Pierre de Bréauté

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Pierre de Bréauté

Battle of Breaute and Lekkerbeetje.jpg

Battle of Lekkerbeetje (5 February 1600), engraved by Joannes Doetecum II after Sebastian Vrancx, published by Claes Jansz. Visscher II (1631). Pierre de Bréauté is shown remounting in the right background.
Born 1580
Died 5 February 1600
Vught
Buried Néville
Allegiance Dutch Republic
Battles/wars Battle of Lekkerbeetje

Piere de Bréauté, lord of Bréauté (1580–1600) was a nobleman from Normandy who died at the age of 19 as a cavalry captain in the service of the Dutch Republic, in a cavalry duel known as the Battle of Lekkerbeetje.

Bréauté Commune in Normandy, France

Bréauté is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France.

Normandy Administrative region of France

Normandy is one of the 18 regions of France, roughly referring to the historical Duchy of Normandy.

Dutch Republic Republican predecessor state of the Netherlands from 1581 to 1795

The Dutch Republic, or the United Provinces, was a confederal republic that existed from the formal creation of a confederacy in 1581 by several Dutch provinces—seceded from Spanish rule—until the Batavian Revolution of 1795. It was a predecessor state of the Netherlands and the first Dutch nation state.

In the winter of 1599-1600, a lull in the campaigning season, troops from the Army of Flanders garrisoned in 's-Hertogenbosch brought in a French prisoner, a cavalry lieutenant in the service of the Republic. When the prisoner wrote to his captain, Pierre de Bréauté, asking that money be sent to ransom him, Bréauté replied that he should be ashamed at having been captured, since any one of his men should be worth two of the enemy. Dutch cavalry lieutenant Gerard Abrahams, hearing of the letter's content, challenged Bréauté to meet him on Vught Heath with equal numbers to put his boast to the test.

Army of Flanders

The Army of Flanders was a multinational army in the service of the kings of Spain that was based in the Netherlands during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was notable for being the longest-serving standing army of the period, being in continuous service from 1567 until its disestablishment in 1706. In addition to taking part in numerous battles of the Dutch Revolt (1567–1609) and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), it also employed many developing military concepts more reminiscent of later military units, enjoying permanent, standing regiments (tercios), barracks, military hospitals and rest homes long before they were adopted in most of Europe. Sustained at huge cost and at significant distances from Spain, the Army of Flanders also became infamous for successive mutinies and its ill-disciplined activity off the battlefield, including the Sack of Antwerp in 1576.

s-Hertogenbosch City and municipality in North Brabant, Netherlands

's-Hertogenbosch, colloquially known as Den Bosch, is a city and municipality in the Southern Netherlands with a population of 152,968. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant.

Gerard Abrahams Belgian politician

Gerard Abrahams van Houwelingen, known as Lekkerbeetje ("sweet-tooth") was a Brabantine cavalry officer in the armies of the Dutch Republic and later in the Army of Flanders.

The two officers obtained permission from their commanders, and the combat took place on 5 February 1600. Abrahams was the first casualty, being shot through the neck by Bréauté in the first charge, and his brother also died in the encounter. Bréauté had his horse shot from under him twice, was wounded and made prisoner. He was killed in cold blood, three quarters of an hour after having been captured, in revenge for the death of the Abrahams brothers. [1]

Bréauté was buried in Néville on 8 March 1600. A eulogy, addressed to his wife, Charlotte de Harlay, and his mother, Susanne de Monchy–Senarpont, was published as Deux consolations de M. Jean de Rouen, aux deux très-sages et très-vertueuses Dames de Bréauté, mère et femme. Sur l'assassin, fait nouvellement, de sang froit, a leur fils et mari, le jeune Seigneur de Bréauté (Paris, Philippe du Pré, 1600). [2] He had married Charlotte de Harlay on 17 December 1596.

Néville Commune in Normandy, France

Néville is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France.

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References

  1. Emanuel van Meteren, Historie van de oorlogen en geschiedenissen der Nederlanderen, vol. 7 (Gorinchem, Nicolaas Goetzee, 1755), 319-323.
  2. Edouard-Benjamin Frère, Manuel du bibliographie normand, vol. 1 (Rouen, 1858; reprinted Geneva, 1971), p. 144.