Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc
Encyclopedia
Charles Eugène of Lorraine (25 September 1751 –2 November 1825) was a member of the House of Guise
, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine
, he was an officer in the French and Habsburg military during the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic
wars.
, France
, Charles Eugène was a peer of France
and Prince of Lorraine. Styled as the Prince of Lambesc. One of four children, he had a younger brother and two younger sister's. through his sister, Joséphine of Lorraine
, he was an uncle of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignan
and great uncle of the future King Charles Albert of Sardinia
.
He married twice; firstly to Anna Cetner (Zetzner) (1764–1814), whom he wed 20 May 1803. The couple had no issue. He married again to Viktoria Folliot de Crenneville (1766–1845) again the couple had no children.
He defended the royal palace in the riot at the Tuileries Gardens in July 1789. Initially he served in the French army, but at the outset of France's wars with Austria, he picked up the Bourbon cause in Germany. His regiment was taken into service in the Habsburg
army in 1793, and he served with distinction in several of the wars of the First and Second Coalitions
.
Upon the Bourbon restoration in 1815, his dynastic dignities were restored to him, but due to widespread unpopularity in France, he never returned to exercise his privileges.
He died in Vienna in 1825.
,
In the early days of the French Revolution
, Charles Eugène's Allemand Dragoons were an important element in the protection of the Louis' Court
. On 12 July 1789, Charles Eugène rode at the head of his dragoons across the Place of Louis XV
into the Tuileries Gardens, against a mob that had gathered there and forced the group out of the garden.
In the course of the attack, many were injured, and Charles Eugène was held popularly responsible, although no charges were filed.
When hostilities between France and the Habsburgs reached a crisis point in 1791, he left his Allemand Dragoons and followed the Bourbon cause with his younger brother, Joseph, Prince of Vaudémont.
in the Austrian army. In October 1791, he was given command of a brigade composed of the Freikorps
(volunteers) "Degelmann" and 37th Dragoon Regiment in Flanders
.
On 1 February 1793, his regiment, the 37th Dragoons, was taken into Habsburg service and in 1798, it was united with the 10th Cuirassier Regiment. At the Battle of Tournai on 22 May 1794, he charged the French infantry on the heights of Templeuve with four squadrons (approximately 1,000 men) of the 18th Chevauxleger Regiment "Karaiczay", cutting down 500 men and taking three guns. On 22 June 1794, he was appointed Colonel and Proprietor
of the 21st of Cuirassier Regiment in recognition of his actions. In the Battle of Fleurus
, on 26 June 1794, he charged with four squadrons of 5th Carabiners Albert to rescue part of Campaign Marshal Count von Kaunitz's infantry, which had been surrounded by three French cavalry regiments. This unlikely charge against another cavalry force more than five times its size took the French by surprise; the French cavalry scattered, giving Kaunitz to organize an orderly withdrawal of his own force from the field.
On 4 March 1796, Charles Eugène was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal . In 1796 he served in Germany under Field Marshal Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
in the Army of the Upper Rhine; on 11 May of that year, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Order. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Amberg on 24 August and in the Battle of Würzburg
on 2 September, commanding a brigade of cavalry.
In the War of the Second Coalition
, the Prince fought in Swabia
at the Battle of Engen. After this campaign, the prince was posted to the Habsburg province Galicia, where he was governor general. On 3 December 1806, he was promoted to General of Cavalry and a few weeks later, captain of the First Arcièren Life Guard in Vienna; he was also awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece
in 1808.
After the restoration of Louis XVIII, he was created again Peer of France, and his dignities further enhanced by the title Duke of Elbeuf. Louis XVIII furthermore appointed him as a Marshal of France
. Because of the popular hostility against him in France, relating to the incident in the Tuilleries in July 1789, he never exercised these privileges and he died at the age of 74 in Vienna on 21 November 1825. He had briefly been married to the widow of Count von Colloreedo, but they were divorced after a few months. He had no children, and with his death, and his brother's, the male line of old Lothringen lines of Erbouf, Harecourt, and Armagnac ended.
House of Guise
The House of Guise was a French ducal family, partly responsible for the French Wars of Religion.The Guises were Catholic, and Henry Guise wanted to end growing Calvinist influence...
, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine
House of Lorraine
The House of Lorraine, the main and now only remaining line known as Habsburg-Lorraine, is one of the most important and was one of the longest-reigning royal houses in the history of Europe...
, he was an officer in the French and Habsburg military during the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
wars.
Biography
Born on 25 September 1751 in VersaillesVersailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Charles Eugène was a peer of France
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
and Prince of Lorraine. Styled as the Prince of Lambesc. One of four children, he had a younger brother and two younger sister's. through his sister, Joséphine of Lorraine
Princess Joséphine of Lorraine
Joséphine of Lorraine was a French princess of the House of Lorraine and by marriage the Princess of Carignan...
, he was an uncle of Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignan
Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Carignan
Charles Emmanuel of Savoy was a Prince of Savoy and later the Prince of Carignano between 1780 and 1800, and the paternal grandfather of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a united Italy.-Biography:...
and great uncle of the future King Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
.
