Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué
Encyclopedia
Ernst Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué (4 February 1698 – 3 May 1774) was a Prussian
general
and confidant of King Frederick the Great
. Fouqué held the title of Freiherr
(baron).
to an old Norman
family, Fouqué was the second son of a Huguenot
nobleman who had emigrated from France
as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
. Fouqué became a page at the court of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
in 1706. As a cadet in the 3. Infanterie-Regiment of Halle
, Fouqué took part in the Prussian campaign in Vorpommern. He was promoted to Premier-Leutnant on 8 March 1719, to Stabskapitän
in 1723, and company commander on 21 February 1729.
, visiting him while the crown prince restricted to Küstrin
. Fouqué was a common guest of Frederick's at Rheinsberg
. Frederick nicknamed his friend 'Chastity', and Fouqué was allegedly one of the best actors at the Prussian court. Amongst his closest friends, Frederick formed the "Bayard Order" to study warfare. Fouqué was the grand master
of the gatherings, at which archaic French
was used.
service. When Frederick acceded to the throne in 1740, he induced Fouqué's return by promoting him to Oberst
on 26 July, making him commander of the newly created Füsilier-Regiments Nr. 37, and awarding him the Order of the Black Eagle
.
In 1742 during the First Silesian War, Fouqué led a grenadier battalion and was named Governor of Glatz. The Calvinist
dealt ruthlessly with Austrian irregulars
in the Catholic
County of Glatz, hanging many of them. Promoted to Generalmajor on 13 May 1743, he was named commander of the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 33 a year later. He guarded Friedrich von der Trenck
at the prison of Glatz until the adventurer escaped in 1746. Frederick the Great promoted Fouqué to Generalleutnant on 22 January 1751.
In 1757 during the Seven Years' War
, Fouqué hanged the Catholic priest Andreas Faulhaber for allegedly inciting Glatz's garrison to desert. Frederick entrusted Fouqué with 13,000 troops in order to guard Silesia
against enemy attacks. In June 1760, the outnumbered Fouqué was forced to withdraw from combat by an Austrian force three times as large led by Ernst Gideon von Laudon. When Frederick ordered the general to advance again, 8,000 troops under Fouqué were defeated in the resulting Battle of Landeshut on July 23. Wounded thrice by sabres, Fouqué would have died if not for his hostler, Trautschke, who alerted the Austrian dragoons they were attacking a commanding officer. When the dragoon leader Colonel Voit protected Fouqué and offered him his horse, Fouqué replied, "I might soil the fine saddle with my blood," to which Voit responded, "My saddle can only gain from being stained by the blood of a hero." When Frederick heard about Fouqué's capture and behavior, he stated, "Fouqué behaved like a Roman
."
and the general in Brandenburg frequently corresponded with each other through gifts of food and drink. After Fouqué died in Brandenburg, his biography was written by his grandson, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
.
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
and confidant of King Frederick the Great
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
. Fouqué held the title of Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
(baron).
Early life
Born in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
to an old Norman
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
family, Fouqué was the second son of a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
nobleman who had emigrated from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
. Fouqué became a page at the court of Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau. He was also a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian army...
in 1706. As a cadet in the 3. Infanterie-Regiment of Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
, Fouqué took part in the Prussian campaign in Vorpommern. He was promoted to Premier-Leutnant on 8 March 1719, to Stabskapitän
Stabskapitän
Stabskapitän is a historic military rank, used in the Prussian and Russian armies. It ranked between the Premierleutnant and Hauptmann/Rittmeister in the Prussian army, and between lieutenant and captain in the Russian army...
in 1723, and company commander on 21 February 1729.
Friendship with Frederick the Great
Fouqué befriended Crown Prince Frederick of PrussiaFrederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
, visiting him while the crown prince restricted to Küstrin
Küstrin
Before 1945 Küstrin was a town in the former Prussian province of Brandenburg in Germany, situated on both sides of the Oder river...
