HOUDETOT

houdetot, a french noble family, taking its name from the lordship of houdetot, between arques and st valery. louis de houdetot went with robert, duke of normandy, to palestine in 1034, and the various branches of the family trace descent from richard i. de houdetot (fl. 1229), who married marie de montfort. charles louis de houdetot received a marquisate in 1722, and on his son claude constance cesar, lieutenant-general in the french army, was conferred the hereditary title of count in 1753. his wife (see below) was the madame de houdetot of rousseau's _confessions_. their son cesar louis marie francois ange, comte de houdetot (1749-1825), was governor of martinique (1803-1809) and lieutenant-general (1814) under the empire. his son frederic christophe, comte de houdetot (1778-1859), was director-general of indirect imposts in prussia after jena, and prefect of brussels in 1813. he acquiesced in the restoration, but had to resign from the service after the hundred days. he became a peer of france in 1819, and under the second empire he was returned by the department of calvados to the corps legislatif. his half-brother, charles ile-de-france, comte de houdetot (1789-1866), was wounded at trafalgar and transferred to the army, in which he served through the napoleonic wars. he retired at the restoration, but returned to the service in 1823, and in 1826 became aide-de-camp to the duke of orleans, becoming lieutenant-general in 1842. he sat in the chamber of deputies from 1837 to 1848, when he followed louis philippe into exile. a third brother, cesar francois adolphe, comte de houdetot (1799-1869), was a well-known writer on military and other subjects. houdetot, elisabeth francoise sophie de la live de bellegarde, comtesse de (1730-1813), was born in 1730. she married the comte de houdetot (see above) in 1748. in 1753 she formed with the marquis de saint lambert (q.v.) a connexion which lasted till his death. mme de houdetot has been made famous by the chapter in rousseau's _confessions_ in which he describes his unreciprocated passion for her. when questioned on the subject she replied that he had much exaggerated. a view differing considerably from rousseau's is to be found in the _memoires_ of mme d'epinay, mme de houdetot's sister-in-law. for a discussion of her relations with rousseau see saint-marc-girardin in the _revue des deux mondes_ (september 1853).