Monday 15 July 2024

Flags of the Palatinate in the War of the Spanish Succession: Leibstandarte Venningen Gendarmes and speculative dragoon guidons

The Palatinate Venningen Gendarmes und Karabiniers were first raised in 1695. From 1704 they were in Imperial pay.

The Triomphes Louis XIV records two cavalry standards of this regiment captured in an action at Speyer (or Speyerbach) on the 15th November 1703. This is the Leibstandarte. The two dragoon guidons are speculative but based on written descriptions.



Effectives November 1704: 424 men in 9 companies and 372 horses.

Actions:

1702: Siege of Landau
1703: June to July covering the Stollhofen Lines
1703: 15th November skirmish at Speyerbach [where they lost the two standards recorded in the Triomphes Louis XIV of which the Leibstandarte depicted here was one]
1704: Capture of Altenstadt; Landau siege September to November
1708: Battle of Oudenarde; Raid on La Bassée; siege of Lille
1709: Battle of Malplaquet; siege of Tournay; siege of Mons
1710: Siege of Douai; siege of Bethune
1711: Bouchain raid

And this was probably the uniform in 1707: