Friedrich Heinrich Ferdinand Leopold von Forcade de Biaix
Friedrich Heinrich Ferdinand Leopold von Forcade de Biaix, aka "Heinrich Friedrich Ferdinand Leopold von Forcade de Biaix", aka "Friedrich Heinrich Ferdinand Leopold Marquis de Forcade de Biaix" (* 19 December 1747, Berlin; † 12 October 1808, "Schleibitz Manor", Oels, Silesia), was a Royal Prussian lieutenant colonel. He served in the Prussian Army from 1761-1793. His last command was as Commanding Officer of the 10th Prussian Fusilier Battalion, with which he served in the Rhine Campaigns of 1791, where he was awarded the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order of merit for heroism , Knight of the Order of "Pour le Mérite (1791)." He left the Prussian Army after 32 years of service in 1793 as the result of invalidity. At the time of his death, he was the owner of "Schleibitz Manor", near Oels, Silesia. He was the third son, of Royal Prussian Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix, one of King Frederick the Great's most active and most treasured officers. His baptismal Godfather was none less than His Majesty Frederick the Great. As a gift, the King ordered his father to accept the hereditary title of "Drost zu  Neuenrade" (""Castellan of Neuenrade"") in the County of Mark with the royal command that it be transferred to him upon his death. After his father's death in 1765, he became Castellan ("Drost") of Neuenrade. Military career. He followed the military tradition of his family, and: Family. Coat of arms. The family motto of the Prussian branch is ""In Virtute Pertinax"". Coat of Arms: An escutcheon with the field divided into four parts. Left half: argent tincture, a gules lion holding a sinople eradicated oak tree between its paws; azure tincture charged with three or mullets; Right half: a gules  castle with three towers on an argent tincture; sinople tincture charged with three argent roses below it. A "Grafenkrone" (Count's coronet) as helmut on top of the escutcheon, crested with a or fleur-de-lis. Two or lions supporting the escutcheon. Motto: ""In Virtute Pertinax"". Heraldic Symbolism: The lion symbolizes courage; the eradicated oak tree symbolizes strength and endurance; the towers are symbols of defense and of individual fortitude; the mullets (5-star) symbolizes divine quality bestowed by god; the rose is a symbol of hope and joy; the fleur-de-lis is the floral emblem of France; the  coronet is a symbol of victory, sovereignty and empire. A Count's coronet to demonstrate rank and because the family originally served the counts of Foix and Béarn during the English Wars in the Middle Ages. Parents. His father was Friedrich Wilhelm Quirin von Forcade de Biaix (1699-1729), one of King Frederick the Great's most active and most treasured officers. Twice wounded and left for dead on the battlefield, he was Regimentschef of the 23rd Prussian Infantry Regiment, recipient of the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order of merit for heroism, Knight of the Order of "Pour  le Mérite", Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, "Canon of Havelberg", "Castellan of Neuenrade" in the County of Mark, "Lord Seneschal of Zinna", President of the "Ober-Collegium Sanitatis" in Berlin and Lieutenant governor of Breslau. He married in 1727 at the French Cathedral in Berlin with "Marie de Montolieu, Baronne de St.-Hippolyte" aka "Maria von Montaulieu, Freiin von St.-Hippolyte" (1709-1767), daughter of Sardinian and Prussian Major General "Louis de Montolieu, Baron de St.-Hippolyte" († 1738, Berlin), also a Huguenot exile. Marriage. "Friedrich Heinrich Ferdinand Leopold von Forcade de Biaix" married on 15 April 1782 at "Ossen Manor  in Oels, Silesia, to Wilhelmine von Koshembahr und Skorkau" from the house of Ossen, (* 13 January 1761, "Ossen Manor", Oels; † 9 July 1816, Breslau), the daughter of "Christian Leopold von Koschembahr und Skorkau", Herr of Ober- and Nieder-Ossen, Pühlau, Dörndorf and Jacobsdorf, and his second wife "Charlotte Wilhelmine Wutge von Wutgenau". Children. The couple had at least seven children from their marriage; known are five sons and two daughters. Three sons survived into adulthood. Titles and offices. Historical terms, in particular those related to offices, titles and awards, are often outdated in their usage to the point that modern  dictionaries no longer contain them. To understand their meaning in the present day context it is necessary to look into dictionaries from the period. Historical terms in German used in the production of this article, and their English definitions, include: Drost zu Neuenrade. "Castellan of Neuenrade"