Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz
Wikimedia list article
Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz owned the district of Retz or Rais, is in South Brittany.
History
Rais belonged in early times to a house which bore its name, and of which the eldest branch became extinct in the 13th century in the Chabot family.
From the Chabot family the lordship passed to the Lavals. Gilles de Laval, sire de Retz (c. 1405–1440), the comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc and marshal of France, gave himself over to the most revolting debauchery, and was strangled and burned at Nantes.
The barony of Retz passed successively to the families of Tournemine, Annebaut and Gondi. In 1581 it was erected into a duchy in the peerage of France (duché-pairie) for Albert de Gondi, marshal of France and general of the galleys. Pierre de Gondi, brother of the first duc de Retz, became bishop of Paris in 1570 and cardinal in 1587. He was succeeded by his nephews, Henri (died 1622) and Jean François de Gondi (died 1654), for whom the episcopal see of Paris was erected into an archbishopric in 1622, and by his great-nephew, Jean François Paul de Gondi, the famous cardinal de Retz.
With the death of the last male of the house of Gondi in 1676 the duché-pairie became extinct; the lordship passed to the house of Neuville-Villeroy.
“Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz” enters the record as wikimedia list article. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Seigneurs, Dukes and Retz can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Seigneurs, Dukes and Retz provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 21, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q3254308. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1405, 1440, 1581 and 1570.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz primary sources, Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz archive and Seigneurs research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Seigneurs and Dukes of Retz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.