François-Henri de Montmorency-Luxembourg

Marshal de Luxembourg

Francois Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville , Duke of Luxemburg-Piney (born January 8, 1628 in Paris , † January 4, 1695 in Versailles ) was a French military leader, peer and marshal of France .

The "Marshal of Luxembourg", from the important family of the Montmorency , was one of the most famous generals of the 17th century and one of the most important military leaders of Louis XIV. His warlike successes, his cruelty and his resurgence after he was imprisoned in the Bastille , gave him the reputation of "being in league with the devil". This rumor was the basis for the legend of the Duke of Luxembourg, known since around 1680, which was widespread in the form of pamphlets, popular books and pamphlets in Holland and France, but also in Germany.

Life

François Henri de Montmorency, later de Montmorency-Luxembourg, comte de Luxe et de Bouteville , later Duc de Piney ( called de Luxembourg ) and Pair de France, Seigneur de Précy, de Blaincourt et de Bouqueval , the companion and successor of the great Condé , was born in Paris on January 8, 1628. His father, François de Montmorency-Bouteville (1600–1627), had been beheaded six months earlier on the Place de Grève because he had provoked the king by killing the Marquis de Beuvron in a duel. François' aunt, Charlotte de Montmorency, Princess of the Condé, took care of him and raised him together with her own son Louis, the Duke of Enghien , as the future Prince de Condé was called during his father's lifetime. François' one year older sister was Isabelle-Angélique de Montmorency (1626–1695).

The young Montmorency moved into exile with his cousin in the Spanish Netherlands and shared his successes and setbacks during the Fronde . He returned to France in 1659 and was pardoned. Condé, who had joined Isabelle-Angélique , who later became Duchess of Châtillon, arranged for his cousin to marry the best match in France, Madeleine Charlotte de Clermont-Tonnerre, Duchess of Luxembourg-Piney, Princess of Tingry and heiress of the Duchy of Luxembourg (1661, see Clermont-Tonnerre house ). After the wedding, Montmorency iure uxoris was made Duke of Piney-Luxemburg and made Peer of France .

When the War of Devolution broke out (1667–1668), Condé and thus also the Duke of Luxembourg, as Montmorency was now called, had no command, but in the second campaign Luxembourg served as Lieutenant-General and Condé's deputy during the conquest of Franche-Comté .

During the following years of peace, Luxembourg was favored by Louvois and in 1672, after the king's return to Versailles, was given supreme command in the Netherlands. He defeated the Prince of Orange near Woerden , devastated Holland and in 1673 led the famous retreat from Utrecht to Maastricht with 20,000 men in the face of the enemy army, which was more than three times superior with 70,000 men. With this brilliant military achievement, Montmorency-Luxembourg secured its place in the first guard of military commanders. In 1674 he was appointed captain of the Garde du corps du roi and in 1675 Marshal of France . In 1676 he was placed at the head of the Rhine Army, but could not prevent the capture of Philippsburg by Charles of Lorraine . He took Valenciennes with his troops on March 17, 1677 and in 1678 defeated the Prince of Orange who had attacked him at Saint-Denis after the signing of the Peace of Nijmegen .

For a long time at odds with the powerful Louvois, who tried to involve him in the affaire des poisons ( poisoner affair around La Voisin ) and had him incarcerated in the Bastille , he remained without command for eleven years. But as Rousset has shown in his Histoire de Louvois , this dispute was probably only faked. Although Montmorency spent a few months in the Bastille in 1680, he immediately resumed his post as capitaine des gardes after his dismissal .

When war broke out again in 1690, Louvois and the king realized that Montmorency was the only one who could take on the Prince of Orange and put him in command of the army in Flanders . On July 1, 1690, he fought a great victory against Georg Friedrich von Waldeck at Fleurus . The following year he commanded the army that was victorious on September 18, 1691 at Leuze .

In the next campaign he covered the king's siege of Namur and defeated William of Orange on June 5, 1692 in the battle of Steenkerke . On July 29, 1693 he fought his greatest victory against his old adversary at Neerwind in one of the bloodiest battles of the 17th century. He announced the victory to his King Louis XIV in a laconic letter:

«Vos ennemis ont fait des merveilles, vos troupes encore mieux. Les Princes de votre sang se sont surpassés. Pour moi, Sire, je n'ai d'autre mérite que d'avoir exécuté vos ordres. Vous m'aviez dit d'attaquer une ville et de livrer une bataille; j'ai pris l'une et j'ai gagné l'autre. »

“Your enemies did their best, your troops even more. The princes of your blood have surpassed themselves. My own merit, Sire, is to have carried out your orders. They told me to attack a city and fight a battle. I took one and won the other. "

Afterwards he was called "le tapissier de Notre Dame" because of the large number of captured flags which he sent to Paris and which were hung in the cathedral. On his return he was cheered by everyone, only the king received the relatives and supporters of the Condés coolly. Saint-Simon (1675–1755) describes in the first volume of his memoirs how Luxembourg , instead of taking the eighteenth place among the Pairs of France to which he was entitled according to his patent of 1661, claimed second place in the ranking for himself, as he claimed through his Mrs. Duke of Piney and invoked his older patent from 1571.

