The de Ficquelmont family is a noble family from

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

dating back to the 14th century whose filiation is established with Henry de Ficquelmont, a knight who died before 1386.Henri Jougla de Morenas, ''Grand Armorial de France'', tome III, 1935 page 289.Gustave Chaix d'Est-Ange, ''Dictionnaire des familles françaises anciennes ou notables à la fin du XIXe siècle.'', tome XVIII Fel-For. - 1922, pages 126-129.
/ref> This family produced different branches in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and became extinct in 1948 in the male line with Louis-Charles de Ficquelmont de Vyle and in the female line in 1991 with countess Ghislaine de Ficquelmont de Vyle.

Origins

The origins of the Ficquelmont Family is the lordship of Ficquelmont (currently Thumeréville) in

, near

Briey Briey (; ) is a former commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in northeastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val de Briey. The Ficquelmont family is known since 1138, with Gérard de Ficquelmont who gave a donation in 1138 but its filiation is established without doubts only since Henry de Ficquelmont, knight, dead before 1386. According to the genealogist Charles Poplimont, who wrote a genealogy of the de Ficquelmont family in ''La Belgique Héraldique'' (1866),Charles Poplimont,''La Belgique héraldique'', volume IV, 1866, pages 225-232.
/ref> Henri de Ficquelmont, was married with Marie le Loup and he was son of Erard de Ficquelmont and grandson of Manassés de Ficquelmont, who was living in 1346 and Marie Dannoy.

Lorraine and the Holy Roman Empire

In Lorraine where they sat as hereditary members of the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

of the Parlement de Nancy, the ruling institution of French Lorraine that also served as the courts of appeal of the Royal province. During that period, the Ficquelmonts' primary seats were the châteaux of

Dieuze Dieuze (; ) is a commune in the Moselle department, Grand Est region, France. Population People Dieuze was the birthplace of: *Charles Hermite, mathematician *Edmond François Valentin About, novelist, publicist and journalist * Émile Frian ...

(birthplace of

Count Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont Karl Ludwig, Count of Ficquelmont (; ; 23 March 1777 – 7 April 1857) was an Austrian aristocrat, statesman and Generalfeldmarschall, Field marshal of the Austrian Imperial army of French noble origin. Biography French nobleman He was born ...

(1777-1857), Parroy and their Hôtel in Nancy. The Ficquelmonts were also instrumental in founding and funding several Lorrainer religious institutions such as the Holy Cross College of Nancy, the Cathedral of Metz and the

abbeys An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conc ...

Remiremont Remiremont () is a town and Communes of France, commune in the Vosges department, northeastern France, situated in southern Grand Est. The town has been an abbatial centre since the 7th century, is an economic crossroads of the Moselle and Moselo ...

and Flavigny. The members of the Ficquelmont family had been Great Officers of the Ducal Court of

: lords chamberlain, lords master of ceremonies or lords commander of the

Dukes Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

. In the 17th and 18th century were: * Leonard de Ficquelmont, colonel of

Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine Charles IV (5 April 1604 – 18 September 1675) was Duke of Lorraine from 1624 until his death in 1675, with a brief interruption in 1634, when he abdicated under French pressure in favor of his younger brother, Nicholas Francis. Life He came ...

, commanding the ''Blainville regiment''; * Robert de Ficquelmont, Great- chamberlain of

Charles III, Duke of Lorraine Charles III (18 February 1543 – 14 May 1608), known as ''the Great'', was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death. Life He was the eldest surviving son of Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and Christina of Denmark. In 1545, his father died, a ...

; * his grandson, Jean-François de Ficquelmont,Woelmont, ''Op. cit.'', p. 343-344. Great- chamberlain and colonel of the guard of Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine, commanding the dukal

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

; * his son,

Reichsgraf Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly (Imperial immediacy, immediately) from the emperor, rather th ...

