Military service was all but obligatory for the young men of the nobility; those who could afford it gave their sons prestigious educations, for instance in the school of pages which was housed in the Grand Écurie. At the end of their education, they would receive a commission or a regiment - once more, bought and paid for by their family. The consequence was that 18-20 year old men were placed in charge of trained soldiers without having no practical experience themselves.
Yet, not everyone could afford to purchase a rank but still hoped to advance themselves through the army. Louis XIV wished to accommodate them while providing himself with a new corps of fresh officers with noble blood. In 1682 - the same year that the court settled at Versailles - he established a system of cadets gentilhommes which catered to young men from aristocratic but impoverished families. They would be sent to frontier garrisons where they would receive their education - afterwards they could use that knowledge to keep the frontier secure.
Louis XV also attempted to incorporate the never-ending need for new officers with this desire for service; he created the École Militaire which accepted 500 youths ranging from 8 years old to 20 years old. The only requirement was a proof of nobility going back four generations on the father's side. After their education, they were deployed in the king's service.
Considering the young ages of the boys involved, it is no wonder that many of them had a rude awakening when they first encountered the military. For instance, François-Marie d’Arod was just fifteen years old when he entered the army. As he later recalled, the first time a captain reprimanded him, he burst out in tears.
Others were not even that fortunate. Eager to make a name for themselves, the bloody battlefields of the 17th century caused the death of several young men from court:
Vincent-Dominique-Régis de Boufflers was the son of the Marquis de Remiencourt and thus a part of the Boufflers-family. At the age of 13 he was already serving as a standard-bearer for a regiment in the king's guards. They were deployed for the Battle of Dettingen on 27 June 1743; Vincent-Dominique-Régis did not survive the battle. Sources disagree as to his age; some claim that he had been born in 1723 while others place his age as low as 13. A single source even claim that he died due to blood-loss after his arm was shot off by a canon.
Unfortunately, it is quite likely that Vincent was just 13 years old. The post he held was often given to very young boys who were in the very start of their military career. Typically, such a position was unpaid but he was permitted to wear an officer's uniform.
While older than Vincent-Dominique-Régis, Godefroy de Duras was already colonel of his infantry regiment at the age of 25. His father was the Marquis de Duras who himself held the title of Maréchal de Camp. Known as the Comte de Rozan, he died in the battle of Candie on 29 June 1669.
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| Jan Peeter's depiction of the battle of Candie which saw French forces come to the aid of the Venetians against the Ottomans |
From an immense flock of siblings (18 children), Emmanuel Jules de Noailles was the son of the Duc de Noailles and held the title of Comte de Noailles at court. At the age of just 8 years old, he was made governor of Guyenne - a practice that allowed his father to exert actual control until he himself came of age. Sadly, that would never happen. Deployed with his regiment in 1702, he fought near the Rhine where he received several wounds to his head. Despite being evacuated back to Strasbourg, he died on 20 October at the age of 16.
Louis de Rohan, Prince de Rohan, was colonel of a cavalry regiment when he participated in the French campaign in Flanders of 1688. In the summer of that year, he was wounded - not enough to be immediately serious, but enough to warrant sending him home. It is unclear how the doctors managed to keep him alive for so long; he died in Paris on 5 November 1689, with the cause of death stated as being from the wounds he had sustained during the previous battle. He was 22 years old.
At the age of just 20, César-Auguste de Choiseul was Duc de Choiseul and First Gentleman of the Chamber to Philippe, Duc d'Orléans. He was sent to Luxembourg in the spring of 1684 to besiege the city; while doing so, he was wounded and died shortly afterwards. He had not yet had time to marry.
César-Auguste was far from the only Choiseul to perish on the battlefield. The sons of Charles de Choiseul, Baron d'Ambonville appear to have been particularly unfortunate in this regard. Of Charles' 9 children, 6 were male - and four died in battle. Charles (second son of the baron) was a cavalry captain when he died in the Battle of Cassel in 1677, François also died at the battle of Candie (like Godefroy de Duras), Pierre died near Alger in 1683 while Claude-Bernard had died in Germany in 1679.
By 28 years old, Louis Potier, Marquis de Gandelus, was brigadier as well as colonel of first the d'Albret-regiment and then that of Vaisseaux. He was the third son of the Duc de Tresmes. Louis XIV sent him to fight in the Sun King's campaign in the Palatinate which placed the young man at Oberkirq where he was seriously wounded. Taken back to Strasbourg, he died on 24 April 1689.
His younger brother, Jules-Auguste, died just three months after Louis. Jules-Auguste was also a soldier as well as a Knight of Malta. He was killed during the taking of Coron on 18th July 1689, at 26 years old.
Louis-François de La Rochefoucauld had become a page to the king at the age of 18; this inevitably led to a military position. In his case, Louis-François was made aide-de-camp to the Comte de Roye. It was while following Roye to Seintzen in 1674 that the young seigneur de la Bergerie was killed in action at 24 years of age.
Having just married his cousin, Emmanuel-Henri de Beaumanoir, marquis de Lavardin, set out to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession. He held the post of Lieutenant General of the king's armies in Lower Brittany as well as a cavalry colonel. On 15th November 1703, the 19-year old was in the battle of Spire during which he died.
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| Battle of Ramillies |
Serving as sub-lieutenant in the king's gendarmes, Maximilien-Gaston-Guy-Benjamin de Rohan was also dispatched for the king during the War of the Spanish Succession. When the battle of Ramillies broke out on 23rd May 1706, Maximilien was 26 years old. He was shot in the head by a musket, presumably (and hopefully) killing him rather instantly.
Like the Choiseul-family above, that of Rohan also followed the traditional way of purchasing titles for the sons of the family. By spreading them out to various regiments, the family might also hope to widen their sphere of influence. Such a scattering of relatives had the added advantage of lessening the risk of annihilation of the next generation; imagine if all young men of a single family were placed in the same regiment - that would inevitably place the future of their family at risk if they were sent into battle.
Maximilien-Gaston-Guy-Benjamin de Rohan himself was the sixth son of the Prince de Soubise. His father had passed on the post of captain-lieutenant to his second son. Interestingly, Maximilien might have served with his brother, the Prince de Soubise's fourth son, Henri-Louis. Both Maximilien and Henri were enrolled as ensigns but whether that was in the same regiment is unknown.
Pierre-Gabriel de Simiane, Comte de Carcés, fought at the battle of Cassel in 1677. He was a member of the king's bodyguard known as the French Guards. During the fighting, he received no less than five wounds which caused him to be evacuated to Ypres. Sadly, he never recovered and died there at the age of 22; as such, he predeceased both his parents.
Naturally, there are many, many more men who lost their lives on the battlefield but it would simply be impossible to mention them all. The period in question - particularly the reign of Louis XIV - was dominated by bloody conflicts including the War of the Spanish Succession, the Nine Years' War and the War of the League of Augsburg.
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