The House of Beaufort-Spontin is a noble family which held prominent posts under the Holy Roman Emperors in the Austrian Netherlands, their family seat having originally been in Namur.[1][2] The most notable member of the family was Frederic August Alexander of Beaufort-Spontin, who became the first Duke of Beaufort-Spontin in 1782.[3] Cadets bear the title of Count or Countess. The members of this family now reside in Austria and were members of the Austrian nobility, but their origins are in territories in what is today Belgium.[4][5]

Beaufort-Spontin
Noble family
Country Holy Roman Empire
Austrian Netherlands

United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Kingdom of Belgium

Austria-Hungary
Titles

History

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The family is descended from the Counts of Beaufort, who held land near Huy in the early 11th century. The original family split into several branches, including those of Spontin and of Vêves (the present Counts of Liedekerke-Beaufort descend from the latter). The branch of Beaufort-Spontin settled in Freÿr in the early 15th century.[5]

In 1783, the 1st Duke of Beaufort-Spontin married María Leopoldina Álvarez de Toledo y Salm-Salm, 10th Marchioness of Almenara, in Paris. She was the daughter of the 12th Duke of Infantado and of Princess María Ana Victoria of Salm-Salm, a grand-daughter of the Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort.[6] This made Frederic August a brother-in-law of Pedro de Alcántara Álvarez de Toledo, who was Prime Minister of Spain. The second child of Beaufort and María Leopoldina would marry the 10th Duke de Osuna, and their children would eventually become the 11th and 12th Dukes of Osuna.

Dukes of Beaufort-Spontin

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Notes

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References

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  • Beaufort-Spontin, Frederic (8 November 2009), A word from Frederic, Castle and Gardens of Freÿr / Meuse (Belgium), archived from the original on 2020-11-26, retrieved 2017-05-01 — includes a photograph of the 7th Duke
  • De Stein d'Altenstein, Isidore, ed. (1848), Annuaire de la noblesse de Belgique (in French), Brussels: Auguste Decq, p. 60
  • De Stein d'Altenstein, Isidore, ed. (1867), Annuaire de la noblesse de Belgique (in French), Brussels: Auguste Decq, p. 9
  • Eupedia staff (2014), "Beaufort-Spontin", History of the ducal and princely families in Belgium, Eupedia.com
  • Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (in German) (Fürstliche Häuser XVI ed.), Limburg an der Lahn: C.A. Starke Verlag, 2007, pp. 370–373, ISBN 978-3-7980-0841-0
  • Goethals, Félix-Victor (1859), "Frédéric-Auguste-Alexandre, duc de Beaufort-Spontin", Histoire généalogique de la maison de Beaufort-Spontin (in French), Brussels: Polack-Duvivier, p. 294
  • Almanach de Gotha (in French), Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1834, p. 75
  • Poplimont, Ch (1863), La Belgique héraldique: recueil historique, chronologique, généalogique et biographique complet de toutes les maisons nobles reconnues de la Belgique (in French), vol. 1, Brussels, pp. 445-453{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

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