Pierre de Montesquiou, comte d'Artagnan and later comte de Montesquiou (1640 – 12 August 1725) was a French soldier and
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 ( ...
.
A scion of the famous French
Montesquiou family
The de Montesquiou family is an old French noble family from Montesquiou in Gascony whose documented filiation traces back to circa 1190. In the 18th Century, the family was recognized as coming in the 11th century from the Counts of Fezensac ...
, he was the fourth son of Henri I de Montesquiou, seigneur d'Artagnan by his wife Jeanne, daughter of
Jean de Gassion
Jean, comte de Gassion (1609 Pau – 1647 Lens) was a Gascon military commander for France, prominent at the battle of Rocroi (1643) who reached the rank of Marshal of France at the age of thirty-four. He served Louis XIII and Louis XIV ...
. He was also the cousin of
Charles de Batz de Castelmore, to whom he lent one of his titles, comte d'Artagnan, on whom the hero of
Alexandre Dumas, père's
D'Artagnan Romances
''The d'Artagnan Romances'' are a set of three novels by Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870), telling the story of the 17th-century musketeer d'Artagnan.
Dumas based the character and attributes of d'Artagnan on captain of musketeers Charles de Batz- ...
was based. Montesquiou served for twenty-three years as a musketeer in the
Gardes Françaises
The French Guards (french: Régiment des Gardes françaises) were an elite infantry regiment of the French Royal Army. They formed a constituent part of the Maison militaire du roi de France ("Military Household of the King of France") under the ...
before being made
brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...
in 1688. He was further promoted to
maréchal de camp in 1691 and
lieutenant général
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 ...
on 3 January 1696 before being made Maréchal de France on 15 September 1709 as a reward for his distinguished conduct at the
Battle of Malplaquet
The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession and was fought between a French army commanded by the Duke of Villars and a Grand Alliance force under the Duke of Marlborough. In one of the blo ...
on 11 September, at which he was wounded and had three horses shot under him.
1640 births
1725 deaths
Marshals of France
Pierre
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
Montesquiou d'Artagnan
Counts of Montesquiou-Fezensac
French military personnel of the Nine Years' War
French military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession
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