Philipp Ferdinand de Hemricourt Graf Grünne-Pinchart

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Ferdinand_von_Gr%C3%BCnne

https://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00010091&tree=LEO

BIOGRAPHY Philipp was born in Dresden on 15 May 1762, the son of Philippe Antoine Hemricourt de Mozet de Pinchart, comte de Grünne, and Madeleine Christine Rachel de Holstein. He transplanted his family to Austria before Belgium was lost to the Empire. In 1802 he acquired the estates of Dobersberg, Ilmau and Daxsen in the Waldviertel, Lower Austria. Philipp Ferdinand, through a family tradition, which had placed four generations of his ancestors in the service of the House of Habsburg, was no longer a stranger to Austria when he first accompanied the Archduke Charles, to whom he was attached in Brussels as chamberlain, to Vienna in 1791. Although Philipp felt himself completely Austrian, this was more through an inner, traditional bond with the House of the Sovereign than through any attachment to the country itself. On 28 September 1801 in Brussels he married Rosalie, baronesse de Feltz, daughter of Guillaume Antoine François, baron de Feltz, a distinguished supporter of the House of Habsburg, and Rosalie Mathilde Lucie Helman de Termeeren. They had three children of whom Karl Ludwig and Rosalie would have progeny.

Philipp, whose native tongue was French, was typical of those immigrant nobles who were the surest supporters of the house of Habsburg, as for them the emperor was both sovereign and fatherland. Unlike the Bohemian or Hungarian nobles, their patriotism was not essentially nationalist, which made them natural champions of the supranational concept underlying the Habsburg rule.

Philipp joined the Austrian army in 1782 and saw action for the first time as captain in a Dragoons regiment in the war against the Turks in 1778/79. He took part in the first French campaign as a major in the Archduke Johann Dragoons. In the Netherlands campaign of 1793 he was flank adjutant (aide-de-camp) to Emperor Franz. Shortly afterwards he was appointed adjutant-general to chief of ordinance FZM Graf Clairfayt. He took part in the campaign of 1794-95 as a lieutenant-colonel and adjutant-general to cavalry general Graf Wurmser, and distinguished himself greatly in the Battle of Mannheim. In the campaign of 1796-97 he was adjutant-general to Archduke Charles, and in 1797 he was made colonel. In 1799 he fought heroically at the head of a Dragoons regiment in northern Italy and Switzerland. On 30 September of that year his action secured the safe withdrawal of the Russian General Korsakov's force. At the opening of the campaign of 1800, on 6 March that year he was made major-general under lieutenant-general Prince Reuss. He saved the city of Kempten in southwest Germany against superior French forces, and secured the Tyrolean passes, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresia in 1801. At the battle of Hohenlinden, Philipp commanded a cavalry brigade in Liechtenstein's division of the Reserve. On 15 December 1801 at Stayer in Austria, he concluded, together with France's brigadier-general Lahorie, the armistice which preceded the Peace of Lunéville.

In 1804 he became adjutant-general and head of the military chancellery of the war minister Archduke Charles, where he worked on the archduke's army reforms and drafting new regulations for the cavalry. In 1805 he became head of department to the army chief of staff, and in 1806 patron of a regiment of Ulans. On 22 January 1808 he was promoted to Feldmarschalleutnant (lieutenant general). The abuse of a confidential remark by an irresponsible friend (the prince de Ligne) led to his premature retirement in 1809. Archduke Charles then appointed him as his grand master of his household, in which position he served until 1847 when the archduke died. After this he led a retiring life until his death on 26 January 1854.

Philipp Grünne was a singularly strong personality. Not only was he a daring soldier and exceptionally gifted commander, but also a fine writer and good organiser. As chief of the military chancellery he rendered outstanding service to the Archduke Charles. However, the hatred of Grünne in some parts of the army was such that Emperor Franz, in a letter of 9 July 1809 to Archduke Charles, wrote: '...then it will be necessary to remove General Grünne from his post with you because, what with the general dislike which prevails against him, his views and his position with you injure the service to the State and to yourself.'

The archduke's reply is the clearest testimony to the great esteem in which he held Grünne: 'As to lieutenant general Grünne, you know my views on him, and you yourself praised him to me only a few days ago. I can well believe that the few fops, to whom he perhaps spoke the truth a shade too bluntly, are now dissatisfied with him. The opinions of such people should not form the basis for your views or mine, and they should not mislead you into removing a general from his post who is serving you and the State ably and diligently.

'I feel the burden resting on my shoulders too acutely to believe that I can carry it by myself and do everything alone. If I do not have instruments equal to their task and in whom I can place my trust, then I must renounce my principles regarding my duties, if the means to fulfil all my many obligations are taken away from me. So I must ask you to go back on your decision, in which I cannot concur, over a general who is of such service to you and does you such honour; in addition, I will receive the support I need to be of further use to you.'

Despite the unfortunate circumstance that had led without any blame to Philipp's retirement, the fact that the archduke asked him to be grand master of his household is evidence that the friendship between them had not been affected. Now Philipp had the leisure also to indulge his talent for writing. He wrote _The Relationships between the Battles of Aspern, Wagram and Znaim_; he translated the writings of the archduke into French and published them; he studied all the works on military science of the time, and read the French and German classics. He collected works of art for his seat, Dobersberg. There is a remarkable similarity in the fate of Philipp Grünne and that of his son Karl. Both held the same highly responsible position beside the commander-in-chief of the army; both received the trust of their masters; both kept this trust until their deaths; both would be pursued by the hatred of the army and of public opinion; and both took all this without a word in self-defence.