Pierre de Montesquiou d'Artagnan
Encyclopedia
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...
.
A scion of the famous French Montesquiou family
Montesquiou family
The House of Montesquiou is the main branch of the Fezensac family, itself being a cadet branch of the House of Gascony. It is one of oldest aristocratic families in Europe....
, he was the fourth son of Henri I de Montesquiou, seigneur d'Artagnan by his wife Jeanne, daughter of Jean de Gassion
Jean de Gassion
Jean, comte de Gassion was a Gascon military commander for France, prominent at the battle of Rocroi who reached the rank of Marshal of France at the age of thirty-four...
. He was also the cousin of Charles de Batz de Castelmore, to whom he lent one of his titles, comte d'Artagnan, on whom the hero of Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
's D'Artagnan Romances
D'Artagnan Romances
The d'Artagnan Romances are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas telling the story of the musketeer d'Artagnan from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death as a marshal of France in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673....
was based. Montesquiou served for twenty-three years as a musketeer in the Gardes Françaises
Gardes Françaises
The Gardes Françaises was one of the two non-ceremonial infantry regiments in the "Maison du Roi" of the French Army under the Ancien Régime. The other regiment was the Gardes Suisses, which made the Gardes Françaises the only one recruited from France.-History:The regiment was created in 1563 by...
before being made brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
in 1688. He was further promoted to maréchal de camp in 1691 and lieutenant général
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....
on 3 January 1696 before being made Maréchal de France on 15 September 1709 as a reward for his distinguished conduct at the Battle of Malplaquet
Battle of Malplaquet
The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on 11 September 1709, was one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, which opposed the Bourbons of France and Spain against an alliance whose major members were the Habsburg Monarchy, Great Britain, the United Provinces and the Kingdom of...
on 11 September, at which he was wounded and had three horses shot under him.