SÉGUR, PHILIPPE HENRI, Marqquis de (1724–1801), marshal of France, son of Henri Francois, comte de Ségur, and his wife Angelique de Froissy, was appointed to the command of an infantry regiment at eighteen, and served under his father in Italy and Bohemia. He was wounded at Roucoux in Flanders in October 1746, and lost an arm at Lauffeld in 1747. In 1748 he succeeded his father as lieutenant-general of Champagne and Brie; he also received in 1753 the governorship of the county of Foix. During the Seven Years’ War he fought at Hastenbeck (1757), Crefeld (1758) and Minden (1759). In 1760 he was taken prisoner at Kloster-campen. The ability which he showed in the government of Franche-Comté in 1775 led in 1780 to his appointment as minister of war under Necker. He created in 1783 the permanent general staff, and made admirable regulations with regard to barracks and military hospitals; 'and though he was officially responsible for the reactionary decree requiring four quarterings of nobility as a condition for the appointment of officers, the scheme is said not to have originated with him and to have been adopted under protest. In 1783 he became a marshal of France. He resigned from the ministry of war in 1787. During the Terror he was imprisoned in La Force, and after his release was reduced to considerable straits until in 1800 he received a pension from Napoleon. He died in Paris on the 3rd of October of the next year.
See A. de Ségur, Le Maréchal de Ségur, 1724–1801 (Paris, 1895).
SÉGUR, PHILIPPE PAUL, Comte de (1780–1873), French general and historian, son of Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur, was born in Paris on the 4th of November 1780. He enlisted in the cavalry in 1800, and forthwith obtained a commission. He served with General Macdonald in the Grisons in 1800–1801,
and published an account of the campaign in 1802. By the
influence of Colonel Duroc (afterwards duc de Frioul) he was
attached to the personal staff of Napoleon. He served through
most of the important campaigns of the first empire, and was
frequently employed on diplomatic missions. During the campaign
in Poland in 1807 he was taken prisoner by the Russians,
but was exchanged at the peace of Tilsit. His brilliant conduct
in the cavalry charge at Somo Sierra on the 30th of November
1808 (see Peninsular War) won him the grade of colonel,
but his wounds compelled him to return to France. As general
of brigade he took part in the Russian campaign of 1812, and
in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 he repeatedly distinguished
himself, notably at Hanau (October 1813), and in a brilliant
affair at Reims (March 1814). He remained in the army at the
Restoration, but, having accepted a command from Napoleon
during the Hundred Days, he was retired until 1818, and took
no further active part in affairs until the revolution of 1830.
During his retirement he wrote his Histoire de Napoléon et de la
grande armée pendant Vannée 1812 (Paris, 2 vols., 1824), which ran
through numerous editions, and was translated into several
languages. The unfavourable portrait of Napoleon given in this
book provoked representations from General Gourgaud, and
eventually a duel, in which Ségur was wounded. On the establishment
of the July monarchy he received, in 1831, the grade of
lieutenant-general and a peerage. In 1830 he was admitted to the
French Academy, and he became grand cross of the Legion of
Honour in 1847. After the revolution of 1848 he lived in retirement.
He died in Paris on the 25th of February 1873. His
works include: Histoire de Russie et de Pierre le Grand (1829);
Histoire de Charles VIII. (2 vols., 1834–1842), in continuation of
the history of France begun by his father; and the posthumous
Histoire et mémoires (8 vols., 1873).
See Un Aide-de-camp de Napoléon (1800–1812), mémoires du général comte de Ségur, new edition by his grandson Louis de Ségur (3 vols., 1894–1895), of which an abridged English version was published in 1895.
