Born at Sedan, September 11, 1611; killed at Salzbach, July 27,
1675.
The second son of Henri, Duc de Bouillon, and Elizabeth, daughter of
William the Silent, Prince of Orange, and granddaughter of Admiral
Coligny. He was educated in his mother’s religion, Calvinism. At the
age of fifteen (1626), he went to study military science and the art
of war under his uncles, the Princes Maurice and Henry of Nassau. In
1630 he arrived in France, and Richelieu gave him the colonelcy of a
regiment. For the next eight years he was incessantly engaged in active
service, and distinguished himself as a commander, both on the Rhine
and in Flanders. Richelieu, who had the highest opinion of his military
capacity, wished to attach him to his interests, and offered him the
hand of one of his nieces who had a large dowry. Turenne took advantage
of the difference of religion as a pretext for refusing this alliance.
In 1639 Turenne served in Italy, and saved the army of the Prince de
Carignan by the celebrated battle of the “Route de Quiers.” His courage
and tenacity of purpose brought about the capture of Turin. The Duke
de Bouillon, his elder brother, was implicated in the plot of _Cinq
Mars_ and arrested. Turenne used his influence over the Cardinal to
obtain his brother’s release. The Duke left France, abjured Calvinism,
and became commander-in-chief of the Papal army. At the commencement of
the Regency of Anne of Austria, Turenne was commanding the French army
in Italy; but Richelieu, fearing that he and his elder brother might
become allies against him, despatched Turenne to Germany, with orders
to collect and reform the dispersed and broken mercenary Westphalian
troops, then in the pay of France. In this he was successful. From 1644
to 1648 he continued the German campaign, until the conclusion of the
Treaty of Westphalia (October 24, 1648), which terminated the Thirty
Years War. At this time the troubles of the Fronde, which had been
long simmering, blazed out. The Duke de Bouillon, Turenne’s brother,
was one of the principal leaders of the movement. The Queen, Condé,
and the Cardinal used every effort to prevent Turenne following his
brother’s example. Mazarin offered him one of his nieces in marriage
and the Governorship of Alsace. Turenne brought his troops back to
France, and then attempted to lead them against the Minister; but the
men, having been bribed by Cardinal Mazarin, refused to obey their
general, who was compelled to take refuge in Holland. A month later
he returned to Paris. When the Princes were arrested (January 18,
1650), Mazarin again offered him his protection, and the command of the
army in Flanders. By this time the seductive graces of the Duchess de
Longueville had completely captivated Turenne, and he left Paris for
Stenay, a fortified town near Sedan, in the principality of the Duke
de Bouillon. Here he was joined by the Duchess. Under her influence he
signed a treaty with the Spaniards, by which he agreed to fight with
them against France until the imprisoned Princes should be released.
He joined the Archduke Leopold, marched through Picardy, took several
towns, and pushed on until he and his army were within a few hours of
Vincennes, where the Princes had been confined; but hearing they had
been transferred to the Castle of Marcoussis, near Rambouillet, he
recrossed the River Aisne and directed his march in that direction; he
encountered the whole Royal army, 19,000 strong, and though enormously
outnumbered, was forced to fight in a valley near Sompuis. He was
totally defeated. He then retired from the civil war, and returned
to the Archduke the 100,000 crowns which the latter had given him to
continue the campaign. The Princes were shortly afterwards released,
Mazarin exiled, and the Duc de Bouillon’s just claims, which he had
been making unavailingly for eight years, fully satisfied. Turenne
then returned to France, and married, in 1651, Charlotte de Caumont,
daughter of the Maréchal Armand de la Force. The bridegroom was forty
and the bride thirty, but their attachment had lasted many years,
and it was for her sake Turenne had already refused many brilliant
alliances.
Turenne was greatly opposed to the second rebellion of Condé, who up
to that time had been his intimate friend. He conducted the campaign
against the army of the Fronde during the critical year of 1652,
defeated the rebellious Princes, and was able to bring back the King
to Paris on October 21. Condé and his allies, the Spaniards, were
eventually absolutely vanquished and driven from France, but the war
lasted for nearly seven years, and it was not until November 1659,
that a peace, glorious for France, was concluded by the Treaty of the
Pyrenees.
From this time forth Turenne was one of those few men in whom Louis
XIV. had absolute confidence, and he consulted him on all matters
of foreign policy. Turenne took a very considerable part in the
restoration of Charles II. In 1667 a fresh war with Spain was imminent,
the King of France informed Turenne that it was his intention to march
at the head of the army, and learn from his commander-in-chief the art
of war.
At this time Turenne abjured Calvinism and joined the Catholic Church.
There is every reason to believe his change of religion was sincere and
not dictated by political motives. He had for two years been anxious
to become a Catholic, and made a serious study of religious questions
under the guidance of Bossuet; and in 1668 he was privately re-baptised
by the Archbishop of Paris.
Turenne in 1672 took supreme command on the occasion of the war with
Holland; the King acting as a figure-head. The campaign was long,
arduous and only partially successful.
The year 1674 was the apogee of the military career of Turenne. At
a moment when several armies were gathered together ready to invade
France, he determined, notwithstanding the inferiority of his forces,
to divide his enemies and attack them separately. He marched down
the left bank of the Rhine, and, meeting the Imperialists, defeated
them at Sinzheim upon June 16. He then passed the river, and defeated
another body of the enemy’s troops at Ladenburg. The allies, having
reorganised their army, invaded Alsace and established there their
winter quarters. Turenne brought his troops by the Vosges mountains,
entered Alsace, and attacking the Imperialists (who were taken entirely
by surprise, not expecting an army would venture to move in the
winter), defeated them first at Mulhouse (December 29) and at Turckheim
on January 5. Alsace was thus entirely reconquered. Turenne made a
triumphant return to Versailles, where Louis XIV. publicly embraced him.
In the following year, 1675, Turenne found himself the adversary of
Montecuccoli, the greatest living tactician in Europe. For six weeks
the two generals manœuvred and out-manœuvred each other in their
respective efforts to cross the Rhine. At length Turenne found a
favourable opportunity. The two armies were face to face near the
village of Salzbach (July 27), and Turenne was riding round the advance
posts, when his lieutenant-general, St. Hilaric, rode up to inform him
a column of the enemy was approaching. At this moment a shell struck
the party, St. Hilaric lost his left arm, and Turenne was wounded in
the side. The marshal never spoke again, but fell dead from his horse.
His death caused universal mourning all over France. General
Montecuccoli, on hearing of the death of his rival, said: “A man has
died to-day who was an honour to humanity.” Turenne is buried under the
same dome as Napoleon--at the Invalides.