Valentin de Salha

Valentin de Salha (called Valentin, chevalier de Salha; born January 13, 1758 in Bardos or in Saint-Palais , † April 14, 1841 in Saint-Palais) was a French nobleman, naval officer and general de division and Minister of War of the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia .

family

He was the fourth son of Salvat de Salha, Marquis de Salha, and his wife Marie-Louise de Charritte. He himself married Anne-Lucine d'Urdos in 1785, daughter of Pierre von Urdos, Etcheverry and Sorhouette. The marriage resulted in two sons, Pierre Louis de Salha (killed on February 8, 1807 in the Battle of Preussisch Eylau ) and Jean-Baptiste Prosper de Salha (died without heirs).

Life

Naval career

Although he was admitted to the Army School in 1771, he opted for service in the Navy and entered the Navy School. In April 1775 he became an officer candidate in the Guard Company in Rochefort and in the Navy. After passing the exam, he was accepted on July 1, 1775. From December 1, 1775 to September 1, 1776 he served on the Fleute Courtier and then for nine months on the Fondant off the French and Spanish coasts, where he was appointed lieutenant on April 1, 1977 . After the French recognition of the United States' declaration of independence and the conclusion of the Franco-American alliance on February 6, 1778, open hostilities with Great Britain began . Salha served from March 1 to September 1778 on the 80-gun ship of the line Duc de Bourgogne in the English Channel . From November 1778 to February 1781 he was on the ship of the line Diadème (74 cannons), with which he took part in the conquest of St. Vincent and Grenada in 1779 . Back in France, he served in the English Channel on the corvette Le Guerrier from May to October 1781 . From November 1781 to June 1782 he served on the frigate Friponne in American waters, and on April 14, 1782 he was promoted to lieutenant de vaisseau (lieutenant captain). As such, he received his first command in July 1782, the small, formerly British corvette Speedy (16 cannons), which had previously been captured by the Friponne and with which he cruised in the Caribbean until January 1783 . From April 1783 to September 1784 he commanded the frigate Étoile in European waters; During this time, hostilities at sea ended in February 1783 and the Peace of Paris in September 1783.

From September 1785 to July 1786 Salha served on the small frigate Utile (16 cannons), from March to October 1787 on the Guyane (20 cannons), and from September 1788 to January 1790 on the Ariel (20 cannons) captured by the British in the Caribbean, first as first officer, then as commander. After returning home from this voyage, he was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis . Then, after 15 years, he resigned, probably because of the imponderables of the revolutionary era , which saw many noble officers go abroad. He lived in Bayonne , where his wife died in December 1792. In 1795 he lived in Pau .

Change to the army

On November 2, 1805 he re-entered the Navy with his previous rank and was commanded on the 74-gun ship of the line Vétéran , whose nominal commander was Jérôme Bonaparte . The Vétéran sailed to the Caribbean in December 1805 in the squadron of Rear Admiral Willaumez . On July 31, 1806, Jérôme left the squadron with the Vétéran on his own initiative , as he absolutely wanted to return to Paris. Back in France he took his two cronies and favorites Le Camus and Meyronnet and his new confidante Salha with him to Paris. Salha then switched to Jérôme's request along with him and Meyronnet in the army and became Jerome's adjutant . During Napoleon's campaign against Prussia and Russia in the autumn of 1806, Salha and Jérôme and his German auxiliary corps moved to Silesia , where they besieged Glogau . There he was promoted to frigate captain on September 23, 1806, like Meyronnet, although now in the army . On March 10, 1807 he became, together with Meyronnet, Knight of the Legion of Honor .

Kingdom of Westphalia

When Jérôme became King of Westphalia by his brother's grace in August 1807 , Meyronnet, Le Camus and Salha went with him to his royal seat, Kassel , where they advanced to the highest offices in quick succession.