. Fouqué was a common guest of Frederick's at Rheinsberg
Rheinsberg
Rheinsberg is a town and a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Rhin, approx. 20 km north-east of Neuruppin and 75 km north-west of Berlin.-History:...
. Frederick nicknamed his friend 'Chastity', and Fouqué was allegedly one of the best actors at the Prussian court. Amongst his closest friends, Frederick formed the "Bayard Order" to study warfare. Fouqué was the grand master
Grand Master (order)
Grand Master is the typical title of the supreme head of various orders of knighthood, including various military orders, religious orders and civil orders such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Orange Order...
of the gatherings, at which archaic French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
was used.
Prussian military career
After a dispute with Leopold over his lack of promotion, Fouqué left Prussia to enter DanishDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
service. When Frederick acceded to the throne in 1740, he induced Fouqué's return by promoting him to Oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
on 26 July, making him commander of the newly created Füsilier-Regiments Nr. 37, and awarding him the Order of the Black Eagle
Order of the Black Eagle
The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg . In his Dutch exile after WWI, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family...
.
In 1742 during the First Silesian War, Fouqué led a grenadier battalion and was named Governor of Glatz. The Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
dealt ruthlessly with Austrian irregulars
Irregular military
Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is significant variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
in the Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
County of Glatz, hanging many of them. Promoted to Generalmajor on 13 May 1743, he was named commander of the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 33 a year later. He guarded Friedrich von der Trenck
Friedrich von der Trenck
Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck was a Prussian officer, adventurer, and author.- Life :Von der Trenck was born in Haldensleben, which is north of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Prussia on 16 February 1727. His parents were Major-General Baron Christopher Ehrenreich von der Trenck and Marie Charlotte...
at the prison of Glatz until the adventurer escaped in 1746. Frederick the Great promoted Fouqué to Generalleutnant on 22 January 1751.
In 1757 during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
, Fouqué hanged the Catholic priest Andreas Faulhaber for allegedly inciting Glatz's garrison to desert. Frederick entrusted Fouqué with 13,000 troops in order to guard Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
against enemy attacks. In June 1760, the outnumbered Fouqué was forced to withdraw from combat by an Austrian force three times as large led by Ernst Gideon von Laudon. When Frederick ordered the general to advance again, 8,000 troops under Fouqué were defeated in the resulting Battle of Landeshut on July 23. Wounded thrice by sabres, Fouqué would have died if not for his hostler, Trautschke, who alerted the Austrian dragoons they were attacking a commanding officer. When the dragoon leader Colonel Voit protected Fouqué and offered him his horse, Fouqué replied, "I might soil the fine saddle with my blood," to which Voit responded, "My saddle can only gain from being stained by the blood of a hero." When Frederick heard about Fouqué's capture and behavior, he stated, "Fouqué behaved like a Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
."
Retirement
Fouqué was released from Austrian captivity in 1763 when the war ended. Needing to use a wheelchair and believing himself dishonored by the defeat at Landeshut, Fouqué refused Frederick's offer to return to Glatz and instead retired to Brandenburg an der Havel. The king in PotsdamPotsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
and the general in Brandenburg frequently corresponded with each other through gifts of food and drink. After Fouqué died in Brandenburg, his biography was written by his grandson, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué was a German writer of the romantic style.-Biography:He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in his family name...
.
Further reading
- Joachim Engelmann and Günter Dorn: Friedrich der Große und seine Generale, FriedbergFriedberg- Places :* Friedberg, Bavaria, Germany* Friedberg, Hesse, Germany** University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg* Aichach-Friedberg, Bavaria, Germany* Friedberg, Bad Saulgau, a district of Bad Saulgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany* Friedberg, Styria, Austria...
1988. - Großer Generalstab - Kriegsgeschichtliche Abteilung II (Hrsg.): Die Kriege Friedrichs des Großen - Dritter Teil: Der Siebenjährige Krieg 1756-1763 - Zwölfter Band: Landshut und Liegnitz, BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
1913, S. 277-278.