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Eighteenth-century biography of a famous seventeenth-century commander

RAMSAY, Andrew Michael de
Histoire du Vicomte de Turenne, maréchal général des armées du Roy.

Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials.

Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials.

Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials.

Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials.

Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials.



Paris, The widow Mazieres & J.B. Garnier, 1735. 5 parts in 2 vols. 4to. Contemporary full mottled calf, spines gilt in compartments with red and green title labels, lettered in gold, marbled edges. Titles and half-titles printed in red and black, full-page portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, by N. de Larmessin after Meissonier, 13 folding engraved plans (ca. 26 x 39 cm) of battles sieges and camps by Coquart, 8 large beautiful head- and end-pieces by J.B. Scotin, 2 engraved initials. Vol. 1: (12), 494 pp.; vol. 2: (4), 495-597, (1), 596-600, (601), (2), CL, LXXXVIII, CCIX pp.

First edition of the well-known biography of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, often called simply Turenne (1611-1675) by Andrew Michael Ramsay.
Turenne was the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family. He achieved military fame and became a Marshal of France. He was one of six marshals who have been made Marshal General of France. He was the second son of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon, sovereign prince of Sedan , by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. Turenne received a Huguenot education and the usual training of a young noble of the time, but physical infirmity, and particularly an impediment of speech (which he never lost), hampered his progress. At the age of fourteen he went to learn war in the camp of his uncle, Maurice of Nassau the Stadtholder of Holland and Prince of Orange, and began his military career (as a private soldier in that prince's bodyguard) during the last stage of the Dutch Revolt.
Frederick Henry of Nassau, who succeeded his brother Maurice as Stadtholder and Prince of Orange in 1625, gave Turenne a captaincy in 1626. The young officer took his part in the siege warfare of the period, and won special commendation from his uncle (one of the foremost commanders of the time) for his skill and courage. In 1630 Turenne left the Netherlands and entered the service of France, motivated not only by the prospect of military advancement but also by his mother's desire to show the loyalty of the Bouillon dominions to the French crown. Cardinal Richelieu at once made him colonel of an infantry regiment. He still continued to serve at short intervals with the prince of Orange, who at the time had an alliance with France.
He gained the rank of Marshal of France (1643) and soon departed to the Alsace to re-organize the 'Army of Weimar' (the remnant of the late Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's troops) which had just suffered a severe defeat at Tuttlingen (November 24/25, 1643). At this time, having reached thirty-two years of age, Turenne had served under four famous commanders. The methodical prince of Orange, the fiery Bernhard, the soldierly Cardinal de la Valette and the stubborn and astute Harcourt had each contributed much to the completeness of Turenne's training, and he took the field in 1644 prepared by genius and education for the responsibilities of high command.
In Louis XIV's Dutch War of 1672 Turenne accompanied the army commanded by the king which overran the Dutch United Provinces up to the gates of Amsterdam. The terms offered by Louis to the Prince of Orange only aroused a more bitter resistance. The Dutch opened the dikes and flooded the country round Amsterdam. This measure completely checked Turenne, whom the king had left in command. News of this event roused Europe to action, and the conflict spread to Germany. Turenne fought a successful war of manoeuvre on the middle Rhine while Condé covered Alsace. In January 1673 Turenne assumed the offensive, penetrated far into Germany, and forced the Great Elector of Brandenburg to make peace; later in the year, however, the famous imperial general Montecucculi  completely out-manoeuvred Turenne: Montecucculi evaded his opponent, joined the Dutch and took the important town of Bonn. In June 1674, however, Turenne won the battle of Sinzheim, which made him master of the Palatinate.
Napoleon recommended all soldiers to "read and re-read" the campaigns of Turenne as one of the great captains. His fame as a general rivalled that of any other in Europe at a period when the populace studied war more critically than ever before, for his military character epitomized the art of war of his time. Strategic caution and logistic accuracy, combined with brilliant dash in small combats and constancy under all circumstances - of success or failure - perhaps emerge as the salient points of Turenne's genius for war. Great battles he avoided. "Few sieges and many combats" he used as his own maxim.

Andrew Michael Ramsay (1686-1743), known in France as the Chevalier de Ramsay, was a Scottish-born writer who lived most of his adult life in France. In his youth he served with the English auxiliaries in the Netherlands, and in 1710 visited Francois Fenelon, who converted him to Roman Catholicism. He remained in France until 1724 writing politico-theological treatises. In January 1724, Ramsay was sent to Rome as tutor to James' two sons, Charles Edward and Henry.
Ramsay returned to France in 1730 and, following the death of the Duc de Sully, passed into the service of the Comte d'Evreux, a prominent member of the family of la Tour d'Auvergne and Bouillon which had ties of marriage with the Jacobite Court, and bonds of loyal friendship to the circle around Fénelon.
Ramsay's task in the Evreux household was to tutor the Count's grand nephew, the Prince of Turenne, Godefroi Charles, son of Charles Godefroi, Duc de Bouillon, the head of the house. It was for the Prince's education that Ramsay wrote this Histoire du Vicomte de Turenne, maréchal général des armées du roy (1735), using as documentary evidence the handwritten Mémoires du Duc d'York (James II). The original manuscripts were lost in the French Revolution.

The work is dedicated to the Prince of Turenne, and contains in vol. 2: the 'Preuves de l'histoire du vicomte de Turenne' in 3 parts: (1) 'Contenant les memoirs du vicomte ecrits de sa propre main': the autobiography of Turenne (pp. I-CLXXXVII) together with the 'Relation de la campagne de Fribourg'by Goyon de Matignon,François marquis de la Moussage (pp. CLXXXVIII-CCIX); (2)  'Contenant plusieurs lettre, brevets, instructions politiques, & autres pieces' (pp. I--LXXXVIII); and (3) 'Contenant les memoires du duc d'York (= King James II (1633-1701), depuis Jacques II. Roi de la Grande-Bretagne' (pp. CL). Further editions: 1736 (Paris, ed. in 8vo & The Hague), 1749, 1771-73, 1774. An translation into English appeared in 1755.

List op plates:
- Portrait of Turenne.
- Les trois combats de Fribourg (3, 5 and 9 August 1644; erroneously bound in vol. 2))
- Combat de Mariendal (5.5.1645).
- Bataille de Norlinghen (3.8.1645).
- Bataille près de Rhetel (19.12.1650).
- Bataille de St. Antoine (5.7.1652).
- Siege d'Arras (25.8.1654).
- Siege de Valenciennes (16.7.1656)
- Bataille des Dunes près Dunkerque (14.6.1658).
- Les Marches du vicomte de Turenne dans Hollande ... Brabant ... Westphalie ...

Vol. 2:
- Bataille de Sintzheim (16.6.1674).
- Bataille d'Ensheim (4.10.1674).
- Combat de Turcheim en Alsace (15.1.1674).
- Les differens camps dans l'Ortnaw (Offenberg).

Very good copy.- (Spines a bit rubbed, the plate of the 'Trois combats de Fribourg (1644) misbound in the second vol.).

Related Subjects: 17th Century  18th Century  Biography  France  History  Militaria 

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