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Louis-Charles de Hautefort de Surville

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Louis-Charles de Hautefort

Marquis de Surville
Born(1656-06-27)27 June 1656
Died19 December 1721(1721-12-19) (aged 65)
Allegiance Kingdom of France
Service / branchInfantry
Years of service1676–1709
RankLieutenant General
CommandsRégiment du Roi
Known forSiege of Tournai
Battles / warsFranco-Dutch War
War of the Austrian Succession
Spouse(s)Anne-Louis de Crevant d'Humières (m.1686)

Louis-Charles de Hautefort de Surville, Marquis de Surville (27 June 1656 – 19 December 1721) was a French nobleman and military officer, and a favourite of Louis XIV.[1]

Biography

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Surville was born in Paris, the eldest son of Gilles de Hautefort, 4th Marquis de Hautefort and Marthe d'Estourmel.

He was a page in the Grande Écurie du Roi (the royal stables at Versailles) of Louis XIV. He served as a volunteer at the siege of Aire-sur-la-Lys in 1676 and the siege of Cambrai in 1677 during the Franco-Dutch War.[1] Surville then accompanied the king during the siege of Ypres and Ghent in 1678. The king appointed him an ensign in the Régiment du Roi and he fought at the Battle of Saint-Denis on 14 August 1678, the last major action of the war.[1]

In 1684 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Toulouse Regiment. On 25 March 1693 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Régiment du Roi, the most prestigious colonelcy in the French Royal Army. On 30 March the same year he was promoted to brigadier. In 1695, the king made Surville a knight of the Order of Saint Louis and on 30 January 1696 he was promoted to maréchal de camp.[1] During the War of the Spanish Succession, he served initially Flanders under Louis, Duke of Burgundy. He was then appointed aide-de-camp to Marsal Tallard.[2] He was present at the Battle of Speyerbach on 15 November 1703, where he distinguished himself, as well as the siege of Landau in 1704. He was created a lieutenant general in 1703.[1] Surville served in the Flanders campaign of 1705 under Louis-François de Boufflers and was injured during the siege of Lille in 1708.[1]

In June 1709, he was given command of French forces during the siege of Tournai. Surville was forced to capitulate to the Duke of Marlborough on 3 September 1709 after a siege lasting two months, during which the defenders ran out of supplies. After the defeat, his favour with the king fell and he was dismissed from service. Surville was forced to melt down his silverware in order to obtain money. He died in Paris on 19 December 1721.[1]

In 1686 he married Anne-Louis de Crevant d'Humières, daughter of Louis de Crevant, Duc de d'Humières. The marriage produced six children.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bois (des), François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye (1774). Dictionnaire de la noblesse, contenant les généalogies, l'histoire et la chronologie des familles nobles de France (Volume 8). Paris. p. 698.
  2. ^ Surville, Louis-Charles de Hautefort de (1763). The Memoirs of the Marquis de Hautefort, Aid-de-camp to Marechal Tallard. Containing an Account of the Most Secret and Memorable Transactions of the war in Spain, Bavaria, and Flanders. London: S. Hooper.
  3. ^ Lashmore-Davies, Adrian (2020). The Unpublished Letters of Henry St John, First Viscount Bolingbroke (Volume 5). Routledge. ISBN 9781000162066.
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