The grandfather of the first Duke of Luynes was Léon d'Alberti, who changed the family name to Albert and married Jeanne de Ségur of Marseille in 1535. From the marriage he received a dowry of 10,000 livres and the fief of Luynes in today's départementBouches-du-Rhône in Provence. His son Honoré was born five years later. Léon d'Albert died in the Italian Wars. Honoré d'Albert, seigneur de Luynes, was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France, and became colonel of the French bands, commissary of artillery in Languedoc and governor of Beaucaire. He had three sons:
Charles, a favorite of Louis XIII, became the first duke of Luynes in August 1619. He had recently purchased the Comté de Maillé on the Loire, about 10 miles west of Tours, and the king erected Maillé into the Duchy of Luynes, which included about 50 parishes and extended to the western wall of Tours and around it on three sides.
Honoré, first Duke of Chaulnes, was seigneur de Cadenet and married Charlotte Eugenie d'Ailly, countess of Chaulnes, in 1619, and was created duke of Chaulnes in 1621. He was governor of Picardy and marshal of France, and defended his province successfully in 1625 and 1635. He is also responsible for the French translation of René Descartes's Meditations, from Latin, in 1647.
By her marriage with Claude of Lorraine, duke of Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan, the widow of the first duke of Luynes, acquired in 1655 the duchy of Chevreuse, which she gave in 1663 to Louis Charles d'Albert, her son by her first husband; and from that time the title of duke of Chevreuse and duke of Luynes was borne by the eldest sons of the family of Luynes, which also inherited the title of duke of Chaulnes on the extinction of the descendants of Honoré d'Albert in 1698. The branch of the dukes of Luxemburg-Piney became extinct in 1697. Some other notable family members are:
Louis Auguste d'Albert d'Ailly, duke of Chaulnes, became marshal of France.
Louis Joseph d'Albert de Luynes, 3rd Prince of Grimberghen: married to Magdeleine Marie de Berghes. He was in the service of the Emperor Charles VII, and became field-marshal and ambassador in France.
Several members of the family of Albert were distinguished in letters and science. Louis Charles d'Albert, duke of Luynes, son of the constable, was an ascetic writer and friend of the Jansenists; Paul d'Albert de Luynes, Cardinal and archbishop of Sens, an astronomer; Michel Ferdinand d'Albert d'Ailly, duke of Chaulnes, a writer on mathematical instruments, and his son Marie Joseph Louis, a chemist; and Honoré Theodore Paul Joseph, a writer on archaeology.
