Marshal General of France, originally Marshal General of the King's Camps and Armies (French: maréchal général des camps et armées du roi), was a title signifying that its holder exercised authority over all French armies, at a time when a Marshal of France usually commanded only one army.
The title was bestowed only on marshals, generally when the office of the Constable of France was vacant or, after 1626, suppressed. Unlike the title of marshal, the title of marshal general was rarely granted to active military commanders. Rather, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, it served as an honorary, end-of-career distinction awarded to particularly distinguished or loyal marshals.
List of titleholders
Six in the pre-revolutionary kingdom of France:
Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron (1562–1602):
Admiral of France, 1592
Admiral and Marshal, 26 January 1594
unclear when promoted to Marshal General
executed in 1602
François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières (1543–1626):
Marshal, 27 September 1609
Marshal General, 30 March 1621
Constable of France, 6 July 1622
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (1611–1675):
Marshal, 16 November 1643
Marshal General, 4 April 1660
Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars (1653–1734):
Marshal, 20 October 1702
Marshal General, 18 October 1733
Maurice, comte de Saxe (1696–1750):
Marshal, 26 March 1744
Marshal General, 12 January 1747
Victor François de Broglie, 2nd Duke of Broglie (1718–1804):
Marshal, 1759
Marshal General, 1789
Broglie emigrated the same day the king signed the title papers. He therefore never exercised the functions of marshal general and was removed from the list of marshals of France in 1792.
One during the July Monarchy under the House of Orléans' sole, constitutional king, Louis Philippe:
Jean-de-Dieu Soult, duc de Dalmatie (1769–1851):
Marshal of the Empire, 19 May 1804
Marshal General, 15 September 1847