Fontenoy

Fontenoy (fôNtənwä`), village, Hainaut prov., SW Belgium, near Tournai. There, in 1745, Count Maurice de Saxe, in his most celebrated victory, led the French against the British and their allies under the duke of Cumberland in the War of the Austrian Succession.

---

Fontenoy 

a settlement in Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, near which a battle of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) took place. The battle was fought on May 11, 1745, between approximately 40,000 French troops, under Marshal Maurice de Saxe, and more than 50,000 English, Dutch, and Hanoverian troops, under the duke of Cumberland and Field-marshal L. J. Königsegg; the allied troops were moving to relieve the fortress at Tournai, which was besieged by the French. The French refused to lift the siege and turned to face the enemy; they took up a position at Fontenoy, having fortified it with redoubts and abatis. After several partially successful attacks, the allied troops were thrown back by artillery fire. The French then went on the offensive, putting the enemy to flight. The allies lost nearly 14,000 men and 32 guns; French losses totaled approximately 6,000.