Henri I de Montmorency

Engraved portrait of Henri I de Montmorency

As Gouverneur, Damville came as the head of an army into Toulouse for nine months in 1570 and was chastized by the capitouls for letting Catholic property fall into the hands of a passing Protestant army without taking action.[2] They accused him of being betraying the city and being in league with Protestants like his cousin Admiral Coligny.[2] Damville responded by arresting four bourgeois and sending them to Paris with charges of slander.[2] Damville also placed a procureur-général on the Parlement of Toulouse who was suspected of Protestantism.[2] When Damville went into revolt in October 1574 (aligning with the Protestants of lower Languedoc) he was deprived of his office by the Parlement of Toulouse, and arrests were made of his associates charged with conspiracy against the king.[2] In the midst of these arrests, Henry hanged one of his own captains on a suspicion of poisoning, believing that Henry III of France was trying to kill him.[3]

He became Duke of Montmorency on his brother's death in 1579.

As a leader of the party called the Politiques he took a prominent part in the French Wars of Religion. In 1593 he was made constable of France, but Henry IV showed some anxiety to keep him away from Languedoc, which he ruled like a sovereign prince.

With his first wife, Antoinette de La Marck (1542-1591),[4] daughter of Robert IV de La Marck, he had two daughters:

• Charlotte de Montmorency (1571-1636), married in 1591 Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême and had issue;
• Marguerite de Montmorency (1577-1660), married in 1593 her cousin Anne de Lévis, Duke of Ventadour (died 1622); they were the paternal grandparents of Louis Charles de Lévis.

With his second wife, Louise de Budos (1575-1598), he had two children:

• Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency;
• Henri II de Montmorency.

• Davies, Joan (1979). "Persecution and Protestantism: Toulouse, 1562-1575". The Historical Journal. Cambridge University Press. Vol. 22, No. 1, March: 31–51.
• Davies, Joan (2000). "The Secretariat of Henri I, Duc de Montmorency, 1563-1614". The English Historical Review. Oxford University Press. 115 ((Sept) 463): 812–842. doi:10.1093/ehr/115.463.812. JSTOR 580680.
• Sidney, Philip (2012). Kuin, Roger (ed.). The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney. Volume 1. Oxford University Press.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Montmorency (family)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 787.