Armel Quemener

Armel Paol Quemener (1676-1739) was a Liotainian noble, privateer, naval officer, and liturgical composer.

## Early Life

Born 1676 at his family home of Kastell Kerouzere in Breizh, Armel was the second child and oldest son of Baronas Erwann Quemener and his wife, Zydre Tamara Quemener. The Quemener family owned and operated two vineyards and a limestone quarry on the eastern side of the island. Although his father was Breizhoned, his mother was an ethnic Liotine from Rietavas, part of the famed Rimsa family.

Armel was named after his grandfather, Baronas Armel Alan Quemener, who had been a Knight-Sergeant of the Order of Svent Mykolas.

During his early years, Armel learned both the Breizhoned language and Liotainian. He showed great promise at music, both singing and instrumental, from an early age, and at age seventeen, presented his first composition, *Quartet No.1 in G major*. In 1699, he received the distinction of presenting his *Rondeau No. 3* at the royal court.

## Naval Career

During the Anitkabir War of 1693-1700, the Quemener family paid for a naval galley (the *Marc'heg*) which they contributed to the Liotainian fleet. In 1698, Armel sailed aboard the *Marc'heg* with his uncle, Fransez Quemener, who served as captain. The ship was one of seventeen Liotainian galleys present at a battle off Cape Gelidonya in April 1699, where they defeated and captured four Kabirite vessels.

In 1701, when war began with Firocco, Quemener served as second-in-command of the *Marc'heg* until the Five Days Battle. On the evening of 4th August 1701, the Firoccan fleet sent fireships into the Liotainian anchorage at Plougrescant. The *Marc'heg* avoided two vessels but ran afoul of the third, catching fire and burning. Quemener escaped only by throwing himself overboard. Although an indifferent swimmer, he swam three times to rescue drowning men in the water. On his third trip, he was dragged down by another drowning man and nearly died, being rescued only by the arrival of a boat from shore.

### Privateer

Following the near-annihilation of the Liotainian galley fleet, Quemener felt the war was over. Nevertheless, he travelled to Rietavas to assist his maternal cousin, Adomas Rimsa, who had outfitted a privateer to raid Firoccan shipping. For a variety of legal reasons, Quemener bought the letter-of-marque for his cousin's ship, the xebec *Elena*, although he served de facto as the first officer.

In April 1702, Quemener officially took command of the *Elena* after Adomas Rimsa fell ill and decided to recover ashore. In May, the *Elena* was dismasted in a severe squall off southwestern Fusou, and would be towed to safety by another Liotainian privateer, the *Plejados* under Arturas Malinauskas. Quemener refitted the xebec with square-rigged masts, and continued cruising off Fusou.

In October 1702, the eighteen-gun *Elena* encountered a twenty-six gun Firoccan naval frigate, the *Relampago*. Massively outgunned, Quemener and the *Elena* fled. The *Relampago* overtook them after a chase of six hours, and began beating the *Elena* to pieces with its far superior firepower. As a desperate last-ditch effort, Quemener rammed the Firoccan frigate and led a boarding party which successfully captured the vessel. The *Elena* was so badly damaged that it sank several hours later, and Quemener's crew suffered nearly fifty percent casualties. Quemener himself, despite being at the front of the boarding party, was one of relatively few men who was uninjured.

This experience gave Quemener an intense distaste for privateering. Unlike many of the famous Liotainian privateers during the war, he did not win a massive fortune from his cruises. When he returned to Liotain in January of 1703, he decided to leave privateering behind and return to Breizh to help administrate the family business, which had suffered due to war and inattention.

### Naval Officer

Upon Quemener's return to Kastell Kerouzere in February 1703, he found a summons to the royal court, where Princess Vilmante, the king's sister, was urgently recruiting men for the Royal Liotainian Navy. The combination of defeats and privateering had drained the nation of skilled sailors, particularly men skilled in the handling of larger sailing ships. Although disgusted with his own experience of privateering, Quemener agreed to take command of the 32-gun rowing frigate *Drakonas* in April 1703.

In December 1703, while commanding the *Drakonas*, Quemener was heavily-involved in the Battle of Dutreizh off the coast of Breizh. When *Drakonas* attempted to attack the disarmed 64-gun ship *Tribunal*, the Firoccan captain attempted to ram and board the smaller frigate. Quemener personally cut one of the grappling lines with an axe, and was hit in the left shoulder by a musket ball seconds later. The ship's surgeon initially expected to amputate Quemener's arm, but Quemener declined and his arm eventually healed - although it never regained its full range of motion.

For his service aboard the *Drakonas*, Quemener received promotion to the ship of the line *Sv. Jonas Kankinys*, which he commanded until 1707. While in command of this ship, Quemener fought in the Battle of Cape Atropos and the Battle of Rietavas. At Rietavas, *Sv. Jonas Kankinys* fought a heated duel with the Firoccan armed merchant ship *Santo Casimiro*, which struck to the larger Liotainian ship. Quemener then attacked the *Tribunal*, which was engaged heavily with the HLMS *Perkunas*. For his conduct at the battle, he was awarded the Order of the White Lion.

## Musician and Composer

With the war concluded, Quemener left naval service in 1708 with the honorary rank of Lignekapitaine. He spent some effort setting family business back in order, but he eventually returned to his earlier love of music, and dedicated most of his time to composition, some of which he presented in the court of King Karolis.

The limited range of motion from his injury at the Battle of Dutreizh led Quemener to limit himself later in life to playing the vanollar and the organ.

## Marriage and Children

In 1706, Quemener married Grazina Ferrodumond, another former privateer and a captain in the Liotainian Navy. The couple were introduced by Princess Vilmante, who encouraged their interest in each other, and they married in 1706. Grazina commanded her own ship, HLMS *Saltielis ir Reicele*, which was present at both Cape Atropos and Rietavas. Grazina, the daughter of Ansaldo Ferrodumond, had been enormously successful as a privateer, won significant wealth, and been named a lady-in-waiting to Princess Vilmante.

The couple had three children together between 1708 and 1714, but also adopted six war orphans. One of the couple's natural children, Orazia Quemener, become one of the most famous Liotainian singers of her generation, while their adopted son Albertas Quemener joined the Royal Liotainian Navy and eventually rose to be its commanding admiral.

## Compositions

As a composer, Quemener is most famous for composing *Le Marzo du Marina*, the official march of the Royal Liotainian Navy.