Johann Ludwig von Le Coq

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Johann Ludwig Edler von Le Coq or Jean Louis von Le Coq also le Cocq or Lecoq (born April 1, 1719 in Berlin , † April 20, 1789 in Döbeln ) was a Saxon lieutenant general .

Life

origin

Johann Ludwig was a member of the Huguenot family Le Coq from Metz . His parents were the Berlin merchant Jean Le Coq (1669-1735) and his second wife Louise Marguerite Morgues (1680-1762).

His uncle was Jacques Le Coq , a Saxon secret war councilor, secret cabinet secretary and diplomat (1676–1766), who had also left Berlin at an early age and went to Saxony. Since Jacques Le Coq was the Saxon envoy to Berlin from 1713–1715, his nephew will have met him there in his youth. Jacques had made a career as a civil servant and in 1740 became foreign policy advisor to the cabinet minister Heinrich von Brühl (1700–1763).

Coat of arms of Johann Ludwig von Le Coq 1775

Admission to the knighthood and nobility

On November 9th, 1775, Le Coq was awarded the rank of knighthood and nobility by Emperor Joseph II in his capacity as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire with the predicate "Noble von". This elevation to the nobility was granted on January 27th, 1776 by the Elector Friedrich August III. approved.

career

Le Coq joined the Saxon Army as a soldier in 1735 . In 1737 he was an ensign in Infantry Regiment No. 7 . He was promoted to Sousleutnant in the regiment in 1738 , then to lieutenant .

First Silesian War

In the First Silesian War (1741–1742) the Saxon troops fought on the side of Prussia against the Habsburg monarchy . The Saxon army provided an army of 20,000 men, which together with the Prussians and French besieged and conquered Prague in November 1741. The Saxon losses in this campaign were small. After the end of the war, he was promoted to captain in 1742 .

Second Silesian War

During the Second Silesian War (1744–1745), Saxony changed sides and allied itself with the Austrians, since the strengthened Prussia threatened to become a major aggressor through the possession of almost all of Silesia , which borders on Saxony . Since 1745, Le Coq was adjutant general to Field Marshal Rutowski . In the war the Prussians defeated the Saxons and occupied Dresden. The Peace of Dresden , concluded on December 25, 1745, ended the Second Silesian War. Le Coq was promoted to major in 1747 and lieutenant colonel in 1751 in infantry regiment No. 3 in Eilenburg , where he also became a colonel in 1757 .

Seven Years War

In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) Rutowski again led the army of Saxony. The concentration of the Saxon army in an almost unassailable position near Pirna, which he initiated , initially prevented Saxony from being taken by surprise when the Prussians marched in on the night of August 28th to 29th, 1756. The Saxon army was able to defeat the Prussian siege for about six weeks resist, but in view of the increasing food shortage and a failed attempt to break out, the surrender finally concluded on October 16, 1756, was inevitable. 17,000 of the 18,000 Saxon soldiers were forced to join the Prussian army

The Saxon corps did not return to Saxony until April 1763 and some of them moved into the original garrison towns. Le Coq became commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment in 1764 but switched back to the 7th Infantry Regiment in 1766. Le Coq was promoted to major general in 1774 and was chief of the 12th Infantry Regiment from 1778 .

War of the Bavarian Succession

Elector Maximilian III died in 1777 . of Bavaria without leaving an heir. From this situation, another source of fire developed in Central Europe, the War of the Bavarian Succession . The Saxon dynasty was drawn into this cabinet war as well, because it made hereditary claims on parts of Bavaria.

Prussia declared Austria on July 2, 1778, after negotiations were unsuccessful. the war and marched into Bohemia together with Saxon troops.

