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Jacques-Louis Comte de Noyelles

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Jacques-Louis, Comte de Noyelles
Died11 April 1708
Barcelona
Allegiance
Service/branchInfantry
Years of service1674–1708
RankGeneral
UnitDutch States Army
Battles/wars

Jacques-Louis, Comte de Noyelles (c. 1655 – Barcelona,11 April 1708) was a Walloon military officer in the service of the Dutch Republic between 1672 and 1708. He was also named an Austrian Field Marshal. He served in the Franco-Dutch War, the Glorious Revolution, the Nine Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession in both the northern and the Iberian theatres of that war.

Life

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Personal life

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Jacques-Louis was the son of the Walloon military officer in Spanish service Eugène-Eustace, Comte de Noyelles[a] et de Fallais[b] and Marie-Alexandrine, baronne de Ketteler et du Saint-Empire.[2] He married Sophie-Charlotte d'Aumale de Hautcourt in 1679 in The Hague. They had six children: Marie (1681), Guillaume (1682), Eugène-Philippe (1685), Johanna-Amarantha (1686), Marie (2, 1687) and Guillaume (2, 1689). There was an earlier son, Frédéric-Charles-Louis (birthdate unknown), who was appointed as a captain in his father's regiment in 1699, which points to a possible earlier marriage.[3][c]

Jacques-Louis received the county of Fallais, his grandmother's fief, from his father in 1686, despite the fact that by that time it had been auctioned off for debts on the orders of the feudal court of the Duchy of Brabant in the Spanish Netherlands. He obtained on 13 February 1688 an order from the feudal court for Brabant in The Hague,[d] contradicting the order of the Brabant court, which enabled him between 1688 and 1692 to exercise all feudal rights in Fallais. For that reason he was able to add "comte de Fallais" to his name. But at the urging of the governor-general in Brussels the States General of the Netherlands decided on 16 January 1692 to invalidate the order of the feudal court in The Hague, and give the county back to the person who had bought it at auction in 1686. Jacques-Louis so lost Fallais, but he kept using the extension "de Fallais" to his name.[7]

Career

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Noyelles started his military career as a cadet in the Blue Guard[e] in the Dutch States Army in 1672. On 21 November 1674 he was promoted to captain in the Guard. On 7 January 1681 he was promoted to colonel of the Zeeland regiment of foot of Maregnault; this was henceforth known as "Fallais" after the name the colonel preferred.[8] In 1688 he accompanied Wiliam III to England as part of the invasion force that brought about the Glorious Revolution.[8]

At the beginning of the War of the Grand Alliance his regiment was first part of the army led by Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck in the Spring of 1689. As such he fought in the Battle of Walcourt. Later that year his regiment was placed at the disposal of the Army of Flanders under Francisco Antonio de Agurto, 1st Marquess of Gastañaga.[9] He was made a "brigadier"[f] on 24 December 1689.[11] His regiment was part of the army led by Waldeck that fought in the Battle of Fleurus (1690). In 1691 he was made a major-general[12][g] and distinguished himself at the Battle of Steenkerque in 1692 and the Battle of Neerwinden in 1693. On 25 October 1694 he was promoted to lieutenant-general.[13] In 1695 together with Charles Thomas, Prince of Vaudémont he commanded the allied troops diverting marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy during the Siege of Namur (1695). He was instrumental in preventing a surprise attack by Villeroy on the Allied troops dujring the night of 13–14 July 1695.[14] After the Peace of Ryswick in 1697 he was appointed governor of the fortress city Bergen op Zoom.[15]

At the start of the War of Spanish Succession he captured Stevensweert, after having taken part in the Siege of Venlo (1702), and the next year Huy. In 1703–1704 he commanded the allied troops on the Meuse with headquarters Liège.[16] In 1704 he was made a full general of infantry.[h] In that year he fought in the Battle of Blenheim at the head of a Hanoverian brigade of cavalry.[i] The next year he commanded the Dutch contingent in Marlborough's Moselle campaign.[19]

On the eve of the Battle of Elixheim, 17 July 1705, Dutch troops, consisting of 22 battalions and 30 squadrons, under Noyelles attacked the castle of Wangen that protected a bridge across the Gete river and a part of the Lines of Brabant. In two columns, the Dutch marched forward. Both columns were preceded by a detachment of grenadiers. The attack on the castle itself was to be carried out by the left column, at a stone bridge over the Geete, close to the village of Nederhespen. Sixty experienced grenadiers were ordered to take control of the Geete crossing point. They then had to break through the French lines through a flank attack and wait for reinforcements. The cavalry of the right column had the task of routing the enemy dragoons at Orsmael. 16 June at 9 pm, the advance had begun. However, due to various complications, it would take until 4am the next day for the first troops to arrive at the river. Nevertheless, the attack went smoothly. Poor reconnaissance by the French meant that they had been unaware of the Dutch advance. The castle, occupied by 30 French soldiers, was quickly taken and the French lines also offered little resistance. Noyelles' right-wing column broke through the lines at Over- and Nederhespen without a fight.[20] The next day the main Allied forced crossed this bridge and pierced the French lines. The French lost nine standards, three flags, 18 guns, and 2500 prisoners, among whom the French army commander Yves d'Alègre.[19][21] Later that year Noyelles directed the Siege of Zandvliet.[22]

