COMTE DE

See also:

• CLAUDE, JEAN (1619-1687)

CLAUDE

See also:

• ALEXANDRE, NOEL (NATALIS ALEXANDER) (1639-1724)

ALEXANDRE

See also:

• COMTE DE CLAUDE ALEXANDRE BONNEVAL (1675—1747)

BONNEVAL (1675—1747)  , French adventurer, known also as AIIMED PASHA, was the descendant of an old family of Limousin . He was born on the 14th of July 1675, and at the age of thirteen joined the Royal Marine Corps . After three years he entered the army, in which he rose to the command of a regiment . He served in the Italian campaigns under Catinat, Villeroi and Vendome, and in the Netherlands under Luxemburg, giving proofs of indomitable courage and great military ability . His insolent bearing towards the minister of war was made matter for a court-martial (1704) . He was condemned to death, but saved himself by flight to Germany . Through the influence of Prince Eugene he obtained a general's command in the Austrian army, and fought with great bravery and distinction against France, and afterwards against Turkey . He was present at Malplaquet, and was severely wounded at Peterwardein . The proceedings against him in France were then allowed to drop, and he visited Paris, and married a daughter of Marshal de Biron . He returned, however, after a short time to the Austrian army, and fought with distinction at Belgrade . He might now have risen to the highest rank, had he not made himself disagreeable to Prince Eugene, who sent him as master of the ordnance to the Low Countries . There his ungovernable temper led him into a quarrel with the marquis de Prie, Eugene's deputy governor in the Netherlands, who answered his challenge by placing him in confinement .

A court-martial was again held upon him, and he was condemned to death; but the

emperor commuted the sentence to one year's imprisonment and banishment . Bonneval, soon after his release, offered his services to the Turkish government, professed the Mahommedan faith, and took the name of Ahmed . He was made a pasha, and appointed to organize and command the artillery . He rendered valuable services to the sultan in his war with Russia, and with the famous Nadir Shah . As a reward he received the governorship of Chios, but he soon fell under the suspicion of the Porte, and was banished for a time to the shores of the Black Sea . He was meditating a return to Europe and Christianity when he died at Constantinople on the 23rd of March 1747 . The Memoirs published under his name are spurious . See Prince de Ligne, Memoire sur le comte de Bonneval (Paris, 1817) ; and A . Vandal, Le Pacha Bonneval (Paris, 1885) .