Noël de Jourda, comte de Vaux

Portrait of the Maréchal de Vaux

Noël Jourda , comte de Vaux, seigneur d'Artias , (born March 12, 1705 at Vaux Castle in Saint-Julien-du-Pinet , † September 14, 1788 in Grenoble ) was a Marshal of France .

Life

Noël Jourda de Vaux was the son of Jean Baptiste Jourda de Vaux, seigneur de Retournac (* 1687) and Marie Anne de Saint-Germain.

Military career

On October 16, 1723 he joined the Régiment d'Auvergne as an ensign and took part in his first assignment as a lieutenant in the campaign to Italy ( War of the Polish Succession ). He fought on June 29, 1734 in the Battle of Parma and on June 29, 1734 in the Battle of Guastalla , in which he was wounded twice.

War of the Austrian Succession

→ Main article : War of the Austrian Succession

From January 1738 to April 1741 he served as captain under the command of Général de Maillebois in the conquest of Corsica. Here he excelled particularly in the defense of Ghisoni . Then appointed Chevalier des Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis , he was commandant in Corte .

Assigned to the army in Germany, he distinguished himself in 1742 under Belle-Isle in the siege of Prague . In total he was involved in three sieges and one battle. After the resignation of Maréchal de Broglie , he was appointed as a colonel on March 6, 1643, commander of the Régiment d'Angoumois .

In 1744 he fought in the siege of Menen and Ypres . The Maréchal de Saxe used Jourda in the battle of Fontenoy on May 10, 1745 and in the sieges of Tournai , Oudenarde , Dendermonde and Ath .

After his participation in the siege of Brussels , he was promoted to Brigadier des armées du roi on February 23, 1746 . He served in the Siege of Namur on October 11th and in the Battle of Rocourt . Participation in the capture of l'Écluse, the forts of Issendick and Philippine.

This was followed by marching movements to Mechelen and Tirlemont , the battle of Lauffeldt on July 2, 1747 and the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom , in which he received his fifth wound and was taken prisoner. On May 10, 1748, he was promoted to the Maréchal de camp in captivity .

After the peace treaty he returned to France and was appointed Lieutenant du Roi in Besançon by the king on July 4, 1752 and Lieutenant général des armées du roi on December 17, 1759 .

Seven Years War

→ Main article : Seven Years War

In January 1760 he left Corsica because he had been transferred to the army of Marshal Broglie in Germany. Here he began his service on April 1, 1760. He was then used in the Battle of Bergen as he was involved in the attack on General Wangenheim's headquarters on September 19 . He was able to hold the area around Göttingen with his troops until 1761 and was appointed governor of Thionville by the king on May 19 of that year as an expression of his satisfaction .

Governor of Corsica

In February 1769, the Comte de Vaux was appointed commander of the army in Corsica. In this capacity he wrote to the duc de Choiseul :

“« [...] Toute la Corse est soumise au Roy [...]. "
(All of Corsica is subject to the king)"

On August 1st of the same year he was appointed governor general of the island.

On April 10, 1779, he handed over command to the Comte Marbeuf , as he was intended as commander-in-chief of an army that was to land in England with the help of the Spanish fleet. However, this project was not carried out, and in 1780 he was given the provincial high command over the county of Bourgogne .

On June 13, 1783, he was appointed Marshal of France. His marshal's baton bore the inscription: «  Terror belli, decus pacis  », (Terrible in war - ornament in peace)

Lieutenant général du Dauphiné

In June 1788, shortly after the Journée des Tuiles in Grenoble, the Maréchal de Vaux replaced the duc de Clermont-Tonnerre , as lieutenant-général and commander-in-chief of the Dauphiné, in order to put down the popular uprising there. Shortly after arriving in the city, Jourda fell seriously ill and died on September 14, 1788.

He had participated in 30 sieges, fought in a large number of battles and was involved in several skirmishes. He had been wounded five times.

In his will, the marshal wished that his heart would be buried in the Paray-Vieille-Poste, which he owned , but his body would be laid to rest in the crypt of the Vaux family in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Retournac .

• see also: List of Marshals of France

Marriage and offspring

On November 21, 1741 he married Jeanne de La Porte (? - 1775). They had two children:

• Jeanne-Marie * 1745, ⚭ on September 3, 1765 Louis, marquis de Vauborel, (? - 1832).
• Adélaïde-Jeanne, ⚭ September 29, 1770 François, comte de Fougières, (? - 1787)

August 1, 1789 ⚭ Charles Morey, comte de Pontgibault.

coat of arms

Illustration	description
	Shield of gold with a red ribbon from top right to bottom left. Occupied with three silver crescent moons that are directed to the top right. Count's crown.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johannes B. Rietstap (ed.): Armorial général, contenant la description des armoiries des familles nobles et patriciennes de l'Europe; précédé d'un dictionnaire des termes du blasson. GB van Goor, Gouda 1861, p. 560 .

literature

• Louis Mayeul Chaudon: Dictionnaire universel, historique, critique et bibliographique. Volume 17: Tche - Vezz. 9me édition, revue, corrigée et augmentée. Prudhomme Fils, Paris 1812, pp. 515-516 .
• Charles Gavard : Galeries historiques du Palais de Versailles. Volume 7. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1842, pp. 491-492 .
• Jérôme Sagnard, Claude Latta: Noël Jourda de Vaux, maréchal de France, 1705–1788. Un gentilhomme vellave au service du roi. Éditions du Roure, Polignac 2013, ISBN 978-2-919762-15-6 .