Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- 2 August 1822, Pardailhan) was the eldest of an ennobled Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...
ien family, originating in the Saint-Pons-de-Thomières
Saint-Pons-de-Thomières
Saint-Pons-de-Thomières is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-History:It is named after its patron saint, St...
region. At first an officer in the Maison Militaire du Roi, baron Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan was Maître d'hôtel du Roi at the Court of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
at the end of the Ancien Régime. His writings, however, show him as an opponent of the privileges of aristocracy and in favor of the new ideas. 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...
marks a rupture with his milieu: in support of deep social reform, he was elected député
Chamber of Deputies of France
Chamber of Deputies was the name given to several parliamentary bodies in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:* 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the Lower chamber of the French Parliament, elected by census suffrage.*...
for Paris in 1791 to the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
, but always remained attached to the idea of a constitutional monarchy and was imprisoned as a suspect during the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
. Ruined by bad business dealings under the Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
and by sources of income he had lost in the Revolution, he ended his life at his château
Château
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
at Pardailhan in 1822.
Life
From his earliest youth Thomas de Treil de Pardailhan embarked on a military career, being made a gendarme de la garde du roi aged 10, then a musketeerMusketeers of the Guard
The Musketeers of the Guard were a fighting company of the military branch of the Maison du Roi, the Royal Household of the French monarchy.-History:...
, and finally becoming an ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
in the Swiss Guards of Monsieur frère du roi
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...
, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. After 20 years' service, he was made a knight of the Order of St Louis.
After his 1782 marriage to Charlotte Gautier de Vinfrais, he became seigneur
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
of Pardailhan (Hérault
Hérault
Hérault is a department in the south of France named after the Hérault river.-History:Hérault is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
) and took the title baron de Pardailhan.
In 1785, he served Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
at Versailles in the essentially honorific role of Conseiller Maître d'hôtel du roi.
As early as the first events of 1789 Thomas-François engaged with passion in political life - he was made a delegate in March that year by the representatives of the Three Estates of Saint-Pons
Saint-Pons-de-Thomières
Saint-Pons-de-Thomières is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.-History:It is named after its patron saint, St...
, to support the writing of a constitution.
In 1790, he was elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of the canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
of Villejuif
Villejuif
Villejuif is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Villejuif was recorded for the first time in a papal bull of 1119 as Villa Judea, the meaning of which is still debated...
, and in 1791 the administrator of the département of Paris (conseiller général). In September 1791, he was elected to be the député for the département of Paris in the Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
, and got himself known for legal propositions on the organisation of France's armies (especially a proposition condemning émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
officers to death). He is known to have proposed the creation of a military decoration to the Legislative Assembly, and this is taken as the precedent for the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. Treil-Pardailhan was the member of the diplomatic committee, implicated in triggering war with the European powers
In 1794, during the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, he was imprisoned as a moderate in the prison Saint-Lazare
Prison Saint-Lazare
The Prison Saint-Lazare was a prison in the Xe arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Originally a leper hospital founded on the road from Paris to Saint-Denis at the boundary of the marshy area of former Seine river bank in the 12th century, it was ceded on 7 January 1632 to Vincent de Paul and...
in Paris, only just escaping the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
, when he was questioned about conspiracy in the prisons.
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in 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...
, from where he learnt of the expropriation of domaine of Pardailhan by his own brother Alexandre. Returning to France, he definitively installed himself at the château at Pardailhan, repurchased by his wife Charlotte.
On the Bourbon Restoration
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
in 1815 he was named mayor of the commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Pardailhan. He died on 2 August 1822 at the château de Pardailhan, and the commune still holds his tomb, in a state of disrepair.
Discourse and opinions
- Discours de M. Treilh-Pardailhan, député de Paris, sur les récompenses militaires, du 31 mai 1792 (printed text - Assemblée Nationale)
- Question proposée par T.-F. Treil-Pardailhan,... Le titre de membre d'une association particulière est-il compatible avec celui de législateur ? (printed text - Assemblée Nationale)
- T.-F. Treil, député de Paris, à ses collègues, le 9 juillet 1792 (printed text - Assemblée Nationale)
- Lettres de plusieurs députés [Descrots d'Estrées, Nicolas Beaupuis, Treil-Pardailhan,] qui font hommage à l'Assemblée nationale de leurs décorations militaires. Imprimés par ordre de l'Assemblée nationale...