Franz Rudolph von Hohenems

Franz Johann Rudolph Graf von Hohenems , more rarely von Hohenembs (* December 10, 1686 in Vaduz ; † April 21, 1756 in Brno ), was an Imperial Austrian field marshal (1745) and general of the cavalry of the Imperial Army.

Life

origin

He came from a Vorarlberg family of the Lords of Ems . Count Franz Rudolph was the son of Count Jakob Hannibal (1653–1730) and Baroness Anna Amalia von Schauenstein (1652–1734). Franz Rodolph had already received the government of his county from his father in 1718; In June 1722 he donated the parish church in the village of Bistrau and became the owner of the nearby Schloss Frischenberg.

Early military career

At the age of 21, he joined the imperial army in 1707 as a cavalry master with Count Falkenstein's cuirassier regiment . In 1708 his regiment was used in the battle of Oudenaarde and took part in the siege of Lille . In the following year he fought in front of Tournai and in the battle of Malplaquet . In January 1710 he became adjutant general to Prince Eugene of Savoy . In January 1715 the count was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the cuirassier regiment Falkenstein. When another war against the Turks broke out in 1716, Count Franz Rudolf was again serving on Prince Eugene's general staff. On the occasion of Charles VI's coronation in Prague in September 1723 . as King of Bohemia , Count Franz Rudolph was appointed kk chamberlain and received his rank of colonel on October 1, 1723 .

In the War of Succession

On October 27, 1733, in recognition of his services in the Italian campaigns, he was promoted to sergeant- general; on December 12, this charge was exchanged for the equivalent of a major general . During the War of the Polish Succession , Count Franz Rudolf brought a cavalry brigade to Italy and led the Liechtenstein Dragoons and the Czungenberg Hussars to Goito . At the end of April 1734, the imperial commander-in-chief, Count von Mercy, ordered the cavalry under Hohenems to force the crossing over the Po . On June 1st there was a serious skirmish near Colorno . On June 9, 1734, Count Franz Rudolf was promoted to field marshal lieutenant with a few other generals and on January 4, 1735, he received the ownership of the freed cuirassier regiment "Young Savoyen". Ordered back to Italy in the campaign of 1735, his cavalry fought under the command of Field Marshal Königsegg , and on March 14th the Count moved into his headquarters in San Benedetto . On May 23, part of his corps moved to Gonzaga and suffered a defeat. After retreating via Mantua , the Mirandola fortress had to be handed over to the French on September 2nd, 1735, and in mid-September his troops camped near Schio , at the foot of the mountains. On April 17, 1736, he was appointed to the Imperial War Council by the Emperor and was awarded the rank of Feldzeugmeister on March 12, 1741 in recognition of his previous services .

Silesian Wars

As the highest ranking cavalry leader in the imperial army in Bohemia , after the outbreak of the Silesian War under Count Neipperg , he and Major General Römer commanded the cavalry in the Battle of Mollwitz (April 10). At the beginning of 1742 he was summoned to the army of Prince Karl Alexander of Lorraine , where he was given command of the cavalry on the left wing of the main army. In early May, his divided cavalry took part in the siege of Prague and the one at Chotusitz (May 17, 1742), where he commanded the cavalry of the right wing. In the two following years from 1743 to the summer of 1744 he fought under the supreme command of the Duke of Lorraine in the War of Succession against the Elector of Bavaria .

During the Second Silesian War in Bohemia in 1745 he assembled an independent army corps near Jaroměř and fought against the Prussians in the battle near Habelschwerdt (February 13), the Battle of Hohenfriedberg (June 4) and Thrush (September 30). Appointed imperial field marshal on October 9, 1745, he had the task of securing the Bohemian border with his corps. After the defeat at Katholisch-Hennersdorf (November 23), his troops kept Königgrätz and Pardubitz occupied. He united the rest of his troops at Liebau (Libawa) with the retreating main army. In December 1745, the peace of Dresden ended the fighting, it was also the last in the active soldier life of the count. On August 7, 1751, Count von Hohenems was appointed general of the cavalry for the commanded imperial troops , then he took over the position of commanding general of Moravia in Brno until his death . With his death, the male line of the imperial counts of Hohenems died out. His body was transferred to Bistrau and buried in the count's crypt there.

family

• His first marriage was in 1711 with the seventeen-year-old Lydia de Hautefort Marquise de Surville (1694-1715). She was the daughter of Marshal Louis Charles d'Hautefort . He had met her in 1710 during the siege of Douai, she died young and childless after four years of marriage.

• The second marriage, also childless, was entered into on June 9, 1718 with Anna Margaretha, Freiin Thurn-Valsassina (* October 22, 1694; † May 2, 1730). During the Count's absence, their brother Josef Leodegar Thurn, the Obervogt on Rosenberg, took over the administration of the Count's property.

• 1733 followed the third marriage with Francisca Romana de la Rochee († August 20, 1752). Two daughters came from this marriage: Karoline and Franziska. Since both daughters were minors when their father died, the Imperial and Royal Provincial Council of Moravia, Franz Rodeni Freiherr von Hirzenau, was appointed guardian.

Web links

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Hohenembs, Franz Wilhelm Rudolph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 9th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1863, p. 188 ( digitized version ).
• Biography on kuk. Wehrmacht