Bournonville, Alexander I de

The son of Udar de Bournonville , Count of d'Henin-Lietard, and Mary-Christine d'Egmont

With the granted letters of 18.09.1600 in Grenoble , Henry IV elevated Barony Ulfor to the rank of duchy for Alexander, who was not yet 15 years old, and his descendants.

The mother of the duke was Margarita of Parma’s court lady, two years after his birth she married again, and did not really care about her son’s education and upbringing, preparing him only for the career of a courtesan. The Brussels castle, where he spent his childhood at the court of the Infanta Isabella , the Florentine palazzo in 1602 and the Vienna Hofburg in 1606 were the only schools he attended. By the age of twenty, the duke could hardly hold a pen, and until the end of his life wrote with gross errors. The Jesuit Duplessis, who was entrusted with the upbringing of the young man, did not teach him anything, and upon returning from a trip to European yards, he only reported to Maria Cristina that he had brought her son in good health.

Having entered service in 1607, Bournonville was given command of an elite company of 300 Walloons , and became court of Archduke Albrecht VII . In 1614, he also received a company under the command of a hundred copies. The Thirty Years War began in the Czech Republic in 1618, the emperor asked for help from the Brussels court, and the duke seized the opportunity to distinguish himself by leading a small army to Germany the following year consisting of 3,000 Walloon infantry and thousands of horse-drawn carabinieri.

Under the command of the Count de Buquois, he participated in the siege of Budweis and Graz. When Pisek was captured on September 30, 1620, he lost his eye, knocked out by a musket bullet. The Walloons, furious because of the wounding of their commander, after taking the fortress slaughtered everyone. At the end of the Bohemian campaign, he returned to the Netherlands, where he took part in the magnificent burial of Albrecht VII. Then he went to join the Flemish army of Gonzalo de Cordoba . On August 22, 1622 he participated in the battle of Fleurus as a campaign master , confronting the forces of Count von Mansfeld , whom he had previously defeated in Bohemia. This time Bournonville failed both in hostilities and in negotiations with the famous adventurer.

Then he participated in the siege of Breda , helping Hertogenbosch , and many other actions until 1631, when he was appointed governor of Lille and Walloon Flanders.

In 1624 he was accepted by Philip IV into the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece

As a diplomat, he was twice sent with missions to France: in 1612, when due to difficulties with the ceremonial, the king did not have an audience, and in 1630, and also in 1627, to the emperor in Vienna. He was appointed colonel of the oldest Walloon regiment. The good deeds of the rulers of Spain and the Netherlands were not enough to ensure the loyalty of the duke. As the true son of his father, famous for betrayal, after the death of the Infanta, he could not resist joining in 1632 an anti-government plot together with brother-in-law Prince Epinua and brother-in-law Duke van Arschot . The conspirators formed a league with the inhabitants of Arras , in order to achieve political independence of the Belgian provinces. After the komplot was revealed, they hoped for a pardon, but the Great Council in Mechelen in 1634 declared the princes traitors. Bournonville and Epinua fled to France, and their possessions were under sequestration.

The duke died in exile in Lyon. His wife transported his remains to the Carmelite monastery in Antwerp .

Wife (09/04/1611): Anna de Melon (1.08.1597-18.10.1668), daughter of Pierre de Melon , prince d'Epinois, and Hippolyta de Montmorency

Children:

• Ferdinand de Bournonville (1612-1622). Crashed falling from a balcony in Brussels
• Prince Alexander II de Bournonville (5.01.1616–20.08.1690), Imperial Field Marshal. Wife (05/05/1656): Jeanne Ernestine Francoise d'Arenberg (1628-1663), daughter of Prince Philippe-Charles d'Arenberg and Isabelle-Claire de Berlemont
• Duke Ambroise Francois de Bournonville (c. 1620-12.12.1693), peer of France. Wife (04.29.1655): Lucretia-Francoise de la Vieuville (1629–1678), daughter of the Duke Charles I de La Vieuville and Marie Boucher
• Jacques de Bournonville (1627-1644), Viscount de Barlaine
• Marquis Jean-Francois-Benjamin de Bournonville (1634 / 1637-6.04.1718). Wife 1) (1659): Maria de Perapertus (1636–1660), daughter of Antoine de Perapertus and Cecilia, Heronyms de Clarian; 2): Maria Ferdinand de Saint-Aldegond (d. 1698), daughter of Francois-Lamoral de Saint-Aldegond and Agnes de Davre
• Viscount Wolfgang-Guillaume de Bournonville (d. 22.09.1682). Wife (1659): Maria Bonna Mouton de Arshe, Dame de Sar (d. 1688)
• Philippe-Dominic-Victor de Bournonville , Carmelite Monk
• Isabelle Marie de Bournonville
• Anna-Eugenia de Bournonville , Canoness of Mons , then Carmelite in Antwerp
• Cristina de Bournonville , Court Lady of the Infanta Isabella
• Ernestine de Bournonville , Canoness in Maubeuge , then a nun in Burlemont

• Père Anselme . Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France. TV - P .: Companie des Librairies, 1730. , p. 837-838
• Rahlenbeck CA Bournonville (Alexandre de) // Biographie nationale de Belgique. T. II. - Bruxelles: H. Thiry-Van Buggenhoudt, 1868, coll. 860-861

• Armorial des Chevaliers de la Toison d'Or - heraldique-europeenne.org
• CHEVALIERS DE LA TOISON D'OR - MAISON DE HABSBOURG (HOUSE OF HABSBURG)