Mathias Rukavina von Boynograd
Encyclopedia
Mathias Rukavina von Boynograd, also Mathias Rukawina, Mathias Ruccavina, Mate Rukavina, (1737 - 3 May 1817) joined the Austrian army and fought against the Kingdom of Prussia
, Ottoman Turkey, and the First French Republic. For most of his career he served with the light infantry from the military border with Turkey. He earned the rank of general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars
. During the 1796 Italian campaign, he commanded a brigade in several battles against the French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte. He was Proprietor (Inhaber)
of an Austrian infantry regiment for a short time.
, Croatia
in 1737, Rukavina was the son of Oberleutnant
Josef Rukavina and Susanna von Startschewitsch. He enlisted in a Hungarian
regiment and fought with distinction during the Seven Years War. Afterward, he served with the Grenz infantry
(also known as Croats
) and won promotion to major
in 1778. He attained the social title of Ritter
in 1779. During the Austro-Turkish War (1787-1791)
he was wounded twice. He earned the rank of Oberst
in 1789. He married Elisabeth Lotters on 10 April 1792.
occurred on 1 May 1795, while he was serving in northwest Italy
. He was wounded in action in June. At the Battle of Loano
on 23 November, he heroically defended one of the redoubts, but was eventually forced to retreat. The spring of 1796 found him in command of a brigade in the division of Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau
. On the night of 10–11 April he marched two and a half battalions from Dego
to join other Austrian units near Montenotte Superiore. Historian Boycott-Brown writes,
That day Rukavina was shot in the shoulder while leading his troops in an attack on a French redoubt atop Monte Negino (also Monte Legino). Though the assault failed, he urged Argenteau to persist, but his superior declined. The next day, Bonaparte concentrated superior forces and badly defeated Argenteau in the Battle of Montenotte
. Rukavina remained in command at Dego until 13 April, but because of his injury, he missed the rest of the Montenotte Campaign
.
Rukavina led a brigade in Michelangelo Colli
's division at the Battle of Borghetto
on 30 May but was not in action. After the Austrian defeat, his troops joined the garrison of Mantua
During the Siege of Mantua
, he fell under the overall command of Josef Canto d'Irles and defended the Migliaretto entrenchments with one battalion of Carlstädter Grenzers, one battalion of the 2nd Garrison Infantry Regiment (IR), and three battalions of the Terzi IR # 16. Rukavina actively participated in siege operations and his Aide-de-camp
was killed in a sortie on 16 July. When the French temporarily lifted the siege on 1 August before the Battle of Castiglione
, D'Irles sent Rukavina to deliver a message to Dagobert von Wurmser
, the army commander. This spared him from serving through the remainder of the siege from August to February 1797.
on 10 August 1796. He was appointed to the noble title of Freiherr
on 16 October 1797. From 1797 to 1803, he commanded the military district of Dalmatia
, being elevated to the rank of Feldmarschal-Leutnant
in 1801. In 1803, he briefly became Proprietor (Inhaber)
of Rukavina Infantry Regiment # 52. But he stepped down in 1804 when he retired from the army, becoming second proprietor of the regiment. He died in Penzing
, Austria
on 3 May 1817.
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
, Ottoman Turkey, and the First French Republic. For most of his career he served with the light infantry from the military border with Turkey. He earned the rank of general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars
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...
. During the 1796 Italian campaign, he commanded a brigade in several battles against the French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte. He was Proprietor (Inhaber)
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 an Austrian infantry regiment for a short time.
Early career
Born at Trnovec BartolovečkiTrnovec Bartolovecki
Trnovec Bartolovečki is a municipality in Varaždin County, Croatia.The municipality consists of 6 villages – Bartolovec, Trnovec, Šemovec, Štefanec, Zamlaka and Žabnik. The population of the municipality in the 2011 census was 6,889. The village of Trnovec had a population of 4,190 in the same census...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
in 1737, Rukavina was the son of Oberleutnant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
Josef Rukavina and Susanna von Startschewitsch. He enlisted in a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
regiment and fought with distinction during the Seven Years War. Afterward, he served with the Grenz infantry
Grenz infantry
Grenz infantry or Grenzers were light infantry troops who came from the Croatian and Transylvanian Military Frontier in Habsburg Monarchy . This borderland formed a buffer zone between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, and the troops were originally raised to defend Austria against the...
(also known as Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
) and won promotion to major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in 1778. He attained the social title of Ritter
Ritter
Ritter is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second lowest rank within the nobility, standing above "Edler" and below "Freiherr"...
in 1779. During the Austro-Turkish War (1787-1791)
Austro-Turkish War (1787-1791)
The Austro-Turkish War of 1787 was an inconclusive struggle between the Austrian and Ottoman Empires. It took place concomitantly with the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792.-History:...
he was wounded twice. He earned the rank of Oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
in 1789. He married Elisabeth Lotters on 10 April 1792.
