James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, was an English nobleman and marshal of France who was a leading military commander in the French service in the earlier wars of the 18th century. He was an illegitimate son of King James II of England by Arabella Churchill.
Background
He was born James Fitzjames at Moulins, France, on August 21, 1670, the illegitimate son of James, Duke of York, who later became King James II of England, and Arabella Churchill, sister of John Churchill, subsequently Duke of Marlborough.
His father was determined to make him a soldier, and at the age of 16 he was sent off to serve as a volunteer in the French army that was fighting the Turks in Hungary.
Career
His father became king of England in 1685 and created him duke of Berwick in 1687. When Berwick returned to England in 1688 he was made governor of Portsmouth and colonel of the Royal House Guards. He accompanied his father to France when the latter was deposed by the Glorious Revolution at the end of that year. Berwick fought on the losing side with James and his Catholic forces at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690. The duke spent the rest of his life in the service of France, and he became a French subject. It was his victory at the battle of Almanza in 1707 that established the House of Bourbon on the Spanish throne. From then until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 he served with equal success on the Franco-Italian frontier, on the Rhine, and in the Low Countries. When war broke out between France and Spain in 1719, Berwick was appointed commander in chief of the French army and soon ended the hostilities successfully. During the years of peace that followed, he proved himself a capable administrator as governor of Provence. It was at his suggestion that barracks were built in France for the first time. When the War of Polish Succession began in 1733 Berwick was sent to command the French army on the Rhine. On June 12, 1733, he was killed while fighting in the trenches during the siege of Philippsburg.
Achievements
Connections
On 26 March 1695, Berwick maried Honora, Countess of Lucan, the daughter of The 9th Earl of Clanricarde, an Anglo-Irish peer. Berwick and the Countess had a son. After Honora Burke's death just three years later in 1698, Berwick married Anne Bulkeley in Paris on 18 April 1700. They had eight sons and five daughters.