Republic of Bouillon
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Bouillon was a short-lived French client republic
, around the city of Bouillon
in present-day Belgium, based on the duchy of Bouillon, which had existed between France and the Austrian Netherlands since the 15th century. Reforms, sponsored by the duke, abolishing manorialism
and feudalism
and establishing a constitutional basis for the monarchy
did not prevent what many sources describe as the proclamation of a republic in April 1794. The republic was short-lived, however, as the territory was annexed by the French First Republic
18 months later. After the Great French War, the duchy was absorbed into the promoted Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, becoming a part of Belgium when that nation was founded in the 1830s.
(b. 1728, r. 1771, d. 1792), duke of Bouillon and prince of Turenne
, favourable to the French Revolution
, committed his duchy to the path of reform by an edict of 24 February 1790 and supported his assemblée générale (parliament) when it voted to abolish manorial and feudal rights on 26 May 1790.
On 23 March or 1 May 1792, the duchy became a constitutional monarchy
, becoming occupied by the French Revolutionary Army
the following 19 November. Duke Jacques Léopold
, who succeeded his father in December 1792 and lived in the Château de Navarre, near Évreux
(the last dukes of Bouillon did not reside in their duchy), was arrested and imprisoned in France under The Terror on 7 February 1794; like his father, he was a French citizen, as well as prince of a sovereign state.
The territory was annexed to the French First Republic
on 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire, year IV in the French Revolutionary Calendar) and integrated in the départements
of Forêts
, Ardennes and Sambre-et-Meuse
, but not before the assemblée générale publicly denounced the annexation.
From 10 December 1793 (10 Frimaire II) the duke had been deprived of rents from his estates under French decree. A decree of 22 March 1800 (1 Germinal VIII), after Napoléon
's accession to the French throne, ended the sequester of the ducal estates and allowed him to regain possession. However, he was still obliged to pay the 25% of assessed value he had offered to pay, and woods larger than 150 hectares (370.7 acre) were returned to him only on a provisional basis. The loss of his income during five years had left him with 3 million livres
in debts, he was hounded by the tax collectors and his creditors, and his expenses exceeded current revenues by 200 000 francs
every year. Jacques Léopold died, without issue, in February 1802 as citoyen Léopold la Tour d'Auvergne.
, Philippe d'Auvergne, cousin of the ducal family, adopted by duke Godefroy, who had agreed with the assemblée générale as heir should Jacques Léopold die without issue.
At the Congress of Vienna
, however, another of Godefroy's cousins, Charles Alain de Rohan, Prince of Guéméné
, a major-general of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Army
and a citizen of the Austrian Empire
since 1808, challenged the validity of the succession and claimed the ducal throne for himself; the princes of Guéméné now claim the throne of the extinct duchy.
After several months of uncertainty, Article 69 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna established the integration of the duchy into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in personal union
with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
) as of 9 June 1815. The question of compensation for rights-holders and other ducal pretenders was not settled, however, and became a subject of legal dispute for over a decade. The king of the Netherlands, as grand-duke of Luxembourg, took possession of the duchy on 22 July 1815.
As a part of the Belgian Revolution
, Bouillon rose up in revolt from 30 October 1830, leading to the surrender of the castle garrison. Bouillon, with the French-speaking grand-ducal territories, became part of Belgium
(as the province of Luxembourg
), with Belgium becoming de facto
independent from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
. The Treaty of the XXIV Articles, signed 15 November 1831 but only ratified in 1839 by all parties, recognised the de jure
independence of Belgium, subsequently reinforced by Treaties of London in 1839 and in 1867.
French client republic
During its occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, France established republican regimes in these territories...
, around the city of Bouillon
Bouillon
Bouillon is a municipality in Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Luxembourg Province.The municipality, which covers 149.09 km², had 5,477 inhabitants, giving a population density of 36.7 inhabitants per km².- History :...
in present-day Belgium, based on the duchy of Bouillon, which had existed between France and the Austrian Netherlands since the 15th century. Reforms, sponsored by the duke, abolishing manorialism
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
and feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
and establishing a constitutional basis for the monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
did not prevent what many sources describe as the proclamation of a republic in April 1794. The republic was short-lived, however, as the territory was annexed by the French First Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
18 months later. After the Great French War, the duchy was absorbed into the promoted Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, becoming a part of Belgium when that nation was founded in the 1830s.
Influence of the French Revolution
Godefroy IIIGodefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne
Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne was a member of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, the Sovereign Dukes of Bouillon. He was subsequently the penultimate Duke of Bouillon succeeding his father in 1771.-Biography:The youngest of two children, he was born to the Duke and Duchess of Bouillon in 1728...
(b. 1728, r. 1771, d. 1792), duke of Bouillon and prince of Turenne
Turenne, Corrèze
Turenne is a commune in the Corrèze department in the Limousin region in central France. It is characterised by its height and unique position on top of a cliff....
