From the 1650s to the French Revolution, military entrepreneurship would be one of the financial and aristocratic backbones of the Besenval patrician family from Solothurn. The dawn of the 1650s allowed the family to place its first officer in the Kingâs service: a tradition that was maintained until 1830, with a sole exception between 1661 and 1671. The longevity of this service allows us to undertake an analysis of the constants and changes inherent to foreign service under the Ancien Régime, using the example of this family, which has left behind ample archival materials.1 Switzerland having been spared the major wreckage of history, numerous family archives have been preserved and have not been scattered. This makes it possible to have a consistent look at family trajectories in the context of military entrepreneurship. Despite these substantial primary source materials, some periods, nonetheless, remain in the dark, and the contribution of new sources helps to complete the picture that we are going to provide. In this paper we will discuss three aspects of the activity of the Besenvals: first by addressing the mode of transferral of military units, then by looking at the revenues arising from such posts, and concluding with the forms of recruitment.
At the time, the Swiss cantons and Solothurn, in particular, maintained close political, military, cultural and financial ties with France, which translated, notably, into the repeated renewal of alliances between the Kingdom of France and the Confederation of the XIII Cantons. The permanent embassy of the King of France in Solothurn played an important role in his diplomatic apparatus, moreover, and connected Solothurn, more than the other Swiss cantons, to France. The Besenvals found a favourable environment in this context for having a go at the military entrepreneurship that provided the Swiss
1 Entry into French Service and Establishment of Permanent Regiments
Martin Besenval2 was born in the Aosta Valley and wandered the roads of southern Germany as a Savoyard peddler before settling in Solothurn in 1628. Initially, he kept his distance from the patrician families who traditionally had been offering their services to European princes for ages within the framework of Reisläuferei3. Only late in life he acquired his own company of Swiss Guards, the family historiography situating this step in 1653.4 Thanks to his ties to the Schwaller family, however, he entered into the service of the Most Christian King before that date, since the French ambassador mentions a guard company jointly held by Schwaller and Besenval already in 1651.5 The Besenvals therefore began their foreign service as financial backers of their relatives in Solothurn, while remaining in the shadow of Solothurnâs political office holders.6 The sources are mysterious about Martinâs new activity, but we can detect here a change in the framework of his financial activities following the end of the Thirty Yearsâ War and perhaps preparations being made for his youngest sons, the first of whom is 17 years old in 1650. This thus corresponds to the context highlighted by Zurfluh for Zwyer dâEvibach, in which service represented a unique opportunity to increase oneâs symbolic capital.7 In the course
In 1654, Jean-Martin, the second son of Martin Besenval, was 20 years old and thus found himself leading a company in the field. The unit that his father had taken over from Schwaller was reduced to a half-company, joined to that of Arregger, his brother-in-law.10 The status of the companies in the service of a France that has just emerged from the Fronde was highly uncertain in this period,11 since they were made and unmade depending on the intrigue.12 With the death of Jean-Martin on the outskirts of Arras,13 the only Besenval to die on the field of honour,14 de la Bardeâs intervention would be needed to keep the company in the family and have it transferred it to Jean-Victor.15 Prior to the military reforms undertaken by the Le Telliers, the political credit that families possessed within the Confederation was key for the attribution and transferral of units â all the more so since every vacancy whetted the appetites.16 Before the court at Versailles to some extent shunted the ambassador aside in the second half of the 17th century, the ambassadorâs steps in distributing military posts had been guided by the current political realities in Switzerland. In 1658 he still recommended captain Besenval to the Colonel General of the Swiss and Grisons,17 but Martinâs death in 1660 reduced the political capital of the family in Solothurn significantly and Jean-Victorâs company suffered from the dismissals that followed the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees.18 The following
Louis XIVâs resumption of his wars would, however, provide the Besenvals a new opportunity to reconnect with the military profession. Pierre Joseph (1647â1704), newly married to Marie Sibille de Thurn et Valsassina, a family from the lands of the Prince-Abbot of St. Gallen, would take command of a company officially sanctioned (avouée) by this prince of the Empire,20 and Charles Jacques (1649â1703) would raise a company,21 which was later integrated into the Salis regiment.22 These new companies were the fruit of the levy undertaken by the Kingâs extraordinary envoy Jean-Pierre Stuppa.23 The latter managed to rise into the entourage of Le Tellier and was given the mission of raising companies in Switzerland. He accomplished this, notably, by forming free companies (compagnies franches), thus short-circuiting the authority of the cantons and attracting considerable enmity within the Swiss Confederation. With the establishment of permanent regiments and the transition to what Lynn calls a âstate commission armyâ24, however, the era of committing for just a single campaign was over. In becoming an enduring feature, these levies would bring about four main developments for the Besenval family: 1) a shifting of the centre of gravity of their economic activities to Paris; 2) difficulties maintaining themselves in political power in Solothurn by playing both sides; 3) the need to secure the transferral of military appointments from one generation to another; and 4) the opening up of new career opportunities in France. We are going to try to contextualise these changes within the problematic of the transferral of military companies in the service of France.
