Source: National Archives & Historic Records of Austrian Netherlands (Belgium)
Literature & Poetry • Historical Archive • 🇧🇪 Belgium • 1 views

Charles-Joseph de Ligne 🇧🇪

Charles-Joseph de Ligne (Known as "Prince de Ligne")
Field Marshal, Wit, Diplomat, Memorialist, Cosmopolitan Symbol of Enlightenment
Born May 23, 1735 🇧🇪 Brussels, Belgium
Passed Away Dec 13, 1814 Vienna, Austrian Empire
Lifespan 79 years old
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Notice / Correction
"Le Congrès danse beaucoup, mais il ne marche pas (The Congress dances, but advances not an inch)."

Archival Overview

Famous Walloon-Austrian prince, field marshal, and Enlightenment writer whose sparkling wit, military memoirs, and gardens at Château de Belœil made him a legend across European courts.

Biographical Record

Head of the princely House of Ligne, he entered Austrian military service during the Seven Years' War, rising to Field Marshal and intimate companion of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, Catherine the Great of Russia, and Voltaire. In 1787, he accompanied Catherine on her historic Crimean journey.

De Ligne wrote celebrated literary memoirs, essays on warfare, and Coup d'œil sur Belœil (a masterpiece on European landscape gardening). During the 1814 Congress of Vienna, he coined the immortal aphorism: 'Le Congrès danse beaucoup, mais il ne marche pas' (The Congress dances, but does not march).

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Kahlenberger Cemetery (Kahlenberg)
Vienna, Austria
GPS: 48.2750, 16.3361
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