Protestant Exiles from France/Book Second - Chapter 5 - Section III
III. Brigadier-General Pierre Belcastel.
The noble family of Belcastel held a good position in Languedoc on the eve of the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century, being represented by Raymond Belcastel and his wife, Jeanne de Montvaillant. Their son was one of the first adherents of the Reformed Church, namely, Jean de Belcastel, Signeur de Montvaillant et de Castanet, and a leader both in war and in counsels. He married, 4th January 1553, Jeanne de Belcastel de Pradelles, and left a daughter, Marguerite, and a son, Pierre de Belcastel de Montvaillant, Signeur de Pradelles.
The Seigneur de Pradelles married Louise de Vabres, and from him our refugee general undoubtedly descended, although the links have fallen out of memory. Pierre Belcastel first appears at the Battle of the Boyne, and after it he succeeded La Caillemotte as Colonel of a French infantry regiment. He opened the siege at Limerick in 1690. “About two in the afternoon of the 20th August, the attack began by 120 grenadiers, commanded by four captains, who advanced from the trenches to the fort, nearly 150 paces, and received the enemy’s fire from the counter-scarp and fort, still reserving their own till they came near enough to make it take place with greater certainty and effect. Colonel Belcastel put himself at the head of these men by the time they had advanced to the outside of the fort, and rearing a ladder against it, he immediately got up and was followed by the grenadiers, who leaped in after him, and killed sixty of the defenders of it, making one of the captains that commanded there, prisoner.”
He took part at the capture of Athlone and at the victory of Aughrim; he was wounded at the latter engagement. He accompanied his regiment to Flanders. About the beginning of 1695 he and a young officer, Captain De Loches, fell into the hands of the French at Brest, and were detained as prisoners. Lord Galway alludes to this in a letter to Mr. Blathwait, dated Turin, 22d January — 1st February 16945:—
“I see by the case of Monsieur de Belcastel and young De Loches, that the French expect to profit by the small number of prisoners we have taken. They make a great noise about the Irish taken at sea. I am not fully informed as to that affair. But regarding the prisoners which they have taken, I shall say nothing about Monsieur de Belcastel, his merit being sufficiently known to you. Young De Loches is a captain of infantry in the English regiments. He is a most prepossessing youth, son of a father who is as good and honest a gentleman as ever I knew. The captain has shown his worth by the firmness with which he sustains every injustice and persecution, testifying at this crisis that he loves God and his religion, and the king in whose service he has an unquenchable firmness.”
Luttrell notes: — “18th December 1694, Colonel Belcastel, a French refugee with his family, went sometime since in a Danish ship, the captain pretending to be bound for Ostend, but instead of that, carried them to Dunkirk, where they were made prisoners.” “London, 20th June 1695, Colonel Belcastel and his lady are arrived here from Dunkirk.”
At Flanders, in June 1696, the king made Belcastel a brigadier. When the French regiments were being disbanded, and Lord Galway was winding up his official connection with Ireland, his lordship, in a letter to the Secretary-at-War, dated Dublin, 7th April 1699, recommended that, “in addition to regimental pensions, there should be a few public pensions to selected officers,” and called attention to “the services and claims of Mr. De Belcastel.” This led to an Irish “Grant to Brigadier Peter Belcastell and his assigns of £500 per annum for twenty-one years,” dated 8th January 1 701.
His regiment being disbanded, Belcastel turned his eyes towards Holland. Luttrell says, 1st November 1701, “Holland letters say that the king has given Colonel Belcastel a regiment of French refugees.” On the death of King William, Belcastel formally quitted the English service: he was made a Major-General in the Dutch army, his commission bearing date, “The Hague, 28th April 1704.” He was appointed to command the allied troops collected for the invasion of France and the succour of the Cevenols. But that expedition being nipped in the bud by untoward events, he obtained the command of the Dutch contingent in the Duke of Savoy’s forces. Marlborough says of him, “He is a very good officer, and I am glad he stands so well with the Duke of Savoy.” In 1709 he was with his men in Spain; he earned his share in the glory of the victory of Saragossa, but was killed at the battle of Villa Viciosa, 10th December 1710. According to Court, he was a meritorious officer, combining vigorous integrity with much prudence and bravery.
He had a sister, Mademoiselle Louise Adelaide de Belcastel, who became the second wife of Mr. Samuel Louis Crommelin, but died without issue. An old Crommelin pedigree (drawn up in 1712) describes her as “soeur du lieutenant-general Belcastel, tue en Espagne.”
