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: