Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished feldmarschall in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. Renowned as one of the greatest military commanders of his era, Prince Eugene also rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna, spending six decades in the service of three emperors.
Born in Paris, to the son of a French count and a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, Eugene was raised at the court of King Louis XIV. Initially destined for the priesthood as the youngest son of a noble family, he chose to pursue a military career at 19. Due to his poor physique and possibly a scandal involving his mother, Louis XIV denied him a commission in the French Royal Army and forbade him from enlisting elsewhere. Embittered, Eugene fled France and entered the service of Emperor Leopold I, cousin and rival of Louis XIV, in whose service his elder brother Louis Julius had just fallen in battle.
At 20, Prince Eugene of Savoy distinguished himself during the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683. Commanding troops at Buda (1686; now Budapest) and Belgrade (1688), he became a field marshal by age 25. In the Nine Years' War, he fought alongside his distant cousin, the Duke of Savoy. As commander-in-chief in Hungary, Eugene's decisive victory at the Battle of Zenta (1697) ended the Ottoman threat for nearly 20 years. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), he served Emperor Leopold I, achieving victories in Italy and forming a crucial partnership with the Duke of Marlborough, securing wins at Blenheim (1704), Oudenaarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709). His success continued in Italy, notably at Turin (1706). Renewed Austro-Turkish conflicts saw Eugene triumph at Petrovaradin (1716) and Belgrade (1717), solidifying his legacy as one of Europe's greatest military commanders and securing peace in 1718.
Throughout the late 1720s, Eugene's diplomatic skills secured powerful allies for the Emperor in dynastic struggles with the Bourbon powers. Physically and mentally fragile in his later years, Eugene saw less success as commander-in-chief during the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735). Despite his opposition to the conflict, he loyally led a defensive campaign, preventing enemy invasion of Bavaria. During his peaceful years, Eugene accumulated a vast collection of art and literature and corresponded with contemporary artists, scientists, and philosophers. His architectural legacy includes Baroque palaces like the Belvedere in Vienna. He died on 21 April 1736, aged 72.
Early years (1663–1699) Birth and family
Prince Eugene was born at the Hôtel de Soissons in Paris on 18 October 1663. His mother, Olympia Mancini, was one of Cardinal Mazarin's nieces whom the Cardinal had brought to Paris from Rome in 1647 to further his (and, to a lesser extent, their) ambitions. The Mancinis were raised at the Palais-Royal along with the young Louis XIV, with whom Olympia formed an intimate relationship. Yet to her great disappointment, her chance to become queen passed by, and in 1657 she married Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons, Count of Dreux and Prince of Savoy. Together they had had five sons (Eugene being the youngest) and three daughters, but neither parent spent much time with the children: the father, a French general officer, spent much of his time away campaigning, while Olympia's passion for court intrigue meant the children received little attention from her.
The King remained strongly attached to Olympia, so much so that many believed them to be lovers; but her scheming eventually led to her downfall. After falling out of favour at court, Olympia turned to Catherine Deshayes (known as La Voisin), and to the arts of black magic and astrology. It proved a fatal relationship. She became embroiled in the "Affaire des poisons"; suspicions abounded of her involvement in her husband's premature death in 1673, and even implicated her in a plot to kill the King himself. Whatever the truth, Olympia, rather than face trial, subsequently fled France for Brussels in January 1680, leaving Eugene in the care of his paternal grandmother, Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons, and of his paternal aunt, Louise Christine of Savoy, Princess of Baden consort to the heir apparent Ferdinand Maximilian, and mother of Prince Louis of Baden.
Youth From the age of ten, Eugene had been brought up for a career in the church, in line with expectations for the youngest son. Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans, known for her satirical letters and her hostility toward those who opposed the French crown, described him unfavourably, writing that he was "never good looking" and criticising his features. In the same retrospective commentary, she claimed he had lived a life of "debauchery" and associated with what she described as an "effeminate” circle", including figures such as the Abbé de Choisy. These remarks were made decades later, after Eugene had entered the service of France’s principal enemy, the Habsburgs.
In February 1683, to the surprise of his family, the 19-year-old Eugene declared his intention of joining the army. Eugene applied directly to Louis XIV for command of a company in French service, but the King who was said to dislike Eugene's appearance and who had shown no compassion for Olympia's children since her disgrace—refused him out of hand. "The request was modest, not so the petitioner", he remarked. "No one else ever presumed to stare me out so insolently." Whatever the case, Louis XIV's choice would cost him dearly twenty years later, for it would be precisely Eugene, in collaboration with the Duke of Marlborough, who would defeat the French army at Blenheim, a decisive battle which checked French military supremacy and political power.
Denied a military career in France, Eugene decided to seek service abroad. One of Eugene's brothers, Louis Julius, had entered Imperial service the previous year, but he had been immediately killed fighting the Ottoman Empire in 1683. As soon as news of his death reached Paris, Eugene decided to immediately travel to Austria in the hope of taking over his brother's command. It was not an unnatural decision: his first cousin, Louis of Baden, was already a leading general in the Imperial army, as was a more distant cousin, Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. 13 days after his brother's death, on the night of 26 July 1683, Eugene left Paris and headed east.Heer gives Eugene's departure date as 21 July 1683. Some accounts state that Eugene travelled in disguise, reportedly dressed as a woman, and was accompanied by his cousin Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti. Years later, in his memoirs, Eugene recalled his early years in France:
Great Turkish War
By May 1683, the Ottoman threat to Emperor Leopold I's capital, Vienna, was very evident. The Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa Pasha—encouraged by Imre Thököly's Magyar rebellion—had invaded Hungary with between 100,000 and 200,000 men;Childs: Warfare in the Seventeenth Century, 133. Childs puts the number at 100,000; John Wolf, as high as 200,000. within two months approximately 90,000 were beneath Vienna's walls. With the 'Turks at the gates', the Emperor fled for the safe refuge of Passau up the Danube. It was at Leopold I's camp that Eugene arrived in mid-August.
Although Eugene was not of Austrian extraction, he did have Habsburg antecedents. His grandfather, Thomas Francis, founder of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, was the son of Catherine Michaela of Spain—a daughter of Philip II of Spain—and the great-grandson of the Emperor Charles V. But of more immediate consequence to Leopold I was the fact that Eugene was a relative of Victor Amadeus II, the Duke of Savoy, a connection that the Emperor hoped might prove useful in any future confrontation with France. These ties, together with his ascetic manner and appearance (a positive advantage to him at the sombre court of Leopold I), ensured the refugee from the hated French king a warm welcome at Passau, and a position in Imperial service. Though French was his favoured language, he communicated with Leopold in Italian, as the Emperor (though he knew it perfectly) disliked French. But Eugene also had a reasonable command of German, which he understood very easily, something that helped him much in the military.The life of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Charles de Ligne
Eugene had no doubt as to where his new allegiance lay, and this loyalty was immediately put to the test. By September, the Imperial forces under the Duke of Lorraine, together with a powerful Polish army under King John III Sobieski, were poised to strike the Sultan's army. On the morning of 12 September, the Christian forces drew up in line of battle on the south-eastern slopes of the Vienna Woods, looking down on the massed enemy camp. The day-long Battle of Vienna resulted in the lifting of the 60-day siege, and the Sultan's forces were routed. Serving under Baden, as a twenty-year-old volunteer, Eugene distinguished himself in the battle, earning commendation from Lorraine and the Emperor; he later received the nomination for the colonelcy and was awarded the Kufstein regiment of dragoons by Leopold I.
Holy League
In March 1684, Leopold I formed the Holy League with Poland and Venice to counter the Ottoman threat. For the next two years, Eugene continued to perform with distinction on campaign and establish himself as a dedicated, professional soldier; by the end of 1685, still only 22 years old, he was made a Major-General. Little is known of Eugene's life during these early campaigns. Contemporary observers make only passing comments of his actions, and his own surviving correspondence, largely to his cousin Victor Amadeus, are typically reticent about his own feelings and experiences. Nevertheless, it is clear that Baden was impressed with Eugene's qualities—"This young man will, with time, occupy the place of those whom the world regards as great leaders of armies."
In June 1686, the Duke of Lorraine besieged Buda (Budapest), the centre of Ottoman Hungary and the old royal capital. After resisting for 78 days, the city fell on 2 September, and Turkish resistance collapsed throughout the region as far away as Transylvania and Serbia. Further success followed in 1687, where, commanding a cavalry brigade, Eugene made an important contribution to the victory at the Battle of Mohács on 12 August. Such was the scale of their defeat that the Ottoman army mutinied—a revolt which spread to Constantinople. The Grand Vizier, Sarı Süleyman Pasha, was executed and Sultan Mehmed IV, deposed. Once again, Eugene's courage earned him recognition from his superiors, who granted him the honour of personally conveying the news of victory to the Emperor in Vienna. For his services, Eugene was promoted to Lieutenant-General in November 1687. He was also gaining wider recognition. King Charles II of Spain bestowed upon him the Order of the Golden Fleece, while his cousin, Victor Amadeus, provided him with money and two profitable abbeys in Piedmont. Eugene's military career suffered a temporary setback in 1688 when, on 6 September, the Prince suffered a severe wound to his knee by a musket ball during the Siege of Belgrade, and did not return to active service until January 1689.
Interlude in the west: Nine Years' War