Christian of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1752–1817)

Christian Graf[a] von Forbach, then Christian Marquis de Deux-Ponts[1] and later Christian Freiherr[b] von Zweibrücken[2] (20 November 1752 – 25 October 1817) was an officer of the French Army and later a general of the Royal Prussian and then of the Bavarian Army, at last in the rank of General der Infanterie.[3] He should not be confused with his nephew Christian Freiherr von Zweibrücken (aka Christian Graf von Forbach, 1782–1859), who was a Bavarian General of Cavalry (General der Kavallerie).[4]

Early life and ancestry

Christian von Zweibrücken was the first of six children of Christian IV Herzog von Pfalz-Zweibrücken and Maria Johanna Camasse, Gräfin von Forbach (1734-1807). He was born in Zweibrücken. The children were unable to succeed to their father's Duchy due to the morganatic nature of their parents' marriage. The Duchy of Zweibrücken was inherited by Christian IV's nephews (Christian's first cousins), Charles August and Maximilian Joseph.

From his birth to about the American Revolution, Christian used the name Christian Gräf von Forbach. From about 1776 until the French Revolution, and while serving in the French Army, he used the name Christian, comte des Deux Ponts and was later elevated to marquis des Deux Ponts. Fleeing France for Germany during the Revolution, he was granted permission to use Christian Freiherr von Zweibrücken from 1792 forward.[3]

Biography

Due to a former business agreement from March 1751 between Louis XV of France and his father, who promised to the French king to raise a battalion of infantry for France when and if needed,[5] the Infantry Regiment "Royal Deux-Ponts" (raised on 19, 1757) of two battalions to the French crown after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, when it was at first deployed in the Battle of Rossbach.

During the American Revolutionary War, Christian commanded the French Infantry Regiment "Royal Deux-Ponts" as Colonel-titulaire, and his brother Philippe Guillaume (later renamed to Wilhelm) was Colonel-en-second and deputy commander as part of De Rochambeau's expedition. The regiment served in the Battle of Yorktown, also called the "German Battle", on October 4, 1781.[6] In 1783 he married Adélaïde-Françoise de Béthune-Pologne (1761–1823). The couple had three daughters. The first of them Maria Amalia Charlotte Auguste died in her year of birth 1784. The others were Maria Amalia Charlotte Franziska Auguste Eleonore (1786–1839) and Kasimira Maria Louise Antoinette (1787–1846).[7]

During the French Revolution, he left the French forces at the rank of a Maréchal de Camp (Major General). Titled Freiherr von Zweibrücken, he served in the Prussian Army in the rank of General-Major, where he took part in the campaigns against France during 1794 and 1797.

With the rise of his first cousin, Maximilian Joseph as Prince Elector of Bavaria, 1799, Christian served in the Bavarian Army, where he became General-Leutnant and provincial commander of the Palatinate region. In spring of 1800 he became commander of a division, merged from the brigades of Von Deroy and von Wrede, and fought under the Austrian Feldzeugmeister Kray and under Archduke John of Austria against France for the British crown.

In 1808 he became Geheimer Rat (German: Privy Councilor), and in January 1811 he was promoted to the rank of General der Infanterie. Obviously Von Zweibrücken had also plans to replace von Montgelas by his son-in-law Graf Karl Ernst von Gravenreuth (1771–1826), who was married to his daughter Kasimira.[4] He died in Munich, where he and his brother Wilhelm are buried in the Old Southern Cemetery.[8]

In the European Rose Garden in Zweibrücken a memorial remembers him and his brother.[9]

Military Service

Kingdom of France:

  • Sous Lieutenant, Infantry Régiment Royal-Deux-Ponts, 28 April 1768[10]
  • Capitaine-en-second, Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, 16 April 1771
  • Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, 3 July 1772[11]
  • Colonel-titulaire (Colonel, commanding in the field), Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, 1776[12]
    • Served in the American Revolution in the Comte de Rochambeau's Expédition Particulière and was present at Yorktown, 1781
  • Mestre-de-Camp-commandant (Colonel, commanding), Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, 1783[13]
  • Brigadier, 1 January 1784[14]
  • Maréchal-de-Camp (Major General), 9 March 1788[15]

Kingdom of Prussia:

  • General-Major, Prussian Army, ca. 1791[16]

Kingdom of Bavaria:

  • General-Leutnant, Bavarian Army, 20 June 1799
  • General der Infanterie, 1811[17]

Orders and Awards

Kingdom of Bavaria:

Kingdom of France:

Kingdom of Prussia:

United States:

Notes

  1. ^ Regarding personal names: Graf was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Count. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine form is Gräfin.
  2. ^ Regarding personal names: Freiherr was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Baron. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

References

  1. ^ Deux ponts: French for two bridges, means zwei Brücken in German.
  2. ^ also findable under Christian von Zweybrücken
  3. ^ a b Zweibrücken (German), Pierer's Universal-Lexikon.
  4. ^ a b Eberhard Weis: Montgelas: Der Architekt des modernen Bayerischen Staates 1799- 1838 (German), 2005, pp. 470-473. ISBN 978-3-406-03567-8
  5. ^ France and Great Britain on the Eve of American Independence - The officer corps Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ Royal Deux-Ponts Infanterie durant la Guerre d'Indépendance (French).
  7. ^ Christian, Graf, Marquis de Deux-Ponts, Geneanet.
  8. ^ Mößlang: Gedenkplatte bei den Arkaden an der Außenmauer des Alten Südlichen Friedhofs. (German).
  9. ^ Preliminary Survey of Sites Associated with the Lives and Deeds of Foreign-born Heroes of the American Revolution Archived 2009-01-17 at the Wayback Machine, p. 42.
  10. ^ Sauer, Karl Theodor. Die Namespatrone der Ingolstädter Festungswere (in German), Ganghoper Press, 1888, p. 29.
  11. ^ Etat Militaire de France Pour l’Année 1776 (in French), p. 300
  12. ^ Etat Militaire de France Pour l’Année 1777 (in French), p. 295
  13. ^ Etat Militaire de France Pour l’Année 1783 (in French), p. 318
  14. ^ Etat Militaire de France Pour l’Année 1785 (in French), p. 90
  15. ^ Etat Militaire de France Pour l’Année 1789 (in French), p. 77
  16. ^ Hundbuch über den Königliche Preussischen Hof und Staat für das Jahr 1798 (in German), p. 26
  17. ^ Hof und Staats Handbuch des Königliches Bayern 1812 (in German), p. 26
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