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Riel de Beurnonville, Pierre

Pierre Riel de Beurnonville

b. 10 May 1752, Champignolle, Aube
d. 23 Apr 1821, Paris

Title: Membre du Gouvernement provisoire (Member of the Provisional Government)
Term: 1 Apr 1814 - 14 Apr 1814
Chronology: 1 Apr 1814, appointed, resolution of the Sénat conservateur [1, vol. 39, pp. 498-500]
14 Apr 1814, provisional government conferred on the Lieutenant général du royaume (Lieutenant General of the Kingdom), resolution of the Sénat conservateur [1]
Names/titles: Original family name: Riel; de Beurnonville added to the family name after aquiring a property of Beurnonville, near Champignolle (1789); comte de Beurnonville (count of Beurnonville) [from 23 May 1808]; marquis de Beurnonville (marquis of Beurnonville) [from 31 Aug 1817; letters patent issued on 21 Dec 1817)
Biography:

Originally intended for the church; volunteered for gendarmerie (1766); joined a regiment in Île-de-France (1774); served in India and in the Island of Bourbon (Réunion) (1780-1788); promoted lieutenant aide-major (1780), captain aide-major of the colonial militias (1781); joined the Swiss Guards of Comte de Artois (future King Charles X); promoted lieutenant-colonel (1789), colonel (1789) of infantry; joined the army of the Rhine (1792); promoted to maréchal de camp (3 May 1792), lieutenant-general (22 Aug 1792) and commander-in-chief of the army of Mosel (9 Nov 1792); appointed minister of war (8 Feb 1793 - 4 Apr 1793); did not assume the ministry until March 1793; sent by the Convention nationale (National Convention) to investigate the actions of General Dumouriez; arrested (1 Apr 1793) and handed over (2 Apr 1793) to the Austrians on orders of Dumouriez; lived in captivity in Olomouc (1793-1795); appointed commander-in-chief of the army of the North (14 Mar 1796); served as ambassador in Berlin (1800-1802) and in Madrid (1802-1805); appointed senator (1805); created count of the Empire (May 1808); appointed a member of the Provisional Government (1 Apr 1814 - 14 Apr 1814); appointed minister of state, peer of France (4 Jun 1814) and hereditary peer (19 Aug 1815); appointed Marshal of France (3 Jul 1816); created marquis (31 Aug 1817). Biography source: [2]


[1] "Histoire parlementaire de la Révolution française, ou Journal des assemblées nationales, depuis 1789 jusqu'en 1815", ed. by P.-J.-B. Buchez et P.-C. Roux (Paris: Paulin, 1838), vol. 40, pp. 5-7.
[2] "Catalogue historique des généraux français", by Louis de La Roque (Paris: A. Desaide, 1896).
Image: portrait by François-Joseph Heim.