Jean II d'Estrées
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Jean, Comte d'Estrées, (3 November 1624 in
Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...
, Switzerland – 19 May 1707 in Paris), was a
Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...
, and an important naval commander of
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...
. He was born into a noble family from Picardy. His aunt was
Gabrielle d'Estrées Gabrielle d'Estrées, Duchess of Beaufort and Verneuil, Marchioness of Monceaux (; 157310 April 1599) was a mistress, confidante and adviser of Henry IV of France. She persuaded Henry to renounce Protestantism in favour of Catholicism in 1593. La ...
, a mistress of King
Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
.


In the Army

Like his father
François Annibal d'Estrées François-Annibal d'Estrées, duc d'Estrées (1573 – 5 May 1670) was a French diplomat, soldier and Marshal of France. Biography François-Annibal d'Estrées was the son of Antoine d'Estrées and Françoise Babou de La Bourdaisière, and ...
, also Marshal of France, Jean pursued a military career from a very young age. He became a colonel at 23, a ''maréchal de camp'' at 25 and a
lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
at 33. He fought in the
Battle of Lens The Battle of Lens (20 August 1648) was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). It was the last major battle of the war and ...
(1648) under the
grand Condé Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...
. After that he fought under
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 ...
in
Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
in 1652 - 1653 and then in Flanders. He was made prisoner at
Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...
in 1656. He was loyal to the Royal family 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 ...
.


In the Navy

In 1668 he joined the new French Navy at the request of his friend Colbert. There his patron was the Duke de Beaufort. He rose through the ranks very fast, thanks to the influence of his family name, becoming a Vice-Admiral, and then Marshal of France in 1681. His first campaign was in the Caribbean. He returned four times, becoming the French naval specialist in the region. During the Franco-Dutch War, he was put in command of the French fleet which would fight alongside the English fleet against the Dutch. He participated on board the ''Saint Philippe'' in the
Battle of Solebay The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...
in 1672 and the next year on the ''la Reine'', in the Battle of Schooneveld and the
Battle of Texel The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the southern coast of island of Texel on 21 August 1673 (11 August O.S.) between the Dutch and the combined English and French fleets. It was the last major battle of the Third A ...
. In 1676 and 1677, he conquered
Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; Wolof: Beer Dun) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trad ...
, Cayenne and
Tobago Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
, destroying the Dutch fleet based there.


Las Aves Disaster

Following his successes at Cayenne and Tobago, d'Estrées planned to attack the Dutch at Curaçao island. His fleet—12 men of war, 3
fireships A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...
, 2 transports, a
hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. I ...
and 12 privateers—met with disaster, losing 7 of the men of war and 2 other ships when they struck reefs off the
Las Aves archipelago The Las Aves Archipelago is a pristine archipelago in the Caribbean Sea, and is part of the Federal Dependencies of Venezuela. It is located north of the Venezuelan states of Aragua and Carabobo, between the Dutch island Bonaire in the west, an ...
due to a navigational error on 11 May 1678, a week after setting sail from
Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
. According to the captain of d'Estrées flagship '' Terrible'', Nicholas Lefèvre de Méricourt, d'Estrées was solely at fault and had abandoned the ship to its fate. Navy minister
Seignelay Seignelay () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. The regional historian Vaast Barthélemy Henry (1797–1884) was born in Seignelay. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The follo ...
received other reports, including d'Estrées' own, which told a different story and one more favourable to the unpopular admiral. According to these, the pilots of d'Estrées ships had been unable to agree on their position on the morning of 11 May, and the navigators had been unable to fix their
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
. To avoid the risk of running onto shoals and reefs, d'Estrées sent three privateer ships ahead of the fleet to get timely warning of hazards. When night fell, the privateers fell back closer to the main body, but still ahead of it. These privateers, however, were light ships and of shallow draft, so that they passed over the reef before they even noticed it. They fired guns to warn the fleet following them, but there was not enough time for the large men of war to change course and the result was that nine ships were lost. Loss of life was light, only 24 sailors being lost, some drowned, dead drunk. With the loss of half his fleet, d'Estrées had to return to France. He was exonerated of personal responsibility for the disaster.


Family

He married Marie Marguerite Morin and had the following children: *
Victor-Marie d'Estrées Victor-Marie d'Estrées, Duke of Estrées count then duke (1723) of Estrées (30 November 1660, Paris – 27 December 1737, Paris) was a Marshal of France and subsequently known as the ''"Maréchal d'Estrées''". Biography Son of Marshal Jea ...
*
Jean d'Estrées Jean d'Estrées (; 1666 – 3 March 1718) was a French priest and politician. He was the son of Jean II d'Estrées and his wife Marie Marguerite Morin. He was born in Paris, the nephew of Cardinal César d'Estrées and brother of Marshal Victo ...
* Marie Anne Catherine d'Estrées, who married Michel François Le Tellier, oldest child of
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois (18 January 1641 – 16 July 1691) was the French Secretary of State for War during a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV. Together with his father, Michel le Tellier, the French Army would ...


References

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External links


Jean et Victor-Marie D'Estrées (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrees, Jean II comte d Marshals of France People of colonial Senegal 1624 births 1707 deaths People from Solothurn Counts of France 17th-century French people