Louis d'Aubusson de La Feuillade

Louis d'Aubusson de La Feuillade
Engraving of de La Feuillade from 1702.
Born 30 March 1673
Marly-le-Roi, Île-de-France
Died 29 January 29 January 1725(1725-01-29) (aged 51)
Marly-le-Roi, Île-de-France
Allegiance  France
Years of service 1688–1725
Rank Marshal of France
Unit Cavalry
Battles/wars Battle of Landen
Siege of Charleroi
Siege of Nice (1705)
Siege of Turin 1706

Louis d'Aubusson de la Feuillade, duc de Roannais (30 March 1673 – 28 January 1725) was a French military officer and Marshal of France who fought in the Nine Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession.[1]

Early life

Louis d'Aubusson de la Feuillade, born on 30 March 1673, was the son of François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade, also a Marshal of France, and Charlotte de Gouffier. In 1701, he married Marie Thérèse Chamillart (1685-1716), daughter of Michel Chamillart, Secretary of State for War but their marriage was childless.

Career

In 1688, at the age of 15 La Feuillade raised a cavalry regiment for the Nine Years War, fighting at Landen and a number of other actions. His most memorable action in this period was apparently stealing a large sum of money and jewels from his uncle, Georges d'Aubusson, Bishop of Metz; Louis XIV wanted to dismiss him from the army but a family connection, Louis de Pontchartrain persuaded him not to pursue the matter.[2] He continued serving in the military until the war ended in 1697 when his regiment was disbanded.

Northern Italy; Milan and Savoy were the primary areas of conflict

On the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701, La Feuillade was made a brigadier, then promoted in 1703 to Marechal de camp when he was posted to the army in Northern Italy. This was allegedly due to his wife being the daughter of the Minister of War, rather than ability.[3]

At the start of the war in 1701, Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy allied himself with France but switched sides in October 1703.[4] La Feuillade was made subordinate to the duc de Vendôme and given responsibility for reducing the Savoyard territories of Villefranche and the County of Savoy, now part of modern-day France.

This was largely complete by the end of 1705 and capturing Victor Amadeus' capital of Turin became the main objective of the 1706 campaign. La Feuillade arrived before Turin on 12 May with 48,000 men, although the city was finally encircled only on 19 June.[5] The plan agreed by La Feuillade and Vendôme was to dig trenches around the city at a distance of 300-400 metres and then blast it into submission but the French military engineer Vauban argued this approach would not work.[6]

An extremely favourable French position changed with the disastrous defeat at Ramillies on 23 May. As a result, Vendôme was sent to Northern France in July with Philippe, Duke of Orléans taking over in Italy, advised by Marshal Ferdinand de Marsin. Orléans joined La Feuillade at Turin and their combined forces assaulted the city three times between 27 August and 3 September, each one repulsed with heavy loss. The Siege of Turin ended in September when a relief force under Prince Eugene broke the French siege lines near Collegno; Louis XIV now decided to end the war in Italy and the French withdrew across the Alps. La Feuillade does not appear to have held a senior military command again but was made a Marshal of France in 1724, a year before his death.

References

  1. ↑ Phillips, Lawrence Barnett (1871). The dictionary of biographical reference. Oxford University. p. 557.
  2. ↑ Chapman, Sara (2004). Private Ambition and Political Alliances in Louis XIV's Government:. University of Rochester Press. p. 29. ISBN 1-58046-153-0.
  3. ↑ Lynn, John (1999). The Wars of Louis XIV 1667-1714. Longman. p. 309. ISBN 0582056292.
  4. ↑ Falkner, James (2015). The War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714 (Kindle ed.). 1302: Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781473872905.
  5. ↑ Symcox, Geoffrey (1983). Victor Amadeus II: Absolutism in the Savoyard State, 1675-1730. University of California Press. p. 150. ISBN 0520049748.
  6. ↑ Duffy, Christopher (1985). The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great 1660-1789 (2017 ed.). Routledge. pp. 50–51. ISBN 1138924644.

Sources

French nobility
Preceded by
François d'Aubusson de La Feuillade		 Duke of Roannais
1691–1725		 Extinct
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