James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (21 August 1670 – 12 June 1734) was a French military leader, illegitimate son of King
James II of EnglandJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
by
Arabella ChurchillArabella Churchill was the mistress of King James II, and the mother of four of his children...
, sister of the
1st Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough was a prominent English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
. In 1695 he married Honora Burke, the daughter of William Bourke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde and the widow of the
1st Earl of LucanPatrick Sarsfield , created the first Earl of Lucan, Irish Jacobite and soldier, belonged to an Anglo-Norman family long settled in Ireland.-Background:...
, who died in 1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, daughter of
Henry BulkeleyHon. Henry Bulkeley was Master of the Household of Kings Charles II and James II of England, Member of Parliament from February 1679 to August 1679 for the constituency of Anglesey and from 1679 until 1689 for Beaumaris....
, took place in 1700.
FitzJames was born at
MoulinsMoulins is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department.-History:Before the French Revolution, Moulins was the capital of the province of Bourbonnais and the seat of the Dukes of Bourbon. Its documented existence may be traced back at least as far as the year 990. In 1232,...
in France before his father's accession to the throne, and was brought up a Roman Catholic and educated in the
College of JuillyThe College of Juilly The College of Juilly The College of Juilly (French: Collège de Juilly is a Catholic private teaching establishment located on the commune of Juilly, in Seine-et-Marne (France)...
, the Collège du Plessis, and the Jesuit College of La Flèche.
James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (21 August 1670 – 12 June 1734) was a French military leader, illegitimate son of King
James II of EnglandJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
by
Arabella ChurchillArabella Churchill was the mistress of King James II, and the mother of four of his children...
, sister of the
1st Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough was a prominent English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
. In 1695 he married Honora Burke, the daughter of William Bourke, 7th Earl of Clanricarde and the widow of the
1st Earl of LucanPatrick Sarsfield , created the first Earl of Lucan, Irish Jacobite and soldier, belonged to an Anglo-Norman family long settled in Ireland.-Background:...
, who died in 1698. His second marriage, with Anne Bulkeley, daughter of
Henry BulkeleyHon. Henry Bulkeley was Master of the Household of Kings Charles II and James II of England, Member of Parliament from February 1679 to August 1679 for the constituency of Anglesey and from 1679 until 1689 for Beaumaris....
, took place in 1700.
History
FitzJames was born at
MoulinsMoulins is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department.-History:Before the French Revolution, Moulins was the capital of the province of Bourbonnais and the seat of the Dukes of Bourbon. Its documented existence may be traced back at least as far as the year 990. In 1232,...
in France before his father's accession to the throne, and was brought up a Roman Catholic and educated in the
College of JuillyThe College of Juilly The College of Juilly The College of Juilly (French: Collège de Juilly is a Catholic private teaching establishment located on the commune of Juilly, in Seine-et-Marne (France)...
, the Collège du Plessis, and the Jesuit College of La Flèche. He went into the service of
Charles, Duke of LorraineCharles Léopold Nicolas Sixte , son of Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine and Claude of Lorraine. He was the titular Duke of Lorraine from 1675 to 1690, a time when Lorraine was occupied by France...
and was present at the siege of
BudaBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian. Roman name for Buda was Aquincum Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's complete territory and...
. FitzJames was created
Duke of Berwick,
Earl of Tinmouth and
Baron Bosworth by his father in 1687. He then returned to Hungary and participated at the
Battle of MohácsThe Second Battle of Mohács, also known as the Battle of 'Berg Harsány', was fought between the forces of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, commanded by the Grand-Vizier Sari Süleyman Paşa, and the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, commanded by Charles of Lorraine...
.
Berwick returned to England and was made Governor of
PortsmouthPortsmouth is a city located in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is the United Kingdom's only island city and is located on Portsea Island. The City of Portsmouth and Portsmouth Football Club are both nicknamed Pompey...
. King James made him a
Knight of the GarterThe Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the honours system in the United Kingdom...
, but due to the invasion of the
Prince of OrangeWilliam III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland...
and the subsequent
Glorious RevolutionThe Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians with an invading army led by the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau who, as a result, ascended the English throne as William III of England...
, the installation never took place. In the following year, James was overthrown and Berwick went into exile with him, taking an active part in the
Irish campaignThe Williamite War in Ireland, also known as the Jacobite War in Ireland and in Ireland as Cogadh an Dá Rí or The War of the Two Kings, was the opening conflict following the deposition of King James II in 1688 when he attempted to regain the throne of his Three Kingdoms from his daughter Mary II...
, including the
Battle of the BoyneThe Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thrones - the Catholic King James and the Protestant King William, who had deposed James in 1688...
. After his father's final exile, Berwick served in the French army. He fought at the battles of
SteenkerqueThe Battle of Steenkerque was fought on August 3 1692, as a part of the Nine Years' War. It resulted in the victory of the French under Marshal François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg against a joint British-Dutch-German army under Prince William of Orange...
and
LandenThe Battle of Landen , in the current Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, was a battle in the Nine Years' War, fought in the Netherlands on 29 July 1693 between the French army of Marshal Luxembourg and the Allied army of King William III of England...
