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Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur

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Philippe Henri de Ségur
Marquis de Ségur
Official portrait as Marshal of France, 1789 (copy by Joséphine Houssay after Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun).
Marquis of Ségur
In office
19 June 1751 – 3 October 1801
Preceded byHenri François, Comte de Ségur
Succeeded byLouis-Philippe, Marquis de Ségur
Secretary of State for War
In office
23 December 1780 – 27 August 1787
Preceded byCharles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes
Succeeded byLouis Charles Auguste Le Tonnelier, Baron de Breteuil, Baron de Preuilly
Personal details
Born(1724-01-20)20 January 1724
Paris, Isle-de-France, Kingdom of France
Died3 August 1801(1801-08-03) (aged 77)
Paris, Seine-et-Marne, French Consulate
Spouse(s)Louise-Anne-Madeleine, Marquise de Ségur, née de Vernon (1729–1778)
ChildrenLouis Philippe, Comte de Ségur
Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur
Military service
Years of service1739–1787
Battles/warsSeven Years' War

Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur (20 January 1724 – 3 October 1801) was a nobleman, Marshal of France and Secretary of State for War under King Louis XV and later King Louis XVI. He was a grandson of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans,

Biography

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Born in Paris, son of Henri François, Comte de Ségur and his wife Philippe Angélique de Froissy, Philippe Henri was appointed to the command of an infantry regiment at eighteen, and served under his father in Italy and Bohemia. He was wounded at Roucoux in Flanders in October 1746, and lost an arm at Lauffeld in 1747. In 1748 he succeeded his father as lieutenant-general of Champagne and Brie; he also received in 1753 the governorship of the county of Foix.[1]

During the Seven Years' War he fought at Hastenbeck (1757), Krefeld (1758) and Minden (1759). In 1760 he was taken prisoner at Kloster Kampen.[2]

The ability which he showed in the government of Franche-Comté in 1775 led in 1780 to his appointment as Minister for War under Jacques Necker. He created in 1783 the permanent general staff, and made admirable regulations with regard to barracks and military hospitals; and though he was officially responsible for the reactionary decree requiring four quarterings of nobility as a condition for the appointment of officers, the scheme is said not to have originated with him and to have been adopted under protest. On 13 June 1783 he became a marshal of France. He resigned from the ministry of war in 1787.[3]

During the Reign of Terror he was imprisoned in La Force, and after his release was reduced to considerable straits until in 1800 he received an annual pension of 6,000 francs from Napoleon. He died in Paris the next year.[4]

Family

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Louise-Anne-Madeleine, Marquise de Ségur, née de Vernon (1729–1778).

Philippe Henri de Ségur married on 3 February 1749 in Paris Louise-Anne-Madeleine de Vernon (1729–1778), daughter of Alexandre de Vernon (c. 1654–1729) and Anne Duvivier. They had two sons:

Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval

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Joseph-Alexandre Pierre de Ségur was actually the son of Philippe Henri de Ségur's best friend Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, usually just referred to as Baron de Besenval (the suffix Brunstatt refers to the former barony).

The fact that the Baron de Besenval was the father of the second son was no secret within the family. After the death of his best friend and military comrade Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, in 1791, Philippe Henri de Ségur inherited the usufruct of the Hôtel de Besenval.[5][6][7]

Titles and decorations

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Figure Blazon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th; Gules a lion Or, at 2 and 3, plain silver.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Pierre-Marie-Maurice-Henri, Marquis de Ségur: Le Maréchal de Ségur (1724–1801), E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, rue Garancière no. 10, Paris, 1895, pp. 7, 24, 25, 149, 150, 154–157 et 163
  2. ^ Pierre-Marie-Maurice-Henri, Marquis de Ségur: Le Maréchal de Ségur (1724–1801), E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, rue Garancière no. 10, Paris, 1895, pp. 171, 173 et 176
  3. ^ Pierre-Marie-Maurice-Henri, Marquis de Ségur: Le Maréchal de Ségur (1724–1801), E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, rue Garancière no. 10, Paris, 1895, pp. 190, 230–234, 258 et 319
  4. ^ Pierre-Marie-Maurice-Henri, Marquis de Ségur: Le Maréchal de Ségur (1724–1801), E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, rue Garancière no. 10, Paris, 1895, pp. 348, 349, 360 et 361
  5. ^ Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d’Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 148–151
  6. ^ Gouverneur Morris: Journal de Gouverneur Morris, par E. Pariset, traduit de l'anglais, Plon-Nourrit et Cie., Imprimeurs-Éditeurs, 8, rue, Garancière, Paris, 1901, p. 8
  7. ^ Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 17
  8. ^ Popoff, p. 105
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ségur, Philippe Henri, Marquis de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 585.

Further reading

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Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for War
1780–1787
Succeeded by