Chargés dâaffaires of the family quickly turned up to manage the Parisian affairs,25 the beginning of a separation between the Swiss and French activities that would culminate in the 18th century. The need to be constantly present among the troops likewise quickly required granting of leave to travel
2 Making French Service Perpetual
With regiments becoming permanent, Louis XIV perhaps did not foresee that the Swiss officers were also going to settle in Versailles and create their own networks by inserting themselves into the aristocratic and ministerial clienteles; this would tend, little by little, to push the ambassador into the background. For although the ambassador still had a central place in matters in the 17th century, the centre of gravity for attributing military posts within the Swiss troops was going to shift to Paris in the nascent 18th century. To succeed, the Swiss captains would have to make their entrance into the court, forced to serve as courtiers in order to overcome the company bottleneck. If the gauge up to this point had been a familyâs political credit in the cantons, the network of clientele and friends at Versailles, representing one of the four criteria for advancement given by Lynn,50 would come to rival the power of the ambassador. Having more arrows in oneâs quiver than simply the ambassadorâs support became a necessity for the officers in the service of the Most Christian King. Another development was starting to take place: continuity of service was going to become a key argument for getting ahead and the familyâs political capital in Switzerland would, to some extent, become secondary. The Colonel General of the Swiss could thus draw on an enormous pool in making his choice,51 with the Swiss regiment having around 1,100 officers in the 1690s.52 The Besenvalsâ Parisian network would thus be absolutely crucial for military careers and longevity would be consciously used to attain the upper ranks. But, even more importantly, in the absence of institutional heredity, it was absolutely essential to have a man ready when a titleholder53 died or had to retire from service. In 1710, Franz Joseph and his eldest son Urs Joseph Michael succumbed to a fever. His second son, Pierre Antoine Joseph, was only 13 years
I have long had from my ancestors who have had the honour of serving as captains. My great-uncle de Besenval was killed in 1654 during the lifting of the siege of Arras, my maternal great grandfather de Sury served at the same time and in the same capacity. His company has since become Viggier and Arregger today. The two half-companies of Machet and the company of de Staal changed their names and families when the two gentlemen acquired them. ⦠Since your Serene Highness is willing to allow me to ask his favour, I allow myself to ask his permission to try to obtain from a Captain in the Guards that he is willing to propose to me to command his company.64
It will not be long, however, before the precariousness of his position in the service made itself felt, since the Bachmann company is given to Louis Auguste Augustin dâAffry. Besenval did not lose everything, since the King kept him as commander of dâAffryâs company in the Guards.73 The King, in effect, hardly took the agreements made between Swiss families into account and Besenval found himself caught in the middle. As the young Bachmann would not fail to ask for his company in due course, Besenval offered to assume the commission until the son was old enough to take command.74 He undoubtedly hoped, when the time came, to be able to push in front of him or to obtain for himself the long-awaited company as titleholder. The price was high for such an opportunity at the time and it was not long before he would have the chance. Franz Viktor Josef Settier (1693â1788)75 wanted to turn over his company for a sum of 40,000 livres and was willing to part with it for an annual security of
This agreement would make Jean Victor Pierre Joseph disgusted with the service and he would retire to his home âin a dark and hypochondriacal moodâ.83 The actual revenues of the company were less than the money invested and he tried, always highlighting the longevity of the Besenval familyâs service, to obtain hereditary rights to it.84 When he left the service, the companyâs debts came to 13,682 livres.85 By way of a more or less convoluted agreement,86 he relinquished his half-company to Robert Vigier87: a transferral that was validated by the King.88 There is no need for elaborate calculations to note the dead loss incurred by Jean Victor Pierre Joseph in this affair, even if
The 18th century thus saw the culmination of the tendencies brought about by the reforms of Louis XIV. The families in place during the War of the Spanish Succession had a head start, but the key was to be able to ensure the transferral of companies from one generation to the next. Chance played an important role here, since one had to be able to propose a suitable heir at the right moment. To obtain this transferral, it was also necessary, however, to be able to count on a solid network that went through the court and whose centre was the Colonel General of the Swiss. This made political capital in the cantons a secondary matter, since the Besenvals had a good place in the Swiss regiments despite being absent from the governing councils of Solothurn since 1736. The families entered into contracts whose execution was more or less uncertain, since they were always subject to the goodwill of the royal authorities: first and foremost, the colonel-general of the Swiss and Grisons. This development led to inflation in the price of the companies whose profitability thus became illusory, as we shall see further on. Our thesis is that this period led the patricians to start turning toward the physiocratic exploitation of their landed estates and, if still