, favourable to the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, committed his duchy to the path of reform by an edict of 24 February 1790 and supported his assemblée générale (parliament) when it voted to abolish manorial and feudal rights on 26 May 1790.
On 23 March or 1 May 1792, the duchy became a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, becoming occupied by the French Revolutionary Army
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...
the following 19 November. Duke Jacques Léopold
Jacques Léopold de La Tour d'Auvergne
Jacques Léopold de La Tour d'Auvergne was a member of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, the Sovereign Dukes of Bouillon. He was the last Duke of Bouillon succeeding his father in 1792....
, who succeeded his father in December 1792 and lived in the Château de Navarre, near Évreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
(the last dukes of Bouillon did not reside in their duchy), was arrested and imprisoned in France under The Terror on 7 February 1794; like his father, he was a French citizen, as well as prince of a sovereign state.
Proclamation of the Republic
Noting that contact with the sovereign duke was temporarily impossible, on 24 April 1794 the assemblée générale convened a Special Meeting of the Representatives of the People , which may have proclaimed a republic. Some sources believe, however, that the assemblée générale did not proclaim the end of the ducal monarchy, but only reaffirmed the "essential democratic and popular" state and the transfer of executive authority to an ad hoc Council of State, meaning the ducal monarchy would not have really ended. Subsequent official documents cease to refer to the duke, possibly due to his imprisonment in France.The territory was annexed to the French First Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
on 26 October 1795 (4 Brumaire, year IV in the French Revolutionary Calendar) and integrated in the départements
The 130 départements
This is a list of the 130 departments , the conventional name for the administrative subdivisions of the First French Empire at the height of its territorial extent, circa 1811....
of Forêts
Forêts
Forêts was a département of the French First Republic, and later the First French Empire, in present Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Its name, meaning 'forests', comes from the Ardennes forests. It was formed on 24 October 1795, after the Southern Netherlands had been annexed by France on 1...
, Ardennes and Sambre-et-Meuse
Sambre-et-Meuse
Sambre-et-Meuse was the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium. It was named after the rivers Sambre and Meuse. Its capital was Namur....
, but not before the assemblée générale publicly denounced the annexation.
From 10 December 1793 (10 Frimaire II) the duke had been deprived of rents from his estates under French decree. A decree of 22 March 1800 (1 Germinal VIII), after Napoléon
Napoleon I
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 accession to the French throne, ended the sequester of the ducal estates and allowed him to regain possession. However, he was still obliged to pay the 25% of assessed value he had offered to pay, and woods larger than 150 hectares (370.7 acre) were returned to him only on a provisional basis. The loss of his income during five years had left him with 3 million livres
French livre
The livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
in debts, he was hounded by the tax collectors and his creditors, and his expenses exceeded current revenues by 200 000 francs
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
every year. Jacques Léopold died, without issue, in February 1802 as citoyen Léopold la Tour d'Auvergne.
After the war
After the end of the French occupation in April 1814, the territory of the former duchy was occupied by the Allied Powers, the duchy was restored briefly, headed by a British admiral from JerseyJersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, Philippe d'Auvergne, cousin of the ducal family, adopted by duke Godefroy, who had agreed with the assemblée générale as heir should Jacques Léopold die without issue.
At the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, however, another of Godefroy's cousins, Charles Alain de Rohan, Prince of Guéméné
Charles Alain, Prince of Guéméné
Charles Alain de Rohan was a French nobleman and Prince of Guéméné. He died without any surviving descendants as his daughter died without children.-Biography:...
, a major-general of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Army
Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars
The Imperial and Royal Army was that of the Austrian Empire, formed on 11 August 1804 preceding the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Habsburgs, under Emperor Francis II .-Background to the army:...
and a citizen of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
since 1808, challenged the validity of the succession and claimed the ducal throne for himself; the princes of Guéméné now claim the throne of the extinct duchy.
After several months of uncertainty, Article 69 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna established the integration of the duchy into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (in personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...
) as of 9 June 1815. The question of compensation for rights-holders and other ducal pretenders was not settled, however, and became a subject of legal dispute for over a decade. The king of the Netherlands, as grand-duke of Luxembourg, took possession of the duchy on 22 July 1815.
As a part of the Belgian Revolution
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....
, Bouillon rose up in revolt from 30 October 1830, leading to the surrender of the castle garrison. Bouillon, with the French-speaking grand-ducal territories, became part of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(as the province of Luxembourg
Luxembourg (Belgium)
Luxembourg is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, France, and the Belgian provinces of Namur and Liège. Its capital is Arlon, in the south-east of the province.It has an area of 4,443 km², making it the largest Belgian province...
), with Belgium becoming de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
independent from the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The Treaty of the XXIV Articles, signed 15 November 1831 but only ratified in 1839 by all parties, recognised the de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
independence of Belgium, subsequently reinforced by Treaties of London in 1839 and in 1867.