Lauzun, Antonin Nompar de Caumont (1633–1723), comte de Lauzun , French commander of Jacobite forces in Ireland, was born in 1633 in France, into a family of impoverished Gascon nobility. He was the fourth of five sons (there were also four daughters) of Gabriel de Lauzun and his wife, Charlotte, daughter of the duc de la Force. He entered the army in 1654 as a cornet in the regiment of Maréchal de Gramont, and in 1655 was serving under James (qv), duke of York, who was at that time a volunteer under Marshal Turenne. As a young man Lauzun was a favourite of Louis XIV and lover of the king's cousin, the princesse de Montpensier. However, his determination to marry her incurred Louis's displeasure and led to his imprisonment. With the help of the princess he escaped to England, where, in November 1688, James (now king) chose him as escort to accompany Queen Mary of Modena and the prince of Wales in their flight to France. On his return to France, Lauzun was pardoned by Louis.
He owed his subsequent advancement to Mary and James and was an object of suspicion in the eyes of France's professional soldiers and ministers, especially the marquis de Louvois, French minister of war. Mary tried but failed to get him the command of the French expedition to Ireland in early 1689, General Conrad von Rosen being chosen instead. In early 1690, however, Rosen was displaced in favour of Lauzun at the request of James, despite the opposition of the duke of Tyrconnell (qv), who feared that the appointment would undermine Louvois's support for the war in Ireland. Lauzun landed at Cork 12 March 1690 with more than 7,000 men. In return an equal number of Irish were sent to France shortly afterwards, accompanied by Rosen and the French ambassador, comte d'Avaux (qv) (who was also opposed to Lauzun's appointment).
Lauzun was highly critical of the state of affairs he found in Ireland, but was notably less severe on James than d'Avaux had been in his dispatches. After the battle of the Boyne he took particular care for the safety of the person of the fleeing king. Lauzun proceeded from Dublin to Limerick, whose defences, he pronounced, would not survive bombardment by ‘roasted apples’; in fact the city withstood the first Williamite siege of August 1690. Tyrconnell and Lauzun subsequently went to Galway, from where they sailed to France in September 1690. Their departure, at this relatively high point of Jacobite fortunes, caused a good deal of surprise. Lauzun, however, was weary, and declared that he would rather drive a gun carriage in France than continue to serve in Ireland. The French command was assumed by the marquis de Saint-Ruth (qv), who landed at Limerick in May 1691.
King Louis later made him, at the special request of James II, duc de Lauzun. He died 19 November 1723. A portrait is reproduced by Sandars, and his dispatches from Ireland are printed in Franco–Irish correspondence.