3 Foreign Service: An Eldorado?
In light of the energy devoted by the Besenval family to trying to acquire military appointments in France, it is legitimate to ask about motivation. The economic question occupies an important place in the historiography of foreign service.97 Hence, to what extent was this service profitable for the Besenval family? The family archives do not provide all the administrative records for the period in question, but they allow us to appreciate the evolution of financial practices related to the service. The sources are silent for the period before 1671. The information available for the period after Stuppaâs levies is not much more revealing, but it does allows us to conceive an income of 750 livres per month, from which, of course, the expenses inherent to managing a company have to be deducted.98 A detailed breakdown from 1680 shows that the latter came to 5,054 livres for the period from 1677 to 1680,99 which suggests quite substantial profit on the order of around 7,000 livres per year. The same
In 1688, the avoyer raised a new company for the Guards regiment, whose records have been preserved for a period of 24 months spread over four years. This provides us, then, a good basis for comparison with the company held by Charles Jacques. The financial records of this company confirm107 the previous figures, since the average monthly income comes to 3,406 livres. Nonetheless, the overall result is a monthly loss of 390 livres. The difference cannot be explained by the number of troops, since this is equal in the two periods. But expenses increased by around 1,400 livres per month: a situation that can certainly be attributed to the War of the League of Augsburg, during which the Kingdom encountered financial difficulties. Rowland estimates the annual profit of a French captain to have been 500 livres at the time.108 It was also in this period that the standardisation and modernisation of infantry equipment was carried out,109 which surely had an influence on the charges that a
The end of the 17th century thus represented a lean period for officers111 and peace was hardly going to improve matters due to the consolidation of companies. We can understand here the reluctance of the cantons to accept the lowering of wages to 16 livres following the Peace of Ryswick112 and it seems like the only way to stay afloat financially was to obtain a gratification113 or a pension from the king114 or a post in the general staff of a regiment, like that of major for Charles-Jacques.115 The latter post had the advantage of completely relieving its holder of the burden of the company.116 The War of the Spanish Succession allowed to keep the profitability of the Swiss companies uncertain. Jean-Victor II was on a mission in Northern Europe. His brother and his chargé dâaffaires Brochant sent him the financial records of his two companies: one in Castellaâs regiment and the other a half-company in the Guards regiment. There is not the same degree of precision as in the previously cited sources, but these records117 give us valuable information on military revenues at the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Although incomplete, they cover the period 1706â17 and only include revenues and hence the profits generated by the companies. It is interesting to note that the company in the Guards produced a profit every year: the smallest being 383 livres and the biggest 5,571 livres, with an average of 2,718 livres per year. This profit was thus a far cry from that of the 1680s, but still better than the losses suffered during the last war, although it should be remembered that the profits had to be shared with Vigier, the other commander of this joint company.118 For the company in the Castella regiment, it is likely that it ran deficits in the years without figures. The average of 4,073 livres profit should thus be regarded with caution, since it is likely that the company had deficits in five of the years in the period under consideration, which would bring the average profit to 2,376 livres. A note in the records informs us that the
When Pierre Victor took over the two companies from his father, his uncle was in a position to write that he âdrew 14,000 livres from his two companies all expenses paidâ.123 This situation was the privilege of those who were able to succeed directly to the position of titleholder. As indicated above, the elder branch did not share this good fortune. In the 1740s, the company of Jean-Victor Pierre Joseph in the Seedorf regiment brought in 1,608 livres per month124: a sum that is confirmed in a subsequent letter.125 The difference was largely the result of the small size of the company. If it still produced a profit some months, the latter amounted to a few hundred livres at most. Such a total did not allow one to have an extravagant lifestyle, especially when a would-be fashionable officer had to put in appearances in high society.126 It would be during this period that Jean-Victor Pierre Joseph tried to get into the Guards regiment. As captain-commander of Bachmannâs company, he secured an income of 200 livres per month: a better deal than when he was titleholder in the Seedorf regiment.127 The latter still belonged to him and continued to bring in a monthly profit of 175 livres in 1749 and 1751.128 In light of these figures, it is obvious that the condition of captains in the French service had greatly deteriorated over the course of the 18th century. Whereas a profit of 7,000 to 9,000 livres had been conceivable in 1680, profits rarely exceeded 3,000 livres in 1750. Moreover,
Increasing his income was indeed central to Besenvalâs desire to acquire Settierâs company in the Guards. Pierre Victor tells him that he has seen financial records showing an annual income of 8,600 livres for the company. According to his calculation, the company should bring in 7,000 and, subtracting the 4,000 that has to be paid annually to Settier, this still leaves him 3,000 â or 600 more than in his post at the head of dâAffryâs company.134 The calculation would turn out to be wrong. The company had to undertake numerous expenditures and incurred 11,000 livres of debt to merchants in 1756.135 But the company still generated a profit: 3,710 livres from November 1757 to April 1758136 or 1,830 for July to December 1758.137 However, the annual payment to Settier ate up almost everything. For the period from 1756 to 1759, the unitâs debt reached 13,682 livres138: a situation that was not unheard of at the time.139 Despite a company in the Guard, Besenval failed to achieve a higher military rank and advance his
4 Swiss Troops in Name Only?
Let us now turn to the recruitment practices of the Besenval family. The historian Jean Steinauer has shown that there was a strong relationship between patronage ties established in Switzerland and recruitment.145 Do we find the
While Jean Victor II was away, the recruitment would be subcontracted to captain-lieutenants.153 The same would take place for the half-company of Pierre Célestin Antoine in Brendléâs regiment, whose recruitment would be handled by M. de Vevey.154 Outsourcing thus made it possible to avoid this highly cumbersome task. The officers of the companies also took part: as noted by lieutenant von Vivis, who asks for leave to go see his brother-in-law in Haguenau and plans to obtain some recruits there.155 This geographical specification is not without interest, since Alsace was going to become increasingly
This is not an isolated tendency and is confirmed by a record of the same company dating from 1749.157 The share of Alsatians was tending to increase. The relative number of Solothurners remains unchanged, but the Alsatians comprise half of the troops. The fact that the two Lorrainers included on the companyâs rolls come from the place where it is garrisoned also shows that recruitment could be easily accomplished without having recourse to Switzerland. This development does not seem to be confined to Swiss troops, since French recruitment was preponderantly from border towns and garrisons.158 The origins of the Solothurners in the same record does not point to any particular region of recruitment. On the other hand, many of the Alsatians come from the Brunstatt and Riedisheim communes: the two fiefs of the Besenval family. Is this presence of so many Alsatians a temporary fact? In any case, their share would fall to 39 per cent a few years later. The rolls from March 1751 reveal that the Swiss are, in effect, again more numerous than foreigners.159
What I like best are certainly the Solothurners, nonetheless, given how expensive and scarce they are, we need to take foreigners, nonetheless, I ask you that they are only a third, namely that when you will have two Solothurners, you can take a foreigner, as inspector, you feel that I must lead by example and that I should be sure to follow the conventions scrupulously.167
The reforms undertaken by Choiseul, who notes that out of 18,000 men in the Swiss regiments, only 3,000 are in fact Swiss,168 aim, in effect, to reduce the proportion of foreigners in the Swiss regiments, as Pierre Victor again makes clear: âI forgot to tell you that in general what I need are Solothurners, because M. de Choiseul absolutely wants us [to have] Swissâ.169
Though well documented for the reign of Louis XV, it is possible for us, nonetheless, to note that the use of Alsatian estates occured well before 1750, since François Joseph Besenval was fined 10,000 livres in 1691 for having brought Solothurners to Brunstatt in order to enlist them, thus circumventing the requirements of the Solothurn authorities.170 Alsace thus served to get around the establishment of more effective recruitment chambers (chambres des recrues).171 A Solothurner is even said to have been kidnapped in the Sundgau,
5 Conclusion
The Besenval familyâs military entrepreneurship offers us a longevity that makes it possible to study the phenomenon in the long term. Whereas access to and retention of companies in the service of France largely depended on the political capital available in the cantons in the 17th century, the reforms carried out under Louis XIV changed matters. Whereas the Sun King was trying to avoid heredity and venality in military appointments, the outcome would be the opposite, with families trying to ensure the transferral of units from one generation to the next. Swiss military entrepreneurs would try in vain to
A simplified genealogy of the Besenval family men involved in military entrepreneurship in France
The Besenval family archives were housed at the Musée des Suisses dans le Monde (Château de Penthes), but are now stored at the States archives of Solothurn after the bankruptcy of this museum. They are currently in the process of being digitised, but are already available online, see www.besenval.anton.ch. See also Laure Eynard, âLe Fonds de Besenval: De la conservation à la diffusion du savoir,â La Lettre de Penthes 26 (2015), pp. 53â55.
A simplified genealogy of the de Besenval family is to be found at the end of the article, in order to facilitate reading and to be able to situate the actors in question (Fig. 17.1).
I.e. a commitment limited only to the duration of a campaign and without a permanent basis.
Gabrielle Claerr Stamm, La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim (Riedisheim, 2015), p. 38.
Neuchâtel, Bibliothèque publique et universitaire [BPUN], 8 RO I/43, fol. 388.
See the correspondence of de la Barde at BPUN, 8 RO I/42, 43 and 44.
Anselm Zurfluh, âSebastian Peregrin Zwyer von Evibach (1597â1661): Ein eidgenössischer Solddienstunternehmer,â in Gente ferocissima: Mercenariat et société en Suisse (XVeâXIXe siècle), eds. Norbert Furrer et al. (Zurich/Lausanne 1997), 17â30.
The avoyer was the head of the Solothurn Council and thus the highest possible political office in the canton.
BPUN, 8 RO I/44, fol. 237.
BPUN, 8 RO I/45, fol. 89.
Zurlauben even says: âThe service of the Swiss in France was not at all reliable before 1671â, in Beat F. Zurlauben, Histoire militaire des Suisses au service de la France, 7 (Paris, 1752). Available at https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-25408. Accessed 21 April 2017.
BPUN, 8 RO I/45, fol. 90. On the more general context, see Edouard Rott, Histoire de la représentation diplomatique de la France auprès des cantons suisses, de leurs alliés et de leurs confédérés, 6 (Berne, 1917).
Aargauer Kantonsbibliothek, Acta Helvetica [AH] 76/147.
Which will, incidentally, be one of the reasons given for ennobling the family, see Prégny-Chambésy, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde [MSMA], 1/2.10.
BPUN, 8 RO I/45, fol. 145.
AH, 92/110.
BPUN, 8 RO I/47, fol. 89.
Die Eidgenössische Abschiede aus dem Zeitraume von 1649 bis 1680, 6:1 (Frauenfeld, 1867), pp. 506â507.
Lucien Bély, La France au XVIIe siècle: Puissance de lâétat, contrôle de la société (Paris, 2009), pp. 616â619.
MSMA, 1/4.4.
MSMA, 1/8.8.
MSMA, 1/8.30.
Zurlauben, Histoire militaire, 7, pp. 131â132. On his mission, see Katrin Keller, âEin Schweizer Gardehauptmann als französischer Unterhändler: Johann Peter Stuppas Werbeverhandlungen in der Eidgenossenschaft 1671,â in: Beobachten, Vernetzen, Verhandeln: Diplomatische Akteure und politische Kulturen in der frühneuzeitlichen Eidgenossenschaft, eds. Philippe Rogger, Nadir Weber (Basel, 2018), 92â115.
John A. Lynn, Giant of the Grand Siècle: The French Army, 1610â1715 (New York, 2006), p. 7.
MSMA, 1/28.47.
BPUN, 8 RO I/53, fol. 271.
See the correspondence of Jean-Victor II Besenval with the Marquis dâAvaray at BPUN, 8 RO I/114 and MSMA, 1/17.233.
Hervé Drévillon, Lâimpôt du sang: Le métier des armes sous Louis XIV (Paris, 2005), pp. 179â185.
BPUN, 8 RO I/55, fols. 272, 315.
Stamm, La saga, p. 83. The âreformationâ of a company means that its commander is removed from command by the king. The remaining troops are then either added to an existing company or form the embryo of a new company assigned to someone who is useful to French interests in Switzerland.
MSMA, 1/8.82.
