Saturday, 28 October 2023

Standard of French Cavalry Regiment Lénoncourt 1748-1758 (then possibly Toustain to 1761)

There is some dispute about the origins of this regiment. The État Générale of 1753 says it was created for Louis XIV in August 1666 but Susane Histoire de la Cavalerie and Pajol Guerres Sous Louis XV gives 6th January 1652. The regiment was Heudicourt 1735-1747, then Lénoncourt 1748-1758 and Toustain from 1758.   2 squadrons strong in 1756 and ranked 47th.

These standards were probably carried at least from 1735-1758. The arms of Heudicourt were still carried when the regiment became Lénoncourt as the two families were closely related by marriage.

The motto is from Horace: "Si fractus illabatur orbis, / impavidum ferient ruinae"—"Should the whole frame of Nature round him break, / In ruin and confusion hurled, / He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack, / And stand secure amidst a falling world." (Odes 3.3.7–8, translated by Joseph Addison.)(from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_justitia_ruat_caelum ) The État of 1753 gives the misspelling ILLABITUR which I have kept as it may represent an error also on the standard.

 



Service:

1719 Spain1727 On the Meuse
1733 and 1735 On the Rhine
1736 At Sarrelouis
1742-1748 In Flanders

Seven Years War:

1757: With the French army in Germany
1758: On the Rhine with the army of the Comte de Clermont; battle of Krefeld June 23rd. Became Toustain. The army now commanded by Contades on the Rhine
1759: With Broglie's army; battle of Bergen April 13th; battle of Minden August 1st

The regiment was incorporated into Royal-Lorraine Cavalry (formerly Des Salles Cavalry) in 1761.

And this was the uniform in 1756:



12 comments:

  1. I really like those flags! Nice work, David.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Roger. :-) Yes, I think the French cavalry standards do generally offer good value for effort!

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Thank you, Jon. :-) The heraldic motifs are usually pretty pleasing...

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thank you, Steve. :-) I've said it before but I'll say it again; I'm surpised how well the French cavalry standards have worked out and that they look good even at fairly small sizes!

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful standard and uniform, thanks for sharing.

    Willz.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Willz. :-) Hope to see it sometime with your splendid armies!

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. Thank you, Ray. :-) It's good to see a French standard that's not red or blue! That's not to say the red and blue ones don't look pretty good, too, though... ;-)

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete
  6. Green in that combination is looking so great that it is very hard to resist to not paint the unit to just have the standard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, André. I hope you do create this regiment. :-)

      All the best,

      David.

      Delete

Saturday 6th June 2020 I've decided to allow comments from Anonymous Users but I'll still be moderating posts, as I'm sure the spam will probably flood in now! We'll see...