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CREQUY

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 411 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CREQUY , a See also:

French See also:family which originated in See also:Picardy, and took its name from a small lordship in the See also:present Pas-de-See also:Calais. Its See also:genealogy goes back to the loth See also:century, and from it originated the See also:noble houses of Blecourt, Canaples, Heilly and Royon. See also:Henri de Crequy was killed at the See also:siege of See also:Damietta in 1240; Jacques de Crequy, See also:marshal of See also:Guienne, was killed at See also:Agincourt with his See also:brothers See also:jean and Raoul; Jean de Crequy, See also:lord of Canaples, was in the Burgundian service, and took See also:part in the See also:defence of See also:Paris against See also:Joan of Arc in 1429, received the See also:order of the See also:Golden Fleece in 1431, and was See also:ambassador to See also:Aragon and See also:France; See also:Antoine de Crequy was one of the boldest captains of See also:Francis I., and died in consequence of an See also:accident at the siege of Hesdin in 1523. Jean VIII., sire de Crequy, See also:prince de Poix, seigneur de Canaples (d. 1555), See also:left three sons, the eldest of whom, Antoine de Crequy (1535–1574), inherited the family estates on the See also:death of his brothers at St Quentin in 1557. He was raised to the cardinalate, and his See also:nephew, and See also:heir, Antoine de See also:Blanche-fort, assumed the name and arms of Crequy. See also:Charles I. de Blanchefort, See also:marquis de Crequy, prince de Poix, duc de See also:Lesdiguieres (1578–1638), marshal of France, son of the last-named, saw his first fighting before See also:Laon in 1594, and was wounded at the See also:capture of See also:Saint Jean d'Angely in 1621. In the next See also:year he became a marshal of France. He served through the Piedmontese See also:campaign in aid of See also:Savoy in 1624 as second in command to the See also:constable, See also:Francois de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguieres, whose daughter Madeleine he had married in 1595• He inherited in 1626 the estates and See also:title of his See also:father-in-See also:law, who had induced him, after the death of his first wife, to marry her See also:half-See also:sister Francoise. He was also See also:lieutenant-See also:general of See also:Dauphine. In. 1633 he was ambassador to See also:Rome, and in 1636 to See also:Venice.

He fought in the See also:

Italian See also:campaigns of 163o, 1635, 1636 and 1637, when he helped to defeat the Spaniards at See also:Monte Baldo. He was killed on the 17th of See also:March 1638 in an See also:attempt to raise the siege of See also:Crema, a fortress in the Milanese. He had a See also:quarrel extending over years with See also:Philip, the See also:bastard of Savoy, which ended in a See also:duel fatal to Philip in 1599; and in 162o he defended Saint-Aignan, who was his prisoner of See also:war, against a See also:prosecution threatened by See also:Louis XIII. Some of his letters are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and his See also:life was written by N. Chorier (See also:Grenoble, 1683). His eldest son, Francois, See also:comte de Sault, duc de Lesdiguieres (1600–1677), See also:governor and lieutenant-general of Dauphine, took the name and arms of Bonne. The younger, Charles II. de Crequy, seigneur de Canaples, was killed at the siege of See also:Chambery in 163o, leaving three sons—Charles III., sieur de Blanchefort, prince de Poix, duc de Crequy (1623?–1687); See also:Alphonse de Crequy, comte de Canaples (d. 1711), who became on the extinction of the See also:elder See also:branch of the family in 1702 duc de Lesdiguieres, and eventually succeeded also to his younger See also:brother's honours; and Francois, See also:chevalier de Crequy and marquis de See also:Marines, marshal of France (1625–1687). The last-named was See also:born in 1625, and as a boy took part in the See also:Thirty Years' War, distinguishing himself so greatly that at the See also:age of twenty-six he was made a marechal de See also:camp, and a lieutenant-general before he was thirty. He was regarded as the most brilliant of the younger See also:officers, and won the favour of Louis XIV. by his fidelity to the See also:court during the second See also:Fronde. In 1667 he served on the See also:Rhine, and in 1668 he commanded the covering See also:army during Louis XIV.'s siege of See also:Lille, after the surrender of which the See also:king rewarded him with the marshalate. In 1670 he overran the duchy of See also:Lorraine.

Shortly after this See also:

Turenne, his old See also:commander, was made marshal-general, and all the marshals were placed under his orders. Many resented this, and Crequy, in particular, whose career of uninterrupted success had made him over-confident, went into See also:exile rather than serve under Turenne. After the death of Turenne and the retirement of See also:Conde, he became the most important general officer in the army, but his over-confidence was punished by the severe defeat of Conzer Bruck (1675) and the surrender of See also:Trier and his own captivity which followed. But in the later campaigns of this war (see DUTCH See also:WARS) he showed himself again a cool, daring and successful commander, and, carrying on the tradition of Turenne and Conde, he was in his turn the See also:pattern of the younger generals of the See also:stamp of Luxembourg and See also:Villars. He died in Paris on the 3rd of See also:February 1687. Alphonse de Crequy had not the See also:talent of his brothers, and lost his various appointments in France. He went to See also:London in 1672, where he became closely allied with Saint Evremond, and was one of the intimates of King Charles II. Charles III. de Crequy served in the campaigns of 1642 and 1645 in the Thirty Years' War, and in See also:Catalonia in 1649. In 1646, after the siege of Orbitello, he was made lieutenant-general by Louis. By faithful service during the king's minority he had won the gratitude of See also:Anne of See also:Austria and of See also:Mazarin, and in 1652 he became duc de Crequy and a peer of France. The latter half of his life was spent at court, where he held the See also:office of first See also:gentle-See also:man of the royal chamber, which had been bought for him by his grandfather. In 1659 he was sent to See also:Spain with gifts for the infanta Maria See also:Theresa, and on a similar errand to See also:Bavaria in 168o before the See also:marriage of the dauphin.

He was ambassador to Rome from 1662 to 1665, and to See also:

England in 1677; and became governor of Paris in 1675. He died in Paris on the 13th of February 1687. His only daughter, Madeleine, married Charles de la Tremoille (1655-1709). The marshal Francois de Crequy had two sons, whose brilliant military abilities bade See also:fair to See also:rival his own. The elder, Francois See also:Joseph, marquis de Crequy (1662-1702), already held the grade of lieutenant-general when he was killed at Luzzara on the 13th of See also:August 1702; and See also:Nicolas Charles, sire de Crequy, was killed before See also:Tournai in 1696 at the age of twenty-seven. A younger branch of the Crequy family, that of Hemont, was represented by Louis See also:Marie, marquis de Crequy (1705-1741), author of the Principes philosophiques See also:des See also:saints solitaires d'Egypte (1779), and See also:husband of the marquise separately noticed below, and became See also:extinct with the death in 18o1 of his son, Charles Marie, who had some military reputation. For a detailed genealogy of the family and its alliances see Moreri, Dictionnaire historique; Annuaire de la noblesse francaise (1856 and 1867). There is much See also:information about the Crequys in the Memoires of Saint-See also:Simon.

End of Article: CREQUY

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