Francis Taaffe, 3rd Earl of Carlingford (1639August 1704), was 4th Viscount Taaffe, of Corren, and 4th Baron of

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, Ireland. It is around 20 km south of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is in the north-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Ballymote lies in the Barony (Ireland), barony ...

and an army commander and politician of Irish descent in the service of Emperor Ferdinand III in the Austrian capital

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and later of Duke Charles IV of Lorraine in Nancy.

Life

Francis Taaffe was born at

in County Sligo, Ireland, the third son of Theobald Taaffe, 1st Earl of Carlingford (who, following the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1642 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...

had accompanied King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest su ...

in exile in 1652), and Mary (née White), Countess of Carlingford. After the death of his elder brother, Francis received the titles of Earl of Carlingford and Viscount Taaffe, both belonging to the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

. By the agency of King Charles, Francis Taaffe studied at the University of Olomouc in

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, and became a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

at the Imperial court in Vienna. He began a military career as a commander in the Imperial forces during the

Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, 1672 to 1678, was primarily fought by Kingdom of France, France and the Dutch Republic, with both sides backed at different times by a variety of allies. Related conflicts include the 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and ...

and became a most intimate friend of the Lorrainian duke Charles IV, who from 1670 had to cope with the occupying troops of King

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

. Taaffe rose to the rank of

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

, having greatly distinguished himself at the 1683

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarchy) and the Polish–Li ...

and in other campaigns of the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War () or The Last Crusade, also called in Ottoman sources The Disaster Years (), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (1684), Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lith ...

, and was a member of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

. Lord Carlingford was sent on many important diplomatic missions, and at the end of his life was chancellor and chief minister to Duke Leopold of Lorraine.

Family

In 1676, he married Helena Maximiliana von Traudisch. He died without children in August 1704 in Nancy, where he is buried at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Annonciation et Saint-Sigisbert in Nancy.

Notes

References

* * * G.E. Cokayne, Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, Hrsg.: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed.'', Band III, page 29. * Jérémy Filet
“The networks of Francis Taaffe, 3rd Earl of Carlingford and Irish Jacobite émigrés in the Duchy of Lorraine”
in ''Eighteenth-Century Ireland'' 36, 2021. * Stephen Griffin and Jérémy Filet,
Duke Leopold’s Irish subjects and Jacobitism in Lorraine, 1698–1727
, ''History Ireland'' (May 2018), Volume 26. Retrieved 4 November 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlingford, Francis Taaffe, 3rd Earl of Knights of the Golden Fleece 1639 births 1704 deaths Palacký University Olomouc alumni Field marshals of the Holy Roman Empire Viscounts Taaffe Earls in the Peerage of Ireland People from Ballymote Military personnel from County Sligo