The House of Courtenay

House of Courtenay

The House of Courtenay was an important dynasty in medieval France originating from the castle of Courtenay in the Gâtinais , going back to the 10th century. The dynasty descended from Athon, the first lord of Courtenay, apparently himself a descendant of the Counts of Sens and from Pharamond,...

 was a dynasty in medieval France originating from the castle of Courtenay

Courtenay, Loiret

Courtenay is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.*Région: Centre*Département: Loiret *Arrondissement: Arrondissement of Montargis*Canton: Canton of Courtenay*INSEE code: 45115*Postal code: 45320...

 in the Gâtinais

Gâtinais

Gâtinais was a province of France, containing the area around the valley of the Loing, corresponding roughly to the northeastern part of the départment of Loiret, and the south of the present departments Seine-et-Marne. Under the Bourbons, the Gâtinais had already been divided between the...

 (Loiret

Loiret

Loiret is a department in north-central FranceThe department is named after the river Loiret, a tributary of the Loire. The Loiret is located wholly within the department.- History :...

), in the 10th century. The dynasty descended from Athon, the first lord of Courtenay, apparently himself a descendant of the Counts of Sens and from haramond]], reputed founder of the French monarchy in 420.

Their male-line descent from Louis VI of France

Louis VI of France

Louis VI , called the Fat , was King of France from 1108 until his death . Chronicles called him "roi de Saint-Denis".-Reign:...

 induced the impoverished 17th-century members of the Courtenay family to seek to be acknowledged as "Princes du Sang

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

" (Princes of the Blood Royal) and "cousins to the king". Three kings in a row - Henry IV

Henry IV of France

Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....

, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV - turned down their petitions. Although the Courtenays protested, their claims to the princely title were never acknowledged by the Paris Court of Accounts.

The last male member of the French Courtenays committed suicide in 1727. However his sister married Louis de Bauffremont, and their descendants assumed the dubious title of Prince de Courtenay, which they bear to this day.

Alexandre Emmanuel Louis de Bauffremont - Courtenay (1773–1833), son of Louis served under the Bourbons. He fled France during the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 and settled in the United States. He later returned to France and was made a Count of the French Empire by Napoleon. Louis XVIII made him a peer of France

Peerage of France

The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...

 in 1817, and duke in 1818.

The current head of the house, Prince Jacques de Bauffremont-Courtenay, 8th Duke of Bauffremont (born 1922), is the president of the Institut de la Maison de Bourbon, the organisation which supports the claims of Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou

Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou

Prince Louis Alphonse of Bourbon, Duke of Anjou was not originally among his given names ; born 25 April 1974, Madrid) is a member of the historically royal dynasty of the House of Bourbon, and one of the current pretenders to the defunct crown of France...

 to the throne of France. His sister Princess Claude de Bauffremont-Courtenay was honorary superintendent of the houses of education of the Legion of Honour.

The head of the house uses the following titles: prince-duc de Bauffremont, prince de Courtenay et de Carency, prince et marquis de Listenois et de Marnay, comte et duc de Pont de Vaux, vicomte de Marigny et de Salins, cousin du roi. The cadet members of the house use the titles, prince de Bauffremont, prince de Marnay.

Two members of the family have been members of the Order of the Golden Fleece

Order of the Golden Fleece

The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...

: Louis Bénigne, Marquis of Bauffremont and Prince de Listenois (1684–1755) in 1711 and Charles Roger, Prince of Bauffremont-Listenois (1713–1795) in 1789.