Franz Xaver Saint-Julien

Franz Xaver (also recorded as Johann Franz Seraph) Graf von Saint-Julien und Walsée (often rendered Waldsee) was an officer of the Habsburg monarchy who rose to general rank during the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Born into an established noble family of French provenance long resident in Austria, he inherited both landed responsibilities and the hereditary court office of Oberst-Erbland-Falkenmeister in Austria unter der Enns.

He entered the imperial service early and pursued a military career that brought him repeatedly to the front. During the Austro–Ottoman fighting in the late eighteenth century, he was wounded as a company-grade officer before Belgrade (1788). In the French Revolutionary Wars he served in the Italian theatre and, by 1796, had reached regimental command as an Oberst. He distinguished himself in the campaign that included Bassano and was wounded again at Caldiero (12 November 1796). Promotion to Generalmajor followed in 1797.

In 1800 Saint-Julien became involved in one of the better-known diplomatic episodes of the early Consulate. After Marengo, Vienna dispatched him to Paris in connection with peace discussions; he was outmatched by the French negotiating apparatus and signed preliminaries on terms for which he lacked authority. On his return he was punished for exceeding his instructions, being held in custody and removed from favor for a period. Despite this setback, he was promoted later in 1800 to Feldmarschall-Lieutenant.

From 1802 he served as Inhaber of the Infantry Regiment No. 61, a customary distinction that associated the regiment with his name while he continued to hold higher duties. In the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) he commanded a division in the III. Armeekorps and fought in the opening Bavarian operations, including Teugen-Hausen (Hausen), where he received his third recorded wound. His division’s formations are also associated with the later Major actions of that campaign, including Wagram and Znaim, as the Austrian army withdrew into Bohemia and Moravia. From 1810 he held responsibilities connected with the Moravian-Silesian Landwehr and the fortress area of Olmütz.

Saint-Julien retired from active service in 1812 with the titular rank of Feldzeugmeister. In court and provincial life he retained his hereditary office and associated dignities, including appointment as k.k. Kämmerer and Geheimer Rat. He married twice: first (1797) to Ludovica Leopoldine Gräfin Chorinsky, and, after her death, in 1800 to Contessa Giuseppa Francesca Luisa di Lodron-Laterano. The second marriage produced three children, continuing the family’s Austrian line. In his final years he consolidated family property interests; he died in 1836 at Skalička.

Sources

• Österreichisches Staatsarchiv: Kaiserliche und k. k. Generale (1618–1815) (Schmidt-Brentano)
• Wikisource: BLKÖ (Wurzbach), “Saint Julien-Wallsee, das Grafenhaus”
• Philip G. Dwyer: Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power (PDF)
• E. Acerbi: The Austrian Imperial-Royal Army 1805–09 (PDF)
• Wikipedia (German): Franz Xaver von Saint-Julien