Claude François Bidal, one he marquis d'Asfeld
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Claude François Bidal, 1 he marquis d'Asfeld (* July 2, 1665 in Paris ; † March 7, 1743 ibid) was a French soldier and aristocrat of the 17th and 18th centuries. He served under Louis XIV , the Régence and under Louis XV. The culmination of his military career was the promotion to Maréchal de France , as well as the award of the Commander's Cross of the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis and the Order of a Chevalier of the Golden Fleece .
He was a specialist in sieges and defenses of fortresses and was in this regard as the successor to Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban .
Life
Origin and family
He was the son of Pierre Bidal (* 1612 or 1616; † July 1682), cloth and silk merchant in Paris, Parisian citizen, banker of Queen Christine of Sweden , French envoy to the Hanseatic cities in Hamburg , Lord von Wildenburg in Pomerania and von Harsefeld in the Duchy of Bremen and husband of Catherine Bastonneau (* 1620; † January 21, 1690).
His older brother Alexis also joined the army. He fought in the Dutch War and the Palatinate War of Succession , in which he was killed. His younger brother Jacques-Vincent, called "Abbé des Tuiles" (pastor of the roof tiles) was a theologian and Jansenist .
The baptism of fire
Under the name "Chevalier d'Asfeld", Claude François Bidal received his baptism of fire in 1683 during the Reunion War. During the bombardment of Luxembourg fortress , he was promoted to lieutenant in his brother's dragoon regiment, the "Régiment d'Asfeld dragons". During the siege of Luxembourg in 1684, which finally surrendered on June 4th, he was given command of a company of the regiment. In 1689 he served in the army of the Maréchal d'Humières at the Battle of Walcourt on August 25th. In Bonn he attacked the enemy from a hidden path and drove them off a crescent in which they had lodged. After his brother took command of the "Royal dragons" regiment, Claude François d'Asfeld followed him to the now vacant position in the Regiment d'Asfeld dragons , was promoted to Mestre de camp and took over the position of commander.
War of the Palatinate Succession
In the Palatinate War of Succession he was under the command of Louis-François de Boufflers in the capture of Cochem (1690), the siege of Mons (surrendered on April 9) and the bombing of Liège (June 4, 1691). Assigned to the army of Maréchal François-Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg in 1692 , he took part in the siege of Namur , which surrendered on June 5th and in the battle of Steenkerke on August 3rd . As commander of the French left wing in the battle near Orteville on September 8, he managed to throw back the opposing wing and capture the general in command there. He was also involved in the siege of Huy (the city capitulated on July 20, the citadel on July 23, 1692).
In the Battle of Neerwind on July 29th, he marched at the head of the dragoons and attacked the enemy entrenchments on the site three times. In the third attack, he broke his shoulder. The following year he took part in the siege of Charleroi . On April 28, 1694 he was promoted to Brigadier des armées du roi and moved with the Flemish Army under the Maréchal de Luxembourg on August 22nd in the difficult march from Vignamont to Espierre . Assigned to the Maréchal de Villeroy , he was deployed with his dragoons at Namur in 1695 . After the city was recaptured by Prince Wilhelm of Orange on August 4, 1698 , the citadel lasted until September 2. During this time, three more attacks were carried out, while the Chevalier d'Asfeld was able to chase invaded attackers out of a bastion with his dragoons.
He continued to serve in the Armée de Flandre in 1696, which was increasingly placed on the defensive. Commanded to Luxembourg in winter, he came to the Armée du Rhin (Rhine Army) under the command of Maréchal Claude de Choiseul-Francières , who stayed in the claimed territories until the Peace of Rijswijk .
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War of the Spanish Succession
First campaign in the Netherlands
On September 23, 1698, the Dragoon Regiment d'Asfeld was released, but the Chevalier d'Asfeld was reactivated on February 5, 1701. He served in the Armée de Flandre under the Maréchal de Boufflers and prepared for the French troops to take possession of the Liège Citadel.
Under the command of Louis de France and the Maréchal de Boufflers, he fought against the Dutch on June 11th under the walls of Nijmegen and at Eckeren on June 30th. On November 6, 1702 he was involved in the siege and capture of Trarbach and was then promoted to the Maréchal de camp . In 1703 he was under the command of Maréchal Louis de France and Maréchal de Tallard . He took part in the siege of Breisach , which surrendered on September 6th, and fought in the Battle of the Speyerbach , in which Karl von Hessen-Kassel was defeated on November 14th. The victory was due to the fact that the Chevalier d'Asfeld managed to gather the cavalry in time. Then he moved in front of the Landau fortress , which capitulated on November 15th.