. At the latter, Berwick was taken prisoner, but was exchanged for the
Duke of OrmondeJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG, KT , was an Irish statesman and soldier, son of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory and his wife Emilia von Nassau, Countess of Ossory, and grandson of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, was born in Dublin and was educated in France and afterwards at Christ Church,...
. Because of his support for his father and service in the French army against England, he was attainted in 1695, and his British peerages forfeit.
As a soldier, Berwick was highly esteemed for his courage, abilities and integrity. As a result of distinguished service in the
War of the Spanish SuccessionThe War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, principally the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and the Duchy of Savoy, against the Kingdoms of France and Spain and the Electorate of Bavaria, over a possible unification of the Kingdoms of...
, he became a French subject and was appointed a
Marshal of FranceThe Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
after his successful expedition against
NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
in 1706. On 25 April 1707, Berwick won the great and decisive victory of Almanza, where an Englishman at the head of a Franco-Spanish army defeated Ruvigny, a Frenchman at the head of an Anglo-Portuguese-Dutch army. After Almanza, Berwick was created
Duc de Fitz-James in the
Peerage of FranceThe Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
by
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
, and
Duque de Liria y Xérica and Lieutenant of Aragon by
Philip V of SpainPhilip V of Spain , fils de France and duc d'Anjou, was king of Spain from 1700 to 14 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son, Louis I of Spain, and from 31 August 1724 to 1746, assuming the throne again upon his son's death. Philip was the first Bourbon king of Spain...
. The last great event of the War of the Spanish Succession was the storming of
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
by Berwick, after
a long siegeThe Siege of Barcelona was a battle at the end of the War of Spanish Succession , which pitted Archduke Charles of Austria The Siege of Barcelona was a battle at the end of the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), which pitted Archduke Charles of Austria The Siege of Barcelona was a battle at the...
, on 11 September 1714.
Not long thereafter, Berwick was appointed military governor of the province of Guienne, where he became friendly with
MontesquieuCharles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Era of the Enlightenment...
. In 1718 he found himself under the necessity of once more entering Spain with an army; and this time he had to fight against Philip V (
War of the Quadruple AllianceThe War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Isabella Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria, and...
). Many years of peace followed this campaign, and Berwick was not again called to serve in the field until 1733. In that year he was chosen to lead the Army of the Rhine in the
War of the Polish SuccessionThe War of the Polish Succession was a major European war sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that widened as France and Spain, the two Bourbon powers, attempted to check the power of the Austrian Habsburgs in western Europe...
, successfully besieging
KehlThe Siege of Kehl was the first episode in the War of the Polish Succession, at the fortress town of Kehl.- Context :...
in 1733, but was killed by a cannon ball at the siege of
PhilippsburgPhilippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim"....
, 12 June 1734.
Berwick had children by both his marriages. His descendants were the French Ducs de Fitz-James and the Spanish Duques de Liria and later the
Dukes of Alba.
Marriages and children
thumb
James was married twice, first to Lady Honora de Burgh, Countess de Lucan on 26 March 1695. They had one child together.
- James Francis Fitz-James Stuart
James Francis Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick, was a Jacobite and Spanish nobleman...
, or Jacobo Francisco Fitz-James Stuart, 2nd Duke of Berwick, 2nd Duque de Liria, 2nd Duque de Xérica, (21 October 1696 - 2 June 1738, Naples, Italy). He married Catalina Ventura Colón de Portugal, Duquesa de VeraguaThe Dukedom of Veragua was a Spanish hereditary domain created in 1537 in the reign of King Charles I in a small section of the territory of Veragua . The territory of Veragua was created in 1502 and extended along the Caribbean coast of present-day Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and Panama as far as...
, and Duquesa de la Vega, a descendant of Admiral Cristóbal ColónCristobal Colon may refer to:*Cristobal Colon, Spanish version of the name of the explorer Christopher Columbus*Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon , a Spanish unprotected cruiser that foundered off Cuba in 1895....
.
He was appointed a Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1714.
In 18 April 1700 he was remarried, this time to Anne Bulkeley, with whom he had ten children.
- Henry James Fitzjames, described in France as Jacques de Fitjames, 1st Duke of Fitzjames
- Henriette de Fitzjames
- François Fitz-James, 3rd Duke of Fitzjames, Bishop of Soissons
- Henry Fitzjames, governor of Limousin
Limousin is a former province of France around the city of Limoges in central France. The province of Limousin lies in the foothills of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
- Charles de Fitzjames, 4th Duke of Fitzjames
- Laure Anne de Fitzjames
- Marie Emilie de Fitzjames
- Edouard de Fitzjames
- Anne Sophie de Fitzjames
- Anne de Fitzjames
Ancestry