Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle: The Provençal Admiral Who Commanded a Squadron at the Height of French Naval Power

 

• A Marseille Lineage: The Valbelle Family and Its Origins

• The Defense of Marseille: Honoré de Valbelle and the Imperial Sieges

• Cosme de Valbelle: Galleys at Ceresole and Corfu

• Côme II: A Death Before Genoa

• Jean-Baptiste s Youth: Wounded at Tarragona

• The Franco-Dutch War: Command of a Squadron

• Death and Legacy: An Admiral of Provence

A Marseille Lineage: The Valbelle Family and Its Origins

Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle was born in Marseille in 1627 into a family that had been prominent in the maritime life of Provence for generations. The Valbelle were descended from a prominent naval family, and their name was associated with the galleys that had defended the coast of Provence against the Spanish and the Barbary pirates. Several genealogists trace the origin of the Valbelle family to the old viscounts of Marseille, a lineage that would have given them a place among the oldest nobility of the region.

But the origins of the Valbelle were contested. A Sieur Garcinière wrote to Robin de Briançon, author of the Nobiliaire de Provence, that the Valbelle family went back no further than to Honoré I, an apothecary, who made a fortune from his profession and was then elected second consul of Marseille in 1528. Another genealogist stated that this proves the nobility of the family, since no second consul of Marseille was ever taken from a mechanical trade.

The genealogist Pierre d Hozier noted on one of these contradictory letters that despite the warning, the late Sieur Robert de Briançon did not refrain from drawing up the genealogy of the Valbelle family as requested in exchange for a payment of 1,000 pistoles. The debate over the family s origins was a reflection of the importance of genealogy in the social world of the French nobility.

The Defense of Marseille: Honoré de Valbelle and the Imperial Sieges

Honoré de Valbelle twice participated in the defense of Marseille. He first defended the city against the constable of Bourbon, who raised the siege in 1524. The constable was a former French commander who had defected to the side of the Holy Roman Emperor, and his siege of Marseille was a threat to the kingdom of France.

He then defended Marseille against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1536. The Emperor s invasion of Provence was a major military campaign, and the defense of Marseille was a key moment in the resistance. Honoré left handwritten memoirs on these two defenses, a record of his service to the city and to the crown.

Cosme de Valbelle: Galleys at Ceresole and Corfu

Honoré s son, Cosme de Valbelle, was captain of fifty men in the army of Francis I of France and fought in the Battle of Ceresole in 1544. The battle was a French victory, but it was a costly one, and it did not change the course of the Italian Wars.

Under Henry II of France, Cosme commanded three galleys sent to the Kingdom of Naples in 1552 to help the prince of Salerno. In 1553, he helped take the Isle of Corfu, a Venetian possession that was threatened by the French and the Ottomans. His service in the Mediterranean was a continuation of the Valbelle family s maritime tradition.

His son Antoine commanded Marseille in 1579 and 1584 against the Huguenots. The Wars of Religion divided France, and Marseille was a Catholic stronghold. Antoine s defense of the city was a service to the Catholic cause.

Côme II: A Death Before Genoa

Côme II de Valbelle was a captain of one hundred men and commander of a galley under Louis XIII. He married Anne-Marguerite de Paule in 1606, daughter of François de Paul and Jeanne de Puget. They had two sons, Jean-Philippe and Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle.

Côme II died on August 15, 1638, at the age of seventy, in a clash with Spanish galleys outside Genoa. His son, Jean-Philippe, the older son, was lieutenant on the galley Valbelle and was badly wounded in this action. In recognition of his role in the fight, he was made capitaine de galère on December 15, 1638, in command of the Valbelle.

The parish church of Marseille was given the flags of the Spanish galleys that Côme II de Valbelle had defeated before Genoa in 1638, which were hung above the high altar. The flags were a symbol of the Valbelle family s service to the crown.

Jean-Baptiste s Youth: Wounded at Tarragona

Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle was born in Marseille in 1627. His family home in Marseille was a house built towards the end of the 16th century, adorned with delicate sculptures. It had a porch with columns that supported a stone into which the family coat of arms had been engraved.

At the age of fourteen, Valbelle served in the forces of Henri de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, in the Battle of Tarragona in August 1641, where he was wounded. The battle was an engagement in the Franco-Spanish War, a conflict that was part of the broader Thirty Years War. Valbelle s wound was a mark of his courage, and his service at such a young age was a sign of the family s commitment to the French navy.

He fought in the Battle of Barcelona in 1642 under Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, the admiral who was one of the greatest French naval commanders of the seventeenth century. Valbelle s service in these early battles was the beginning of a career that would span four decades.

The Franco-Dutch War: Command of a Squadron

Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle is known for his role as commander of a squadron of French ships during the Franco-Dutch War of 1672 to 1678. The war was a conflict between France and the Dutch Republic, and it was part of Louis XIV s campaign to expand French territory and influence.

Valbelle s command of a squadron was a mark of his standing as a naval officer. He was a Provençal admiral, a man whose family had served the French crown for generations. His service in the Franco-Dutch War was the culmination of his career.

Death and Legacy: An Admiral of Provence

Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle died on April 17, 1681. He had lived a life of service to the French navy, from his first wound at Tarragona to his command of a squadron in the Franco-Dutch War. He was a descendant of a family that had defended Marseille against the constable of Bourbon and Charles V, that had fought at Ceresole and Corfu, and that had defeated Spanish galleys before Genoa.

His legacy is that of an admiral of Provence, a man whose family s history was woven into the maritime history of the Mediterranean. The flags of the Spanish galleys that his father had defeated hung above the high altar of the parish church of Marseille. His own service was a continuation of that tradition.

Источник: https://civic-monitor.com/component/k2/item/216264