E.B. De Lannoy was the commander of the Dutch East India company Navy that fought King Marthanda Varma in 1741 at Colechel beach, now in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, earlier part of the Travancore Kingdom.
The Dutch Governor Imhoff, not happy with King for not protecting the Dutch interests, wanted to defeat him and the job landed on Commander De Lannoy. In spite of having superior fire power, his forces went down to the King’s army of native men (called ‘Nair Pattalam’) who were ably assisted by the local fishermen whose guerrilla tactics against Dutch navy on the sea was instrumental in the defeat.
De Lannoy and his deputy were caught & imprisoned in Udayagiri Fort of the King. Slowly De Lannoy could move into the good books of Marthanda Varma who asked him to train and modernise his Nair Pattalam. Having done a great work, the King‘s confidence in De Lannoy increased tremendously so did the loyalty of De Lannoy to the King, to the extent that De Lannoy went on to become The King’s army chief with a title of ‘Valiya Capithan’
In the later expeditions of the King across Kerala, which resulted in Travancore expanding into a huge state almost upto Trissur and also in fighting the army of Tipu Sultan; the valour and war intellect of De Lannoy was evident. The Nedumkotta (rampart) that he asked the army to build from Pallipuram (Vypin) upto Western Ghat, of more than 40 KMs in length was the product of De Lannoy’s military genius, that became Tipu’s Waterloo in Kerala.
It was a very strange case of an adopted foreigner completely becoming loyal to the King. The King’s attitude and behaviour to him also added to consolidate the relationship. De Lannoy served both Marthanda Varma and his successor, Rama Varma valiantly. He settled in Udayagiri (very close to the Padmanabhapuram palace of the Kings) and passed away there itself. Out of sheer respect, the King built the church and the burial place for De Lannoy at Udayagiri fort (see photos below). Time had dilapidated the edifices, of course.
Let us also know two additional curious inputs about De Lannoy.
1. De Lannoy was able to instil the faith of Jesus in Neelakantan, a court officer of the palace and converted him to a Christian. Neelakantan became Devasahayam and a martyr later and is now adorned as a Saint by Pope Francis.
2. E B De Lannoy was part of the Delano family (De Lannoy family) and is an ancestor of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Read the English translation of what is written on his tomb in Udayagiri.
“Stand Traveller! Here lies the Eustachius Benedictus De Lannoy, who was commander of the general Travancore army and for nearly 37 years with greatest faithfulness served the King, who by strength and fear of his armies, subjugated all kingdoms from kayankulam to Cochin. He lived 62 years and died first day of June 1777. May he rest in peace!”
Later, his wife and son were also interred on both sides of him.
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