Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

The Cavalry.

At last the latest installment to my armies of the French Dutch war are the cavalry. Each army will have 2 small regiments of horse and 4 regiments of infantry (covered in several earlier posts) based on the forces at the battle of Seneffe 1674. I was hoping to finish this project early this year, then gradually add extra regiments as I found the time to paint them.

French Cavalry Regiment Cuirassier du Roi.
This cavalry regiment was present at the battle of Seneffe 1974. A regiment in the Maison du Roi it was paid for directly by King Louis XIV of France.  A contingent of 400 men were present at the battle.

This cavalry regiment was the only French regiment at Seneffe to wear steel back and breast plate armour, that I know of, all the rest wore just coats or buff leather coats either over or under their uniform. Carrying a blue flag with silver design of a face surrounded by rays, the motto on the flag reads 'Nec Pluribus Impar'.

Uniforms are blue coats with red facings (cuffs), buff coloured breeches silver buttons and white sashes to denote service in the French army and buff hats, Louis XIV had a hatred of grey hats apparently.

French Cavalry Regiment La Reine
Also present at the battle was the cavalry regiment La Reine.

Uniforms are grey coats with red facings (cuffs), buff coloured breeches yellow buttons and white sashes to denote service in the French army with mainly black hats. One or two troopers wear buff coats for added protection. The horse furniture consisted of a red shabraque edged in blue with white lace detail. The trumpeter wears a uniform unique to the regiment.


Dutch Cavalry Regiment No.10 formed in 1672
This cavalry regiment would be Lodewijk Christiaan Graaf van Wittgenstein in 1674, possibly present at the battle of Seneffe 1674. In 1676 the colonel was Albert Ferdinand Graff van Berlo.

Uniform details & sources: Gerpines andd Wagner agree on the facing colours (red cuffs, red waistcoat, red breeches), Wagner and Belaubre say the coat was a dark grey colour. The shabraque was red laced white (silver lace for the officers). A white flag would be the Colonel's/Regiment's flag, a green flag for the squadron.

The officers jacket is red laced silver, the trumpeters jacket a brown colour (burnt sienna) with white hoops on the arms, the trooper's jackets are a darker grey. I have added a few with buff coats for protection. All wear the orange sash to denote service in the army of the the United Provices.

I haven't found the motto for the flag yet, I'll add the lettering if I do. I'm acquiring a copy of Wargames Illustrated #173 february 2002 with Mark Allens article on William III Dutch cavalry.

Just figured out Mark Allens handwriting the motto is 'PACEM ARMIS QUERO' loosely translated as: 'peace by force of arms'.

All the squadrons have 6 figures at the moment to aid completion of the project.

The Dutch Army so far:

The Dutch Army 1674

Regiment Schwarzenberg closeup.

I have one more Dutch regiment of Foot and one of Horse to add at a later date. Then next the siege artillery train and command vignettes.