The Duchy of Luxembourg in exile

 
Who was Luxembourg ?

  During the reign of Louis XIV, Saint - Simon wrote: " Upon my return from la Trappe, (...), I came across an affair that made a great deal of noise and that for me has many consequences". M. de Luxembourg, proud of his successes and the world's applause for his victories, believed himself powerful enough to move to the eighteenth rank of seniority that he held amongst the second rank of peers, and immediately after M. de Huzes ".

Which duke of Luxembourg is Saint Simon speaking about because the duchy of Luxembourg had ceased to exist in the C15th when it was annexed to the states of Burgundy in Flanders? (The Grand duchy of Luxembourg that exists now was only created in 1815).

The memorialist speaks of the duke of Piney,the name of a village in the territory, which was called until the revolution Piney - Luxembourg.

The duke of Piney, formerly count of Brienne was the most important noble in the territory from the C15th to the Revolution.
He was a direct descendant of the dukes of the present State of Luxembourg, The dukes of Piney could if this state had existed then have made a claim as pretenders to the throne.
 
The creation of the duchy of Luxembourg in exile

Hôtel de Luxembourg in Piney
   The dukes of Piney installed here when one of them married the inheritor of the County of Brienne - Le - Château . A barony in this county, Piney was elevated by Henry III to a duchy for a peer, the highest title of the nobility in France, under the name of Piney - Luxembourg.

This duchy included at its height covered the territory of the present Park, the villages of Amance, Brévonnes, Champ - sur - Barse, Géraudot, Lesmont, Onjon, Pel - Et - Der, Piney, Puits - et - Nuisements, Rouilly - Sacey, Val d'Auzon, Vauchonvilliers, Vendeuvre to which must be added the lordships of the county of Brienne: Brienne - la - Vielle, Brienne - Le - Château, Jessains, Précy - Saint - Martin, St. Léger, Unienville that were not fixed and were connected or not to the duchy of Piney - Luxemburg.
 
From the decorator of Notre - Dame to the Grand Orient of France
During their 350 years of existence, the dukes of Luxembourg - Piney, marked the territory they held and one frequently sees in the churches or other monuments the Lion of the coat of arms of the Luxembourgs.The Lion which is still used on the arms of Brienne and Piney in memory of their former lords.
The last member of the Luxembourgs was a girl who married a Montmorency. He took the name and the arms of his wife's family and entered history under the name of the Marshal of Luxembourg , duke of Piney.
He was one of Louis XIV's greatest soldiers and dubbed the decorator of Notre Dame, because he had covered the cathedral of Paris with flags taken from the enemy.
One of his descendents, the last duke of Piney, opened the Parliament of 1789 as president of the Nobility. 		 
He died in exile in Portugal in 1802 and the memory of the French duchy of Luxemburg in the Forêt d'Orient faded away.
His most beautiful riches, the south of the Forêt d'Orient named the Orient of Piney, were integrated into the national domain under the name of forest of the " Grand Orient ".
This duke of Luxembourg - Piney had founded the Masonic order of the Grand Orient of France, and the Second consul Cambacéres who made this forest a public domain had succeeded him as head of the order.
13 years later, the present Grand duchy of Luxembourg was recreated.

Sylvain Michon PNRFO © PNRFO