of his lands and titles, although he had spent his entire
personal fortune for the Royalist cause. Advanced to
the title of duke of Newcastle in 1665, he retired from
public life. He died at his home in Welbeck, Notting-
hamshire, on 25 December 1676, and was laid to rest
in Westminster Abbey. His son Henry succeeded to the
dukedom of Newcastle, but upon his death, Henry hav-
ing had no children, the title became extinct. The duke
of Newcastle has since become one of the more obscure
of Charles I’s commanders in the English Civil War,
though he was always the king’s loyal supporter.
References: Trease, Geoffrey, Portrait of a Cavalier: Wil-
liam Cavendish, First Duke of Newcastle (New York: Ta-
plinger Publishing Company, 1979); Newcastle, Margaret
Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, The Life of the Thrice
Noble, High and Puissant William Cavendishe, Duke, Mar-
quess, and Earl of Newcastle... (London: Printed by A.
Maxwell, 1667); The Good and Prosperous Successe of the
Parliaments Forces in York-Shire... (London: Printed for
John Wright in the Old Bailey, 1642); True Newes from
Yorke. Consisting of severall Matters of Note, and High
Concernment, since the 13 of June, concerning these several
heads, viz: Concerning 1. Sir Iohn Meldrum. 2. L. Marq.
Hamilton. 3. Earle of Newcastle... (London, 1642).
Ney, Michel, duc d’Elchingen, prince of the
Moskowa (1769–1815) French general
Michel Ney was born the son of a cooper (a maker of
barrels), in the village of Sarrelouis (now Saarlouis) in
the Saar Valley in eastern France on 10 January 1769.
Although his father wanted him to become a lawyer,
apprenticing him to learn the trade, Ney ran away and
joined the French military, joining a regiment of Hussars
in 1788. Almost from the start of his career, he saw ac-
tion, fighting the Prussians at Valmy in the Argonne (20
September 1792) and the Austrians at Jemappes, now in
Belgium (6 November 1792), before the battle against
the Austrians at Hohenlinden (3 December 1800), near
present-day Munich, which brought about the collapse
of the so-called Second Coalition against the French
leader naPoleon. Ney became famous for his courage
and tactical skill, and he was quickly promoted, rising
to the rank of general of division under General Jean
Moreau’s Army of the Rhine at Hohenlinden.
Ney’s actions on the battlefield caught the atten-
tion of his superiors, including Napoleon. He became so
close to Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, that she arranged for
Ney to marry one of her maids of honor in 1802. The
renewal of a war against England in 1803 resulted in
Ney’s being given the command of the VI Army Corps.
On 19 May 1804, Napoleon made himself emperor of
France, and he named 14 generals—including Ney—
as marshals of the French Empire. When Napoleon
was faced by the Third Coalition of Austria, England,
and Russia, Ney attacked the Austrians under General
Riesch at Elchingen, near the city of Ülm in what is now
Germany, on 14 October 1805. His victory there earned
Ney the title of Duc d’Elchingen (duke of Elchingen)
in 1808.
On 14 October 1806, Ney led French armies at
Jena, also known as Auerstädt, near the city of Leipzig,
and though the French sustained heavy losses (14,000
dead and wounded), the ultimate defeat of the Prus-
sians (who lost 40,000 casualties) allowed Napoleon to
commence his northern march on Berlin. Ney also led
French troops at Eylau, also known as Bagrationovsk
(7–8 February 1807), where Napoleon’s advance on
the Russian frontier was halted; and at Friedland, also
known as Pravdinsk (14 June 1807), in which the
French scored a major victory over the Russians, leav-
ing thousands of retreating Russians soldiers drowning
in the Alle River in Prussia. Napoleon considered Ney
to be his most indispensable commander but also found
him to be a touchy and temperamental man. When Ney
was transferred to Spain in 1808, he refused to listen to
the commanders who were fighting there, preferring to
take his commands directly from Napoleon himself. In
1811, he was dismissed from the Spanish front and sent
back to France in disgrace.
The French invasion of Russia in 1812 forced Ney’s
return to service, and he was named commander of the
III Corps of the Grande Armeé. Following the battle of
Borodino (7 September 1812), in which the Russians
under Field Marshal Mikhail kutuzoV made a heroic
stand against the French but failed to stop Napoleon’s
advance—the French would enter Moscow seven days
later—Napoleon made Ney prince de la Moskowa, or
prince of Moscow. However, lack of supplies meant the
French were forced to retreat westward back to France.
Ney’s command of the French rear as they retreated stillney, michel, Duc D’elchingen, pRince oF the moSkowA