He married twice; firstly to Anna Cetner (Zetzner) (1764–1814), whom he wed 20 May 1803. The couple had no issue. He married again to Viktoria Folliot de Crenneville (1766–1845) again the couple had no children.
He defended the royal palace in the riot at the Tuileries Gardens in July 1789. Initially he served in the French army, but at the outset of France's wars with Austria, he picked up the Bourbon cause in Germany. His regiment was taken into service in the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
army in 1793, and he served with distinction in several of the wars of the First and Second Coalitions
War of the Second Coalition
The "Second Coalition" was the second attempt by European monarchs, led by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, to contain or eliminate Revolutionary France. They formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests...
.
Upon the Bourbon restoration in 1815, his dynastic dignities were restored to him, but due to widespread unpopularity in France, he never returned to exercise his privileges.
He died in Vienna in 1825.
French military service
The eldest of House of Lothringen-Lambesc served as the King of France's grand equerry. Charles Eugène became Colonel and Proprietor (Chief) of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons in 1778 and was promoted to Marshal of the Camp in the French Army on 9 March 1788. He received the Commanders Cross of the Order of Saint LouisOrder of Saint Louis
The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis was a military Order of Chivalry founded on 5 April 1693 by Louis XIV and named after Saint Louis . It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, and is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles...
,
In the early days of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, Charles Eugène's Allemand Dragoons were an important element in the protection of the Louis' Court
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. On 12 July 1789, Charles Eugène rode at the head of his dragoons across the Place of Louis XV
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.- History :...
into the Tuileries Gardens, against a mob that had gathered there and forced the group out of the garden.
In the course of the attack, many were injured, and Charles Eugène was held popularly responsible, although no charges were filed.
When hostilities between France and the Habsburgs reached a crisis point in 1791, he left his Allemand Dragoons and followed the Bourbon cause with his younger brother, Joseph, Prince of Vaudémont.
Habsburg military service
On 18 June 1791, the prince was appointed major generalMajor General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in the Austrian army. In October 1791, he was given command of a brigade composed of the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
(volunteers) "Degelmann" and 37th Dragoon Regiment in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
.
On 1 February 1793, his regiment, the 37th Dragoons, was taken into Habsburg service and in 1798, it was united with the 10th Cuirassier Regiment. At the Battle of Tournai on 22 May 1794, he charged the French infantry on the heights of Templeuve with four squadrons (approximately 1,000 men) of the 18th Chevauxleger Regiment "Karaiczay", cutting down 500 men and taking three guns. On 22 June 1794, he was appointed Colonel and Proprietor
Proprietor (Inhaber)
A Proprietor, or Inhaber, was a term used in the Habsburg military to denote special honors extended to a noble or aristocrat. The Habsburg army was organized on principles developed for the feudal armies in which regiments were raised by a wealthy noble, called the Inhaber who also acted as...
of the 21st of Cuirassier Regiment in recognition of his actions. In the Battle of Fleurus
Battle of Fleurus (1794)
In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...
, on 26 June 1794, he charged with four squadrons of 5th Carabiners Albert to rescue part of Campaign Marshal Count von Kaunitz's infantry, which had been surrounded by three French cavalry regiments. This unlikely charge against another cavalry force more than five times its size took the French by surprise; the French cavalry scattered, giving Kaunitz to organize an orderly withdrawal of his own force from the field.
On 4 March 1796, Charles Eugène was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal . In 1796 he served in Germany under Field Marshal Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigismund, Count Wurmser was an Austrian field marshal during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although he fought in the Seven Years War, the War of the Bavarian Succession, and mounted several successful campaigns in the Rhineland in the initial years of the French Revolutionary Wars, he...
in the Army of the Upper Rhine; on 11 May of that year, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Order. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Amberg on 24 August and in the Battle of Würzburg
Battle of Würzburg
The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of Habsburg Austria led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and an army of the First French Republic led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. The French attacked the archduke's forces, but they were resisted until the arrival of...
on 2 September, commanding a brigade of cavalry.
In the War of the Second Coalition
War of the Second Coalition
The "Second Coalition" was the second attempt by European monarchs, led by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, to contain or eliminate Revolutionary France. They formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests...
, the Prince fought in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
at the Battle of Engen. After this campaign, the prince was posted to the Habsburg province Galicia, where he was governor general. On 3 December 1806, he was promoted to General of Cavalry and a few weeks later, captain of the First Arcièren Life Guard in Vienna; he was also awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...
in 1808.
After the restoration of Louis XVIII, he was created again Peer of France, and his dignities further enhanced by the title Duke of Elbeuf. Louis XVIII furthermore appointed him as a Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
. Because of the popular hostility against him in France, relating to the incident in the Tuilleries in July 1789, he never exercised these privileges and he died at the age of 74 in Vienna on 21 November 1825. He had briefly been married to the widow of Count von Colloreedo, but they were divorced after a few months. He had no children, and with his death, and his brother's, the male line of old Lothringen lines of Erbouf, Harecourt, and Armagnac ended.