having poisoned her husband to prevent the child's rejection as a bastard, although the king recognized the child as premier prince du sang and heir presumptive to the crown until the birth of his own son, the future Louis XIII, in 1601. The third duc de Thouars, Henri (1599-1674), was present at the Siege of La Rochelle in October 1628, after which he was obliged to abjure Protestantism for Catholicism while face-to-face with the victorious Cardinal Richelieu. He fought for France thereafter, at Pas-de-Suze in 1629, at the siege of Corbie in 1636, and was wounded at Carignano in 1629. Of his marriage with his cousin in 1619, Marie de La Tour d'Auvergne (1601-1665), daughter of Henri, Duke of Bouillon, was born Henri-Charles de La Trémoïlle (1620-1672), fourth duc de Thouars and prince de Tarente. He lived much of his life outside of France, serving as a cavalry general in the service of the Estates of Holland and holding the post of governor of Bois-le-Duc. He married a German princess, Emilie of Hesse-Cassel (1626-1693), in 1648, and only returned to France and converted to Catholicism two years before his death, in September 1670. His great-grandson, Charles Armand René de La Trémoïlle (1683-1719) became the seventh duc de Thouars in father-to-son succession. He received the position of Premier Gentilhomme de la Chambre du Roi, which had become a family sinecure. In 1725 he married his cousin, Marie Hortense de La Tour d'Auvergne (1704-1788), daughter of Emmanuel-Théodose, Duke of Bouillon. Claim to kingdom of Naples In the 17th century the La Trémoïlle family put forth a claim to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples. Henry de La Trémoïlle, in representation of his great-grandmother Anne de Laval (1505–1554), wife of François de la Trémoïlle, was the sole heir to King Frederick of Naples. Ferdinand I (1423-1494), an illegitimate son of King Alfonso V of Aragon, managed to become king of Naples in 1458, although upon his death his son Alfonso II (1452-1504) was driven out by France. Alfonso II's only legitimate child, Charlotte (1480-1506), was married in 1500 to Nicolas de Montmorency, comte de Laval. Her younger daughter Anne married in 1521 Louis I de La Trémoïlle, vicomte de Thouars. By this connection the La Trémoïlle claimed the title "Prince of Tarento", along with the inheritance of Montmorency-Laval (it had passed to the Rieux family on the death of Guy XVI in