Mestre de camp general

The Mestre de camp général was an officer in the French army of the Ancien Régime . There were always only two mestres de camp généraux (plural = généraux): one for the cavalry and one for the dragoons . It was not a military rank , just a title - regardless of the actual rank of the person concerned.

Each was the owner of a regiment , the Régiment Mestre de Camp Général cavalerie and the Régiment Mestre de Camp Général dragons .

He was ranked behind the Colonel général of his branch and could (theoretically) command the cavalry on site. In fact, however, the command of the Mestre de Camp général was very limited and consisted mainly of overseeing the corps of inspectors, who carried out administrative and disciplinary control.

For this reason, the title of Mestre de camp général was only awarded on an honorary basis. However, it was for sale and could also be passed on in other ways. Anyone who could afford this title with sufficient financial means had far better opportunities for advancement in the army - regardless of military qualifications.

Another privilege of the title was the addition of four standards to one's own coat of arms

Jean de Gassion, Mestre de camp général cavalerie 1641 to 1646

List of Mestres de camp généraux

cavalry

1633 to 1637, Charles d'Escoubleau, marquis de Sourdis et d'Alluye
1637 to 1641, Roger de Choiseul, marquis de Praslin
1641 to 1646, Jean de Gassion
1646 to 1652, Philippe de Clérambault, comte de Palluau
February 12, 1652 to December 5, 1665, Roger de Bussy-Rabutin , comte de Bussy-Rabutin
1665 Armand du Cambout, duc de Coislin
April 22, 1670: Jean Jacques Chaumejan, marquis de Fourilles
November 15, 1674: Louis Clermont d'Amboise, marquis de Resnel
May 3, 1677: Balthazar de la Cardonnière
October 6, 1679: Joseph de Pons de Guimera, baron de Montclar
July 16, 1690: Conrad de Rosen , marquis de Rosen
March 25, 1703: Léonor François, marquis de Montpeyroux;
February 26, 1714: Charles François de La Baume Le Blanc, duc de La Vallière
February 5, 1716: Alexis Madeleine Rosalie, comte de Châtillon
March 16, 1736: Aimé Marie Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre, marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre
April 9, 1748: Anne Louis Henri de Thiard de Bissy, marquis de Bissy
May 4, 1748: Armand Louis de Béthune
April 16, 1759: Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix de Castries , marquis de Castries
March 7, 1783: Charles Louis Hector, marquis d'Harcourt
May 20, 1784: Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix de Castries
March 10, 1788: Louis Edmond, vicomte de Menou du Mée
February 10, 1791: Louis Charles Mollerat de Garsault
February 5, 1792: Gabriel Sombs-Fageac
May 15, 1793: Nicolas Alban Davigneau
February 18, 1794: François Royer
July 16, 1794: Claude Tiercé
June 6, 1795: Pierre Noizet
January 16, 1798: Édouard Mortier
August 12, 1799: Noirot

dragoon

1674: René de Froulay de Tessé
1691: Louis comte de Mailly
May 11, 1696: Antoine V. de Gramont .
March 25, 1703: Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
July 5, 1709: Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet de Belle-Isle "Maréchal de Belle-Isle"
June 9, 1736:. Marie-Charles-Louis d'Albert, duc de Luynes, duc de Chevreuse.
January 24, 1754: François-Henri de Franquetot de Coigny .
October 1771. Louis-Joseph-Charles-Amable d'Albert de Luynes .
1789, François-Marie-Casimir de Franquetot, marquis de Coigny.

Individual evidence

literature

Histoire de l'armée française , Philippe Fouquet-Lapar, Presses universitaires de France, 1998. ISBN 2130464726
Histoire de l'armée française: Des milices royales à l'armée de métier , Pierre Montagnon, Pygmalion, Paris, 1997. ISBN 2857045247
Histoire de l'armée française , Général Maxime Weygand , Camille Flammarion , 1961.
La France militaire illustrée , lt-colonel A. Dally, Larousse , 1900.
Histoire militaire de la France (3 volumes), sous la direction d'André Corvisier, Presses universitaires de France, 1992. ISBN 2130489575

[1] "Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet", sur marcmaison.fr .

[2] "Marie François Henri, duc de Coigny de Franquetot", sur gw4.geneanet.org .

[3] "Dragons", on napoleon-series.org .