MSMA, 1/8.72; MSMA, 1/9.3.
A free company was, as a rule, unregimented. In the context of Swiss foreign service, this also meant that is was not officially sanctioned (avouée) by any canton and it tied the owner of a unit to the King by way of a specific capitulation or convention, which could be contrary to the interests of the Helvetic Corps as a whole.
MSMA, 1/10.108.
Mauritz Wagner was at the time the lieutenant colonel of the Swiss Guards regiment. As such, he was the Solothurner of highest rank among the Swiss troops in France and often acted as conduit between the authorities of his canton and Colonel Stuppa.
MSMA, 1/6.216.
MSMA, 1/6.59.
MSMA, 1/6.219.
MSMA, 1/10.104.
BPUN, 8 ROI/64, fol. 269.
MSMA, 1/6.60. See also MSMA, 1/10.78.
Bern, Archives fédérales suisses [Bar], J4.1#1000/1259#, fols. 206â207.
MSMA, 1/6.63.
François-Alexandre Aubert de la Chesnaye-Desbois, Jacques Badier, âBesenval,â in Dictionnaire de la noblesse, 3 (Paris, 1864), p. 61.
BPUN, 8 RO I/70, fol. 208.
BPUN, 8 RO I/71 (vol. 2), fol. 205.
In 1697, Charles Jacques also received a half-company in his name from the King, see BPUN, 8 RO I/73, fol. 101.
BPUN, 8 RO I/71 (vol. 2), fol. 205.
Hans Sigrist, Solothurnische Geschichte, 3 (Solothurn, 1981), pp. 6â9.
Lynn, Giant, p. 259.
MSMA, 1/10.115.
André Corvisier, Louvois (Paris, 1983), p. 517.
Since the term âownerâ does not reflect the legal reality of possessing a company, which is more similar to a usufruct, we have adopted the term âtitleholderâ, which is opposed to that of commander. It is not out of the question, however, that the titleholder would choose to command his unit himself.
Stamm, La saga, p. 57.
AH, 26/77.
MSMA, 1/17.150.
MSMA, 1/19.2.
MSMA, 1/19.39.
The term âtitleholderâ here means that Pierre Victor received from the King the patent of captain for his units, but that he was too young to be their commander and left the responsibility to a captain-lieutenant until he had the real capacity to command.
MSMA, 1/17.255.
MSMA, 1/19.57.
MSMA, 1/19.53.
MSMA, 1/28.62.
MSMA, 1/18.38: âIl y a long temps que jâai eu de mes ancêtres qui y ont eu lâhonneur de servir en qualité de capitaines. Mon grand-oncle de Besenval a été tué en 1654 a la levée du siège dâArras, mon bisaïeul maternel de Sury a servi dans le même temps et dans la même qualité. Sa compagnie est depuis devenue Viggier et arregger aujourdâhui. Les deux demi-compagnies de Machet et la compagnie de Staal ont changé de nom et de famille quand les deux Mr. les ont obtenu. ⦠Puisque que votre A. S. [Altesse Sérénissime] veut bien me permettre que je lui demande une grâce, je prends la liberté de lui demander la permission de tâcher dâobtenir dâun Capt [capitaine] aux Gardes quâil veule bien me proposer pour commander sa compg [compagnie]â.
MSMA, 1/19.1.
MSMA, 1/18.304.
Veronika Feller-Vest, âKarl Leonhard von Bachmann,â in Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse [DHS]. Available at https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/023296/2002-01-17/. Accessed 1 September 2022.
AH, 177/68.
AH, 140/65.
MSMA, 1/18.308.
MSMA, 1/18.310.
Drévillon, Lâimpôt, p. 44.
MSMA, 1/18.58.
MSMA, 1/18.56.
Urban Fink, âFranz Viktor Josef Settier,â in DHS. Available at https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/017583/2011-11-23/. Accessed 1 September 2022.
MSMA, 1/18.21.
MSMA, 1/20.58.
MSMA, 1/20.58.
MSMA, 1/18.22.
MSMA, 1/18.20. See also MSMA, 1/18.23.
MSMA, 1/22.155. See also MSMA, 1/22.152.
MSMA, 1/22.145â236.
MSMA, 1/18.60.
MSMA, 1/18.8.
MSMA, 1/20.29.
MSMA, 1/18.303.
Andreas Fankhauser, âJoseph Robert Wilhelm Vigier von Steinbrugg,â in DHS. Available at https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/017603/2014-01-22/. Accessed 1 September 2022.
