Louis II de Bourbon-Condé

Victorious at Rocroi, a town in northeastern France, at the age of twenty-one, Louis II de Bourbon-Condé, known as the Grand Condé, was one of the greatest military commanders of the 17th century. A prince of the blood and cousin of Louis XIV, he held the titles of Duke of Bourbon and Duke of Montmorency.

His victory over the Spanish tercios at Rocroi on May 19, 1643, made him famous throughout Europe. The Fronde, however, led him to turn against the court: imprisoned in 1650, he took charge of the Fronde of the Princes, entered Spanish service, and did not return to royal favor until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.

Kept away from power, he devoted his final years to his estate at Chantilly. It was he who commissioned André Le Nôtre to design the park, with its grand vistas and Grand Canal, and who welcomed Racine and Boileau there.

At his death in 1686, his funeral at Notre-Dame de Paris was marked by Bossuet's famous funeral oration.