The Duke of Luynes is a territorial name belonging to the noble French house d'Albert. Luynes is, today, a commune of the Indre-et-Loire département in France. The family of Albert, which sprang from Thomas Alberti (died 1455), seigneur de Boussargues, bailli of Viviers and Valence, and viguier of Bagnols and Pont-Saint-Esprit in Languedoc, acquired the estate of Luynes in the 16th century.

History

The grandfather of the first Duke of Luynes was Léon d'Alberti, who changed the family name to Albert and married Jeanne de Ségur of Marseille in 1535. From the marriage he received a dowry of 10,000 livres and the fief of Luynes in today's département Bouches-du-Rhône in Provence. His son Honoré was born five years later. Léon d'Albert died in the Italian Wars. Honoré d'Albert (1540–1592), seigneur de Luynes, was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France, and became colonel of the French bands, commissary of artillery in Languedoc and governor of Beaucaire. Honoré d'Albert had three sons: After the death of the first Duke of Luynes in 1621, his widow, Marie de Rohan remarried to Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse, from whom she acquired in 1655 the duchy of Chevreuse, which she gave to Louis Charles d'Albert, her son by her first husband, in 1663. From that point forward, the title of Duke of Chevreuse and Duke of Luynes was borne by the eldest sons of the family of Luynes, which also inherited the title of Duke of Chaulnes on the extinction of the descendants of Honoré d'Albert in 1698. The branch of the dukes of Luxemburg-Piney became extinct in 1697.

Other notable family members

Some other notable family members are: Several members of the family of Albert were distinguished in letters and science, including Louis Charles d'Albert, 2nd Duke of Luynes, who was an ascetic writer and friend of the Jansenists, and Honoré Theodore d'Albert, 8th Duke of Luynes, who was a writer on archaeology. Others include:

List of dukes of Luynes

List of dukes of Luynes since 1619: