French Marshal
Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
(or
Jannot de Moncey
),
1st duc de
Conegliano
(31 July 1754 ? 20 April 1842) was a
French
military officer and a prominent commander in the
French Revolutionary Wars
and later a
Marshal of the Empire
during the
Napoleonic Wars
. He later became
governor
of the
Hotel des Invalides
. Moncey is one of the names inscribed under the
Arc de Triomphe
, on Column 33.
Early life and family
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Moncey was born on 31 July 1754 in
Palise
or
Moncey, Doubs
. His father was a lawyer from
Besancon
. During his childhood, he twice enlisted in the French Army, but his father procured his discharge on both occasions. His desire to be in the army was at last gratified when he received a commission in 1778.
Family
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Moncey married Charlotte Prospere Remillet (1761?1842). The couple had three children:
- Anne-Francoise (1791?1842), married to Louis-Charles Bourlon de Chevigne, who was permitted by the King to add "de Moncey" to his surname in 1819.
- Bon-Louis (1792?1817)
- Jeanne-Francoise (1807?1853), married Alphonse-Auguste Duchesne de Gillevoisin de Conegliano (1798?1878), 2nd Baron de Gillevoisin and later 2nd Duke of Conegliano and 2nd Baron of Conegliano, who inherited his father-in-law's titles.
Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars
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Moncey was a captain when, in 1791, he embraced the principles of the French Revolution. He won great distinction in the campaigns of 1793 and 1794 during the
War of the Pyrenees
, rising from the commander of a battalion to the commander-in-chief of the
Army of the Western Pyrenees
in a few months.
[
citation needed
]
His successful operations were instrumental in compelling the Spanish government to make peace. After this, he was employed in the highest commands until 1799, when the government, suspecting him of being a royalist, dismissed him.
The
coup d'etat
of
18 Brumaire
in 1799 brought Moncey back to the active list, and during
Napoleon
's Italian campaign of 1800, he led a corps from Switzerland into Italy, surmounting all the difficulties of bringing horses and guns over the formidable
Gotthard Pass
. In 1801, Napoleon made him inspector-general of the
French Gendarmerie
, and on the assumption of the imperial title, made him a Marshal of the Empire. In 1805, Moncey received the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour.
In July 1808, Moncey was made
duc de Conegliano
("Duke of Conegliano"; it was a
duche grand-fief
, a rare hereditary honor. The title was later confirmed under the
Bourbon Restoration
, and, since he had no surviving son, Moncey was granted permission to pass it to his son-in-law (with his newly granted title of "Baron of Conegliano" and
Peer of France
).
Peninsular War
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In late 1807 Moncey entered Spain at the head of the Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coast,
[1]
part of France's first Army of Spain, whereafter he occupied the area around
Madrid
. After the
Dos de Mayo Uprising
and the beginning of the
Peninsular War
he advanced on
Valencia
to put down the revolt there, but he was
unable to take the city
.
[2]
Moncey then took a leading part in the emperor's campaign on the
Ebro
and in the
Second Siege of Saragossa
in 1809.
War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 ? May 1814)
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He refused to serve in the
invasion of Russia
, and therefore had no share in the campaign of the
Grande Armee
in 1812 and 1813. However, when France was invaded in 1814, Moncey reappeared in the field and fought the last battle for Paris on the heights of
Montmartre
and at the barrier of
Clichy
.
In 1814, he supported
Louis XVIII
and was made a Peer of France as "Baron of Conegliano" (confirmed in 1825). He remained neutral during Napoleon's return to power, feeling himself bound to Louis XVIII by his engagements as a Peer of France, but after
Waterloo
he was punished for refusing to take part in the
court martial
of Marshal
Michel Ney
; by imprisonment and the loss of his marshalate and peerage.
Bourbon Restoration, July monarchy, and the last years
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In 1816, Moncey was given back his title of marshal by the king and he re-entered the Chamber of Peers three years later. He continued his military career as his last active service was as commander of an army corps of the
Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis
in 1823. From 1833 to 1842, Moncey was governor of the
Hotel des Invalides
(a home for veterans in Paris).
By the 1830s Moncey was among the last marshals of the first empire, and on 15 December 1840 Napoleon's funeral was to take place after his
mortal remains
were brought back to France. The 86-year old marshal, gravely ill, and barely able to move, wanted to pay a final tribute to the emperor. Already seriously ill before the arrival of the coffin, he begged his doctor to stuff him with just enough drugs and medicine to be able to attend the emperor's funeral, saying, "Doctor, make me live a little longer, I want to honour the Emperor". He was brought to the altar on a wheelchair, awaiting the arrival of Napoleon's corpse. When the emperor was brought, Moncey tried to get up but, weakened, fell back onto his wheelchair. He was brought to the coffin, kissed the hilt of Napoleon's sword. After the ceremony, he said "Now let's go home to die".
[3]
He died little more than a year later.
References
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Sources
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Military offices
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Preceded by
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Commander-in-chief of the
Army of the Western Pyrenees
1 September 1794?12 October 1795
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Succeeded by
disbanded
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Preceded by
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Interim Commander-in-chief of the
Army of Italy
8 March?19 June 1801
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Succeeded by
disbanded
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Significant civil and political events by year
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1788
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1789
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1790
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1791
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1792
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1793
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1794
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1795?6
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1797
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1798
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1799
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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