EXPLANATION OF THE NAME
“ROUSSILLON”.
The following particulars regarding the history of the Royal Roussillon Regiment of the French Army were contributed to
Vol.1, p. 23 of the Roussillon Gazette by the late Major-General J.
C. Young, C.B., Colonel of The Royal Sussex Regiment.
THE ROYAL RoussILLON REGIMENT.
The corner of France which lies in the angle of the sea and the
mountains on the Spanish frontier at the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees is
known on modern maps as the Departément Orientales.
Locally, one seldom hears the name, however.
Historically, and in the hearts and on the lips of the people, it
is still Roussillon.
This name it came by in 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees gave to
the French that portion of the Spanish Province of Catalonia lying north of the
Pyrenees. Roussillon it remained until the
name-changing period following the French Revolution, when the present
political divisions, called departéments, replaced
many of the old names of provinces in France. In the records of regiments of
the French Army, 1659-1900, the history of the Royal Roussillon
Regiment is given as follows:-
54th Regiment of Infantry of
the Line.
Battle
honours emblazoned on the colours:-
Alkamer, 1759. Austerlitz,
1805.
Friedland, 1807. Kabylie, 1857.
Originally raised in 1657 from levies made in Roussillon
and in Catalonia, it was known as the Catalan-Mazarin
Regiment. In 1661 it became the Royal Catalan Regiment, and in 1667 the Royal Roussillon Regiment. In the year 1791 the territorial title
was replaced by a number, and the Roussillon Regiment
appears today [1927] in the French Army List as the 54th
Regiment of Infantry of the Line.
Further
information courtesy of
Richard Callaghan (Past Curator, The Military Museum of Sussex)
Lineage of the Royal Roussillon Regiment
By 1792, The Royal Roussillon Regiment was split into 2 demi
battalions, in common with the rest of the revolutionary army, possibly in the
1777 army reforms. It recruited in the Roussillon
area of southern France as well as Catalonia, during the 17th century the part
of the Spanish province of Catalonia north of the Pyrenees was ceeded to France.
The Regiment Royal Roussillon was formed on the 26th May 1657 by Joseph, Baron de Caramany. It was reduced to two Battalions by 1792.
1er Battalion, Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne Royal Roussillon (Nr 54) [1792
title] became the 46eme Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne [1] in 1804., being disbanded post Waterloo in 1815.
The 2eme
Battalion, Regiment d’Infanterie
de Ligne Royal Roussillon
(Nr 54) [1792 title] became the 21ere Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne [2] in
1804, being further retitled Legion
de L’Ardeche in 1815, 4eme Regiment d’Infanterie Legere [3] in
1820, and 79eme Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne [4] in 1854.
It will be seen from the above
that the 54th Line Regiment, which was formed after 1815, therefore has no
connection with the Royal Roussillon, and the 79th
line was the only direct descendant unit.
© 2006-2010 John A Baines