On December 11, 1807, Jérôme Salha appointed Colonel of the Infantry . 1808 Salha received permission to officially enter into Westphalian services (this he had as a Commander of the French Navy resign ), and he was first adjutant of the king and the governor of the house of pages . On April 20, 1808, he became commander of the to be constructed Guard fighter -Bataillons, soon after Grand Master of the House ( Lord Chamberlain ) Queen Catherine ; During the Dörnberg uprising in April 1809, he accompanied Katharina, who feared for her life, from Kassel to the Empress Joséphine in Strasbourg . Salha was promoted to brigadier general on December 26, 1808 , and promotion to division general soon followed. On September 12, 1809, Jérôme appointed him to the State Council of Westphalia (war section). On September 23, 1810 he was raised to Count von Hone , where Jérôme had given him a manor from the state, and on September 29, 1810 he became Minister of War of the Kingdom of Westphalia, but still retained his court office as Grand Master of the Queen's House. At Jérôme's request, Emperor Napoleon later confirmed the title of Count as Count of the Empire with a patent dated April 23, 1812; However, the title was not recognized after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France and lapsed.

Salha did not take part in Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812 , but stayed in Kassel. When the city was occupied by Russian troops after the Battle of Leipzig and the Kingdom of Westphalia was declared dissolved, he fled Kassel on October 26, 1813, one day after Jérôme had left, and then rejoined Jérôme in Cologne at the beginning of November. His estate in Niederhone, a former monastery property secularized after the Reformation , became a state domain again after the restoration of Kurhessen and existed as such until 1936.

Bourbon restoration

Relieved of his oaths, Salha soon joined the Allied troops and came to Paris with them. King Louis XVIII honored this and appointed Salha as adjutant-commandant in 1814, a position in the general staff generally occupied by officers with the rank of colonel. His request made in June 1814 to be taken back into the navy with the rank of sea captain was granted with effect from December 31, 1814, but he was no longer given a new command. On January 1, 1816, he took his leave.

On June 29, 1819 he became an officer in the Legion of Honor.

progeny

His first son Pierre-Louis Salha left the military school in Fontainebleau with the rank of lieutenant . He took part in the siege of Gaeta with the 6th Line Regiment, then moved to the 16th Light Infantry Regiment under Colonel Jean Isidore Harispe , who later became Marshal of France . It took part in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806 and fell on February 8, 1807 near Preussisch Eylau.

His other son, Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Salha, entered the Navy. In May 1813 he lived like his father in Kassel, where he was declared Count von Hone and squadron commander and lieutenant of the Garde du corps du roi . He left the Navy for service on land and finally took his leave as a lieutenant colonel on the general staff. He became a Knight of the Legion of Honor. He was married to his cousin Marie-Antoinette-Léopoldine de Salha, daughter of Joseph-Louis-Marie, Marquis de Salha, and Elizabeth de Launay. The marriage remained childless.

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ His place of birth is given differently in different sources, but Bardos seems more likely.
2. ↑ The frigate captain and later Vice Admiral Emmanuel Halgan was first officer and de facto seafaring commander of the ship.
3. ↑ Kleinschmidt , p. 247.
4. ↑ In contemporary documents, the term Höne is mostly used.
5. ↑ It was officially announced that he had bought the property; see Allgemeine Zeitung , No. 279, October 6, 1810, p. 1115. ( limited preview in Google book search)
6. ↑ Kleinschmidt, pp. 648/9.

literature

• Arthur Kleinschmidt : History of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Perthes, Gotha, 1893. ( limited preview in Google book search)
• Pierre Haristoy: Recherches historiques sur le pays basque. Tome II. Bayonne / Paris, 1884, pp. 219–220
• Arnaud Communay: Valentin de Salha: capitaine de frégate, ministre de la Guerre du Roi Jérôme de Westphalie. In: Revue de Gascogne: Bulletin Bimestrial de la Société Historique de Gascogne , Vol. 32, 1891, pp. 533-547 ( limited preview in the Google book search)
• Revue de Béarn, Navarre et Lannes: Partie historique de la Revue des Basses-Pyrénées et des Landes. Tome Sixieme. Paris, 1888, pp. 182-184