Ulrich von Löwendal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ulrich von Löwendal

Ulrich Friedrich Woldemar Freiherr ( count since 1741 ) von Löwendal (born April 1, 1700 in Hamburg ; †  May 27, 1755 in Paris ) was a German general who worked in almost all of Europe and eventually became Marshal of France .

Life

Löwendal was born in Hamburg in 1700 as the son of the Danish-Norwegian nobleman Woldemar Freiherr von Löwendal . His mother was Dorothea von Brockdorff (1672–1706), a cousin of Countess Anna Constantia von Cosel . He served in the army of Emperor Charles VI as early as 1713 . , fought in Poland and became a captain in 1714 . He later joined the Danish service as a volunteer, but returned to the imperial one in 1716. He was able to distinguish himself in the battle of Peterwardein and the sieges of Temesvár and Belgrade .

Löwendal later went into the service of King August of Poland , who appointed him Field Marshal and General Inspector of the Saxon Infantry . In 1733 he distinguished himself by organizing the defense of Krakow against the rebellious Poles. In 1734 and 1735 he commanded the Saxon troops on the Rhine .

After Löwendal entered the service of the Russian army , he defeated the Turks at Chotyn in 1739 , then fought against the Swedes in Finland from 1741 to 1743. From 1740 to 1743 he was Governor General of Estonia . 1741 he was by King August III. elevated by Poland as the imperial vicar at that time to the rank of imperial count .

Then he moved to the army of King Louis XV. He was appointed lieutenant general in 1743 and distinguished himself in 1744 during the siege of Menen , Ypres and Freiburg im Breisgau . In 1745 he commanded the reserve corps in the battle of Fontenoi , then conquered Ghent , Oudenaarde , Ostend and Nieuport and the following year took the fortresses Sluis , Sas van Gent and various others in the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen . He conquered the fortress of Bergen op Zoom , believed to be impregnable, in a storm attack on September 6, 1747, which resulted in a two-day orgy of violence and unbelievable looting. The Maréchal de Saxe blamed Löwendal for this, but wrote to the king:

"Sire, il n'est pas de moyen terme, vous devez le pendre, ou le faire Maréchal de France."

(Sire, there is no middle ground, either you let him down or you make him Marshal of France)

Löwendal's bust by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Louvre

He was then promoted to Maréchal de France. Eventually he took part in the siege of Maastricht , which was handed over on May 7, 1748.

Not least because of the war profits, Löwendahl bought the La Ferté-Saint-Aubin castle in the neighborhood of Chambord in 1748 .

Ulrich Graf von Löwendal died on May 27, 1755 in Paris.

  • In 1743 the infantry regiment "de Lowendahl" was set up, which in 1760 was incorporated into the infantry regiment "d'Anhalt".

family

He was married twice. His first wife Theodora Eugenia von Schmettau (* December 6, 1705; † October 5, 1768) he married on January 23, 1722. She was the daughter of the Saxon general Gottlieb von Schmettau (1665-1722) and his wife Anna Christine von Schmettau . He and his wife had four children before the couple divorced in 1736.

  • Woldemar Heinrich (June 1723 - March 18, 1724)
  • Frederik Woldemar, (7 August 1724 - 22 February 1740)
  • Benedikta, (* December 15, 1725; † November 21, 1753) ⚭ May 25, 1747 Johann Rudolf von Kiesewetter called von Wolfersdorf (September 1721; † July 10, 1751)
  • Dorothea Frederike (June 1727 - July 15, 1750)

On November 13, 1736, he married Countess Barbe Madeleine Szembek (* 1709; † May 18, 1762), daughter of Franciszek Szembek (1667–1712), Starost von Biecz and Magdalena Tarlówna . The couple had the following children:

  • Franz Xaver Joseph, from August 4, 1786 Count of Danneskiold-Lovendal in Denmark (* December 28, 1742 - September 20, 1808) ⚭ February 3, 1772 Charlotte de Bourbon-Charolais, Demoiselle de Bourbon (* August 1, 1754 ; † September 12, 1839)
  • Elisabeth Marie Constance, (February 8, 1740 - October 13, 1785) ⚭ March 21, 1759 Lancelot Turpin de Crissé, Count of Crissé and Sanzay († August 9, 1793)
  • Benedikta Sophia Antoinette, (January 1741; † before 1778) ⚭ September 29, 1757 Count Alexander Ossolinski († after 1789)
  • Marie Louise, (April 1746 - October 14, 1835) ⚭ January 25, 1766 Count Louis Antoine Léon de Brancas (August 15, 1735 - March 1821), Colonel ( House of Brancas )

literature

Web links

Commons : Ulrich von Löwendal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hubertus Neuschäffer: Ulrich Friedrich Woldemar Freiherr von Löwendahl (1700-1755). A governor general of Estonia . In: Jürgen von Hehn / Csaba János Kenéz: Reval and the Baltic countries. Festschrift for Hellmuth Weiss . Marburg / Lahn 1980. pp. 17-25.
  2. ^ European Genealogical Handbook , 1780