The Grand Prior hosted a literary, philosophical, and libertine circle, known as the Temple Society [fr], of which young Voltaire was a member.

Philippe was born on 23 August 1655 in Paris[1] and baptised together with his elder brother Louis Joseph in the Sainte Chapelle of the Château de Vincennes on 17 October 1656 by Cardinal Antonio Barberini.

[4] His mother was Italian, the eldest daughter of Baron Lorenzo Mancini and his wife Girolama, a sister of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France.

Cardinal Mazarin died in March 1661,[7] and Louis XIV, much less favourable to the Vendômes, started to rule by himself.

The brothers inherited the Hôtel de Vendôme [fr] in Paris where César had lived.

[11] Louis XIV wanted to please Pope Clement IX by helping the Venetians in the Siege of Candia.

[13] The Chevalier fought in the desastrous sally undertaken by the French on 25 June, shortly after their arrival, in which his uncle went missing.

[14] On 6 August 1669, while the Chevalier was on Crete, his father died in France and his brother succeeded as 3rd duke of Vendôme.

At the eve of their departure, the Chevalier organised a parley in an effort to find out what had happened to his uncle, but the Turks said they did not know.

In June the Chevalier fought under Louis, Grand Condé, at the Crossing of the Rhine, where he swam through the river[17] and captured two Dutch flags.

The Chevalier spent the remainder of the war in the Spanish Netherlands under Marshal Luxembourg in at least five successful sieges.

[25] The Chevalier became grand prior of France [fr] end of April 1678 succeeding Henry d'Estampes de Valencay.

[31] In 1683 the Grand Prior spent some time at the English court, where he seduced Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, mistress of Charles II of England.

[40] In 1695 Vendôme was transferred to Catalonia, whereas the Grand Prior stepped into his place[41] and fought at the siege of Nice under Catinat.

[42] The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) started in northern Italy, where Prince Eugen, fighting for the Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, defeated French and Savoyard troops under Catinat at Carpi in July 1701.

When Eugene took Villeroy prisoner in January 1702 at Cremona, Louis XIV appointed the Duke of Vendôme, the Grand Prior's brother, commander-in-chief in Italy.

[43] The Duke of Maine persuaded the king to let the Grand Prior join his brother in Italy, where he arrived shortly before May 1703.

[49] In May the Grand Prior held a line along the rivers Chiese and Mincio, and the Lake Garda.

In July Vendôme left Piedmont to La Feuillade and joined his brother at Ombriano,[52] taking over the command.

As he was married but childless, Louis XIV annexed the duchy into the royal domain,[60] claiming that the Grand Prior's vows as Maltese knight excluded him from the succession.

[f] At the end of January 1715, the grand master, Ramon Perellós, asked his knights to come to defend Malta as a Turkish attack seemed imminent.

In October he was back in France,[65] where his friend Jean-Baptiste Rousseau celebrated him by an ode in the style of Horace.

See the following extract: Le Rhin, le Pô, l'Èbre, la Meuse Tour à tour ont vu ses exploits, The Rhine, the Po, the Ebro, the Meuse One by one, have seen his achievements,[66] Louis XIV died in September 1715.

The regency was assumed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who admired the Grand Prior.

In the following extract he declares himself a member of the Temple Society: Je sais que vous avez l’honneur, Me dit-il, d'être des orgies De certain aimable prieur, I know that you have the honour, He told me, to attend the orgies Of a certain kind prior, In 1719 he sold his office of grand prior to the Chevalier d'Orléans, an illegitimate son of the regent.

In 1724 Raoux painted his portrait as an old man turning his back on military glory and love.