Saint-Laurent, Amaury de Farcy de
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Amaury de Farcy de Saint-Laurent
Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg Major-General (1705–1712) Lieutenant-General (1712–1729)
Drost (Truchsess, engl. steward) of the District of Ebsdorf, Commander of the Fortress of Kalkberg Fortress and of the town of Lüneburg
Chief of Saint-Laurent Cavalry (1705–1729)
born 1652
died 5 May 1729, Ebstorf, Electorate of Hanover
Description
Amaury's parents were François de Farcy Seigneur de Saint-Laurent and his wife Claude d'Uzille.
Amaury de Farcy de Saint-Laurent came from an old family that lived in Vitrée in Brittany in what is now the department of Ille and Vilaine.
In 1672, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Saint-Laurent fled France because of his Protestant faith. He came to Kassel by way of The Hague. He was initially court and hunting page in Kassel.
In 1674, by recommendation of the Orange Court, Saint-Laurent went to Celle and entered the service of Duke Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
In 1685 and 1686, Saint-Laurent took part, as an ensign in the Linstow Infantry Regiment, in the war in Hungary. On his return, he was transferred to the cavalry by Lieutenant-General Chauvet, under whom he had served.
In 1688, Saint-Laurent was promoted to major. As such, he was captured with his own regiment on 18 September 1691 at the Battle of Leuze in the Netherlands, where prince von Waldeck suffered a defeat. However, he was soon released on parole by the Maréchal de Luxembourg, in consideration of his brave behaviour.
In 1693, Saint-Laurent was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and in 1694 to regimental commander.
In 1695, Saint-Laurent kidnapped and married Luise Dorothea von Charreard, the daughter of the Oberjägermeister Anton von Charreard. when she was engaged to one of Lüneburg on Wathlingen as a lady-in-waiting in Celle.
In 1701, at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Dukes of Hanover and Celle sent a joint auxiliary corps in the pay of the States General to the Netherlands. There, Saint-Laurent commanded a cavalry brigade in 1702. In 1705, he was promoted to major-general. As an equestrian leader, he is mentioned several times with distinction in the course of this war.
On 23 May 1706, an the Battle of Ramillies, Saint-Laurent commanded 18 squadrons on the left wing, which after a hard fight defeated the Franco-Bavarian cavalry facing them and contributed significantly to the victory. Marlborough took this opportunity to recommend General Saint-Laurent to the Elector for further duties. On 11 July 1708, Saint-Laurent was wounded in the Battle of Oudenarde, where he led four Hanoverian regiments under General Natzmer. On 11 September 1709, at the Battle of Malplaquet, he was the advisor to the young Prince of Auvergne, who commanded 30 squadrons. He was appointed lieutenant-general in 1712.
After returning home from the War of the Spanish Succession, Lieutenant-General de Saint-Laurent only moved into the field once. It was in 1719, when the Electorate of Hanover had to carry out the imperial execution against Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on behalf of the Empire. With the assistance of Russian auxiliary troops, the troops of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, under the later so famous General von Schwerin, who died in 1757 near Prague as a Prussian field marshal, met the Imperial forces and brought them a defeat on 6 March at Walsmühlen not far from Schwerin. However, Saint-Laurent was able to compensate for major consequences with his cavalry.
Saint-Laurent died on 5 May 1729 at Ebstorf in Lüneburg.
Saint-Laurent's only son, Anton Simon, died in 1728 as a captain. His daughter Eleonore (born 1701; died 5 March 1784) married in 1721 to Major Ludolf Otto von Estorff (died 1759) on Barnstedt. Lieutenant-General Emmerich Otto August von Estorff was his grandson.
References
This article is mostly a translation of:
- Wikipedia – German Edition: Amaury de Farcy de Saint-Laurent
Other sources
Poten, Bernhard von: Saint-Laurent, Amaury de Farcy de. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 192 f.
Saulnier, Frédéric: Amaury de Farcy de Saint-Laurent lieutenant general hanoverian 1652–1729. 1904
Estoff: Biographie des Generals Amaury de Farcy de St Laurent. 1825, Digitalisat
Annalen der Braunschweig-Lüneburgischen Churlande. 5. Jahrgang, 1791, S. 586ff., Digitalisat
Acknowledgement
Jörg Meier for the translation of the Wikipedia article and the integration of additional notes