Charles de Ficquelmont Great- chamberlain of Francis I of Lorraine, Holy Roman Emperor, colonel of HIM's

cuirassiers A cuirassier ( ; ; ) was a cavalryman equipped with a cuirass, sword, and pistols. Cuirassiers first appeared in mid-to-late 16th century Europe as a result of armoured cavalry, such as men-at-arms and demi-lancers discarding their lances an ...

commanding the imperial guard's

; * his son,

Jacques-Charles de Ficquelmont, colonel of the guard and Great- chamberlain of Francis I of Lorraine, Holy Roman Emperor, commanding the cavalry regiment of

Kalchreuth Kalchreuth is a municipality in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 10 kilometers east of Erlangen and 15 kilometers north of Nuremberg and contains the villages of Kalchreuth, Käswasser and Röckenhof and also ...

then of

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

. The Ficquelmonts took part of the chivalry Orders of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, of the Golden Fleece. They also often fought as

warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...

s at the service of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the

Papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. The perfect illustration being Count Leonard de Ficquelmont, colonel of

, colonel of

King Philip V of Spain Philip V (; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign (45 years and 16 days) is the longest in the history of the Spanish mo ...

who died in 1709 during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

Cataluna Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

France and Austria

After

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

had married Emperor Francis of Lorraine, the family was under the rule of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

, but, by the Treaty of Vienna, the

Duchy of Lorraine The Duchy of Lorraine was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire which existed from the 10th century until 1766 when it was annexed by the kingdom of France. It gave its name to the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France ...

became part of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

and the Ficquelmonts were allowed to choose to serve and live either in

or in the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

France

Some others members of the family had chosen France. The count Charles Henri de Ficquelmont was introduced at the Honors of the French Court (Honneurs de la Cour) in 1777 and 1789. In 1789, during the French Revolution, the Ficquelmonts, as

aristocrats Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

, were targeted by the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, and several members of the family were

beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

br>
leaving the remaining ones no other choice than fleeing the country, joining fellow aristocrats as ''

émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Hugueno ...

s''. After the French Revolution, the Ficquelmont family remained divided into different lines and spread in

and

Austrian Empire

Some Ficquelmonts who had followed Emperor Francis of Lorraine to the Imperial Court and therefore already established themselves in Austria, chose to settle in Austrian territory. Of that tight branch are

Charles de Ficquelmont, Great- chamberlain of

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor Francis I (Francis Stephen; ; ; ; 8 December 1708 – 18 August 1765) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1745 to 1765, List of rulers of Austria#Dukes and archdukes of Austria under the House of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria from 1740 to 1765, List of ...

, colonel of HIM's

commanding the imperial guard's

and his son,

Jacques-Charles de Ficquelmont, colonel of the guard and Great- chamberlain of

, commanding the cavalry regiment of

then of

. By the end of the 18th century, they had settled in large estates in the then

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

. Part of the French Ficquelmonts chose to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

where the family had kept close ties (for instance, Charles de Ficquelmont (1724–1792), had followed Francis I of Lorraine, Holy Roman Emperor at the Imperial Court of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

when he was 12 and had stayed there ever since serving as colonel of the Imperial guard and (from 1764) Great- chamberlain of

Emperors The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...

Francis I and

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

) various estates and strong supports all the way to the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

s themselves (for instance,

Archduchess Archduke (feminine: Archduchess; German: ''Erzherzog'', feminine form: ''Erzherzogin'') was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within ...

Marie-Christine personally placed count Joseph de Ficquelmont in

Emperor Leopold II Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; 5 May 1747 – 1 March 1792) was the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor, as well as King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tusca ...

's care in a letter dated from January 30, 1792). This branch took part of the counter revolutionary's Army of the Princes and Imperial Austrian Army. It is best represented by: * Count Charles Louis de Ficquelmont (Reichsgraf von Ficquelmont), born in the castle of

on March 23, 1777; he became one of the most powerful Austrian

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and

statesman A statesman or stateswoman is a politician or a leader in an organization who has had a long and respected career at the national or international level, or in a given field. Statesman or statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States ...

of his time and even succeeded Prince

Klemens von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian Empire. ...

as acting Minister-President of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. He married countess Dorothea von Tiesenhausen, granddaughter of Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, Masrshall of the Russian army and hero of the

Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Dorothea and Charles-Louis only had one child: * Elizabeth-Alexandrine, countess de Ficquelmont by birth and

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

Clary-und-Aldringen by marriage, last countess of the Austrian branch.

