Jean-Baptiste-Cyrus-Marie-Adélaïde de Timbrune de Thiembronne

Général Cyrus Marie Adelaide de Timbrune

Jean-Baptiste Cyrus Adélaïde de Timbrune de Thiembronne , vicomte, then comte de Valence , called Valence (born September 22, 1757 in Agen , † February 4, 1822 in Paris ), was a French Général de division and Comte de l'Empire .

Family coat of arms.

Soldier in the Ancien Régime

His father was the high aristocrat Vincent-Sylvestre de Timbrune (1715-1797), Marquis de Ferrières , Comte de Valence, Baron de Montesquieu and Roussillon, Lieutenant-General of the King. He himself entered the artillery school in Strasbourg in 1774 . In 1778 he became a captain in the regiment Royal cavalerie , then aide de camp of Maréchal de Vaux . In 1784 he became Colonel en second in the Régiment d'infanterie de Bretagne .

Revolutionary General

On June 3, 1784, he married pro forma Pulchérie de Genlis, the youngest daughter of Madame de Genlis , in order to conceal his intimate relationship with Madame de Montesson, 30 years his senior . Madame de Montesson bequeathed her fortune to him. The following year he was appointed stable master by the duc d'Orléans at his court and was transferred to the position of Colonel des Régiment de Chartres dragons . His good relations with the duc d'Orléans and his liberal ideas led to his being sent to the assembly of the Estates General in Paris in 1789 as a representative of the nobility . However , he was not appointed to the Constituent Assembly . The following year he was promoted to Maréchal de camp and appointed military commander of the Sarthe department. After the king's flight, he oathed the new rulers on June 23, 1791. Committed to the army of Charles-François Dumouriez , he took part in the cannonade at Valmy , where he commanded the reserve. He then accepted the surrender of Verdun and Longwy .

Appointed "Général en chef" (Supreme Commander) on October 6, 1792, he took over the "Armée des Ardennes" (Ardennes Army) on October 8, with which he harassed the Austrians under Jean-Pierre de Beaulieu , then he could Dinant , Take Charleroi and Namur . During the winter he submitted a plan to the government to conquer the British colonies. Deployed in Belgium at Dumouriez's request, he was involved in the battle near Tirlement and distinguished himself in the Battle of Neer winds, in which he was wounded on March 18, 1793.

exile

Dissatisfied with the direction in which domestic politics was moving, he resigned from his command and resigned from military service. In addition, he was considered a confidante of Dumouriez. When one of his couriers was intercepted by government officials with compromising mail in Beurnonville , an arrest warrant was issued and the National Convention issued a decree ordering his family to be detained.

He joined Dumouriez, who was ostracized for high treason, and went to London with him . However, the British Prime Minister William Pitt ordered that they had to leave the UK immediately. The Comte de Valence then first went to the United States, but returned to Europe during the time of the directorate and spent the time until the beginning of the consulate in Hamburg.

Empire

After the coup d'état of 18th Brumaire VIII he returned to France. Here he became president of the Vassy Electoral College in 1800 . On 12 pluviôse on XIII (February 1, 1805) he was appointed to the Sénat conservateur by order of Napoleon. Eight days later he was appointed Commander of the Légion d'honneur .

On March 20, 1807 he was appointed Commandant of the "5 ^e légion de la réserve intérieure" (5th reserve region of the interior) and on June 1, 1808 appointed Comte de l'Empire . In the same year he was assigned to the Spanish Army, where he worked in the Battle of Talavera on 27./28. July 1809 led a division in the corps of General Horace Sebastiani . However, he soon had to return to France due to his poor health.

During the Russian campaign , de Valence commanded a cavalry division under Maréchal Joachim Murat .

In December 1813 he was appointed extraordinary commissioner in the 6th military division in Besançon by Napoleon . However, his attempts to stop the Allied advance in 1814 were in vain.

restoration

As secretary of the "Sénat conservateur" on April 1, 1814, he was one of the signatories of the deposition of Napoleon. On June 4, 1814 he was by Louis XVIII. Appointed Pair de France and awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on January 4, 1815.

During the reign of the Hundred Days, he was reappointed to the Chambre des pairs and again took over the office of secretary of the "Sénat conservateur", where he vehemently defended the cause of the empire. After the Battle of Waterloo he commanded the troops of Paris together with Paul Grenier and Horace Sébastiani and was appointed extraordinary commissioner by the provisional government on June 21, 1815. In this function he submitted an offer of an armistice to Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher , which the latter rejected.

By order of July 24, 1815, he was deleted from the list of Pairs of France and on September 4, 1816, he retired as Lieutenant-général .

On August 10, 1816, his youngest daughter, Louise Rose Aimé de Timbrune-Thiembrone de Valence, married Général Étienne Maurice Gérard .

Appointed again to the Chambre des pairs on November 21, 1819, he turned to the liberal side and opposed the laws that were intended to restrict individual freedoms and freedom of the press.

He died on February 4, 1822 in Paris and was buried on the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (division 24).

Honors

• Order of Lazarus
• Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• Military Order of St. Heinrich
• His name can be found on the north pillar (4th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).

literature

• Gabriel de Broglie : Le Général de Valence. L'insouciance et la gloire 1757-1822. Perrin, Paris 2003, ISBN 2-262-02008-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the c'lébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1855. Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Roger Caratini, Dictionnaire des personnages de la Révolution. Ed. Le pré aux Clercs, 1988, ISBN 2714422322 .
• Jacques-Alphonse Mahul, Annuaire nécrologique, ou Supplément annuel et continuation de toutes les biographies ou dictionnaires historiques. 3e année, 1822, Paris: Ponthieu, 1823, pp. 204–210 [1]

Footnotes

1. ↑ deputy regimental commander
2. ↑ One of the three legislative institutions