Regiment Angoumois

The following was sparked entirely by an entry on the "Not By Appointment" blog a while ago (link below in the further references section) detailing a most eye catching flag for one of the lesser known French regiments... so thanks, David!

 

Other than the following barest basics I have managed to find little else about the regiment, so if anyone else knows any more about their service during the Spanish Succession War I'd be grateful to hear it..  I don't even have a reference at the moment to what brigade or division they were in at Blenheim, other than the statement they were there.. they dpn't feature at all on the fairly detailed Orbat I'm working to...

 

So as we have seen before they were one of the 30 odd regiments that Louis XIV raised in September 1684 for the defence of the realm... named after the province they were raised in (just east of Bordeaux) they came into being on September 6, 1684. Louis raised a regiment a day in order to get round any issues with seniority, but as is the way of the army they came out about 75th in seniority. 

In 1700, at the very start of the War of the Spanish Succession the regiment was sent to Italy, and in the following February (the 1st, 1701), the regiment was increased to two battalions. These two battalions served independently for the entire war. The 1st Battalion remained in Italy, but the 2nd Battalion (the one we're interested in!) served in the low countries in Flanders and Germany.

 

 

The regiments Colonel at the time of Blenheim would have been Jean Gilles de Rougé, Marquis du Plessis-Bellière, who would have been (an astonishing) 22 at the time..

Love how this guy came out...

..now I have no idea whether he served in the field with either battalion, but I would assume that if he did, he he was probably with the 1st, so not present at Blenheim. 

Jean-Gilles died 3 years later in June 1707 at the siege of Saragossa/Zaragoza (the 1st Battalion were transferred to the Spanish theatre in 1707, so that would back my assumption he served throughout with the 1st). His daughter (he already had a 2 year old son) was born 6 months after his death...  brings it home doesn't it...?

So, the 2nd Battalion, who served in the low countries in Flanders and Germany was present at the following...

• In 1703, it garrisoned Landau after its capture. 
• In 1704, it took part in the Battle of Blenheim and in the subsequent unsuccessful defence of Landau. 
• From 1705 to 1710, it served in the Lines of the Lauter

• In 1711, it was sent to Dauphiné (south Eastern France) - I wonder why?
  

The second battalion was disbanded in 1715.

So - 15mm, Minifigs (except for the officer who is I think Peter Pig, and the drummer who I think is Dixon), painted December 2020.

Further references:

https://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Angoumois_Infanterie

https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/2020/12/flags-of-french-regiment-angoumois.html - where it all started..  

http://royalfig.free.fr/picture.php?/639/category/31