Netherlands and Belgium

The last descendants of the Austrian branch had settled in what was

(nowadays Belgium) prior to the French Revolution. They had fled the country as it was occupied by the French during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

then integrated into the Napoleon's

. But, following the fall of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

, the

became part of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

that had just been created by the Treaty of Vienna, and the Dutch Ficquelmonts returned to establish themselves in the newly founded kingdom. This branch had two lines: *The first one, founded by count Antoine-Charles de Ficquelmont (1753-1833), who remained faithful to

King William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

following the

Belgian Revolution of 1830 Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

. That line is extinct since the early 20th century. * The other line, founded by count Florimond Aloïs de Ficquelmont (1763-1818). His grandson took up Belgium nationality in 1884 and therefore entered the

Belgian nobility The Belgian nobility comprises Belgian individuals or families recognized as noble with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of Belgium. The Belgian constitution states that no specific privileges are attached to the nobility. History ...

Titles

* Count von Ficquelmont (Austria 1736) (extinct) *

von Ficquelmont personally granted to Jacques-Charles de Ficquelmont,

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

and

Chambellan Chambellan (; ) is a commune in the Jérémie Arrondissement, in the Grand'Anse department of Haiti. It has 26,459 inhabitants in 2015. Villages located within the commune include: Babino, Cadette, Grande Plaine, Granger, La Coude La Coud ...

of the Holy Roman Empereur (extinct) * Count van Ficquelmont (Netherlands 1822) for Antoine-Charles-Ignace de Ficquelmont (1753-1833) and his descendants in the Ficquelmont Family (extinct in 1899). * Count van Ficquelmont (Netherlands 1822) for Florimond-Joseph-Ignace de Ficquelmont and his descendants in the Ficquelmont Family (extinct in 1948 in male line and in 1991 in female line).F. de Saint-Simon, Dictionnaire de la noblesse française. * Count (Belgium 1855 for Charles Joseph de Ficquelmont de Vyle and his descendants in the Ficquelmont Family (extinct in 1948 in male line and in 1991 in female line). Furthermore, the Ficquelmonts have been ''

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

s'' of Ficquelmonts, Puxe, la Tour en Voivre,

, Champcourt, Bathelémont,

Flin Flin () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department found in north-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle departme ...

and others lordships.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of this family

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is: ''Or, gules three enhanced pickets, ensigned with a passant wolf sable''. The family's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is "Nul ne m'atteint"

Extinction of the Ficquelmont family in 1948 and 1991

The Ficquelmont family and the title of count de Ficquelmont became extinct in male line in 1948 with Louis-Charles de Ficquelmont de Vyle and in the female line in 1991 with countess Ghislaine de Ficquelmont de Vyle,Régis Valette, ''Catalogue de la noblesse française'',

Robert Laffont The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, Paris, 2007. but the name "de Ficquelmont" was transmitted through adoption to Jean d'Albis who was adopted by the countess Ghislaine de Ficquelmont de Vyle and since used the name Jean d'Albis de Ficquelmont.

References

Bibliography

Charles Poplimont,''La Belgique héraldique'', volume IV, 1866, pages 225-232.

Gustave Chaix d'Est-Ange, ''Dictionnaire des familles françaises anciennes ou notables à la fin du XIXe siècle.'', tome XVIII Fel-For. - 1922, pages 126-129.
* Henri Jougla de Morenas, ''Grand Armorial de France'', tome III, 1935 page 289. * Régis Valette, ''Catalogue de la noblesse française'',

, Paris, 2007. * Henri de Woelmont de Brumagne, ''Notices généalogiques'', 7e série, page 340. * Alain Petiot, ''Au service des Habsbourg'', 1999 * Alain Petiot, ''Les Lorrains et l'Empire'', 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ficquelmont Lorraine noble families Austrian noble families Belgian noble families Belgian people of French descent Austrian people of French descent Counts of the Holy Roman Empire Counts of Austria Recipients of the Legion of Honour