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- BIOGRAPHY
Jean-Philippe was born in Brussels on 24 June 1674, the only surviving child of Comte Maximilien de Mérode and Baronesse Isabelle Marguerite Françoise de Mérode-Westerloo. His father died one year after his birth and his mother married Joachim Ernst II, duke of Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön zu Rethwisch, an army commander who guided Jean-Philippe towards a military career. At the age of five Jean-Philippe was already present at the siege of Oran in North-Africa.
On 4 September 1701 he married Maria Teresa Pignatelli, duchessa di Monteleone, daughter of Nicola Pignatelli and Donna Giovanna Pignatelli, 9.duchessa di Monteleone. Jean-Philippe and Maria Teresa had three children, of whom only their daughter Isabella Johanna would have progeny.
Maria Teresa died in 1718, and on 29 June 1721 Jean-Philippe married Princess Charlotte Eleonore Wilhelmine Amalie von Nassau-Hadamar, daughter of Franz Alexander, Fürst von Nassau-Hadamar and Landgräfin Elisabeth Catherine Felicite von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. They had six children, of whom two sons would have progeny.
The Eighty Years War had greatly damaged the possessions of the Mérode family. In the more prosperous era after the Twelve Years' Truce the family's fortune grew again. In 1626 the title of Marquis of Westerloo was granted to Jean-Philippe's great grandfather Philippe I de Mérode by King Felipe IV of Spain. Jean-Philippe himself would become one of the most illustrious descendants of the house of Mérode.
In 1692, aged 18, Jean-Philippe served in the Spanish-Walloon cavalry. He was a captain in the Belgian Gardes du Corps 'Trabants'. During the consecutive wars which raged in the Spanish Netherlands, Jean-Philippe switched sides a few times to maintain his possessions. First he and his Regiment of Westerloo served the anti-French coalition under King William III of England and King Carlos II of Spain. In 1694 he was made a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
During the War of Spanish Succession he served the new Bourbon King Felipe V of Spain, and fought on the side of the French and Bavarians under Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, new governor of the Southern Netherlands. He played an important role in the Battle of Eckeren in 1703.
At the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704 he commanded the Cavalry Brigade Westerloo in the army of the French field marshal Camille d'Hostun de la Baume, duc de Tallard. The battle was a great defeat and Jean-Philippe narrowly escaped death. After the battle he retired to his castles in Westerloo, Pietersheim and Merode. From then on he served the new rulers of the Southern Netherlands, the Austrian Emperors Joseph I and Charles VI. In the service of Empress Maria-Theresa he became an imperial field marshal in 1717 and a grandee of Spain.
In the course of his travels, especially to Versailles, Jean-Philippe discovered the beauties of the French style of garden. At the start of the 1700s he designed the park which extends in front of the château of Westerloo, and in 1710 he had a large lake built in the park. He also started work on the renovation and extension of the château, particularly the construction of the north wing in the Italian Baroque style. These developments were terminated in 1721. He had spent considerable time, energy and funds on the developments of the marquisate of Westerloo; the family motto 'Plus d'Honneur que d'Honneurs' fitted him well.
Jean-Philippe had almost completed his memoirs, vividly describing the Battle of Blenheim from the perspective of a participant, when he died at the château de Merode on 12 September 1732; they were published by his grandson. An English translation was published in 1968 in _Military Memoirs of Marlborough's Campaigns, 1702-1712,_ which also included another eye-witness account of the Battle of Blenheim by Captain Robert Parker of the Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland.
Jean-Philippe had a difficult character and had personal conflicts with Prince Eugène of Savoy and the marquis de Prié.
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