Saintonge regiment..

Apologies for the delay - this regiment has been sat there waiting for an appearance on the blog for three or four days now, but have been busy with work, sorting out the boat and general other sundry bits and pieces, and all in all I haven't had time!

According to my investigations the Régiment de Saintonge, was raised in the province of the same name, & was formed on September 4, 1684 from the ancient regiment of Navarre (which is interesting as Navarre are one of "les Vieux Corps" - the most senior regiments in the French army - I've seen indications that originally they had three battalions maybe one was taken away to form this regiment??).

Expecting a Coalition to soon form against France, Louis XIV raised 30 new regiments from September 1 to 30 for the defence of the various places of the realm - this regiment was one of them (see also my entries for Foix & Nivernais who were also raised during this period). In 1758 at least, it was ranked 77th in order of seniority...

At Blenheim they served in the Marquis de Bligny's brigade (François le Camus, who was also their nominal Colonel in chief) where they were co-brigaded with the Champagne regiment [click here], Bligny's brigade was in Marechal de Camp Dorrington's Division of Lieutenant General the Marquis de Blainville's Corps in the army of the Elector of Bavaria...

What is good though, is that I think I now have representation for all the regiments in the division, even if not all the battalions, so I must lay on a review soon..


Bligny survived the war to die in August 1755, but for a man of such undoubted importance there is very little information about him or his career. In 1705 the regiment got a new colonel, the Comte de Lannion who commanded until 1719 - there's little information about him either! I know that 3 years after he took command he married Gaëtane de Mornay, and that his name was Anne Bretagne (which threw me before I found out his unused first name was Pierre!). He lived to the age of 52 dying in 1734 but not before making Lieutenant General.. Those are his coat of arms to the right..

These figures are predominantly Black Hat miniatures in (of course) 15mm - lovely figures to paint - especially as the light blue allowed me to try the new Coat d'Arms blue ink I picked up at the Warfare - this is a lighter true blue than the navy ink I've been using for the Union troops - I think it comes out really well... The officers (I think) are Dixon - I put all my officer figures in a single box and just pick out what I need so they're a bit of a hodge podge - I like the look on the face of the officer carrying the spontoon!