Pierre Alexandre le Camus
Pierre Alexandre le Camus (born November 17, 1774 in Martinique ; † November 30, 1824 at Château Grand Chesnay, Le Chesnay , France) was a favorite of King Jérôme von Westphalen , became his Minister-State Secretary and Foreign Minister and was appointed by him Counts of Fürstenstein raised.
Life
Pierre Alexandre le Camus was born as the son of the French planter Pierre Timothée le Camus (* around 1738, † October 22, 1810 in Fort-Royal , Martinique) and his wife Rose Dorothée Baylies-Dupuy (* December 13, 1763 in Fort-Royal) Born on the then French island of Martinique. He had a brother, Auguste, and three sisters.
Le Camus made Jérôme Bonaparte's acquaintance when he came to Saint Domingue with the expeditionary army of General Charles Leclerc in 1801 to subjugate the black General Toussaint L'Ouverture . Jérôme was so taken with the amiable young Creole that he made him his private secretary despite his incomplete upbringing and wanted him to be around almost all the time. Le Camus negotiated on Jérôme's order with the French Consul General LA Pichon because of Jerôme's intended marriage to Elizabeth Patterson and then informed Pichon on December 25, 1803 that the wedding had already taken place the evening before.
Le Camus came to Europe with Jérôme in 1805 and remained his closest confidante. When Jérôme was made King of the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia by his brother in 1807 , Le Camus became First Chamberlain, First Secretary and Grand Master of the cloakroom. On December 24, 1807, Jérôme transferred the fallen fief of the Diede zum Fürstenstein family with the castle and rule of Fürstenstein (near Eschwege ) and the rule of Immichenhain as a hereditary man's fief, as well as an annual pension of 40,000 francs, and made him Count of Fürstenstein. Le Camus was the first subject to be raised to the rank of count by Jérôme. Emperor Napoleon was outraged and sent his brother an armored letter on January 4, 1808. In this he was angry:
- “What did Mr. Le Camus do? He did no service to the fatherland, he was only at your service. .... There are at least ten men who have saved my life, and I am only giving them a pension of 600 francs. I have marshals who have won ten battles, who are covered with wounds and who do not receive the perks that you give to Mr. Le Camus. It is therefore inevitable that you withdraw this measure ... or that Mr Le Camus renounce his French citizenship. "
Jérôme, who, according to Napoleon's envoy Karl Friedrich Reinhard , could not even fall asleep without Le Camus, opted for the second option and continued to favor his favorite. On January 21, 1808 he appointed Le Camus to the Council of State. On the same day, at his request, he dismissed the previous Minister-State Secretary Johannes von Müller , who had only been appointed on November 17, 1807 (who instead became director of public education), and on February 26, 1808 he made Le Camus Müller's successor. At the same time Le Camus was provisionally and from October 1, 1808 finally entrusted with the foreign affairs of the kingdom. As early as April 15, 1808, the newly created Count von Fürstenstein was given the fiefs of Fürstenstein , Immichenhain and Niddawitzhausen as an allodial property. He adopted the coat of arms and livery of the Lords of Fürstenstein. Le Camus sold the estate Immichenhain on August 11, 1809 to Jérômes court marshal, the Baron Anne-François Louis Bertrand de Boucheporn.
Le Camus, who spoke no German and could only pronounce his title as Comte de “Furchentintin” to the amusement of his surroundings and himself, was indisputably the first man in the kingdom and lord of royal trust after the royal couple. Not only did he keep his new title and property, but Napoleon even approved his appointment as Count of the Empire on April 17, 1812 .
After Jérôme had donated the Order of the Westphalian Crown on December 25, 1809 , Le Camus became the Order's first Grand Commander on August 15, 1810 (the total number was limited to 10) and also temporarily took over the offices of the Grand Chancellor and for income and expenses Treasurer and General Administrator responsible for the Order.
Arthur Kleinschmidt wrote in his History of the Kingdom of Westphalia, published in 1893:
- “His intellect was penetrating, but his character was ignoble; In spite of all the intrigues he remained the king's favorite, to whom, as Reinhard said, he was indispensable for falling asleep; he wasted time, doing little bad and no good, and his own sense of how little he could achieve gave him a noble reserve. Pleasant to deal with, agreeable to love affairs, he was the man after Jerome's heart. He was looking for a brilliant match among the nobility of Westphalia. "
He also succeeded in doing this with Jérôme's help. On June 12, 1809 he married the Countess Adelaide von Hardenberg. To this end, he separated from his previous lover, Diana Rabe von Pappenheim , who then became Jérôme's mistress on his recommendation . His three beautiful sisters married well too. Claire Adélaïde Le Camus (1789–1874) married the French general and Westphalian Minister of War Joseph Antoine Morio (1771–1811) and her second marriage to Admiral Baron Victor Guy Duperré (1775–1846), with whom she had three children. Rose Claire Antoinette Le Camus († 1854) married André-François Ocher de Beaupré (* 1776), who became General and Inspecteur Général of Algeria in 1839 and with whom she had a daughter and a son. The third sister, whose name is not known, married the director general of the Westphalian Post , Monsieur Pothuau, with whom she had a son, Louis Pierre Alexis Pothuau (1871 Vice Admiral, 1871–1873 and 1877–1879 Minister of the Navy, 1879–1880 Ambassador to London ).
His own marriage with Adelaide von Hardenberg had two children: Adélaïde Marianne Lysinca Le Camus (born January 10, 1816) and Adolphe Charles Alexandre Le Camus (born March 8, 1818 - † May 20, 1895). The King of Prussia later confirmed the title of Count von Fürstenstein to the children.
After the end of Napoleonic rule, Le Camus lived in France. He died on November 30, 1824 at the Grand Chesnay Palace in Le Chesnay, near Versailles . He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris ; his bones were transferred to the local ossuary in 2001 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Diana Rabe von Pappenheim (born January 25, 1788; † December 18, 1844), born Freiin Waldner von Freundstein , was the much younger wife of Chamberlain and Chief Ceremony Master Wilhelm Rabe von Pappenheim zu Liebenau and Stammen . She gave birth to their daughter Jenny on September 7, 1811 , who was christened by Jérôme, but was recognized as a raven by Pappenheim. Soon afterwards, on November 30, 1811, Wilhelm Rabe von Pappenheim was elevated to the rank of Count in Westphalia; he died on January 3, 1815 at his castle Stammen . In the restored Electorate of Hesse , however, his status was not recognized.
literature
- Philip W. Sergeant: The Burlesque Napoleon: The Story of the Life and the Kingship of Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte , Kessinger Pub. Co., 2005, ISBN 1-4179-6640-8 (pp. 175–178), preview in Google Book Search
- Arthur Kleinschmidt : History of the Kingdom of Westphalia , Perthes, Gotha, 1893, pp. 35–36, preview in the Google book search
- Court and State Manual of the Kingdom of Westphalia , Gebrüder Hahn, Hanover, 1811, (pp. 43, 71, 80), preview in the Google book search
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Le Camus, Pierre Alexandre |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fürstenstein, Pierre Alexandre Le Camus Count of |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Politician and statesman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 17, 1774 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Martinique |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 30, 1824 |
| Place of death | Le Chesnay , France |