Erasmus-Gaspard de Contades, comte de Contades et de l'Empire (12 March 1758 – 9 November 1834) was a French aristocrat, politician, and Lieutenant-General of the King's Armies.
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Early life
Contades was born on 12 March 1758 in Angers, the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department. He was the eldest son of Julie Victoire Constantin de La Lorie, Dame du Plantis (1739–1828) and Georges-Gaspard de Contades, Marquis de Contades (1726–1794), a member of the Académie des sciences. Among his siblings was brothers Louis Gabriel de Contades, Marquis de Contades-Gizeux (Baron of the Empire), and François-Jules de Contades, Viscount de Contades (known as the Chevalier de Contades).
His paternal grandfather was Marquis Louis Georges Érasme de Contades, a prominent battlefield commander during the Seven Years' War, who was made a Marshal of France the year Erasmus was born.