First raised 1644 and re-raised 1659 after being twice disbanded during the Fronde Civil War. This was a two battalion regiment. The regiment was at Rossbach, Halberstadt, Quedlinburg and Krefeld as well as Minden. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry as the senior regiment of the Condé Brigade, which also included the 2 battalion Enghien Regiment (already depicted below). On the extreme left of the French position at Minden it was badly mauled by the attacks of the Hanoverian troops and afterwards was sent to garrison Cassel.
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The same pattern of colours as shown here was carried from at least 1659 to 1791.
And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757 - but with mysteriously different flags from all other sources:
The flag on the plate displays the colors of the Condé livery, ventre-de-biche and écarlate: probably 'reconstructed' by the illustrator on the basis that a Prince's regiment would be in the family's colors?
ReplyDeleteHi Jean-Louis,
ReplyDeleteThanks for that useful comment. Yes, that would certainly make sense - all other sources that I know (e.g. the contemporary 1753 État Général) give blue and ventre de biche as shown in my plate.
Cheers,
David.
Absolutely great as usual!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bill. :-)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing some of My French flags carried by your troops at some point...
All the best,
David.
'Ventre de biche' on reconstructions of uniformes of the Volontaires Etrangers de Clermont-Prince / Légion de Condé (and in old images of the liveries of Condé and -derivated- Conti families) is more 'yellow' than on your flag?
ReplyDelete'Ventre de biche' just like 'Chamois' refers to the cured skin of the animal; Peau de chamois used for high quality polishing of cars and waxed furniture is really yellow. 'Ventre de biche' seems slightly more orange?
Hi Jean-Louis,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I did look into this, of course, and I suspect there's quite a range of colours which make up "ventre de biche" in practice. As you know, trying to define 18th century colours is pretty nightmarish!
Cheers,
David.