MSMA, 1/18.118.
MSMA, 1/18.303.
MSMA, 1/22.273.
MSMA, 1/18.174.
MSMA, 1/20.129.
MSMA, 1/22.428 and MSMA, 1/22.275.
MSMA, 1/22.270.
For example, by creating an economic society in Solothurn in 1761, see Jean-François Bergier, Histoire économique de la Suisse (Lausanne, 1984), p. 92.
Hermann Romer, âEntrepreneurs militaires,â in DHS. Available at https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/024643/2009-11-10/. Accessed 1 September 2022.
Walter Schaufelberger, âVon der Kriegsgeschichte zur Militärgeschichte,â Revue suisse dâhistoire 41:4 (1991), 413â451, pp. 432â434.
MSMA, 1/8.80.
MSMA, 1/8.82.
MSMA, 1/8.82.
He then entered the Rosen regiment as a cornet at the age of 16, see de la Chesnaye-Desbois, Badier, âBesenval,â p. 60.
MSMA, 1/8.72.
Or a total close to that reported by Gustav Allemann, âSöldnerwerbungen im Kanton Solothurn von 1600â1723: II. Teil,â Jahrbuch für solothurnische Geschichte 19 (1946), 1â120, pp. 16â17.
Bar, J4.1#1000/1259#, fols. 247â248.
Bar, J4.1#1000/1259#, fols. 206â207.
Bély, La France, p. 455.
Solothurn, Staatsarchiv Solothurn [StASO], Fond Besenval / F15,6, 1â2 Kp Besenval des Garde Rgt â 2 â.
Guy Rowlands, The Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV: Royal Service and Private Interest, 1661â1701 (Cambridge, 2002), p. 231.
Lynn, Giant, pp. 458â463.
Rowlands, The Dynastic, p. 213.
A debt observed at the time for all the captains of the French army, see Drévillon, Lâimpôt, p. 100.
See, for example: MSMA, 1/6.66 and, more generally, the ambassadorâs correspondence contained in BPUN, 8 RO I/73 and 74.
AH, 83/62.
BPUN, 8 RO I/74, fol. 61.
MSMA, 1/5.216.
Drévillon, Lâimpôt, p. 253.
Included at call-number MSMA, 1/11.
MSMA, 1/11.151.
MSMA, 1/11.154.
MSMA, 1/11.156.
MSMA, 1/11.151.
Analysis based on documents included in MSMA, 1/11.
MSMA, 1/17.255.
MSMA, 1/29.15, 16 and 19.
MSMA, 1/29.20.
Jean Chagniot, Guerre et société à lâépoque moderne (Paris, 2001), p. 232.
MSMA, 1/18.133.
Calculated using the figures contained in MSMA, 1/29.
Suter also regards this as one of the reasons for the difficulties of mercenary service in the 18th century: Hermann Suter, Innerschweizerisches Militär-Unternehmertum im 18. Jahrhundert (Zurich, 1971), p. 56.
Calculation made using Fressinâs method and tool âAncien Régime Currency Converterâ. Available at http://convertisseur-monnaie-ancienne.fr/?Y=1750&E=0&L=1413&S=19&D=6. Accessed 11 January 2019.
M.E. Levasseur, Les prix: Aperçu de lâhistoire économique de la valeur et du revenu de la terre en France (Paris, 1893), p. 57.
The setier was a measure of grain containing around 156 litres.
Micheline Baulant, âLe prix des grains à Paris de 1431 à 1788,â Annales: Economies, sociétés, civilisations 23:3 (1968), 520â540, pp. 539â540.
MSMA, 1/20.58.
MSMA, 1/20; for the cited example, see MSMA, 1/20.14.
MSMA, 1/20.5.
MSMA, 1/20.6.
MSMA, 1/20.29.
Max F. Schafroth, âDer Fremdendienst: Kurzfassung eines Vortrages vor der SVMM,â Revue suisse dâhistoire 23:1 (1973), 73â87, pp. 80â86.
MSMA, 1/22.156.
Bucher estimates that a captainâs profits varied between 15 per cent and 40 per cent of his expenditures, see Rudolf Bolzern, âIn Solddiensten,â in Bauern und Patrizier: Stadt und Land Luzern im Ancien Régime, ed. Jubiläumsstiftung 600 Jahre Schlacht bei Sempach und 600 Jahre Stadt und Land Luzern (Luzern, 1986), 30â42, p. 38. François Walter mentions the same figures for the 18th century, see François Walter, Histoire de la Suisse, 2 (Neuchâtel, 2010), p. 46.