Fight in Spain
Seconded to Spain in December 1704, he served in the siege of Salvaterra de Miño, which surrendered unconditionally on May 8, and then before Ségura, which surrendered the same day. When Idanha-a-Nova was captured on May 13th, he went through the gate with a saber in his fist, as did Monsanto , whose lock did not surrender until May 17th. Then Castel-Branco fell on May 18th and Castel-de-Vide on May 25th. The Chevalier d'Asfeld marched on to the siege of Montalva and Marvan, both of which were captured.
On October 26, 1705 he was given the title of Lieutenant-général des armées du roi , and he transferred to the army of René de Froulay de Tessé , where he commanded the rearguard of the French-Spanish troops when passing Evora .
He massively harassed the Marquis des Minas who besieged Badajoz , whereupon he had to give up the siege on October 16. As the commander of a 5,000-strong corps, he received the deputies of the 300 towns and communities in Balbastro who wanted to submit to Philip V.
He was posted with a corps in 1706 to put down a revolt in the Kingdom of Aragon . On February 16, he passed the Cinca and sent 300 horsemen to take San Esteban , a measure that was to keep his back free during the siege of Moncon. At the side of the Spanish king he was then involved in the siege of Barcelona, which had been captured by the British the year before. On April 22nd, the besieged undertook a general strike and after more than three hours of fighting were able to maintain their advanced positions. The cavalry of the besieged, which was involved in the sortie, was repulsed by d'Asfeld at the head of a detachment, where he had to complain about losses of 15 riders of fallen or prisoners. The Spanish king left the siege forces on May 12, 1706 and the Chevalier d'Asfeld was sent to Bayonne to take care of reinforcements. To this end, he personally credited 50,000 Écus to set up a force and a field artillery park. At the end of October he moved to Cartagena , which surrendered on November 18th.
Conquest of the Kingdom of Valencia
In 1707 he was assigned to the army of Maréchal de Berwick and took part in the Battle of Almansa . The English initially pushed back the right wing of the French first line, thereupon d'Asfeld at the head of the second line began a counterattack with the cavalry on the right English wing, drove them to flight and pursued the fugitives. The day after the battle, 13 enemy battalions (five English, five Dutch and three Portuguese) were captured. The army of the two crowns (France and Spain) then split into two corps. One corps commanded d'Asfeld with which he invaded the Kingdom of Valencia and in early May conquered Xàtiva , which was then looted and burned. Two monasteries were also destroyed, which d'Asfeld did not prevent. The English and Dutch defenders and the inhabitants fought for every street and every house. The fighting civilians were dealt with mercilessly, the regular troops of the defenders finally withdrew to the castle, where they were surrounded by four battalions of the Marquis d'Asfeld while the main force of the troops continued their project. He took Chert and moved to the mountains near Morella . Commissioned by the Maréchal de Berwick with the siege of Tortosa , he arrived on June 12, 1708 in front of the city, which capitulated on July 7. He first had the fortifications repaired and then continued his campaign through Valencia. Next he marched to Dénia , where the siege trenches began on November 7th. On November 9, a breach was made in the wall and d'Asfeld stormed into the city on November 12, 1708 at the head of the grenadiers, where he was slightly wounded in the thigh. It could not be prevented, however, that about 1000 man of the defenders barricaded themselves in the castle, one of the many forts of the Kingdom of Valencia. After the conquest of the city, the fortified monastery of Saint-François was removed, as this point could have been used to supply the castle from the sea. Four ships, loaded with troops and ammunition that had been sent to the coast to support the castle, had to turn back. The Chevalier d'Asfeld fired massive artillery at the fort, forcing the governor to give up on November 17, 1708. Food, 50 cannons, and thousands of pounds of powder were found for more than six months. He organized the siege of Alicante from November 30th , penetrated first into one, then two other suburbs on November 1st, and conquered an entrenchment the next day without any breach. The city surrendered on December 3, 1708. The action continued with the blockade of Castillo de Santa Bárbara above Alicante. The governor of the fortress refused to surrender, whereupon on April 6, 1709 a mine loaded with 1,200 pounds of powder was detonated under the walls. 150 English soldiers were killed in this explosion, the buildings within the walls were destroyed or badly damaged, a bastion , parts of the second wall and the cistern collapsed.
