Jean Bart
Jean Bart , actually probably Jan Baert , (* October 21, 1650 in Dunkerque ; † April 27, 1702 ibid) was a privateer from Flanders in the service of the French King Louis XIV.
Life
Bart was hired as a cabin boy on a smuggler in 1662 at the age of twelve, was a commanding officer at the age of 16 and participated in a pirate voyage against Great Britain in the Dutch Navy under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter . He fought under de Ruyter's command in the four-day battle . When Louis XIV waged war against Holland in 1672 , Bart returned to France and received royal letters of misery. A career as a patented privateer within the French fleet and the birth of his son François Cornil Bart followed.
In 1689 he was captured by the English during a convoy battle. Together with his Lieutenant Claude de Forbin and 20 sailors, he was able to flee from the port of Plymouth a short time later and reach St. Malo in a stolen boat after three days of rowing .
In 1694, after his victory in the sea battle of Texel , he succeeded in freeing a grain convoy of Scandinavian ships destined for France from Dutch hands.
For this act, Bart was made Chevalier de St. Louis and raised to the nobility. After his successes, Jean Bart became head of the squadron ( rear admiral ) of the French fleet in 1696 . In 1697 he commanded the unsuccessful expedition to Danzig , the aim of which was to install Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de Conti in the election of the king as the successor to the late Polish King Johann Sobieski .
At the age of 51, the 2.04 meter tall giant Jean Bart died on April 27, 1702 from the effects of flu and found his final resting place in the cemetery of the Church of St. Eloi .
Honors
- A memorial in Dunkerque has been commemorating him since 1847, and the main square of Dunkerque is Place Jean Bart .
- Theodor Fontane wrote a ballad entitled Jan Bart .
- At least two dozen French warships were named after him, including a keeled battleship in 1940
- A high school in Dunkerque bears his name.
- A rolling tobacco (Halfzware Shag) is also named after him.
- In his miner novel Germinal , Émile Zola named one of the mines on strike after Jean Bart.
Songs
Jean Bart lives in a nursery rhyme that still occurs today on the northern French coast.
- Jean Bart, Jean Bart,
- where is the journey going?
- To the west, to the east
- that shouldn't cost us anything,
- we want to snap
- the golden bites,
- the angelic pints,
- the Dutch critters,
- the Spanish wine.
- Hop in!
There is also the song Avec Jean Bart s'en sont allés .
literature
- Johan Ballegeer: privateer Jan Bart. From the Dutch by Siegfried Mrotzek. Anrich, Kevelaer 1993, ISBN 3-89106-172-2 (original edition: Het eerste litteken. Uitgeverij Altiora, Averbode / Apeldoorn 1992).
- Michel Delebarre: Jean Bart. La legend du corsair. Lafon, Neuilly-sur-Seine 2002, ISBN 2-84098-787-2 .
- Jacques Duquesne: Jean Bart. Edition du Seuil, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-02-013058-0 .
- Theodor Fontane : Poems. 16th edition. JG Cotta'sche Buchhandlung Nachhaben, Stuttgart et al. 1911, p. 221.
- Louis Lemaire: Histoire de Jean Bart. 1650-1702. Beffrois, Dunkerque 1983, ISBN 2-903077-87-8 .
Remarks
Web links
- Literature by and about Jean Bart in the catalog of the German National Library
- Site about Jean Bart (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bart, Jean |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jan Baert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French privateer (Dunkerque) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1650 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dunkerque , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 27, 1702 |
| Place of death | Dunkerque , France |