Italian campaign
Rukavina transferred to Italy in 1794 as commander of two Carlstädter Grenz battalions. His promotion to General-MajorMajor 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...
occurred on 1 May 1795, while he was serving in northwest Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He was wounded in action in June. At the Battle of Loano
Battle of Loano
The Battle of Loano occurred on 23-24 November 1795 during the War of the First Coalition. The French Army of Italy led by Barthélemy Schérer defeated the combined Austrian and Sardinian forces under Olivier, Count of Wallis. -Context:...
on 23 November, he heroically defended one of the redoubts, but was eventually forced to retreat. The spring of 1796 found him in command of a brigade in the division of Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau
Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau
Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau, comte de Mercy or Eugen Gillis Wilhelm Graf Mercy d'Argenteau joined the Austrian army in 1760, became a general officer, and led large formations of soldiers in several actions during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.-Early career:Born at Huy in...
. On the night of 10–11 April he marched two and a half battalions from Dego
Dego
Dego is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 50 km west of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of Savona....
to join other Austrian units near Montenotte Superiore. Historian Boycott-Brown writes,
It was also Rukavina who engaged the enemy first, and it seems to have been entirely in character for him to do so. Mathias Rukavina was one of those fighting generals from the Borders who seem to have been happiest leading from the front.
That day Rukavina was shot in the shoulder while leading his troops in an attack on a French redoubt atop Monte Negino (also Monte Legino). Though the assault failed, he urged Argenteau to persist, but his superior declined. The next day, Bonaparte concentrated superior forces and badly defeated Argenteau in the Battle of Montenotte
Battle of Montenotte
The Battle of Montenotte was fought on 12 April 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, between the French army under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian corps under Count Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau. The battle was fought near the village of Cairo Montenotte, in northwestern Italy, and...
. Rukavina remained in command at Dego until 13 April, but because of his injury, he missed the rest of the Montenotte Campaign
Montenotte Campaign
The Montenotte Campaign began on 10 April 1796 with an action at Voltri and ended with the Armistice of Cherasco on 28 April. In his first army command, Napoleon Bonaparte's French army separated the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont under Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi from the allied...
.
Rukavina led a brigade in Michelangelo Colli
Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi
Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi, or Michele Angelo Alessandro Colli-Marchei or Michael Colli, joined the Austrian army, became a general officer, and led the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont for three years, including its unsuccessful campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte in...
's division at the Battle of Borghetto
Battle of Borghetto
The Battle of Borghetto, near Valeggio sul Mincio in the Veneto of northern Italy, occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. On 30 May 1796, a French army led by General Napoleon Bonaparte forced a crossing of the Mincio River in the face of opposition...
on 30 May but was not in action. After the Austrian defeat, his troops joined the garrison of Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
During the Siege of Mantua
Siege of Mantua (1796-1797)
In the Siege of Mantua, which lasted from 4 July 1796 to 2 February 1797 with a short break, French forces under the overall command of Napoleon Bonaparte besieged and blockaded a large Austrian garrison for many months until it surrendered...
, he fell under the overall command of Josef Canto d'Irles and defended the Migliaretto entrenchments with one battalion of Carlstädter Grenzers, one battalion of the 2nd Garrison Infantry Regiment (IR), and three battalions of the Terzi IR # 16. Rukavina actively participated in siege operations and his Aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
was killed in a sortie on 16 July. When the French temporarily lifted the siege on 1 August before the Battle of Castiglione
Battle of Castiglione
The Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of Habsburg Austria led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at...
, D'Irles sent Rukavina to deliver a message to Dagobert 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...
, the army commander. This spared him from serving through the remainder of the siege from August to February 1797.
Later career
Rukavina received the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria TheresaMilitary Order of Maria Theresa
The Military Order of Maria Theresa was an Order of the Austro-Hungarian Empire founded on June 18, 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolin, by the Empress...
on 10 August 1796. He was appointed to the noble title of Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
on 16 October 1797. From 1797 to 1803, he commanded the military district of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, being elevated to the rank of Feldmarschal-Leutnant
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in 1801. In 1803, he briefly became Proprietor (Inhaber)
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 Rukavina Infantry Regiment # 52. But he stepped down in 1804 when he retired from the army, becoming second proprietor of the regiment. He died in Penzing
Penzing (Vienna)
Penzing is the 14th District of Vienna and consists of the boroughs of Penzing, Breitensee, Baumgarten, Hütteldorf and Hadersdorf-Weidlingau. In the west, it shares a border with Purkersdorf and Mauerbach...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
on 3 May 1817.
Printed materials
- Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35305-1
- Pöttickh von Pettenegg, Gaston (ed.). Jahrbuch der K. K. Heraldischen Gesellschaft "Adler". Wien: Druck von Carl Gerold's Sohn, 1902.