Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon - French naval commander

[Anatol]

Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse June 6, 1678 , Versailles - December 11 , 1737 , Rambouillet , metropolis of France is the third legitimated son of King Louis XIV of France and the Marquise de Montespan , his official mistress from 1668 to 1680. He held the titles of Count of Toulouse (from 1681), Duke of Penthièvre (from 1697) and Duke of Rambouillet (from 1711).
At the age of 5, the boy received the rank of admiral of France .
In 1693, the Admiralty of France and the hitherto independent Admiralty of Brittany were united under his leadership . In 1696 he was awarded the title of Marshal of France and subsequently became one of the commanders of the royal army. He took a very active part in the War of the Spanish Succession .
In 1704 he commanded the French fleet at the Battle of Malaga .

The Battle of Málaga - the largest naval battle during the War of the Spanish Succession , took place on August 24 , 1704 near the Spanish city of Velez-Malaga between the Anglo-Dutch fleet of Admiral George Rooke and the Spanish-French fleet of the Count of Toulouse and Admiral D. 'Estre. It ended in a tactical victory for Spain and France, but a strategic victory for the Allies, as the British retained control of Gibraltar, the target of their fleet.
Less than a week after the capture of Gibraltar , Sir George Rooke received intelligence that a French fleet under the command of the Count of Toulouse was heading to attack Gibraltar . Leaving half his marines to guard Gibraltar, Sir George Rooke set out with his combined Anglo-Dutch fleet to intercept the French.
The two squadrons split into three groups and tried to outflank each other. The Anglo-Dutch fleet sailed with the wind blowing from the northeast; both fleets formed a line, heading southeast; The forces of the parties were approximately equal, so each of the ships chose an enemy. Throughout the day, the sides were content with long-range firefights, without taking any active action. The battle lasted eleven hours; At about eight o'clock in the evening, when it began to get dark, the two squadrons took the opportunity to disperse.
Although more than a hundred ships took part in the battle on both sides, the actions of the opponents were sluggish and indecisive. As a result of the battle, not a single ship of the opposing sides was sunk or captured, although many ships barely remained afloat and a large number of crew members died. In total, the French lost about 1,600 people, the British about 2,700.
During the battle, part of the English squadron under the command of George Byng was forced to return to Gibraltar , since after the recent bombardment there was not enough ammunition left to fight the French.
At dawn the next day after the battle, Admiral George Rooke did not find the French fleet at the battle site. Thinking that the French had gone to Gibraltar, he hastily led his fleet back.
In fact, the French chose to leave for Toulon and declared their victory there. In fact, the French, by their retreat, actually admitted their defeat, since tactically they could no longer take any action, and during this war the French fleet in its entirety never left Toulon again. Only ten ships were sent to attack Gibraltar, which were all subsequently destroyed, and the attack from land turned into a long blockade. George Rooke decided to retreat to Lisbon , leaving the Gibraltar garrison with some of the provisions and ammunition that he was able to sacrifice without causing damage to the retreating fleet.

In 1706 he took part in the Second Siege of Barcelona .
After the death of Louis XIV during the period of Polysinodia, he was the head of the French naval department - the Council of the Navy ( French Conseil de la Marine ).
In 1723, the Count of Toulouse married Marie-Victoria de Noailles (1688–1766), who bore him his only son, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon (1725–1793), duc de Penthièvre, de Rambouillet, d'Aumale and others. The Count of Toulouse also had two illegitimate sons: Louis-Alexandre de Sainte-Foy ( French de Sainte-Foy ; 1720 - died young) and Philippe-Auguste de Sainte-Foy (1721-1795; better known as the "Chevalier d'Arc" ", French le Chevalier d'Arcq ). The mother of both was Madeleine Aumont .
The count died in 1737 on his estate of Rambouillet .
The composer and violin virtuoso Giovanni Antonio Piani was at the count's court . He dedicated Or to Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon. 1 of his works from 12 sonatas for violin and basso continuo .
The stamp depicts a portrait of the count against the background of a painting by the artist Isaac Sailmaker: "Battle of Malaga 1704"
PMR 2019; [P].
Source: https://ru-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/ Луи-Александр_де_Бурбон,_граф_Тулузский .
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/.Сражение при Малаге.