Claude Florimond de Mercy (1666-29 June 1734) was a Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.
Biography[]
Claude Florimond de Mercy was born in Longwy, Duchy of Lorraine, the grandson of Franz von Mercy. He joined the Austrian army in 1682 and distinguished himself in the wars against the Turks in Austria and Hungary before serving in Italy and under Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Zenta. De Mercy was twice captured during the War of the Spanish Succession and was promoted to colonel for his taking of Cremona in 1702, and he was known for his fiery courage along the Rhineland. He distinguished himself at the Siege of Belgrade in 1717 before recapturing Sicily from the Spanish during the War of the Quadruple Alliance, and he became a Field Marshal in 1733. Mercy assembled 50,000 troops at Mantua to reconquer northern Italy from the French and Spanish during the War of the Polish Succession, and he was killed at the Battle of San Pietro in 1734 while trying to capture Parma.