Soubise, Benjamin de Rohan, seigneur de, 1583-1642, French Protestant general. He fought under Maurice of Nassau in the Netherlands and subsequently shared the leadership of the Huguenots with his brother, Henri, duc de Rohan. He directed the defense of La Rochelle (1627-28) against Cardinal Richelieu's forces and after that city's fall retired to England.

Rohan, Louis René Édouard, prince de, 1734-1803, French churchman and politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Although he succeeded (1779) his uncle as archbishop of Strasbourg, he spent most of his career in Paris. As French ambassador to Vienna (1772) he aroused the dislike of Empress Maria Theresa. In France, his anti-Austrian attitude earned him the hostility of her daughter, the French queen Marie Antoinette. It was apparently in a desire to curry favor with the queen that he became involved in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. For his inglorious part in this he was acquitted of guilt (1786) but lost his office of grand almoner and was banished from Paris. He was elected to the States-General (1789), refused to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1791), and emigrated.

Rohan, Henri, duc de, 1579-1638, French Protestant general; son-in-law of the duc de Sully. A leader of the Huguenots, Rohan took up arms against the French government in 1621-22 as a consequence of the reestablishment of Roman Catholicism in Béarn. With his brother, Benjamin de Soubise, Rohan led revolts in Languedoc and the Cévennes in 1625-26 and again in 1627-29 but was forced to submit to King Louis XIII's chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, in the Peace of Alais (1629). He retired to Venice. In 1635 he was chosen by Richelieu to command the French troops in the Valtellina, which he subdued. Treachery and weak official support forced his retreat in 1637. Rohan subsequently joined the army of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and was killed at Rheinfelden during the Thirty Years War. He left memoirs (1644, enl. ed. 1646, tr. 1660) and other writings.

Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchesse de, 1600-1679, French beauty and politician, an intimate of the French queen, Anne of Austria. Her continuous intrigues in opposition to King Louis XIII's minister, Cardinal Richelieu, caused her to be banished repeatedly from the court and to be exiled. She proved to be even more dangerous abroad because of her intrigues with France's enemies, notably Duke Charles IV of Lorraine. In the Fronde she at first served as a link with Spain against Cardinal Mazarin, Richelieu's successor, but subsequently she became Mazarin's ally.

(born 1579, Château of Blain, Brittany, France—died April 13, 1638, Königsfeld, Switz.) French Huguenot leader. At age 16 he entered the army of Henry IV, who made him a peer of France in 1603. After Henry's death (1610), Rohan led the Huguenots in revolt against the government of Marie de Médicis (1615–16) and became the Huguenots' foremost general in the civil wars of the 1620s. He recounted the events of the War of La Rochelle (1627–29) in his celebrated Mémoires. He then went to Venice. After his return to France (1635), he successfully commanded a French expedition against the Habsburgs in Lombardy. In 1637 he went to Switzerland, where he died in the Thirty Years' War battle at Rheinfelden.

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orig. Marie de Rohan-Montbazon known as Madame de Chevreuse

(born December 1600—died Aug. 12, 1679, Gagny, France) French princess. She participated in several conspiracies against the ministerial government in Louis XIII's reign and the regency for Louis XIV. She was exiled several times for her activities, including participating in a plot against Cardinal de Richelieu, betraying state secrets to Spain, and plotting to assassinate Jules Mazarin.

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orig. Marie de Rohan-Montbazon known as Madame de Chevreuse

(born December 1600—died Aug. 12, 1679, Gagny, France) French princess. She participated in several conspiracies against the ministerial government in Louis XIII's reign and the regency for Louis XIV. She was exiled several times for her activities, including participating in a plot against Cardinal de Richelieu, betraying state secrets to Spain, and plotting to assassinate Jules Mazarin.

Learn more about Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchess de with a free trial on Britannica.com.