Talk:Jacques-Louis Comte de Noyelles

War in Ireland

If Noyelles took part in the 1688 invasion of England he probably also took part in the Irish campaign of 1690-91 DavidDijkgraaf (talk) 01:22, 8 July 2023 (UTC)

Not necessarily. A lot of the Dutch troops were sent home after William was safely crowned in 1689. In any case we can't speculate. My source for Noyelles' participation in the invasion of England in 1688 is the Institut, p. 361. It continues in the next sentence with his promotion to "brigadier" on 24 December 1689. But I left that out because I doubt if the Dutch States Army even had a brigadier-general rank in 1689. I believe that rank is much more recent. In any case there is no mention of what he did otherwise in 1689. Only that he got promoted to major-general on 24 May 1691. That I believe to be possible :-) The reference they give for all this is "Commissions des Etats-Generaux, reg. de 1685-1692, fol. 189v". I suppose that is in the Dutch National Archives. I just took a look on their website and the only hit I got for "de Noyelles" was a mention in the archives of the States-General about the grandfather of our Noyelles, who appears to have been governor of Limburg city (for the Spanish) during the siege of that city by Frederick Henry (8 September 1632). So that is a dead end. But maybe "Het Staatse Leger" gives more info? I can't check, because I would have to travel to the Library of Congress in DC to have a look (I did that in 2013, I think, when I wrote Dutch States Army; my impression was that I was the first borrower in many years :-) Ereunetes (talk) 20:14, 8 July 2023 (UTC)

I should have known that "Commissions des Etats-Generaux" could not be correct. I found a lot more in the "Commissieboeken" of the Raad van State, which is the correct place to look. For our Noyelles I found his promotion to "luitenant majoor generaal van de Infanterie" on 28 May 1691 (so not 24 May 1691). His son Frederic-Charles-Louis was made a captain in his regiment on 24 April 1699, more or less as Enschede claims. Anyway, look for yourself Raad van State Commissieboeken Ereunetes (talk) 20:38, 8 July 2023 (UTC)

Noyelles was in Flanders in the Spring and Summer of 1689, first in Waldeck's army and on 30 August 1689 in the Spanish Governor-General Francisco Antonio de Agurto, 1st Marquess of Gastañaga's army of Flanders. See Stapleton, John (2003). "FORGING A COALITION ARMY: WILLIAM III, THE GRAND ALLIANCE, AND THE CONFEDERATE ARMY IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS, 1688-1697 (dissertation)". Ohio State U. p. 200, note 25. Retrieved 8 July 2023.. So it is more than likely that he fought in Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck's campaign in 1689 and 1690, certainly at Battle of Walcourt, and maybe also at the Battle of Fleurus (1690). Ereunetes (talk) 00:18, 9 July 2023 (UTC)

I have been struggling with a number of issues. First of all, the shadowy eldest son Frederic, who may have been an illegitimate child, possibly conceived before the marriage, and later legitimized. Enschede speculates that he may have been "from an earlier marriage" and I have put that in the article. No need to make a scandal where the contemporaries saw none :-) Then Noyelles' role at the Battle of Blenheim. There is no doubt there was a comte de Noyelles at Blenheim, leading a Hanoverian brigade of cavalry. Which is strange, because our Noyelles was an infantry man. So I wondered if this cavalerist might have been the son. But this Noyelles is universally described as a "major-general" and the son only got commissioned as a "brigadier" in 1707. So I think it was indeed our Noyelles, even though he had been a lieutenant-general for several years and would soon become a full general in 1704. The Electress of Hanover (who should know, because she paid for the brigade) writes a few days after Blenheim to her sister that Novelles had been wounded in the throat, and she worries about his health. So I put that in the article, even though I couldn't find the page number in the online source. Finally, in Spain Noyelles got to be very influential with king Charles III. "Unhealthily influential" according to the contemporary British government (see all the complaints Godolphin confided about to Marlborough in the latter's memoires) This appears to have given Noyelles a permanent black eye in British historiography (as if the fact that he was Dutch was not bad enough :-) Poor Galway, bad-mouthed by the evil Noyelles. "No wonder we lost Spain!" I thought it was worth at least a footnote, with references to all those complaining missives from Godolphin :-) Ereunetes (talk) 20:23, 10 July 2023 (UTC)