Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
Encyclopedia
Conegliano
Conegliano is a town and comune of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of around 36,000 people. The remains of a castle that was built in the 10th century remain on a nearby hill...
, 1st Baron of Conegliano, Peer of France (31 July 1754–20 April 1842), Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
, was a prominent soldier in the Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Biography
He was born on 31 July 1754 either in PalisePalise
Palise is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Population:...
or Moncey, Doubs
Moncey, Doubs
Moncey is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Geography:Moncey lies north of Marchaux in the valley of the Ognon. It is surrounded by woods.-Population:-External links:*...
. His father was a lawyer from Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
. In his boyhood he twice enlisted in the French army, but his father procured his discharge on both occasions. His desire was at last gratified in 1778, when he received a commission.
He was a captain when, in 1791, he embraced the principles of the French Revolution. Moncey won great distinction in the campaigns of 1793 and 1794 on the Spanish frontier, rising from the commander of a battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
to the commander-in-chief of the Army of the Western Pyrenees
French Revolutionary Army
The French Revolutionary Army is the term used to refer to the military of France during the period between the fall of the ancien regime under Louis XVI in 1792 and the formation of the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary...
in a few months, and his successful operations were largely 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 Royalist views, dismissed him. From 1801–1815 he was inspector general of the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
.
But the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 18 Brumaire
18 Brumaire
The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...
in 1799 brought him back to the active list, and in Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's Italian campaign of 1800 he led a corps from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
into Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, surmounting all the difficulties of bringing horses and guns over the then formidable pass of St Gothard. In 1801 Napoleon made him inspector-general of the French Gendarmerie, and on the assumption of the imperial title created him a Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
. In 1805 Moncey received the grand cordon of the legion of honor.
In July 1808 he was made duke of Conegliano; it was a duché grand-fief, a rare hereditary honor. The title was later confirmed under the Restauration
Restauration
Restauration is French for restoration.Restauration can refer to:*European Restoration, the return of many monarchies after Napoleon's French were defeated.** Bourbon Restoration, the restoration of the French monarchy under Louis XVIII....
, and, since he had no son, the Marshall was granted permission to pass it to his son-in-law (with his newly granted title of Baron of Conegliano and Peer of France).
The same year, the first of the Peninsular War, Moncey was sent to Spain in command of an army corps. He distinguished himself by his victorious advance on Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
, but the effect of that was destroyed by Dupont's defeat at the Battle of Bailén
Battle of Bailén
The Battle of Bailén was contested in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von Reding, and the Imperial French Army's II corps d'observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l'Étang...
. Moncey then took a leading part in the emperor's campaign on the Ebro
Ebro
The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain.The Ebro flows through the following cities:*Reinosa in Cantabria.*Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León....
and in the Second Siege of Saragossa in 1809.
He refused to serve in the invasion of Russia, and therefore had no share in the campaign of the Grande Armée in 1812 and 1813. However, when France was invaded in 1814, Marshal Moncey reappeared in the field and fought the last battle for Paris on the heights of Montmartre
Battle of Montmartre
The Battle of Montmartre was fought on March 30, 1814, between Allied forces and the forces of Napoleon's French Empire. The Allies were victorious, entering Paris, and as a result, Napoleon was soon forced to abdicate.- Background :...
and at the barrier of Clichy
Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine
-Administration:The canton covers a part of the commune; the other is in the northern part of Levallois-Perret-Twinnings: Heidenheim, Germany, since 1959 Sankt Pölten, Austria, since 1968 Santo Tirso, Portugal, since 1991 Rubí, Spain, since 2005 Southwark, United Kingdom, since 2005Clichy has also...
.
In 1814 he supported Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
and was created a Peer of France as Baron of Conegliano (June 1814, confirmed in 1825). He remained neutral during Napoleon's return, the 'Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
', feeling himself bound to Louis XVIII by his engagements as a Peer of France, but after Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
he was punished for refusing to take part in the court martial of Marshal Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
by imprisonment and the loss of his marshalate and peerage.
The King returned his title of Marshal in 1816, and he re-entered the chamber of peers three years later. He continued his military career: his last active service was as commander of an army corps in the short war with Spain in 1823. In 1833 he became governor of the prestigious Hôtel des Invalides (a home for veterans in Paris). Present at the return of Napoleon's ashes
Retour des cendres
The retour des cendres was the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I of France from the island of St Helena to France and their burial in the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris in 1840, on the initiative of Adolphe Thiers and King Louis-Philippe.-Previous attempts:In a codicil to his will, written...
in December 1840, he said after the ceremony, "Now, let's go home to die".
He married Charlotte Prospère Remillet (1761 – 1842), by whom he had 3 children:
- Anne-Francoise (1791 – 1842), married to Louis-Charles Bourlon de Chevigné, 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.