James Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick

James Francis (Diego Francisco) Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick , (born October 21, 1696 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye , France, † June 2, 1738 in Naples , Italy ) was a Jacobite and Spanish nobleman from the House of James-Fitz Stuart , an illegitimate branch of the House of Stuart . With the death of his father in 1734 in the battle of Philippsburg near Karlsruhe , he inherited his Jacobite and Spanish titles. Through his Spanish marriage in 1716 he acquired further titles. His full title read: 2nd Duke of Berwick , 2nd Earl of Tinmouth, 2nd Baron Bosworth, 2nd Duke of Liria and Xerica, Spanish grande first class , Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece , and holder of various duchies.

family

His mother was Lady Honora Burke (1675–1698), the second daughter of the Irishman William Burke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde († 1687). She was married to James Sarsfield, 2nd Earl of Lucan , the son of the Irish Jacobite nobleman Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan (1650-1693). After the birth of their first child by Sarsfield, he died and Honora married James Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Berwick-upon-Tweed , on March 26, 1695 in the royal chapel of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , France . Honora died on January 16, 1698 in Pézenas in Languedoc when her newborn child was just 18 months old. His eldest stepbrother became the founder of the line of the French Dukes of Fitzjames, whose line died out in 1967.

James Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick by Hyacinthe Rigaud

On December 31, 1716, the 2nd Duke of Berwick became the second husband of the widow Catalina Ventura Colón de Portugal y Ayala-Toledo, the 9th Duchess of Veragua (July 14, 1690 - October 3, 1739). Catalina Ventura was the posthumous daughter of Pedro Manuel Colon de Portugal y de la Cueva (December 25, 1651 - September 9, 1710) and thus the sister of Pedro Nuño Colón de Portugal (October 17, 1676 - July 4, 1733), des 8. Duke of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica . In 1733 she inherited the title of her brother as Duke of Veragua after his two sons and a daughter had died before him at the end of 1714. As a result, Fitz-James Stuart also became Duke Consort of Veragua and of la Vega. In court disputes, however, the opinion was partly expressed that many of their family titles, including the duchy "de la Vega de Santo Domingo" (now known as the Dominican Republic ) passed to the Colón de Larreategui family in 1787 . Her second son was James Fitz-James Stuart, 3rd Duke of Berwick (December 28, 1718 - September 30, 1785), who married Maria Teresa De Silva y Haro (* after 1712) in 1726. Of their other children, only Pedro de Alcántara (1720–1790), Ventura or Buenaventura (1724 -?) And Maria Guadalupe (1725–1744) reached adulthood.

Career

The Anglo-Franco-Spaniard James Fitz-James Stuart was used by Elizabeth of Parma to achieve her military goals by participating in the land and sea battles between 1717 and 1719 to conquer Naples of Austria and Sicily from the Duke of Savoy and to establish the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . He fought as Colonel of the Irish Regiments of Spain and Lieutenant General of the Spanish Royal Army and was promoted to Field Marshal in February 1724. He later served from December 1726 to 1730 as the Spanish ambassador to Russia under Tsar Peter II and took Ricardo Wall (1694–1777), who later became Minister of the Spanish government, with him. During his time in Russia he was made Knight of the Russian Order of St. Andrew on March 28, 1728 , Knight of the Russian Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, and on April 3, 1727, by the pretender James Stuart, Knight of the Order of the Garter . From 1730 to 1733 he was ambassador to the imperial court in Vienna , from 1733 to 1738 he was the Spanish envoy to the Kingdom of Naples , where he died in office. On both missions he was accompanied by Richard Wall.

literature

• A. Paz y Meliá: Conquista de Nápoles y Sicilia y relación de Moscovia, por el Duque de Berwick. Precede una noticia de la vida y escritos del autor por A. Paz y Meliá , Madrid 1890
• Duque de Liria y Jérica: Diario de Viaje a Moscovia , edited by AL Encinas, I. Arranz, M. Rodriguez, Edition Miraguano, April 2008, ISBN 978-84-7813-324-6

Web links

• Honora de Burgo
• Research group on Irish and Spanish Military Migration to Spain by Ciaran Brady, Declan Downey and Oscar Morales at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, February 2008 .

predecessor	Office	successor
James Fitzjames	Duke of Berwick 1734-1738	James Francis Edward Fitz-James Stuart

predecessor	Office	successor
	Spanish ambassador to Russia 1726 to 1730	Pedro de Luján y Góngora (from 1760)
José de Viana y Eguiluz	Spanish ambassador to Austria from 1730 to 1733	Pedro de Cebrián y Agustín (from 1736)
	Spanish ambassador to Naples 1733 to 1738