Preparations for the storm were made after bombing the citadel until April 15 to create a usable breach when twelve English ships approached within cannon range, dropped anchor, and bombarded French troops for six hours.
The Chevalier d'Asfeld responded with his artillery, preventing English infantry from going ashore in support of the citadel. The English fortress commander recognized the hopelessness of the situation and capitulated on April 18, 1709.
This last important conquest ended the defeat of Valencia and the Chevalier d'Asfeld was appointed governor.
On the eastern front
In 1710 he served in the Dauphiné Army, which was commanded by the Maréchal de Berwick. In 1712 he was given command of Provence. He marched under the Maréchal de Berwick, to the relief of the besieged Girona , whose enclosure was abandoned on January 7, 1713 by the English. In the same year he joined the Armée du Rhin, (Rhine Army) which conquered Speyer , Worms and Kaiserslautern under the Maréchal de Villars . He was also involved in the siege of Landau , which was enclosed on June 22nd and captured on August 20, 1713. He was at the siege of Freiburg , which his garrison gave up on November 1st. After the citadel had surrendered on November 16, d'Asfeld was then city commander.
Back in Spain
Under the Maréchal de Berwick, he took part in the siege of Barcelona from 1714 , where he opened the approach trenches to bring the siege to an end. The decisive attack came on September 11, 1714, after 11 months of the blockade and 61 days after the trenches had been opened.
After the royal court under Philip V in Madrid had not shown itself in a position to come to an agreement with the Mallorcans , it was decided in 1715 to subjugate the islands by force and commissioned the Chevalier d'Asfeld with this expedition. He left Barcelona on June 11, 1715, reached Mallorca on June 14 and went ashore on June 15 without encountering any resistance at Cala-Longa. On June 18, he came to the fortified Alcúdia and asked the place to surrender. The governor, who initially refused to do so, was eventually forced to do so by the population. More than 20 other cities and castles were seized in this campaign. Palma , the island's capital, was trapped on June 29th and an attempt by the garrison to break out was repelled. The city surrendered on July 2nd and included the island of Ibiza . 200 cannons and all kinds of food and ammunition were found in Palma de Mallorca .
In recognition of his services King Philip V took him Decree of 30 August 1715 in the hereditary nobility of Castile and raised him as Marquis d'Asfeld to Marquis .
La Regency
After that, d'Asfeld embarked again and returned to Barcelona with the French troops. On August 21, 1719, the Spanish king also accepted him into the Order of the Golden Fleece . When the French regent declared war on King Philip V of Spain, d'Asfeld was to become the troop commander. He held out the Order of the Golden Fleece to the Duc d'Orléans and said:
“Monseigneur, I did a lot until I got this from the Spanish king. Free me from having to turn against my benefactor. "
D'Asfeld was appointed to the War and Naval Council and was appointed Directeur général des fortifications (General Director of Fortifications). In 1719 he took part in the siege of San Sebastián under the Maréchal de Berwick . which hoisted the white flag on August 1st, the castle surrendered on August 19th, 1719. He was involved in the capture of the forts and the castle of Urgel , as well as in the siege of Roses , which had to be canceled due to heavy rains.
He became governor of Castle Trompette (1720), was appointed commander-in-chief in the Guyenne and remained under the command of the Maréchal de Berwick (1721).
War of the Polish Succession
As commander-in-chief par intérim of the Italian army (1733), he besieged Gerra-d ' Adda , where he began to dig approach trenches on the night of August 17th to 18th. The city surrendered on November 29, 1733. On November 29th, he took Pizzighettone and on December 29th, 1733 the Castello Sforzesco . He was still involved in the conquests of Trezzo, Lecco, Fuente, Saravalle, Novare and Arrona, which were occupied in the first days of January 1734; Tortone surrendered on February 4, 1734.
This was followed by the transfer to the Rhine Army (Armée du Rhin), which was under the command of Maréchal de Berwick. With 34 battalions and 40 escadrons he crossed the Rhine near Neckarau , forcing the enemy to split up and decided to attack Ettlingen in the same month , which surrendered on May 4th. On May 23, 1734 he moved with 32 battalions and two dragoon regiments against the Philippsburg fortress and began the siege.
He built two bridges over the Rhine, one near Germersheim , a second near Oberhausen . After the death of the Maréchal de Berwick during the siege, he was appointed Maréchal de France himself and was given supreme command of the Rhine Army. On June 22nd, he attacked a covered path of the fortress, which brought in 60 prisoners and led to the removal of a bastion. Philippsburg surrendered on July 18, 1734.