In 1706 he was sent to Catalonia to command the Dutch troops in Spain during the War of Spanish Succession as the replacement of general Fagel.[23] Emperor Charles VI, the pretender to the Spanish throne under the name king Charles III of Spain, was very enamored of him and made him a Feldmarschall-Lieutenant in the Austrian army.[22] He effected the lifting of the Siege of Barcelona by the French and Spanish troops of king Philip V of Spain in 1706. Together with lord Peterborough he led the Anglo-Dutch army in Catalonia during 1706–1707.[j] After the disappointing events of 1707, especially the devastating losses during the Battle of Almansa[25] he asked for his recall, but that didn't arrive in time.[26]

Noyelles died of a throat disease in Barcelona on 11 April 1708.[22][27]

Notes

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  1. ^ A county in Artois, which had until 1659 been part of the Spanish Netherlands.
  2. ^ A county within the Duchy of Brabant, which had been the fief of his mother, Marguerite de Bourgogne, comtesse de Fallais.[1]
  3. ^ In the Commisionbooks of the Raad van State there are entries for both his commission as captain in 1699,[4] and as "brigadier" of the Infantry on 15 February 1707.[5]
  4. ^ This was a court instituted by the Dutch Republic after the Peace of Münster, in which it was awarded the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant, in competition with the feudal court of the southern part of the Duchy of Brabant, that was retained by Spain as part of the Spanish Netherlands.[6]
  5. ^ Life guard of stadtholder William III.
  6. ^ This was an informal rank in the Dutch States Army up to 1701, when it was formalized.[10]
  7. ^ He was also made postmaster-general for the entire army.[8]
  8. ^ At the same time as Nassau-Ouwerkerk was made a Field Marshal, and Slangenburg and John William Friso were also made full generals.[17]
  9. ^ He may have been wounded in the throat according to a letter by Sophia of Hanover to her sister Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate of 17 August 1704.[18]
  10. ^ He opposed the policies of the allied commander, the Huguenot Frenchman in English service Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, whose nemesis he became, to the frustration of the (by then) British First Lord of the Treasury Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, who saw him as an evil influence on king Charles III.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Institut, p. 354
  2. ^ Institut, p. 360
  3. ^ Enschedé, pp. 79-81
  4. ^ "Raad van State: Commissieboeken, Naam: Fredrick Charles Louis de Noyelles graaf van Falais". Nationaal Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Raad van State:Commissieboeken, Naam: Fredrik graaf van Noyelle en van Fallais". Nationaal Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  6. ^ Institut, p. 359, note 1
  7. ^ Institut, pp. 358-360
  8. ^ a b c Enschedé, p. 80
  9. ^ Stapleton, p. 200, note 25
  10. ^ Stapleton, p. 259, note 56
  11. ^ Institut, p. 361
  12. ^ "Raad van State:Commissieboeken, Naam: Louijs graaf van Noyelles". Nationaal Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  13. ^ "Raad van State: Commissieboeken, Naam: Louis graaf van Noyelles". Nationaal Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  14. ^ Enschedé, p. 81
  15. ^ Institut, pp. 361-362
  16. ^ Institut, pp. 362-363
  17. ^ Enschedé, p. 82
  18. ^ Duggan, J.N. (2011). Sophia of Hanover: From Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630–1714. Peter Owen. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  19. ^ a b Enschedé, pp. 83-84
  20. ^ Wijn 1956, p. 592-595.
  21. ^ Boyer, A. (1706). History of the reign of Queen Anne, digested into annals, Volume 4. London: Francis Coggan. pp. 72–73. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  22. ^ a b c Frey and Frey, p. 312
  23. ^ Enschedé, pp. 84-85
  24. ^ Coxe, W. (1818). Memoirs of John, duke of Marlborough, with his original correspondence, Volume 2. T.C. Hansard. pp. 96, 99, 246, 248–249, 250–251, 588–589. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  25. ^ Enschedé, p. 86
  26. ^ Institut, p. 364
  27. ^ Enschedé, p. 87

Sources

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