Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne was a member of the powerful House of La Tour d'Auvergne, Prince of Sedan and a marshal of France.
Background
The vicomte de Turenne was born at the castle of Joze-en-Auvergne, near Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne. His parents were François de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne and Eléonore de Montmorency, eldest daughter of Anne, 1st Duc de Montmorency.
Career
Compromised in the conspiracy of La Mole and Coconnat in 1574, he joined the party of the Malcontents headed by François, Duke of Alençon (younger brother of kings Charles IX and Henry III) in 1575. Appointed lieutenant general of Upper Languedoc in 1580, he took part in the siege of Paris in 1590 after the accession of Henry IV to the throne, and conquered Stenay from the Catholic League in 1591. In 1591 Henry IV married him to Charlotte de La Marck, heiress to the duchy of Bouillon and of the Principality of Sedan.
In 1592 Henry IV made him Marshal of France. Defeated at Doullens, Picardy in 1595 by Fuentes, governor of the Spanish Low Countries, he was sent to England to renew the alliance of France with Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1596. Compromised in the conspiracy of Biron in 1602, he fled to Geneva the following year and had to accept a French protectorate over his duchy of Bouillon in 1606.
At the death of Henry IV, he entered the Council of Regency during the minority of Louis XIII, and intrigued against Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully and Concini, the latter a favourite of the Queen Regent Marie de' Medici. He died in Sedan in 1623. Children by Elisabeth of Orange-Nassau.
Married on 15 April 1595
Louise de La Tour d'Auvergne (August 1596 - November 1607);
Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne (1599 - 24 May 1665) married Henri de La Trémoille, Duke of Thouars and Prince de Talmont, and had issue;
Juliane Catherine de La Tour d'Auvergne (8 October 1604 - 6 October 1637) married François de La Rochefoucauld, Count of Roucy, and had issue;
Frédéric Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne (22 October 1605 – 9 August 1652) married Eleonora Catharina de Bergh and had issue;
Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne (1606 - 1 December 1685) married Guy de Durfort, mother of Jacques and Guy;
Henriette Catherine de La Tour d'Auvergne (died 1677) married Amaury Gouyon, marquis de La Moussaye and had issue;
Henri, vicomte de Turenne, (11 September 1611 - 27 July 1675) married Charlotte de Caumont, daughter of Armand-Nompar de Caumont, duc de la Force. Children by Adèle Corret, mistress;
Henri Corret, ancestor of Théophile Corret de La Tour d'Auvergne.