Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard de Saint-Priest

Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard, Viscount de Saint-Priest, portrait of George Dawe from the Military Gallery (Военная галерея) of the Winter Palace

Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard, Viscount de Saint-Priest ( Russian Эммануил Францевич Сен-При ); (March 4, 1776 in Constantinople ; † March 29, 1814 in Laon ), was a general of French descent in Russian services, who served in the Napoleonic Wars under Alexander I ( Russian Tsar from 1801 to 1825).

origin

He was the eldest son of the French diplomat and Minister of State François Emmanuel Guignard, Comte de Saint-Priest from Saint-Priest near Lyon , one of the closest and last confidante of the French King Louis XVI.

While his father was the ambassador of the French king at the Sublime Porte in Constantinople, Saint-Priest was born there. In 1795 his father had to emigrate from France with the entire family during the revolutionary turmoil. Saint-Priest initially studied at the University of Heidelberg ; later he entered the service of the Imperial Russian Army .

military service

He distinguished himself in the Battle of Austerlitz (December 2, 1805), was wounded at Preussisch Eylau in 1807 and was promoted to lieutenant general on October 21, during the Napoleonic Russian campaign in 1812 . In 1813 he distinguished himself at Löbau and Bischofswerda , in 1814 at the siege of Koblenz and Mainz . In Koblenz, Saint-Priest showed his humor when he had another inscription affixed to the Kastorbrunnen , which was supposed to commemorate Napoleon's victorious campaign in Russia: “Seen and approved by us, Russian commander of the city of Koblenz, on January 1st, 1814” (details here ).

In the battle off Reims on March 13, 1814, he was seriously wounded and died 16 days later in Laon. He was buried in Laon Cathedral. The French royalists erected a monument to him in Laon; this was destroyed during the July Revolution of 1830 .

swell

• Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France . P. 22 - Louis Lainé - 1844