In the campaign of 1694, Luxembourg did little in Flanders, other than leading the famous march from Vignamont to Tournay in the face of the enemy . On his return to Versailles he fell ill and died in January 1695. During his last breaths, the Jesuit and court preacher Louis Bourdaloue (1632–1704) visited him , who said of his death “I have not lived his life, but I wish for his Death to die ”.

meaning

Montmorency was feared in the Netherlands for its harshness and brutal warfare, and hated for its cruelty. His moral views and human qualities were not the best even by the standards of the time, and he showed hardly any signs of religious conviction. He was small, hunchbacked, overgrown, and considered indolent and weak. But as a general he was Condé's master class. Although he, like Condé, was rather sluggish in the organization of the campaigns, he seemed to be blessed by happy inspirations during the battle, when it came down to critical situations, and made the right decisions, against which neither Wilhelm nor Wilhelm's zeal Steadfastness of the Dutch or English soldiers. His death and Catinat's lack of fortune in war drew the line under the second phase of Louis XIV's military undertakings. Luxembourg and Catinat's military capabilities did not reach Condé or Turenne , but they were far superior to their successors Tallard and Villeroi .

The Duke of Luxembourg was also known for his sharp wit. One of his quick-witted replies was about his physical deformity. His old opponent, William of Orange, is said to have said: "I will never succeed in beating this accursed hunchback!" Luxembourg replied: “How does he know that I have a hump? He's never seen me from behind ”.

Since he often said that he would like to "surrender to the devil, if his king was only always victorious through him" - which was usually the case - and was involved in the process of the poisoner Voisin ( "affaire de poisons" ), it was said that he was in league with the devil and so immediately after his death the fama "the devil had taken him" arose.

François Henri de Montmorency left behind four sons and a daughter:

1. Charles François Frédéric de Montmorency (1662–1726) Duke of Piney and Luxembourg - his son Charles François II. De Montmorency-Luxembourg was also Marshal of France.
2. Pierre Henri Thibaut de Montmorency (1663–1700), Abbot of Saint Michel and Ourscamp .
3. Paul Sigismond de Montmorency (1664–1731) Duke of Châtillon 1695.
4. Angélique Cunégonde, Mademoiselle de Luxemburg (1666–1736), ⚭ 1694 Louis Henri de Bourbon (1640–1703), Count of Noyers and Count of Dunois, son of Louis de Bourbon , Count of Soissons.
5. Chrétien Louis de Montmorency (1675–1746), Prince of Tingry , Duke of Luxembourg and as Marechal de Montmorency in 1734 also Marshal of France.

literature

• Kurtzer report, in which the alliance of the Duc de Luxembourg, sitting in the Bastille at Paris, in arrest, he met with annoying Satan 1659. bit 1695. and thus into the 36th year, and its terrible end. Dargethan by the Cammer servant at the time, published in 1700
• The world-professional Hertzog of Luxenburg, been royal. French generals and court marshals Pacta or Alliance with Satan And the terrible end that followed […] Franckfurth and Leipzig, 1716
• Le Mareschal de Luxembourg au Lit de la Mort. Tragic comedy. A Cologne, Chez Pierre Richemont MDCXCV
• Jean de Beaurain : Histoire militaire du duc de Luxembourg . The Hague and Paris 1756
• ders .: Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire du maréchal duc de Luxembourg . - The Hague & Paris, 1758
• Julien de Courcelles: Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français depuis le onzième siècle jusqu'en 1820 . Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1823. (Volume 8)
• Joseph Louis Ripault Désormeaux: Histoire de la maison de Montmorenci depuis l'année 960 jusqu'en 1695 . Paris: Desaint et Saillant, 1764 (volumes 4 and 5)
• Camille Rousset : Histoire de Louvois et de son administration politique et militaire . - Paris, 1861–1863, 4 volumes
• Anton Kippenberg : The legend of the Duke of Luxembourg and the historical personality of its bearer . - Leipzig, 1901 (dissertation)
• Pierre de Ségur , La Jeunesse du marechal de Luxembourg, 1628-1668 , published 1900;
• ders .: Le Marechal de Luxembourg et le prince d'Orange, 1668-1678 , published 1902
• ders .: Le Tapissier de Notre-Dame. Dernieres annees du marechal de Luxembourg, 1678-1695 , published 1904
• Henri Pigaillem: Le Tapissier de Notre-Dame: Vie du maréchal de Luxembourg , Monaco 2002, ISBN 2268042367

Individual evidence

1. ^ Luxembourg . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 10, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 1032.

Web links

• Bertrand Fonck: François-Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, maréchal de Luxembourg (1628-1695), Commander les armées pour Louis XIV. (French)