SEGURA (anc. Tader), a river of south-eastern Spain about
150 m. long. It is formed by the confluence of three head-streams,
one of which rises on the northern versant of La Sagra (7875 ft.),
a mountain in Granada, while the other two spring from the
Sierra de Segura, in ]aen. From the junction of these three
streams below Yeste the river Winds in an easterly and southeasterly
direction past the towns of Cieza and Archena to
Murcia. Thence it trends N.E. and passing Orihuela falls into
the Mediterranean 19 m. S.W. of Alicante. Its chief, tributaries
are the Mundo and Arroyo del ]ua on the left, and the Caravaca,
Quipar and Sangonera on the right. It is only navigable by
small sailing-vessels, even in its estuary, but its waters are
extensively utilized for irrigation.
SEGUSIO (mod. Susa, q.v.), an ancient town in north Liguria, the capital of the Cottii (see Cottii Regnum). Here the son of
King Donnus, Cottius—who held the rank of imperial praefect over the fourteen tribes over which his father had ruled as king, so that in the inscription he calls himself “M. Iulius regis Donni f(ilius) Cottius praefectus civitatium quae subscriptae sunt”—erected
a triumphal arch in honour of Augustus in 9–8 B.C.,
which is still standing. The style of the sculptures on the frieze is quite barbaric, with archaic elements, and is probably derived from Gaul. His tomb, situated near the city walls, mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, has long since disappeared. Claudius
restored the royal titles to the family; but, after the death of
its last member, Nero made the district into a province, and
the town into a municipium. It was strongly fortified and
garrisoned, and remains of its walls, including those of a double-arched
gate, exist, while inscriptions testify to its importance,
one of them mentioning baths erected by Gratian. Constantine
captured the town, which offered some resistance to him, on his
march against Maxentius.
See F. Genin, Susa Antica (Saluzzo, 1886); E. Ferrero, L’Arc d’Auguste à Suse (Turin, 1901); F. Studniczka, Jahrbuch des K. D. archäologischen Instituts, xviii. (1903), 1 sqq. (T. As.)
SEHESTED, HANNIBAL (1609–1666), Danish statesman,
born at Arensborg Castle on Ösel. After completing his education abroad, he returned to Denmark in 1632 and was attached to the court of Christian IV. Two or three years later he was sent to Wismar to negotiate a treaty with the Swedish chancellor, Axel Oxenstjerna, and, if possible, bring about a match between Christian's son Frederick and Gustavus Adolphus’s daughter Christina. Though failing in both particulars, he retained the favour of the king, who had marked him out as one of his seven sons-in-law, by whose influence he hoped to increase the influence of the crown; and in 1636 he was betrothed. to one of the daughters, the countess Christine, then in her tenth year, whom he married in 1642. In May 1640 Sehested became a member of the august Rigsraad. He imagined, with some reason, that the proper field for the exercise of his talents was diplomacy, and he openly aspired to be minister of foreign affairs. Despite at successful embassy to Spain in 1640–1641 he did not obtain. the coveted post, but was appointed viceroy of Norway (April 1642). He had now the opportunity of displaying an administrative and organizing ability, united with a zeal for reform, as remarkable as unexpected, which raises him high above his compeers. He made it his first object thoroughly to develop Norway's material resources, and reorganize her armaments and fiscal system; and he aimed at giving her a more independent position as regards Denmark. During Christian IV.'s second war with Sweden (1643–1645), Sehested, as viceroy of Norway, assisted his father-in-law materially. He invaded Sweden four times; successfully defended Norway from attack; and, though without any particular military talent, won an engagement at Nysaker in 1644. After the war he renewed his reforming efforts, and during the years 1646–1647 strove to withdraw his vice royalty from the benumbing influence of the central 'administration at Copenhagen, and succeeded with the help of Christian IV. in creating a separate defensive fleet for Norway and giving her partial control of her own finances. He was considerably assisted in his endeavours by the fact that Norway was regarded as the hereditary possession of the kings of Denmark. At the same time Sehested freely used his immense wealth and official position to accumulate for himself property and privileges of all sorts. His successes finally excited the envy and disapprobation of the Danish Rigsraad, especially of his rival Korfits Ulfeldt (q. v.), also one of the king's sons-in-law. The quarrel became acute when Sehested's semi-independent administration of the 'finances
