A FRANCOPHILE ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY - Lot 89

Lot n° 89
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Estimation :
600 - 800 EUR
A FRANCOPHILE ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY - Lot 89
A FRANCOPHILE ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER OF THE WALLOON GUARDS VAN WERDE (Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel). Autograph manuscript. 1791-1839. 37 ff. in an in-4 paperback notebook, foliated 1 to 41 (ff. 2 and 3 missing, ff. 38 and 39 blank); the first 3 leaves detached and a bit frayed, the first one moreover with freckles and wetness. Son of a Belgian baron and alderman of Brussels, Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde (1767-1840) enlisted in 1791 as a cadet in the regiment of the Walloon Guards in the service of the King of Spain, under the command of Colonel Pablo Sangro Merode, Prince of Castelfranco, a close associate of Secretary of State Manuel Godoy. THE ROUSSILLON WAR: this diary includes first of all a part related to the military activity of its author, and in particular his participation in the fights which took place between Perpignan and Figueras, opposing the army of the kingdom of Spain to the French revolutionary troops, from May 1793 to November 1794 (pp. 12-16). Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde became an ensign of the grenadiers in November 1793, and then, at a very young age, was given command of a company. He does not hide the horrors of war and paints a very dark picture of a French military hospital abandoned with its wounded in Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines. Once peace was signed with France, his military career seemed more chaotic: he became a battalion commander in August 1795, was put in charge of two battalions in January 1797, was appointed lieutenant and commander of the fort of Montjuïc near Barcelona in June 1798, and then was sent to Mallorca, where he was made a sub-major in June 1799. From July 1799 to March 1800, this diary keeps track of a picaresque episode: Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel returned to the mainland and indicates several names of women, before indicating that he was put under arrest and sent back to Majorca. He then moved to Spain, from March to October 1801, before arriving in Madrid. He then requested a year's leave (during which he was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1803), went to Paris, consorted with the Duke of Arenberg or General Belliard, agreed to remain French (the Belgian territories having been annexed during his stay in Spain), and was offered a place in the Consuls' Guard, but retired from the army at the end of his leave in June 1803. The other part of the diary corresponds to the details of his private travels, his social life with Belgian or French personalities and his pleasures, in particular evenings in theaters and at the Opera: he thus retraces his trip to Spain in August 1791, through Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Perpignan, to Barcelona; then his first leave of absence from November 1795 to October 1796, spent in Belgium and in France in Lyon, Paris, Toulouse; then his second leave of absence from June 1802 to June 1803, spent in Paris, mentioned above The next long period of this diary runs from June 1805 to May 1820, then from March 1836 to August 1839, and includes numerous trips to Belgium, France, and Holland. Charles-Ghislain-Gabriel Van Werde evokes a supper at the home of the Dowager Duchess of Arenberg, stays at the castle of Belœil with the Prince of Ligne, or his meeting with Marie-Louise at Laeken in October 1811, or his visit to the battlefield of Waterloo on May 27, 1815, with the Duke of Beaufort, a few days after the events. It should be noted that for the journeys noted from 1836 to 1839, the train is often mentioned as a means of transport. Provenance : former collection of Émile Brouwet.
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