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TOURVILLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 109 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TOURVILLE , See also:

ANNE-See also:HILARION DE COTENTIN (or See also:Cos-TANTIN), See also:COMTE DE (1642-1701), See also:French See also:admiral and See also:marshal of See also:France, was the son of Cesar de Cotentin, or Costantin, who held offices in the See also:household of the See also:king and of the See also:prince of See also:Conde. He is said to have been See also:born at Tourville in See also:Normandy, but was baptized in See also:Paris on the 24th of See also:November 1642, was commonly known as M. de Tourville, and was destined by his See also:family to enter the See also:Order of See also:Malta. From the See also:age of fourteen to the age of twenty-five, he served with the galleys of the Order. At that See also:time the knights were still fighting the See also:Barbary pirates of See also:Algiers and See also:Tunis. The See also:young Anne-Hilarion is said to have been distinguished for courage. His See also:life during these years, however, is little known. The supposed See also:Memoirs bearing his name were published by the See also:Abbe de Magron in the 18th See also:century and belong to the large class of See also:historical romances which professed to be See also:biographies or autobiographies. In 1667 he was back in France, and was incorporated in the See also:corps of See also:officers of the French Royal See also:navy which See also:Louis XIV. was then raising from the prostration into which it had fallen during his minority. The positions of French See also:naval officer and See also:knight of Malta were not incompatible. Many men held both. The usual practice was that they did not take the full vows till they were in See also:middle life, and had reached the age when they were entitled to hold one of the See also:great offices. Until then they were See also:free to marry, on See also:condition of renouncing all claim to the See also:chief places.

As Anne-Hilarion de Cotentin married a wealthy widow, the marquise de Popeliniere, in 1689 at which time he was made See also:

count of Tourville, he severed his connexion with the Order. Nor does he appear to have served with it at all after his return to France in 1667. He was at first employed in cruising against the Barbary pirates and the See also:Turks. In the expedition sent against See also:Crete in 1668-69 under command of the Duc de Beau-fort he had command of the " Croissant " (44). The Duc de See also:Beaufort was killed, and the expedition was a failure. When the See also:war with See also:Holland in which France and See also:England acted as See also:allies began in 167o, Tourville commanded the " See also:Page " (5o), in the See also:squadron of the comte d'See also:Estrees (1624-1707) sent to co-operate with the See also:duke of See also:York. He was See also:present at the See also:battle of Solebay (See also:June 7, 1672), and in the See also:action on the See also:coast of Holland in the following See also:year, when Prince See also:Rupert commanded the See also:English See also:fleet. When England withdrew from the See also:alliance, the See also:scene of the naval war was transferred to the Mediterranean, where Holland was co-operating with the Spaniards. Tourvillle served under See also:Abraham See also:Duquesne in his battles with De Ruyter. He particularly distinguished himself at the battle of See also:Palermo on the 2nd of June 1676. By this time he was known as one of the best officers in the service of King Louis XIV. Unlike many employed by the king to command his See also:ships in the earlier See also:part of his reign, Tourville was a See also:seaman.

He had the reputation of being able to do all the See also:

work required in a See also:ship, and he had made a study of naval warfare. The great See also:treatise on naval See also:tactics afterwards published under the name of his secretary, the Jesuit See also:Hoste or l'Hoste, was understood to have been inspired by him. In 1683 he was chef d'escadre—See also:rear admiral—with Duquesne in operations against the Barbary pirates, and he continued on that service with D'Estrees. By 1689 he had been promoted See also:lieutenant-See also:general See also:des armees navales, and was named See also:vice-admiral du See also:Levant or of the See also:East. In June of that year he took up the commandership-in-chief of the French naval forces in the war against England and her See also:continental allies which had begun in the previous year. From this time till the failure of his resources compelled King Louis XIV. to withdraw his fleets from the See also:sea, Tourville continued to command the naval war in the Channel and the See also:Atlantic. His conduct and example during this See also:period were the source of the See also:system of manoeuvring to gain an See also:advantage by some method other than See also:plain fighting. The See also:personal See also:character of Tourville must be held to See also:account largely for the timidity of the principles he established. Tourville's personal valour was of the finest quality, but like many other brave men, he was See also:nervous under the See also:weight of responsibility. It is no less clear that anxiety to avoid risking a disaster to his reputation was of more weight with him than the wish to win a See also:signal success. He belonged to the type of men in whose minds the evil which may happen is always more visible than the See also:good. In 1690 he had an opportunity which might well have tempted the most cautious, and he missed it out of sheer care to keep his fleet safe against all conceivable chances, aided perhaps by a pedantic See also:taste for formal, orderly See also:movement.

He was opposed in the channel by the allies, who had only fifty-six ships, while his own force, though it included some vessels of no serious value, was from seventy to eighty See also:

sail strong. He was feebly attacked by Admiral See also:Arthur See also:Herbert, the newly created See also:earl of See also:Torrington, off Beachy See also:Head on the loth of See also:July. The Dutch ships in the See also:van were surrounded. The allies had to See also:retreat in disorder, and Tourville followed in " See also:line of battle " which limited his See also:speed to that of his slowest ship. So his enemy escaped with comparatively little loss. In the following year he performed his famous " off See also:shore cruise," in the See also:Bay of See also:Biscay. He moved to and fro in See also:fine order avoiding being brought to battle, but also failing to inflict any harm on his opponent. In the mean-time the cause of King See also:James II. was ruined in See also:Ireland. In 1692 the Mediterranean fleet having failed to join him, he was faced by a vastly See also:superior force of the allies. The French king had prepared a military force to invade England, and Tourville was expected to prepare the way. Having at least a clear indication that he was expected to See also:act with vigour, if not precise orders to fight against any odds, he made a resolute attack on the centre of the allies on the 29th of May off Cape See also:Barfleur, and See also:drew off before he was surrounded. This action which with the pursuit of the following days made up what is called the battle of La Hogue, from the Bay where some of the fugitive French ships were destroyed, or Barfleur, proved his readiness to See also:face danger.

But his inability to take and act on a painful decision was no less proved in the retreat. He hesitated to See also:

sacrifice his crippled See also:flagship, and thereby detained his whole fleet. The result was that the " Soleil Royale " herself and fifteen other ships were cut off and destroyed at La Hogue. In 1693 he was again at sea with a great fleet, and had a See also:chance to inflict extreme injury on the allies by the See also:capture of the See also:Smyrna See also:convoy which included their whole Mediterranean See also:trade for the year. He did it a great See also:deal of harm outside the Straits of See also:Gibraltar, but again he kept his fleet in battle order, and a large part of the convoy escaped. King Louis XIV. who had a strong personal regard for him, continued to treat him with favour. Tourville was made Marshal of France in 1693, but the growing exhaustion of the French See also:treasury no longer allowed the See also:maintenance of great fleets at sea. Tourville remained generally at See also:Toulon, and had no more fighting. He died in Paris in 1701. His only son, a See also:colonel in the See also:army, was killed at See also:Denain in 1712. The English account of the battles of Beachy Head and La Hogue will be found in See also:Ledyard's Naval See also:History. Troude's Batailles navales de la France gives the French version of these and the other actions in which Tourville was concerned.

Tourville is frequently mentioned in the Life of Duquesne by M. Jai. (D.

End of Article: TOURVILLE

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