Charles-Joseph Lamoral, 7th Prince de Ligne in French; in GermanKarl-Joseph Lamoral 7. Fürst von Ligne : was a Field Marshal, inhaber of an infantry regiment, prolific writer, intellectual, member of the princely family of Ligne, and Habsburg Austrian subject. He fought as a field officer during several famous battles during the Seven Years' War and briefly returned to military duty in the War of the Bavarian Succession. He performed an important diplomatic mission to Catherine the Great in 1787 and led troops against the Ottoman Empire at Belgrade in 1789. Beginning in the 1770s, he authored an impressive volume of work. After his estates in the Austrian Netherlands were lost to France during the War of the First Coalition, he lived in Vienna. All three of his sons died before him, but his wife and four daughters all outlived him. His grandson, the 8th Prince, became a Belgian statesman.
Military service
Prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne was born in Brussels, Austrian Netherlands, the son of Field Marshal Claude Lamoral, 6th Prince of Ligne and Princess Elisabeth Alexandrina zu Salm, daughter of Ludwig Otto, 55th Prince zu Salm and his wife Princess Albertine of Nassau-Hadamar. As an Austrian subject he entered the imperial army at an early age. He distinguished himself by his valor in the Seven Years' War, notably at Breslau, Leuthen, Hochkirch and Maxen. A young captain at Leuthen, he found himself suddenly in command of 200 men, the battalion colonels and majors having been killed, and led them to shelter from Prussian cannon fire beside a windmill; subsequently, he participated in the retreat to Königsburg. During the Seven Years' War, De Ligne was promoted Major in 1757, Oberstleutnant in 1758, and Oberst in 1759. He was named General-major on 23 April 1764 and Feldmarschall-Leutnant on 1 May 1773. He was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1772. He was appointed Inhaber of Infantry Regiment Nr. 30 in 1771, the successor to Prince William Carl Christian of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. He became the intimate friend and counselor of Emperor Joseph II, and, inheriting his father's vast estates, lived in the greatest splendor and luxury until the War of the Bavarian Succession brought him again into active service. In 1778, De Ligne was impressed by a captured Prussian officer Flemming von Hagen, who was asked about his girl friends by his captors and replied, "I love nothing more dearly than my sword". He wished that more Austrian officers were as serious about their military profession. King Frederick the Great of Prussia built a number of palaces and other buildings in Potsdam, but upon closer inspection, the place had a seedy appearance. De Ligne wrote that Frederick had a chance to do something new in Potsdam, but "he believed that he could bend Nature to his will by the force of his intellect, in the same way as he attained his victories, and managed war, politics, population, finances and industries. But Nature has a way of laughing at heroes. She prefers a Somerset farmer". This war was short and uneventful, and the prince then traveled in England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France, devoting himself impartially to the courts, the camps, the salons and the learned assemblies of philosophers and scientists in each country. He developed a great admiration for Frederick the Great, even to the point of justifying his seizure of Silesia. De Ligne was promoted to Feldzeugmeister on 8 September 1787. He earned the Commander's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa on 12 October 1789. In 1787 he was with Catherine II in Russia and accompanied her in her journey to the Crimea. In 1789 he was present at the Siege of Belgrade. Shortly after the siege of Belgrade, he was invited to place himself at the head of the Belgian revolutionary movement, in which one of his sons and many of his relatives were prominent, but declined with great courtesy, saying that "he never revolted in the winter." Though suspected by Joseph of collusion with the rebels, the two friends were not long estranged, and after the death of the emperor the prince remained in Vienna. His Brabant estates were overrun by the French in 1792–93, and his eldest son killed in action at La Croix-du Bois in the Argonne. He was given an honorary command at court.
Later life
De Ligne served as Captain of the Trabanten Life Guard and the Hofburgwache from 13 June 1807 until his death. He received promotion to Feldmarschall on 6 September 1808. Despite the loss of his estates, Charles-Joseph lived in comparative luxury in his later life, and devoted himself to his literary work. He lived long enough to characterize the proceedings of the Congress of Vienna with the famous mot: "Le Congrès ne marche pas, il danse." He has been described as one of the most charming men who ever lived. He died, aged 79, in Vienna in December 1814 and was buried at the Kahlenberg cemetery. In 1815, the proprietorship of Infantry Regiment Nr. 30 passed to Laval Nugent von Westmeath.
Collected works
His collected works appeared in thirty-four volumes at Vienna during the last years of his life, and he bequeathed his manuscripts to the emperor's Trabant Guard, of which he was captain. Selections were published in French, German and English:
Œuvres historiques, littéraires... correspondance et poésies diverses
Des Prinzen Karl von Ligne militärische Werke, ed. Count Pappenheim
Memoir of Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne, ed. Katharine Prescott Wormeley
The most important of his numerous works on all military subjects is the Fantaisies et préjuge's militaires, which originally appeared in 1780. A modern edition is that published by J Dumaine. A German version appeared as early as 1783. This work, though it deals lightly and cavalierly with the most important subjects, is a military classic, and indispensable to the students of the post-Frederician period. On the whole, it may be said that the prince adhered to the school of Guibert, and a full discussion will be found in Max Jahns' Gesch. d. Kriegswissenschaften. Another very celebrated work by the prince is the mock autobiography of Prince Eugène of Savoy. Other works of his include:
He also had two illegitimate daughters: "Adèle" by Adelaide Fleury; and another one by Angélique d'Hannetaire. Charles-Joseph legitimated in 1810 the illegitimate beloved daughter of his son Charles, called "Fanny-Christine". She is called "Titine" in the diaries and letters of the family; she married Maurice O'Donnell von Tyrconnell. His grandson, Eugène, 8th Prince de Ligne, was a distinguished Belgian statesman, and another grandson, Count Maximilian O'Donnell von Tyrconnell, helped save the life of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria in Vienna in 1853.