Le Coq also took part in this war. On July 27th, 1778, the Saxon corps under Lieutenant General Friedrich Christoph zu Solms-Wildenfels set out in the evening from Gamig , south of the Elbe valley . The corps included a. 4 infantry regiments. One of these regiments was the infantry regiment "Prince Carl" (Chevaux légers) . It was commanded by Major General Le Coq. The corps crossed the Elbe near Pillnitz . Two imperial battalions were entrenched on the heights between Oberwald and Niederwald , a mountain in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands . With artillery support, Le Coq won the battle and captured a captain, 2 officers and 160 common and captured 3 cannons. Notable military conflicts were avoided, especially since Maria Theresa - in the middle of the meager military action - turned to the King of Prussia and asked him to refrain from a battle. The war was therefore ended on May 13, 1779 in the Peace of Teschen . All of Saxony's hereditary claims were settled by a one-off payment of six million guilders.

After the war, Le Coq became lieutenant general.

family

Le Coq married Susanne Charlotte Bitaubé (* 1731) in 1751. Three daughters and two sons are known from the marriage:

  • Maria Louisa Friederika Henriette (* August 4, 1752 in Eilenburg; † January 2, 1799 in Barby ) ⚭ on June 17, 1770 in Torgau Karl Christoph von Egidy (* September 14, 1728 in Badrina; † June 6, 1809 in Torgau) , Saxon lieutenant colonel ret. D.
  • Susanne Fürchtegott Elisabeth (* 1753) ⚭ Charles de Francois, Saxon officer
  • Augusta Theodora Henriette (* 1756)
  • Karl Jakob Ludwig (1757–1829), General of the Army ⚭ Marie Charlotte Lautier (* August 20, 1760; † September 22, 1826)
  • Karl Christian Erdmann (1767-1830), general of the infantry

literature

  • Johann Friedrich Seyfart : Impartial history of the Bavarian War of Succession , Leipzig 1780, p. 507, FN 736
  • Heinrich August Verlohren: Root register and chronicle of the Electoral and Royal Saxon Army. Degener & Co , Neustadt an der Aisch 1983, p. 326

Individual evidence

  1. Seyfart (lit.).
  2. Verlohren (lit.).
  3. ^ Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses , first year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1907, p. 470.
  4. ^ René Hanke: Brühl and the Renversement des alliances: the anti-Prussian foreign policy of the Dresden court 1744–1756. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9455-X , p. 40 FN 4 u. a. (digital e-book preview).
  5. ^ A b Marcelli Janecki (ed.): Handbuch des Prussischen Nels , Volume 2, Berlin 1893, pp. 398-399.
  6. Maximilian Gritzner : Status surveys and acts of grace of German sovereigns during the last three centuries , Volume II, 1881, 0 / page / n245 / mode / 2up / search / Le + coq p. 718.
  7. ^ René Hanke: Brühl and the Renversement des alliances: the anti-Prussian foreign policy of the Dresden court 1744–1756. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9455-X , p. 31 ff
  8. ^ Johann Friedrich Seyfart : Impartheyische Geschichte des Bavarian Succession War , Leipzig 1780, p. 507, FN 736.
  9. ^ A b c d e Johann Friedrich Seyfart : Unpartheyische Geschichte des Bavarian Succession War , Leipzig 1780, p. 510 ff, 544, 585, 587, 589 and 644.
  10. ^ René Hanke: Brühl and the Renversement des alliances: the anti-Prussian foreign policy of the Dresden court 1744–1756. 2006, ISBN 3-8258-9455-X , p. 48 ff.
  11. Marian Füssel: The Seven Years War: A World War in the 18th Century , 2013, p. 34.
  12. a b Michael Kotulla: German Constitutional History: From the Old Reich to Weimar (1495 to 1934) , p. 207
  13. ^ Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz: Handbook of the history of the sovereign states of the Rhine Confederation / 1, Contains the kingdoms of Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Saxony and Westphalia, and four genealogical tables of the regent houses in these states , Volume 1, 1811, p. 160.
  14. Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses 1908. Second year, p. 241.
  15. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser B, Vol. 1 (1954), Vol. IX (1970), Vol. XVI (1985), Vol. XXV (2004), Limburg.