Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac (about 1630 - May 10, 1704) was a career soldier in the French army under King Louis XIV and war minister Louvois.
He became notorious for mercilessly and brutally executing the French policy of destroying the enemy's lands rather than seeking major military engagements. The southwestern part of Germany, the Palatinate, the Margraviate of Baden and the Duchy of Württemberg especially suffered from Mélac's execution of Louvois's order to "brûlez le Palatinat!".[1] Under his command, numerous German towns and villages were set on fire and the livelihood of the population was destroyed. In present southwestern Germany, Mélac's name became a synonym for "murderer and arsonist". As a lasting result, until today, 'Mélac' has also been turned into a common dog name in this part of Germany. He is considered the godfather of the French-German enmity that ultimately contributed to causing the two World Wars.[2]
1630: Born around that year in Sainte-Radegonde, about 15 kilometers southeast of Libourne in today's Département of Gironde. He must have joined the military at an early age. Sources are scarce, as his file in the French military archives of Vincennes, as well as the Mélac family archive, are "strangely lost".[3]
1664: Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant with a cavalry regiment in Portugal.
1666: Entrusted with the leadership of a company.
1672: Served in Flanders at the start of the Franco-Dutch War.
1675: Promoted to the rank of Maître de Camp de Cavalerie.
1677: Burned and sacked the (now Dutch) town of Sittard(40 km west of Aachen)., one and a half weeks after other French troops had done the same. Only 68 buildings and 2 monasteries survived.
1679: Promotion to the rank of Brigadier; he became Governor of Schleiden (40 km southeast of Aachen).
1686: Began service in the army of Marschal Catinat in Savoy.
1688: In April, Mélac joined the Rhine army under the command of Marschal Duras.
1688: Married Marschal de Duras's daughter.
1688: In September, the Rhine army moved into the territory of the Palatinate without formal declaration of war; they also moved into the territory east of the Rhine and conquered the cities of Heilbronn, Heidelberg and Mannheim (November 10) and the stronghold Philippsburg; Pforzheim had been occupied since October 10. Mélac was stationed at the Imperial Town of Heilbronn under the command of Joseph de Montclar. Using Heilbronn as his base, Mélac devastated Southern Germany, including the Imperial Town of Donauwörth, Marbach and Schorndorf. At the year's end he attacked Heidelberg, the capital of the Palatinate, and many villages along the Neckar, including Ladenburg.
1689: On February 16, executing a command of war minister Louvois, the French army under the command of de Mélac and Comte de Tessé blew up Heidelberg Palais, on March 2 they set Heidelberg on fire (but citizens managed to extinguish the fires). On March 8, Mannheim was set on fire. Later on, Frankenthal, Worms, Speyer and numerous villages west of the Rhine were devastated. East of the Rhine, Bretten, Maulbronn, Pforzheim, Baden-Baden and numerous other towns and villages met the same fate, but it is not known in detail how heavily Mélac was directly involved in all these cases. In Pforzheim's case, Mélac was reportedly the commanding officer and thus directly responsible for the shelling of the town on August 10 and the devastating fire a few days later. There are also reports that he raped the young daughter of a pastor in Esslingen.
1690: Promoted to Maréchal de camp.
1691: Mélac's wife died.
1692: On September 20, ordered the former Benedictine St. Peter and St. Paul Monastery put to the torch to Hirsau (formerly Hirschau); the monastery had, during its heyday, been one of the largest and most powerful forces for Catholicism in Germany until the Protestant Reformation, and had been the origin point for the "Hirsau Movement" in monastery reform, but had been used by Protestants since 1556.[4]
1693: Promoted to Lieutenant General. In spring, Mélac became the commander of the strategically important stronghold of Landau. From this base, he again brought terror to the surrounding areas, as far as the Rhine-Hesse and Württemberg areas. In May, he participated in the second and final destruction of Heidelberg. While in Landau, his brutality did not subside. On one occasion, he reportedly displayed six naked prostitutes on the market square of Landau for two days, for which he received an exhortation from the royal court.
1697: The Nine Years War was concluded with the Treaty of Ryswick. Mélac stayed on as stronghold commander of Landau.
1702: As part of the next major conflict France was involved in, the War of the Spanish Succession, the Landau stronghold was besieged by an army under the command of Baden Margrave Louis William. For four months, Mélac and his soldiers were able to resist. In order to keep his soldiers in a good mood, he had gold and silver items from his personal possessions processed and turned into coins as salary for his men. However, in September he was forced to surrender. He was allowed to withdraw with his garrison and part of his artillery. He left the Rhine army and travelled to the royal court in Fontainebleau, were he received 30,000 Livres as a pension, but he would not receive a final promotion to a higher military rank.
1703: Now living a secluded life in a house in the Rue des Tournelles in today's 4th Arrondissement in Paris with a few servants, at the end of August he wrote his last will.
1704: Mélac died on May 10.
(Remark: Mélac's former residence in Landau has been turned into an inn, operating until this day. Initially named "Zum Mélac", the name was changed in 1851 to a neutral "Zur Krone" (the crown).
This article represents a summary of an article that appeared in the German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" on May 6, 2005, in German language. The original article was written by historian