François de Créquy

François de Créquy; Painting by Henri Decaisne (1835) .

Créquy's signature:

François, chevalier de Créquy , (also Créqui ), marquis de Marines (* October 2, 1629 , † February 4, 1687 in Paris ), was a Marshal of France and one of the most successful military leaders of his time.

Life

François de Créquy came from the House of Blanchefort and was a grandson of Charles de Blanchefort de Créquy , Duke of Lesdiguières, who was Marshal of France under Henry IV and Louis XIII. had fought against Spain and Austria .

Créquy began his military career in 1640 as a volunteer at the siege of Arras during the Thirty Years War . The following year he was appointed captain of a company Chevaux-légers . By 1648 rose to the Mestre de camp of a cavalry regiment, where he distinguished himself at the siege of Tortona . When the turmoil of the Fronde broke out, Créquy stood on the side of the royalists and took part in the Battle of Rethel in 1650 . He was then promoted to Maréchal de camp in 1651 . In 1653 he was involved in the successful siege of Mouzon . The following year he was one of the defenders during the siege of Arras . After these successes he was appointed lieutenant-général . From 1655 to 1658 he took part in the campaigns of Marshal Henri de Turenne . In the decisive battle in the dunes , he commanded the right wing of the French army.

After the peace treaty that ended the Franco-Spanish War , Créquy was appointed commander of the galley fleet in 1661 , which he commanded until 1669. During the War of Devolution , Créquy commanded a corps in 1667 that covered the main French operations in the Spanish Netherlands . After the successful outcome of the war, he was appointed Maréchal de France , the highest rank in the French armed forces. In 1670 he commanded the troops that drove Duke Charles IV out and occupied Lorraine .

When Louis XIV appointed Henri de Turenne commander-in-chief to whom all other marshals were subordinate, this led to violent protests from these marshals. When the Dutch War was announced in 1672 , Créquy refused to be placed under Turenne. It was not until August 1674 that he again took command of an improvised cavalry unit in Alsace , which, however, proved to be unreliable. Turenne fell the following year and Créquy became an indispensable military leader. Although Créquy was defeated in the Battle of the Konzer Bridge in August 1675 , which caused an outcry from the French public, his stubborn defense of Trier in the following weeks earned him recognition again. In 1676, Créquy operated successfully with an army in the Spanish Netherlands before he returned to command on the Rhine in 1677/78. Here he also acted as governor of Lorraine. He used the scorched earth strategy to make it difficult for the Allies to advance. For example, Freiburg im Breisgau was partially destroyed.

After the end of the war, Créquy commanded the French troops who moved into the Brandenburg- Prussian territories on the Rhine to support Sweden , so that Elector Friedrich Wilhelm was ready to make peace with Sweden. Once again in 1684, Créquy commanded French troops: as part of the reunification policy, they successfully besieged the city of Luxembourg and forced the city of Trier to demolish its defenses.

children

Marshal Créquy had two sons whose skills as military leaders were equal to his. The older, François-Joseph, marquis de Créquy (1662-1702), fell on August 13, 1702 as lieutenant general at Luzzara ; the younger, Nicolas-Charles, sire de Créquy , fell before Tournai in 1696 at the age of 27 .

literature

• L. Dussieux: Les Grands Géneraux de Louis XIV. Librairie Victor Lecoffre, Paris 1888, pp. 215-226.

Web links

Commons : François de Créquy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files