Castries, Chls de
Full Name: Charles Eugène Gabriel de la Croix de Castries, Marquis of Castries, Earl of Charlus, lord of Murat la Rabbe, Châteauneuf, Saignes, Granges, Tauves and St Save, Baron of Monjouvert and Dampierre
Achievements: He started the modernization of the French Navy under Louis VXI
Born: February 25, 1727; Paris, France
Died: January 12, 1801; Wolfenbuttel, Germany
Field & Discipline: Military; Politics; Government; Marshal of France; Minister for the Navy
Language: French
Father: Father Joseph-Francois, Marquis de Castries
Mother: Marie-Francoise de Levis
Siblings: Unknown
Spouse: Gabrielle de Rosset de Fleury
Children: Armand-Charles-Augustin, Duke of Castries
Education: At home
Life & Times:
Charles was brought up by his uncle, Archbishop Armand-Pierre, and then joined the Royal Infantry as a second-lieutenant on 23 August 1742, aged 15. He fought at Dettingen on 27 June 1743 and, in December 1743 became king's lieutenant in Languedoc, while also receiving control of Sète and Montepellier (towns which had belonged to his father).
On 26 March 1744 he was promoted to camp lieutenant in a regiment of the king's cavalry, which he then commanded with the Flanders army, then at the Battle of Fontenoy, at the sieges of Tournai, Dendermonde and Ath, and also at the Battles of Raucoux and Lawfeld. He was named corporal on 1 January 1748, a commissaire général of the cavalry on 9 June, and promoted to brigadier in December.
In 1754, he married Gabrielle de Rosset de Fleury, with whom he had one son, Armand-Charles-Augustin, duc de Castries (1756-1842).
On 14 April 1756, Castries was given command of the Corsican troops, and landed at Calvi on 2 November. Then, in July 1757, he entered the Seven Years' War when he was appointed cavalry commander of the army of Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise in Germany, and was wounded at Rossbach (at which the French were defeated).
On his recovery, he commanded a corps that had separated from troops opposed to the Prince of Isembourg and forced the latter to return to Eimbeck. After the capturing the village of S.-Goard, he was ordered to attack the chateau of Rhinfels, and was promoted to lieutenant-general on 28 December 1758.
After the Battle of Minden, on 1 August 1759, he served along the Lower Rhine under the Comte de Saint-Germain, he attacked Wesel but, attacked in turn at Clostercamp by the Duke of Brunswick (who had just cleared a way across the Rhine), he forced his the Duke to recross the river and raise the siege of Wesel, which Castries' forces then overcame, successfully occupying the town on 18 October 1760.
In acknowledgement of these victories, in January 1761 the king awarded Castries admission to the privileges of the king's chamber. Castries then commanded the cavalry of the army of Lower Rhine during the campaign of 1762.
In April 1766 he was appointed lieutenant-general of Lyons and ceased taking part in military operations. At Lyons, he was a great social success, being a very rich, handsome man, having inherited great wealth.
After a series of high-society affairs, he began a long-term relationship with the beautiful Mme de Blot, lady-in-waiting to the Duchesse d'Orléans. In 1775 he returned to Flanders in order to examine the advantages and disadvantages of a project to straighten the River Lys.
In 1780, Castries was named Minister of the French Navy, and became Marshal of France in 1783. He gave the instructions for the American campaign and travelled to Brest, on 13 March 1781, in order to inspect the great naval army that [Minister to] Louis XVI* was sending across the Atlantic.
Castries' building work at Dunkerque was solely a restoration, but at Cherbourg he created an entirely new harbour, which was visited by Louis XVI in June 1786.
Castries adopted three types of uniform for naval vessels, and doubled the size of the copper hull. In 1784 he restored the previously-abolished post of naval quartermaster; in 1786, he carried out a complete reform of hydrographic education, and then made sure it was taught in all the sea ports of France; on 1 January 1786 he published his 12 ordinances and 11 regulations which together made up a complete naval code.
In spite of the expense of all these reforms, Castries had been continually supported by Louis XVI's foreign minister, Charles Gravier Vergennes, but the latter's death in 1787 placed him in a far more precarious position. Immediately the French finance minister, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, declared that the Navy's demands on French finances were a "bottomless pit", and Castries handed in his resignation.
The Navy then consisted of 200 warships, of which 58 were ordinary warships, 65 were frigates, and 77 smaller vessels.
On 11 July 1789, the king wrote to Castries requesting him to resume his place at the Council and in the Navy, but Castries refused. Attacked close to his chateau at Ollainville, he left fifteen days later and evebtually proceeded to Coppet, where [escape aided by] Jacques Necker*, after having helped him get out of France, offered him asylum.
In August 1791, Castries was at Coblentz and participated in the Council of Princes; in 1792 he commanded a division of the army which had entered Champagne and, in September, he occupied the heights dominating Thionville, beside the Moselle. In 1797, he headed the cabinet of Louis XVIII.
He died at Wolfenbuttel on 12 January 1801 and was buried at Brunswick, where the Duke (whose forces he had defeated at Clostercamp) built him a monument.
Extra Connections: He helped the naval career of [helped career of] Marc Isambard Brunel*
Assessment: A talented and forward-looking military man.
Oneliner: Marquis de Castries, Louis XVI’s Minister of the Navy
Bibliography:
- Encyclopedia Britannica.