 |
Pierre-Roger Ducos, dit Roger-Ducos
b. 25 Jul 1747, Dax, Landes [1]
d. 17 Mar 1816, Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg |
| Title: |
Consul de la République française (Consul of the French Republic) |
| Term: |
10 Nov 1799 - 25 Dec 1799 |
| Chronology: |
10 Nov 1799, appointed by the Law of 19 Brumaire, Year VIII, passed by the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Ancients), galerie d'Apollon (grande galerie), Palais de Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cloud [2] |
|
11 Nov 1799, after 02:00, took the oaths of allegiance, separate sessions of the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred) [3] and the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Ancients) [4], Palais de Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cloud |
|
25 Dec 1799, successors entered the office [5] |
| Names/titles: |
Baptised (25 Jul 1747): Roger Ducos [6] |
|
Comte Ducos, comte de l'Empire (count Ducos, count of the Empire) [from 28 May 1808] |
|
Membre du Directoire exécutif de la République française (Member of the Executive Directory of the French Republic) (1 Jul 1799 - 10 Nov 1799) [see details] |
| Biography: |
| Practised law at Dax; served as president of the Criminal Tribunal of Landes (1791-1792); elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1795) as a representative of the département of Landes; voted for the death sentence to King Louis XVI; supported the expulsion of the Girondins; elected president of the Society of Jacobins (1794); elected to the Corps législatif (15 Oct 1795); selected to sit in the Conseil des Anciens (Council of Ancients) (1795-1798); served as President of the Council of Ancients (23 Sep 1796 - 22 Oct 1796); in absence of the incumbent, presided at the famous meeting of the Council of Ancients on 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797); approved all measures against royalists; acquiesced to the annulation of his election to the Corps législatif according to the law of 22 Floréal, Year VI (11 May 1798), voiding the election of 106 left-wing deputies (coup of 22 Floréal); returned to exercising the functions of president of the Criminal Tribunal of Landes; elected (19 Jun 1799) to the Directoire exécutif (Executive Directory) to replace Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai; supported the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, Year VIII (9 Nov 1799 - 10 Nov 1799); nominated one of the three Consuls of the Republic (10 Nov 1799 - 25 Dec 1799); nominated member of the Sénat conservateur (ex officio as the outgoing consul according to Art. 24, Constitution of Year VIII, effective 25 Dec 1799); created a member (2 Oct 1803) and grand officer (14 Jun 1804) of the Legion of Honor; named a peer of France (2 Jun 1815) during the Cent-Jours (Hundred Days); proscribed as a regicide and was forced to leave France (1816); suffered injuries in a road accident
near Ulm, Württemberg, and went into a coma; was taken to
Ulm, where died (17 Mar 1816).
|
| Biographical sources: "Le troisième consul Roger Ducos", by Michel Massie (Biarritz: J & D Éditions, 1992) |
| |
| [1] |
Born in Dax and was baptised in the Cathedral of this town 25 Jul 1747; register of baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish of Dax (Cathédrale), 1736-1749, E dépot 88 / GG 19, p. 464 (digital copy). The place of birth was erroneously given as Montfort in many biographical books (cf. Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, p. 219). |
| [2] |
Bulletin des lois de la République, No. 323, pp. 1-5. |
| [3] |
Moniteur universel, No. 53, 23 brumaire an VIII, p. 207. |
| [4] |
Moniteur universel, No. 51, 21 brumaire an VIII, p. 200. |
| [5] |
The terms of office for provisional consuls were not defined by the Law of 19 brumaire, Year VIII, which appointed the Commission consulaire exécutive (Executive Consular Commission). Art. I of the law of 3 Nivôse, Year VIII (24 Dec 1799) appointed 25 Dec 1799 (4 nivôse an VIII) as the date for the new consuls named in the Constitution of Year VIII to enter their offices, thus terminating the terms of provisional consuls. |
| [6] |
It appears that Ducos himself began to add the name "Pierre" to his given name (Roger) during the period of the Directoire. ("Le troisième consul Roger Ducos", op. cit., p. 58: "C'est Ducos lui-même, et, semble-t-il, sous le Directoire, qui prit l'habitude de faire précéder son patronyme du prénom Roger, intégré à son nom dans les documents officiels, le prénom d'usage étant Pierre.") |