Suter, Innerschweizerisches, p. 416.
This thus matches in all respects the description given by Philippe Henry, âService étranger,â in DHS. Available at https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/008608/2017-12-08/. Accessed 1 September 2022.
Thomas Maissen, Histoire de la Suisse (Villeneuve dâAscq, 2019), p. 152.
Jean Steinauer, Patriciens, fromagers, mercenaires: Lâémigration fribourgeoise sous lâAncien Régime (Lausanne, 2000), pp. 20â23.
BPUN, 8 RO I/45, fol. 185.
AH, 97/186.
BPUN 8 RO I/62, fol. 538. At the start of the League of Augsburg, the Solothurn council refuses requests to provide recruits for France, arguing that the latter would be used in offensive operations. For his part, the Kingâs ambassador, Tambonneau, writes that he assumes that Solothurnâs resistance is mainly intended to get the most out of the levy: notably, by obtaining the repayment of debts held by the King.
Allemann, âSöldnerwerbungen,â p. 20.
Die Eidgenössische Abschiede aus dem Zeitraume von 1681 bis 1712, 6:2 (Einsiedeln, 1882), pp. 2251â2252.
MSMA, 1/10.108.
BPUN, 8 RO I/74, fol. 396.
MSMA, 1/11.192.
MSMA, 1/19.39.
MSMA, 1/10.50.
MSMA, 1/29.11.
MSMA, 1/29.82.
André Corvisier, Armées et sociétés en Europe de 1494 à 1789 (Paris, 1976), p. 146. See also Lynn, Giant, p. 327.
MSMA, 1/29.13.
Suter has shown that the situation of the Besenvals is not unusual at the time, see Suter, Innerschweizerisches, p. 112.
MSMA, 1/32.79.
StASO, Fond Besenval / F15,4 Didenheim / Didenheim 7 (1644â1892).
MSMA, 1/32.76.
MSMA, 1/18.154.
MSMA, 1/22.268.
MSMA, 1/32.75.
MSMA, 1/20.86: âCe que jâaime le mieux certainement ce sont les Soleuriens, cependant vue la grande chereté et la rareté, il faut bien prendre des étrangers, cependant je vous demande que ce ne soit que le tiers, câest-à -dire, que lorsque vous aurés deux Soleuriens, vous pouvez prendre un étranger, comme inspecteur, vous sentés que je dois prêcher dâexemple, et quâil faut que je mâen tienne à suivre scrupuleusement les capitulationsâ.
Fabian Brändle, Demokratie und Charisma: Fünf Landsgemeindekonflikte im 18. Jahrhundert (Zurich, 2005), p. 55.
MSMA, 1/20.77.
Allemann, âSöldnerwerbungen,â p. 33.
Romer, âEntrepreneursâ. A chamber of this sort was established in Solothurn in 1689, see Allemann, âSöldnerwerbungen,â pp. 29â32.
Allemann, âSöldnerwerbungen,â pp. 24â25.
MSMA, 1/17.125.
MSMA, 1/17.44.
Chagniot, Guerre, p. 205.
Anne Blanchard, Philippe Contamine, Histoire militaire de la France (Paris, 1992), pp. 444, 545.
As such, we are not able share Steinauerâs conclusion that there was a system bordering on feudal submission for recruitment, since there is no evidence to support such behaviour on the part of the Besenval family.
André Corvisier, âClientèles et fidélités dans lâarmée française,â in Hommage à Roland Mousnier: Clientèles et fidélités en Europe à lâépoque moderne, ed. Yves Durand (Paris, 1981), 213â236, p. 223.
Henry, âService étrangerâ.
Romer, âEntrepreneursâ.
Rudolf Braun, Le déclin de lâAncien Régime en Suisse (Lausanne, 1988), p. 218.
For context on the winds of reform blowing through the French army in the 18th century, see: David D. Bien, âLa réaction aristocratique avant 1789: lâexemple de lâarmée,â Annales: Histoire, Sciences sociales 29:1â2, 23â48, 505â534.
Brändle, Demokratie, p. 243.
Suter speaks of a âstruggle for survivalâ (Existenzkampf) in this regard, see Suter, Inner-schweizerisches, p. 110.
This development is examined in Braun, Le déclin, p. 104.