The marshal had succeeded in taking the siege despite the flood of the Rhine which had flooded the trenches and impeded the attacks.
Worms was captured on July 23, 1734. He then took over the post of governor of Strasbourg, which had become vacant due to the death of Maréchal de Berwick, and resigned from the governorship of Château Trompette. On November 10, 1734 he was by King Louis XV. , also formally appointed Maréchal de France. He soon retired from military service and died in Paris on March 17, 1743 at the age of 76.
Private life
On March 20, 1728 he bought parts of the defunct County of Avaux, (the last Count of Avaux had only one daughter, who was married to François II. De la Roche, marquis de Fontenilles, comte de Courtenay) consisting of Avaux-le -Château, Avaux-la-Ville, Aire, Vieux and Vauboison. Avaux-la-Ville, which was called Ecry until 1671, has now been renamed Asfeld . After the Spanish king, King Louis XV also recognized him. by royal decree of August 30, 1715 as Marquis d'Asfeld and raised the Seigneurie (rule) Alsfeld in the Ardennes to the Marquisat d'Asfeld (consisting of the lands of the former county of Avaux and the rule of Prouvais).
On April 28, 1717 he married Jeanne Louise Joly de Fleury (1698-23 November 1717), daughter of Joseph Omer Joly, Seigneur de Fleury and La Mousse, Avocat général (Advocate General) in the Parlement in Paris, and Louise Bérault; second marriage in September 1718 to Anne Leclerc de Lesseville (1698–30 January 1728), daughter of Nicolas Leclerc de Lesseville, Seigneur de Mesnil-Durand and von Thun, councilor in the Grand Conseil (1674) then President of Parliament (1677), Councilor of the 5 ° Chambre des enquêtes (1677), President of the Chamber from 1706, and Marguerite Valentine Lallemant.
From the second marriage came a son, Claude-Étienne (1719–1793) 2nd Marquis d'Asfeld et de Castille. In 1755 he married Anne Pajot de Villepenot, who later had a son, Baron Charles Athanase Walckenaer, from a liaison with Charles-Nicolas Duclos du Fresnoy, royal notary and patron of the painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze .
After the birth of three legitimate children (among whose descendants were the Princes de Béthune Hesdigneul ), the couple divorced in 1763. Claude-Étienne then married Angélique Thérèse de Mailly (SP) for the second time.
The tomb of Claude François Bidal, marquis d'Asfeld is in the Saint-Roch church in Paris.
literature
- Jean-Baptiste de Courcelles: Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français, depuis le onzième siècle jusqu'en 1820. Part II, Verlag Arthus-Bertrand, Paris 1821, pp. 287–290
- Hyacinthe Robillard d'Avrigny: Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire universelle de l'Europe, depuis 1600 jusqu'en 1716. Avec des réflexions & remarques critiques. Publisher Veuve R. Mazières, Paris 1724–1725
- Charles Sevin de Quincy : Histoire militaire du règne de Louis le Grand. 8 volumes, 1726
- Charles-Jean-François Hénault: Abrégé chronologique de l'histoire de France jusqu'à la mort de Louis XIV. 1744
Footnotes
- ↑ for whatever reason
- ↑ By order of November 7th
- ↑ The citadel only on June 30, 1692.
- ↑ initially only “Brevet” / provisional
- ^ With an order dated June 6 of the same year
- ^ With an order dated May 22, 1702
- ↑ "Brevet" / provisional; by order of December 23, 1702
- ^ With authorization dated October 26th
- ^ François-Alexandre Aubert La Chesnaye Des Bois: Dictionnaire de la noblesse. Volume 3, Schlesinger freres, 1863, p. 171.
- ^ Adrien Richer: Théatre du monde. Volume 1, De Maisonneuve, Paris 1788, p. 127.
- ^ Patent dated September 18, 1715
- ↑ Provisional appointment from September 24, 1718
- ↑ Provisional from October 19, 1720
- ↑ Subordinate to the Maréchal de Villars
- ↑ Order of April 1, 1734
- ^ By order of June 14, 1743, issued in Versailles
- ↑ Order of August 15, 1734
- ^ Archives nationales (France) , 9. 38-40.
Web links
- Généalogie Bidal d'Asfeld , by Benoît de Diesbach Belleroche, Friborg, 2002.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bidal d'Asfeld, Claude François |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bidal 1er marquis d'Asfeld, Claude François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French officer, most recently Marshal of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 2, 1665 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 7, 1743 |
| Place of death | Paris |