Louis Thomas, Count of Soissons

Prince Louis Thomas of Savoy (German: Ludwig Thomas von Savoyen, Graf von Soissons; Italian: Luigi Tommaso di Savoia; 15 December 1657 14 August 1702) was a Count of Soissons and Prince of Savoy. He was killed as Feldzeugmeister of the Imperial Army at the Siege of Landau at the start of the War of the Spanish Succession. There was speculation that he was an illegitimate child of Louis XIV.

Louis Thomas
Count of Soissons
Born(1657-12-15)15 December 1657
Paris, France
Died14 August 1702(1702-08-14) (aged 44)
Near Landau
SpouseUranie de La Cropte de Beauvais
Issue
Detail
Maria Anna Victoria, Duchess in Saxony
Emmanuel Thomas, Count of Soissons
Full name
Luigi Tommaso di Savoia
HouseSavoy-Carignano
FatherEugene Maurice, Count of Soissons
MotherOlympia Mancini

Biography

Louis Thomas was the eldest son of Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons and Olympia Mancini, as well as the oldest brother of Prince Eugene of Savoy. He married Uranie de La Cropte de Beauvais, whom Saint-Simon had once described as "radiant as the glorious morn". His daughter Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy eventually inherited Eugene's estate. His maternal cousins included the Duke of Vendôme as well as the Duke of Bouillon and Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne. His paternal cousins included Victor Amadeus I, Prince of Carignano and Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden.

After the death of his father and the flight of his mother to Brussels due to her involvement in the notorious Poison affair, Louis Thomas and Urania were charged, along with his paternal grandmother, with the rearing of his younger brothers. Eugene was never to forget the couple's loving surrogate parentage.

Louis Thomas obtained a commission as an officer in the French Army, but Louis XIV had amorous designs on his wife. Urania, however, spurned the king's romantic advances. Angered, Louis dismissed Louis Thomas from the army, and, when Louis Thomas sought a position abroad, terminated his pension and dues. In 1699, all but bankrupt, Louis Thomas sought the aid of his younger brother, Eugene, in Vienna. With Eugene's help, he obtained a commission in the Austrian Imperial Army.

On 18 August Louis was killed by a French bomb at the Siege of Landau at the onset of the War of the Spanish Succession.[1]

Issue

  1. Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy (1683–1763), Mademoiselle de Soissons; married Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke in Saxony, son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen; had no issue.
  2. Prince Louis Thomas of Savoy (1685–1695)
  3. Princess Thérèse Anne Louise of Savoy (1686–1736); no issue.
  4. Prince Emmanuel Thomas of Savoy (1687–1729); succeeded as Count of Soissons. He married Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein and had issue.
  5. Prince Maurice of Savoy (1690–1710)
  6. Prince Eugene of Savoy (1692–1712)

Ancestry

References

  1. Skala, Harald (2005). "Die Belagerung von Landau 1702 und 1703". Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 5 October 2014.



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