Emmanuel II de Crussol

Emmanuel II de Crussol, 5th Duke of Uzès (5 January 1642 – 1 July 1692), was a French soldier, diplomat and courtier. He fought in Hungary against the Turks during the Austro-Turkish War, then in the Rhineland during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. He also served as governor of Saintonge and Angoulême.

Early life Crussol was born at the Château d'Assier in Assier on 5 January 1642. He was the eldest son of François de Crussol, 4th Duke of Uzès, and, his second wife, Marguerite d'Apchier, Countess of Vazeilles. He was previously married to Henriette of La Châtre. His youngest brother, Louis de Crussol-Florensac, married Marie-Louise-Thérèse de St-Nectaire-Lestrange-Cheylane in 1688, and his sister, Suzanne de Crussol d'Uzès, a Benedictine nun who was Abbess of Yerres from 1691 to 1709.

His paternal grandparents were Emmanuel de Crussol, 3rd Duke of Uzès, and Claudine d'Hébrard de Saint Sulpice (daughter of Bertrand d'Hébrard de Saint Sulpice). His maternal grandparents were Christophe, Count d'Apchier, and Marguerite de Flagheac. After his maternal grandfather died in 1630, his maternal grandmother married his paternal grandfather, the 3rd Duke of Uzès, who had been widowed in .

Career He volunteered as an officer in the Austro-Turkish War to fight in Hungary against the Turks who were commanded by the Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha. These invaders had crossed the Danube at Bad with 100,000 men, and advanced to the gates of Pressburg and Olmütz. During the war, King Louis XIV sent 6,000 Frenchmen to support Emperor Leopold, placed under the command of the Count Jean de Coligny-Saligny, a rebel who had returned from exile with the Prince of Condé. On 1 August 1664, the attack was launched by all the Turkish forces, and the battle seemed lost for the Imperials when the French moved. Reportedly, when Ahmed Köprülüzade saw the French nobility emerge with their lace and blond wigs, he asked "who were these young girls?" These horsemen rushed towards the ranks of the janissaries of the Grand Vizier, and the Imperial Army, rekindled by this example, charged along the entire line. The Turks gave way and fled towards the river to cross it again. Following this victory, a twenty-year truce was signed between the emperor Leopold and the Grand Vizier.

He then took part in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a reward for his services and his courage, he was charged with bringing the news of the capture of the Gallas forts in the Vosges to King Louis XIV at Fontainebleau. He was made Colonel of Infantry following the resignation of his father-in-law, the Duke of Montausier, giving him the power to choose the officers of his regiment and to propose them to the Minister. Thérèse-Marguerite de Crussol (1671–1671), who died young. Jean Charles de Crussol (1675–1739), who married Princess Anna Hippolyte Grimaldi of Monaco, the daughter of the reigning Prince of Monaco, Louis I, and Catherine de Gramont (herself a mistress of King Louis XIV) in 1696. After her death in 1700, he married Anne Marie Marguerite de Bullion de Fervacques in 1706. Louis de Crussol (1677–1694), who became a Canon, but was known as the Abbot of Uzès. François de Crussol (1679–1736), styled, Count of Uzès, a Lieutenant General of the King's Armies and Master of the Cavalry Camp who became Governor of Oléron; he married Madeleine Charlotte Pasquier de Franclieu. After her death in 1713, he married Marie-Anne Commeau, the widow of Pierre Bailleul. Felix-Louis de Crussol (1681–1712), known as d'Aymargues, who became Canon of Strasbourg.

The Duke and Duchess separated in 1685, with the Duchess occupying apartment in the princes' wing at the Court of Louis XIV in Versailles, overlooking the corner of the old wing of the château (today located behind the Gallery of Battles). The Duke died in Paris on 1 July 1692 and the Duchess died at the Hôtel de Rambouillet in Paris in 1695. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Louis. After Louis was killed at the Battle of Landen in 1693, his second son, Jean Charles, became the 7th duke.