When reading of the victory gained by the Duke of Marlborough, together with Prince Eugene of Savoy, over the French at Blenheim in 1704 with its tally of 14,000 prisoners (Ref. 7), readers may have wondered what became of those unfortunate soldiers. This Contribution is a partial answer.
The victory
About 6 pm on Sunday 13th August 1704*1 Marlborough, still on horseback after mounting at about 3 am*2 and having defeated the cavalry of Marshal Tallard’s army, asked his staff for paper and pencil. An old tavern bill was found and on the back the Duke scribbled the following note:-
“1704
August 13
[Salutation: 2 letters indecipherable]
I have not time to say more but to beg you will give my duty to the Queen, and let her know her Army has had a Glorious Victory Monsr Tallard and two other generals are in my Coach and I am following the rest. The bearer my Aid de Camp Coll Parke[r?] will give Her an account of what has passed. I shall doe it in a day or two by another more att large
Marlborough*3“
A facsimile of this historic paper is shown below.
Fig. 1
*1 Julian calendar dating (“Old Style”). By Gregorian calendar (“New Style”) it was Saturday 2nd August.
*2. Marlborough was on horseback for 17 hours that day and was able to sleep only 3 hours afterwards (letter to Sarah 14th August, Ref.2)
*3. As the note was not formally addressed to government it remains the private property of the Marlboroughs.
Page 2 of 5
Colonel Daniel Parke (a Virginian, who had enlisted as a volunteer after losing his fortune) received the order to take the note immediately to Marlborough’s Duchess, Sarah, at St. James Palace in London. He rode about 410 miles to Holland*4, took ship probably to Dover and rode the further 70 miles to London (it is assumed, quicker than sailing up the Thames). He reached Sarah on the morning of the 21st having ridden 480 miles in about 8 days (60 miles per day). Sarah immediately sent him on 20 miles to Queen Anne at Windsor. The bearer of victory news was usually rewarded with 500 guineas – Parke asked for a miniature portrait of his sovereign instead – and was granted that and 1,000 guineas (Ref. 2)! He had well deserved them in delivering Marlborough’s message so promptly.
This was the first major victory on the Continent since King Henry V smashed the French at Agincourt in 1415.
*4. Although not noted in the historical accounts of the army’s march to the Danube from Holland it is safe to assume that a few men and spare horses would have been posted at each town en route to provide a Line of Communication with its Dutch base.
The Surrender of Blenheim*5
Although his fingerspitzengefuhl was sound, Marlborough had been somewhat premature in his hasty note to Sarah. Behind him there were 28 French infantry battalions and 12 dismounted Dragoon squadrons (Refs. 3 Appendix C & 7) besieged in the barricaded village of Blenheim near the bank of the Danube. A stupid right-wing commander, alarmed by the ferocity of an initial English frontal attack on the place, had crammed into it all of Tallard’s reserve infantry. It was when he was trying to reach them to reform his line that Marshal Tallard was captured. With the village surrounded by an actually-smaller English force they were unable to open their barricades and emerge against the devastating platoon-firing of their besiegers. The commander fled and drowned in trying to swim his horse across the river. Although it took until 9 pm to convince them that their isolated situation was hopeless, all 11,000 of them then surrendered.
*5. Actually Blindheim.
The prisoners of Blenheim
A total of about 14,000 officers and men were made prisoner by the allies on 13th August – 25% of the 56,000 engaged (!). This was the Blenheim mass plus others taken elsewhere on the battlefield. Few were captured by Eugene’s army. He (with fewer men than the enemy) had fought the parallel French army of Marshal Marsin to a draw on the North of the battlefield while Marlborough had won in the South. Marsin had had to retreat after his colleague had been beaten. A confusion of identities in the dusk between the cavalries of the left and right wings of the allies probably saved him from the same fate.
Regarding how the prisoners were treated, Ref. 2 quotes the French courtier Saint-Simon as writing:- “Whereas Prince Eugene was harsh the Duke of Marlborough treated them all, even the humblest, with the utmost attention, consideration and politeness…”*6. Tallard, who knew that his eldest son had been badly wounded and who had a hand wound himself, had his own coach sent for from the enemy. Ref. 2 notes that he was permitted by Marlborough (who knew him from his time as Ambassador to England pre-war) to write his own account of the battle to King Louis XIV, dispatched by another prisoner under parole to return. Churchill wryly comments that this kindness could assist the allied cause by causing controversy relative to the conduct of Marshal Marsin (who had refused Tallard’s call for help before Marlborough’s final charge (Ref. 3)).
*6. In contrast to Agincourt where King henry V had ordered prisoners to be killed when an attack in his rear looked likely.
Page 3 of 5
Disposition of the Prisoners
As early as his first official dispatch on the 14th August (to Secretary of State Robert Harley) Marlborough (a very careful man where money was concerned) wrote :- “But as the charge of Subsisting these Officers and Men must be very great, I presume her Majesty will be inclined that they may be exchanged for any other Prisoners that offer”.
The share of the prisoners between Marlborough and Eugene, i.e. between the British plus Dutch and the Austrian Empire, they decided should be settled by the Margrave of Baden (as a sop to his pride because they had kept him out of the way by besieging Ingoldstadt). Tallard, of course, was the prisoner of Queen Anne. His history as POW is well-recorded and will be summarised below. The higher officers allocated to the British are listed in Ref. 3 Appendix C.
The division agreed upon was as follows, from Ref. 7 (published in 1705) :-
| Officers and Sergeants | Men | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marlborough’s share | 728 | 4,950 | 5,678 |
| Eugene’s share | 752 | 4,776 | 5,528 |
| Grand Total | 1,480 | 9,726 | 11,206 |
“Besides 3,000 that have taken Service among the Allies”. Ref. 7 gives the overall POW total as 14,192 which presumably adds the “Prisoners of Note”.
The prisoners from Blenheim village
As the bulk of the prisoners were taken at Blenheim village and their regiments are known, (Refs 7 & 3 Appendix C) this group has been researched as far as possible to find out their fate.
| 3 x battalion (Bn) Regiments:- | Navarre, Royal | 6 Bn |
| 2 x Bn Regiments | Languedoc, Greder Allemand, Zurlauben, Boulonnois, Artois | 10 Bn |
| 1 x Bn Regiments | Provence, | 1 Bn |
| 2 x Bn Regiments | Aunis, Montfort, Santerre | 6 Bn |
| 1 x Bn Regiments | Agenois, Montrou, Lassay, Blaisois, St Segond | 5 Bn |
Total 28 Bn
Entered Enemy Service
Ref. 7 states 3,000 men changed sides and Ref. 3 identifies these as belonging to the Greder Allemand (i.e. German Mercenary) and Zurlauben (Walloon – French-speaking Belgian) Regiments.
However, this appears to be a mistake because Ref. 7 identifies nearly 600 of those 2 Regiments amongst the POW in Eugene’s share, so the 3.000 must have been distributed across all those taken. There would be plenty of employment for these soldiers in the Empire against an active Hungarian revolt and in garrisons along the border with the Turks. They need never have met their former comrades in battle.
Exchanged
Details have been found for the Regiments shown in Red, as follows (Ref.4):-
Navarre. This Regiment, 3rd in precedence in the French infantry, was reported to have burnt its colours before surrendering. Nearly all 1,100 men POW. Exchanged July 1705. They had been in captivity in Holland (Ref 5 additional).
Royal. All POW. Reported 2 Bn in service in 1705, implying a partial exchange. The 3rd Bn re-established 1706, again implying exchange.
Languedoc. Nearly all POW. Exchanged 1707 from captivity in Ulm (i.e. was part of Empire’s share).
Provence. POW. Exchanged 1707.
Boulonnais. POW. Re-established 1706, implying an exchange.
Of the 8 Regiments for which no exchange details have been found, 6 are known from Ref. 6 to have been in existence in 1714 at the end of the war. They must therefore be presumed to have been exchanged at some time in the previous 10 years, No record has been found for the remaining 2.
Page 4 of 5
Of course, exchanges will have been governed by the number of Allied POWs in French captivity. In April 1707 the Franco-Spanish victory at Almanza in Spain*7 increased this by up to a reported 7,500 English/Dutch/Portuguese/Huguenot-French prisoners. Ref. 8 is largely concerned with describing how these POW were provided with money for their survival until exchange, showing the way that such matters were organised at that date*8 .
*7 The French were commanded by the English Duke of Berwick, Marlborough’s nephew, an illegitimate son of King James II by his sister Arabella! The English by a French Huguenot!
*8 Ref. 8 includes the fact that the French offered these POWs about £5 equivalent to desert and enter their service.
The French captured up to 3,000 more British prisoners, including their General James Stanhope, at Brihuega in Spain in December 1710. The men were exchanged by October 1711 but Stanhope was not released until August 1712.
Although details are not available it will be seen that there was plenty of scope for exchange of the remaining Blenheim POW between 1707 and1710.
It is not known whether, while awaiting exchange, the ordinary soldier POWs were put to forced labour or found themselves some kind of paid work. A detail of their subsistence in captivity is that Marlborough wrote to Marshal Villeroy on 22nd December 1704 to request payment of “4 sols of Holland” per soldier (per day?) for the past and the future (Ref. 9).
The enemy wounded
The POWs were, of course, the survivors of many hours of battle, leaving their dead behind. They must have included walking-wounded and some will have died from infections later. It is not known what was done for those more-severely-wounded not evacuated by the enemy but left on the hands of the Allies. Again, many would die.
Marshal Tallard
As Ambassador to England
Tallard, Camille d’Hostun de la Baume, was a Lieutenant General in the French army when appointed in 1697 by King louis XIV as Ambassador Extraordinary to England. His task there was to negotiate with King William III an agreement which the two kings saw as necessary for their future action when the childless, sick King Charles II of Spain died. A Partition Treaty was produced in September 1698 which envisaged the child son of the Elector of Bavaria as Charles’ successor- but he died in February 1699. Another Treaty was therefore necessary and in June 1699 the second son of the Emperor of Austria was named. Then the King of Spain signed a will which named Louis’ grandson as his successor. Charles II died on 1st November 1699. Within a fortnight Louis repudiated the 2nd Treaty and announced that he accepted the will. English opinion regarded Tallard as a dupe. To add insult to bad faith, when the exiled James II of England died in France in September 1701 Louis recognised his son as King of England. William instantly dismissed Tallard and made ready for war (all above Ref. 10). Little did Tallard know that this would not be the last he saw of England!
Tallard recommenced his military service and was promoted to Marshal of France in 1703.
As prisoner
While still on the continent Tallard’s misery was amplified by learning of the death of his son from his wounds, at Strasbourg after the retreat, in September 1704.
Page 5 of 5
Tallard (and 27 other “Prisoners of Note”, ranging from 2 Lts. General down to Colonels) was shipped to England in December 1704 when Marlborough returned home. The Marshal and 10 others were sent to Nottingham while the rest went to Litchfield. Presumably under parole Tallard was able to lease a house in Castlegate. He lived there for nearly 7 years. The house still exists and a commemorative plaque records his occupation (see Figs 2 and 3).
Figure 2
Figure 3
After a General Election turned out the Whigs in October 1710 in favour of the Tories, these immediately set about bringing the hated “Continental” commitment to an end (they had always preferred a “Maritime” strategy (Marlborough, main moving force in military policy up to then, had operated a mixture of the two). Not letting Holland or Austria into the secret, they finally agreed terms with France on 8th October 1711.
One result of the agreement was that Tallard was released and returned to France in November 1711.
A full account of Tallard’s life in Nottingham is given in Ref. 11.
The obvious question is “Why was Tallard kept a – well-favoured – prisoner without exchange, unlike his men and probably many of the other high-ranking officers?” The answer would seem to be that no-one of Marshal’s rank was captured by the French with whom to make that exchange. General Stanhope, for example, captured in December 1710, did not come up to that level.
Louis XIV did not hold the disaster of Blenheim against Tallard. He was raised to the rank of Duke in 1712. He actually became a Minister of State in 1726. He died in 1728, aged 76. His captor, the Duke of Marlborough, died 6 years earlier at 72.
References
1. Warfare..Col. O. Spaulding; Capt. H. Nickerson; Col. J. Wright Harrap 1925.
2 Marlborough; His Life and Times Vol. 11..W.S. Churchill Harrap 1934.
3. Blenheim ; Battle for Europe C. Spencer Phoenix 2005.
4. https://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=French_Army
5. http://www.spanishsuccession.nl/armies/frf003_regiment_navarre.html
6. http://www.spanishsuccession.nl/armies/french_infantry_regiments.html
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8372294/
9.https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rF4BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
10. Marlborough; His Life and Times Vol. 1..W.S. Churchill Harrap 1933.
11. https://storytellergarden.co.uk/horticultural-heroes/celery-history/