Founded in 1625, the Régiment de Touraine was a French infantry regiment raised in the province of
Touraine
Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vie ...
.
Origins
At the end of 1624, the Protestant stronghold of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
sent an expedition and besieged
Port Louis
Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
. As no troops were stationed in this province at this time,
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
sent Marshal
Bassompierre, which, from
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...
, urged Baron
du Plessis-Joigny, governor of this city, to create an infantry regiment. The Protestant expedition on Port-Louis was cancelled before the arrival of the newly raised regiment, but it victoriously took part to the
siege of the rebellious city between 1627 and 1628.
In May 1636 the regiment received the name of ''Touraine'' and its regimental flags. During the
Fronde
The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...
the colonels took advantage of the weakening of royal authority and did away with the provincial title of their regiments. Subsequently, the Touraine regiment appeared as the ''Régiment d'Amboise'', ''de Kercado'' or ''de Chambellay'' according to the name of its colonel.
Franco-Spanish War
During the Franco-Spanish War, the Regiment de Touraine participated to the Italian campaign where it successfully attacked Spanish possessions in Northern Italy, including
Ceva
Ceva, the ancient Ceba, is a small Italian town in the province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, east of Cuneo. It lies on the right bank of the Tanaro on a wedge of land between that river and the Cevetta stream.
History
In the pre-Roman period th ...
,
Pianezza
Pianezza is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cu ...
,
Mondovì
Mondovì (; pms, Ël Mondvì , la, Mons Regalis) is a town and ''comune'' (township) in Piedmont, northern Italy, about from Turin. The area around it is known as the Monregalese.
The town, located on the Monte Regale hill, is divided into ...
and took part to the famous
siege of Turin
The siege of Turin took place from June to September 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, when a French army led by Louis de la Feuillade besieged the Savoyard capital of Turin. The campaign by Prince Eugene of Savoy that led to i ...
.
Franco-Dutch War and War of the Reunions
After
Turenne
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 161127 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne , was a French general and one of only six Marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of the ...
's death, the regiment participated to the
siege of Valenciennes (1676-1677) Siege of Valenciennes may refer to:
*Siege of Valenciennes (1567), a siege during the Eighty Years' War
*Siege of Valenciennes (1656), a siege during the Franco-Spanish War
*Siege of Valenciennes (1676–1677), a siege during the Franco-Dutch War
*S ...
the
Battle of Cassel (1677)
The Battle of Cassel, also known as the Battle of Peene, took place on 11 April 1677 during the Franco-Dutch War, near Cassel, west of Saint-Omer. A French army commanded by the duc de Luxembourg defeated a combined Dutch–Spanish force under ...
and the
Siege of Luxembourg (1684)
The siege of Luxembourg, in which Louis XIV of France (husband of Maria Theresa of Spain) laid siege to the Spanish-controlled Fortress of Luxembourg from 27 April to 7 June 1684, was the most significant confrontation between France and Spain of ...
.
Nine Years War
War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Polish Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The regiment was present at the battle of
Fontenoy 1745 and the sieges of Tournai, Termonde and Ath. In 1746 it fought at the
battle of Rocoux
The Battle of Rocoux took place on 11 October 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession, at Rocourt (or Rocoux), near Liège in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, now modern Belgium. It was fought between a French army under Marshal Saxe an ...
and the siege of Namur. In 1747 it was at the
battle of Lauffeld
The Battle of Lauffeld, variously known as Lafelt, Laffeld, Lawfeld, Lawfeldt, Maastricht, or Val, took place on 2 July 1747, between Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht. Part of the War of the Austrian Succession, a Fr ...
and participated at the siege of
Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
Etymology
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil p ...
. It was at the
siege of Maastricht in 1748.
Seven Years' War
In 1757 Touraine fought at
battle of Hastenbeck
The Battle of Hastenbeck (26 July 1757) was fought as part of the Invasion of Hanover during the Seven Years' War between the allied forces of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Brunswick, and the French. The allies were defeated by ...
. It was at the
battle of Krefeld
The Battle of Krefeld (sometimes referred to by its French name of Créfeld) was a battle fought at Krefeld near the Rhine on 23 June 1758 between a Prussian- Hanoverian army and a French army during the Seven Years' War.
Background
The Hano ...
in 1758. The regiment was present at the battle of
Minden
Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...
in 1759 and the siege of Mǚnster. It fought at
Warburg
Warburg (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warberich'' or ''Warborg'') is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It ...
in 1760, covering the retreat of the army.
[Susane, Louis, ''Histoire de l'infanterie française, Volume 3'', Paris, 1876, pp.376–377.]
American Revolutionary War
The regiment, commanded by Vicomte de Poudeux, was among forces under Saint Simon brought from the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
to Yorktown. Régiment de Touraine principal engagements:
Yorktown ;
St Christophe ;
Les Saintes.
French Revolution
In 1791, the
provincial
Provincial may refer to:
Government & Administration
* Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country
* Provincial city (disambiguation)
* Provincial minister (disambiguation)
* Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
names of the French regiments were abolished and a number was assigned to each of them. Thus the regiment of Touraine became the
33rd line infantry regiment.
Gallery
File:Touraine inf 1720.png, Uniform of a fusilier
Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French language, French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has ...
of the Régiment de Touraine in 1720
File:Touraine 34RI 1779.png, Uniform of a fusilier
Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French language, French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has ...
of the Régiment de Touraine in 1779.
File:Jean Thurel 1788 (1804), par Antoine Vestier.jpg, Jean Thurel
Jean Thurel, or Jean Theurel (; 6 September 169810 March 1807), was a fusilier of the French Army and a centenarian with an extraordinarily long career that spanned over 75 years of service in the Touraine Regiment. Born in the reign of Louis X ...
, in 1788, the "oldest soldier of Europe" in his uniform of fusilier
Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French language, French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has ...
of the Touraine Regiment with his three veteran medals and his Légion d'Honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
(added to the painting in 1804), painting by Antoine Vestier
Antoine Vestier (1740 – 24 December 1824) was a French miniaturist and painter of portraits, born at Avallon in Burgundy, who trained in the atelier of Jean-Baptiste Pierre. He showed his work at the Salon de la Correspondance, Paris, before b ...
.
See also
*
Jean Thurel
Jean Thurel, or Jean Theurel (; 6 September 169810 March 1807), was a fusilier of the French Army and a centenarian with an extraordinarily long career that spanned over 75 years of service in the Touraine Regiment. Born in the reign of Louis X ...
References
{{reflist, 2
Military units and formations of France in the American Revolutionary War
Military units and formations established in 1625
Military units and formations disestablished in 1791
Line infantry regiments of the Ancien Régime