James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick
Illegitimate son of James II who became a Marshal of France.
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James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (21 August 1670 – 12 June 1734), was a French-English army officer and the eldest illegitimate son of James II of England by Arabella Churchill. He served as a senior Jacobite commander in Ireland and later became a Marshal of France, playing a key role in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Background
After his father's final exile, Berwick served in the French army under Marshal Luxembourg, including at the battles of Steenkerque and Landen, where he was taken prisoner by his uncle Charles Churchill and ransomed for 30,000 florins. He was attainted in 1695 by Act of Parliament, forfeiting his British peerages. In the War of the Spanish Succession, he commanded Franco-Spanish forces and was appointed a Marshal of France after his expedition against Nice in 1706.
He won a decisive victory at the Battle of Almanza on 25 April 1707, defeating an Anglo-Portuguese-Dutch army. He was created Duke of Liria and Jérica by Philip V of Spain in 1707 and Duke of Fitz-James in the Peerage of France by Louis XIV in 1710. He was decapitated by a cannonball during the Siege of Philippsburg in 1734.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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