Louis Thomas de Savoie Carignan, Comte de Soissons

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Thomas,_Count_of_Soissons

Louis Thomas of Savoy (Italian: Luigi Tommaso di Savoia; 15 December 1657 – 14 August 1702) was a Count of Soissons and Prince of Savoy.

Biography

Louis Thomas was the eldest son of Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons and Olympia Mancini, as well as the oldest brother of Prince Eugene of Savoy.

He married the beautiful Urania de La Cropte, whom Saint-Simon had once described as "radiant as the glorious morn". They had one son and a daughter. His daughter eventually inherited Eugene's estate.

His maternal cousins included the Duke of Vendôme as well as the Duke of Bouillon and Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne. His paternal cousins included Victor Amadeus I, Prince of Carignano and Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden.

After the death of his father and the flight of his mother to Spain due to her involvement in the notorious Poison affair, Louis Thomas and Urania were charged, along with his paternal grandmother, with the rearing of his younger brothers. Eugene was never to forget the couple's loving surrogate parentage.

Louis Thomas obtained a commission as an officer in the French Army, but Louis XIV had amorous designs on his wife. Urania, however, spurned the king's romantic advances. Angered, Louis dismissed Louis Thomas from the army, and, when Louis Thomas sought a position abroad, terminated his pension and dues.

In 1699, all but bankrupt, Louis Thomas sought the aid of his younger brother, Eugene, in Vienna. With Eugene's help, he obtained a commission in the Austrian Imperial Army. He was killed in action near Landau against the French at the onset of the War of the Spanish Succession on 24 August 1702.

 Issue

# Princess Maria Anna Victoria of Savoy (1683–1763) Mademoiselle de Soissons married Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duke in Saxony, son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen; had no issue;

1. Louis Thomas (1685–1695)
2. Therese Anne Louise (1686–1736), no issue
3. Prince Emmanuel Thomas of Savoy (1687–1729) Count of Soissons. He married Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein and had issue;
4. Maurice (1690–1710)
5. Eugene (1692–1712)