Jean-Baptiste Franceschi-Delonne

Jean-Baptiste Franceschi-Delonne

Jean-Baptiste Franceschi-Delonne (born September 4, 1767 in Lyon , † October 23, 1810 in Carthagena ) was a French général de brigade of the cavalry .

Live and act

Franceschi-Delonne was a son of the plasterer Regle Francisqui and his wife Marie-Barbe Delonne; he had a twin brother, Charles-Joseph, with whom he was also baptized in the Église Sainte-Croix . He received his first artistic lessons from his father and later at an art school in his hometown. Supported by his teachers, he was able to succeed as a sculptor at several exhibitions and was also awarded the Prix ​​de Rome there.

This award enabled Franceschi-Delonne to study at the Académie de France à Rome (→ Villa Medici ). In 1792 he returned to France and settled in Paris . In September of the same year he joined the Compagnie des Arts and was quickly promoted to Sous-lieutenant . Later he switched to the Rhine Army and joined the artillery .

Franceschi-Delonne was able to distinguish itself through courage and bravery in the coalition wars and was therefore promoted several times. He fought near Neuwied (April 18, 1797) and took part in the siege of Genoa (April / June 1800).

After the Battle of Austerlitz (April 2, 1805) Franceschi-Delonne was promoted to Général de brigade and was briefly on the staff of Eugène de Beauharnais in 1806 . In 1807 Napoleon appointed him as aide-de-camp for his Joseph Bonaparte and sent him to Naples (→ Kingdom of Naples ). On February 8, 1808, Franceschi-Delonne married Anne-Adelaïde Dumas, a daughter of General Matthieu Dumas, in the royal palace Portici . Through his mother-in-law, he was also distantly related to the writer Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais .

When Napoleon was planning his campaign to Spain , Franceschi-Delonne came to the staff of Marshal Michel Ney . He fought near Vimeiro (August 21, 1808), La Coruña (January 16, 1809) and Braga (March 18-20, 1809).

During the Battle of Talavera (July 27/28, 1809) Franceschi-Delonne was carrying important (and secret) dispatches for Napoleon when he was wounded and taken prisoner. With some other officers he came first to Seville and was later imprisoned in the dungeons of the Alhambra ( Granada ). His injuries were not treated and so he died after another transfer on October 23, 1810 in the Castillo de la Concepción of Carthagena.

Honors

• 1810 Baron de l'Émpire
• His name can be found on the western pillar (36th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).

literature

• Jean-Claude Demory (Ed.): Maréchaux d'Émpire . EPA, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-85120-698-5 .
• Jean-Claude Lorblanchès: Les soldiers de Napoléon en Espagne et au Portugal. 1807-1814 . L'Harmattan, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-296-02477-9 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & amiraux français de la Révolution et de l'Émpire. 1792-1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition).
• Charles-Antoine Thoumas: Les grands cavaliers du Premier Émpire. Notices biographiques, Vol. 2 . Berger-Levrault, Paris 1892.