House of Rohan

House of Rohan
Maison de Rohan
Heraldique blason de rohan
Parent housePorhoët
Place of origin Duchy of Brittany
Founded1116; 908 years ago (1116)
FounderAlan I, Viscount of Rohan
Current headCharles VI Raoul de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon
TitlesSee list
Connected families Rohan-Chabot
MottoA plus
Estate(s)Rohan Castle
Palais Rohan, Strasbourg
Palais Rohan, Bordeaux
Josselin Castle
Château de Joyeuse Garde
Château de Blain
Saint-Étienne-du-Gué-de-l'Isle
Sychrov Castle
Hôtel de Soubise
Cadet branches
  • Rohan-Guéméné
  • Rohan-Rochefort
  • Rohan-Soubise
  • Rohan-Gié
  • Rohan-Gué-de-l'Isle
  • Rohan-Polduc
  • Rohan-Montauban

The House of Rohan (Breton: Roc'han) is a Breton family of viscounts, later dukes and princes in the French nobility, coming from the locality of Rohan in Brittany. Their line descends from the viscounts of Porhoët and is said to trace back to the legendary Conan Meriadoc. Through the Porhoët family, the Rohans are related to the Dukes of Brittany, with whom the family intermingled again after its inception. During the Middle Ages, it was one of the most powerful families in the Duchy of Brittany. The Rohans developed ties with the French and English royal houses as well, and they played an important role in French and European history.

The only surviving line of the family is the branch of Rohan-Rochefort, Dukes of Montbazon, Dukes of Bouillon and Austrian Princes of Rohan, who migrated in the early 19th century to what is now Austria.[1][2]

Following his marriage in 1645 with Marguerite de Rohan, only daughter of Henri II de Rohan, first Duke of Rohan (who died in 1638 with no male heir), Henri Chabot, a descendant of the eldest branch of the House of Chabot from Poitou, was made Duke of Rohan in 1648 and allowed to use the name of Rohan-Chabot instead of his own, thus giving rise to the House of Rohan-Chabot.[3][4]

  1. ^ Fernand de Saint-Simon, Etienne de Séréville, Dictionnaire de la noblesse française, 1975, p. 869.
  2. ^ Henri Jougla de Morenas Raoul de Warren, Grand Armorial de France, vol. 6, p. 45, read online.
  3. ^ Fernand de Saint-Simon, Etienne de Séréville, Dictionnaire de la noblesse française, 1975, p. 870.
  4. ^ Henri Jougla de Morenas, Raoul de Warren, Grand Armorial de France, vol. 2, p. 366 read online.