Editing Prince Eugene of Savoy (section)

=== Hôtel de Soissons ===
[[File:Soisson.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Hôtel de Soissons, Eugene's birthplace. Engraving by [[Israel Silvestre]] c. 1650.]]
Prince Eugene was born at the [[Hôtel de Soissons]] in Paris on 18 October 1663. His mother, [[Olympia Mancini]], was one of [[Cardinal Mazarin]]'s nieces whom the Cardinal had brought to [[Paris]] from [[Rome]] in 1647 to further his (and, to a lesser extent, their) ambitions. The Mancinis were raised at the [[Palais-Royal]] along with the young Louis XIV, with whom Olympia formed an intimate relationship. Yet to her great disappointment, her chance to become queen passed by, and in 1657 she married [[Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons|Eugene Maurice]], [[Count of Soissons]], [[Count of Dreux]] and Prince of [[Duchy of Savoy|Savoy]].
[[File:Eugenesparents.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons|Eugene Maurice]] and [[Olympia Mancini]], Count and Countess of Soissons, parents of Prince Eugene]]
Together they had had five sons (Eugene being the youngest) and three daughters, but neither parent spent much time with the children: the father, a French general officer, spent much of his time away campaigning, while Olympia's passion for court intrigue meant the children received little attention from her.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | pp=9–10}} The King remained strongly attached to Olympia, so much so that many believed them to be lovers;{{sfn | Somerset | 2014 | p=252}} but her scheming eventually led to her downfall. After falling out of favour at court, Olympia turned to [[La Voisin|Catherine Deshayes]] (known as ''La Voisin''), and to the arts of [[black magic]] and [[astrology]]. It proved a fatal relationship. She became embroiled in the [[Poison affair|"Affaire des poisons"]]; suspicions abounded of her involvement in her husband's premature death in 1673, and even implicated her in a plot to kill the King himself. Whatever the truth, Olympia, rather than face trial, subsequently fled France for [[Brussels]] in January 1680, leaving Eugene in the care of his paternal grandmother, [[Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons]], and of his paternal aunt, [[Princess Louise Christine of Savoy|Louise Christine of Savoy, Princess of Baden]] consort to the heir apparent [[Ferdinand Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Baden|Ferdinand Maximilian]], and mother of Prince [[Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden|Louis of Baden]].{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=9}}

From the age of ten, Eugene had been brought up for a career in the church since he was the youngest of his family.{{sfn | Bancks | 1741 | p=2}}  Eugene's appearance was not impressive—"He was never good-looking ..." wrote the [[Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate|Duchess of Orléans]], "It is true that his eyes are not ugly, but his nose ruins his face; he has two large teeth which are visible at all times"{{sfn | Henderson | 1964 | p=9}} According to the duchess, who was married to Louis XIV's bisexual brother,{{sfn | Orléans | Charlotte | Forster | 1984 | p=2}} the [[Philippe I, Duke of Orléans|Duke of Orléans]], Eugene lived a life of "debauchery" and belonged to a small, effeminate set that included the famous cross-dresser Abbé [[François-Timoléon de Choisy]].{{sfn | Henderson | 1964 | p=10|ps=: the Duchess's remarks about Eugene were made years later, and only after Eugene had entered the service of France's sworn enemies, the Habsburgs.}} In February 1683, to the surprise of his family, the 19-year-old Eugene declared his intention of joining the army. Eugene applied directly to Louis XIV for command of a company in French service, but the King who was said to dislike Eugene's appearance{{sfn|Vehse|Demmler|1856|p=118}} and who had shown no compassion for Olympia's children since her disgrace—refused him out of hand. "The request was modest, not so the petitioner", he remarked. "No one else ever presumed to stare me out so insolently."{{sfn | Heer | 2002 | p=228|ps=: This was a clear infringement of taboo which Louis could not tolerate. There is speculation of other reasons. [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois|Louvois]], Louis' Secretary of State for War, detested Eugene's mother after she had rejected a proposed marriage between her daughter and his son.}} Whatever the case, Louis XIV's choice would cost him dearly twenty years later, for it would be precisely Eugene, in collaboration with the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]], who would defeat the French army at [[Battle of Blenheim|Blenheim]], a decisive battle which checked French military supremacy and political power.

Denied a military career in France, Eugene decided to seek service abroad. One of Eugene's brothers, [[Prince Louis Julius of Savoy|Louis Julius]], had entered Imperial service the previous year, but he had been immediately killed fighting the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1683. When news of his death reached Paris, Eugene decided to travel to Austria in the hope of taking over his brother's command. It was not an unnatural decision: his first cousin, [[Louis of Baden]], was already a leading general in the Imperial army, as was a more distant cousin, [[Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria]]. On the night of 26 July 1683, Eugene left Paris and headed east.<ref>Heer gives Eugene's departure date as 21 July 1683.</ref> Years later, in his memoirs, Eugene recalled his early years in France:<ref name="di Savoia 1811 p.2 ">{{cite book | last=di Savoia | first=E. | title=Mémoires du prince Eugène de Savoie écrits par lui-même | publisher=chez Duprat-Duverger réimprimé à St.-Pétesbourg | year=1811 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJNi29OwxecC | language=fr}}</ref>

[[File:Portret van Eugenius van Savoye, RP-P-1911-714.jpg|thumb|right|Prince Eugene as a young General by German painter David Hoyer|200x200px]]

{{Blockquote|text=Some future historians, good or bad, will perhaps take the trouble to enter into the details of my youth, of which, I scarcely recollect anything. They will certainly speak of my mother; somewhat too intriguing, driven from the court, exiled from Paris, and suspected, I believe, of sorcery, by people who were not, themselves, very great wizards.
They will tell, how I was born in France then left it, my heart swelling with enmity against Louis XIV who refused me a cavalry company, because, said he, I was of too delicate a constitution; that he refused me an abbey, because (based on I don't know what ill talks about me or what invented anecdotes from the gallery of Versailles) that I was more shaped for pleasure than for piety.
There is not a Huguenot expelled by the [[Edict of Fontainebleau|revocation]] of the [[edict of Nantes]] who hated Louis XIV more than I did. Therefore when Louvois<ref>François-Michel le Tellier, [[Marquis de Louvois]], French Secretary of State for War</ref> heard of my departure saying: "So much the better; he will never return into this country again" I swore never to enter it but with arms in my hands. I HAVE KEPT MY WORD.|source= Memoirs of Prince Eugene, of Savoy{{sfn | de Ligne | Mudford | 1811 | p=18}}}}