Abraham Duquesne

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Abraham Duquesne as figurehead of the French liner Duquesne (ex Zélandais )

Marquis Abraham II Duquesne (also du Quesne ); (* between 1604 and 1610 in Dieppe ; † February 1688 in Paris ) was a French naval officer who also served as admiral in the Swedish navy.

Live and act

He was the son of Abraham (I) Duquesne and Marthe de Caux. In 1636 he was used with the "Neptune" squadron. In 1637 he conquered the island of Îles de Lérins from the Spanish. During this time his father died in a conflict with the Spaniards, which made him bitter towards them and demanded revenge. He fought them at Guetaria in 1638 , in A Coruña in 1639 and in 1641 in the battles near Tarragona, Barcelona and Capo de Gata.

In 1643 Duquesne joined the Swedish army and fought the Danish fleet in the sea ​​battle on the Kolberger Heide with the frigate Regina 24 . Later, near Fehmarn, when the fleet was under the command of King Christian IV , the Danes were defeated and their admiral killed. After Sweden and Denmark made peace in 1645, Duquesne returned to France. In 1650, when the Fronde broke out , he suppressed a revolt in Bordeaux supported by the Spaniards. In the same year he set up a squadron at his own expense, with which he blocked the Gironde and forced the city to surrender. Because of this, he received his promotion to the command of the new French fleet and as a gift a castle and the municipality of Indre (Loire-Atlantique) .

After France and Spain made peace in 1659, Duquesne fought pirates in the Mediterranean. In the Dutch War he fought against the Spanish-Dutch fleet in the Mediterranean, including in the naval battle of Palermo . In 1685, after the Edict of Nantes was repealed , he was, as a Huguenot, one of the few who was not persecuted because of his Protestant faith. His son Henri Duquesne fled to Switzerland, and his wife had to renounce the evangelical faith in order to preserve her inheritance.

Duquesne was buried in his castle at Le Bouchet, but his son took his heart with him to Switzerland.

The city of Dieppe, one of whose most famous sons he is, had a statue erected in his honor on September 22, 1844 on the Place Nationale.

Marriage and children

He was married to Gabrielle de Bernières.

  • Abraham III you Quesne
  • Isaac du Quesne (- 1745)
  • Jacob, comte du Quesne (- 1740)
  • Henri Duquesne , baron d'Aubonne (1652–1722)

literature

  • Michel Vergé-Franceschi: Abraham Duquesne, Huguenot et marin du Roi-Soleil . France Empire, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-7048-0705-1 .
  • Frédéric Hulot: Duquesne. Le Cent Diable . Pygmalion, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85704-491-7 .

Web links

Commons : Abraham Duquesne  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. Eberhard Gresch: The Huguenots. History, Belief and Impact. 4th, revised edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-374-02260-1 , p. 68
  2. Article on Abraham Duquesne in Musée virtuel du protestantisme