Flags of French Infantry Regiment Lyonnais 1635-1791

First raised 1616. Two battalions strong and ranked 15th in 1756. These flags were carried from at least 1635 to 1791. As usual, a simple pattern reflects the unit's antiquity. The fancy flags tend to go with the Johnny Come Lately regiments!

The regiment had a long and pretty distinguished history. Full details can most easily be found in the Kronoskaf entry on the regiment (or, if you wish to practice your French, in Volume 4 of Susane's Histoire de l'Ancienne Infanterie Française which can be found here: https://archive.org/download/bub_gb_L1zWAAAAMAAJ/bub_gb_L1zWAAAAMAAJ.pdf. ). Here I shall concentrate on the Seven Years War history - which was not perhaps the most distinguished episode in the long regimental history but the French army in general was going through a bad patch in that period.

My translation of the Susane extract on the regiment in the SYW Volume 4:

The regiment left Valenciennes in the spring of 1756 to go to Rouen. Several months later it was intended to be part of the 24,000 men which the king intended to send to the aid of the Empress Maria Theresa. This plan was abandoned and Lyonnais spent the winter at Strasbourg. In 1757 it was part of the Army of Germany and found itself at the battle of Hastenbeck, at the capture of Hameln, of Minden and of Hanover. After the violation of the Convention of Closterseven it left the camp of Halberstadt to march to Zell and it fought on the 25th December to force a passage over the river Aller. Placed in garrison at Minden, it was attacked before breaking winter quarters and forced to surrender on the 14th March 1758 with its lieutenant colonel M. de Bruslard. M. de Villeroy, its colonel, spent the winter at court.

Exchanged soon after, the regiment left Germany and went to serve on the coasts during the following campaigns. It contributed in 1761 to the defence of Belle-Isle-En-Mer against the British; captains Tarnaud and Durbois were badly wounded there.

Recalled the same year to the Rhine, Lyonnais found itself on the 16th July at the battle of Vellingshausen. It was part of the reserve of the Prince de Condé which protected the retreat of the Marshal de Broglie. On the 23rd July 1762 it was at the combat on the Fulda; Captain Lestrade and a lieutenant were wounded there. On the 9th August the regiment took revenge at Ellemberg for its previous failures and totally routed a Hanoverian Corps which was entrenched on a peninsula of the Fulda.

Following on from the reforms of 10th December 1762 the regiment of Nice, first raised 1678, was incorporated into Lyonnais, which was therefore increased to four battalions. It was then in garrison at Alais and Saint Hippolyte. It moved from there in
May 1763 to Thionville, then Dunkirk in August 1765.

And this was probably the uniform in 1756: