Géraud Duroc
Géraud Duroc Duke of Legion of Honor Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Eagle Duke of the Empire[1] | |
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Other work | Grand marshal of the palace Member of the Sénat conservateur |
Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc (French pronunciation:
Early life and education
Duroc was born in
As a member of the nobility, Duroc opposed the new revolutionary government of France. In July 1792, he left the artillery school to become an emigré soldier in the counter-revolutionary Army of Condé, at the start of the Revolutionary Wars. He soon changed his mind, however, and after the Battle of Valmy Duroc deserted the royalist army. Along with two other deserters, he was arrested by the French in Fresnes-en-Woëvre following the battle, and in March 1793 he was allowed to return to Châlons and finish his education.[2]
Revolutionary Wars
Duroc joined the
.He served in
Napoleonic Wars
As
After the
In 1808, he was created Duke of
After the Battle of Bautzen (20–21 May 1813), the Grande Armée made a slow pursuit of Allied forces. At the Battle of Reichenbach on 22 May 1813, a cannonball ricocheted off a tree-trunk, hit Duroc in the stomach, tore open his belly and spilled out his intestines in a gory mess over uniform, saddle and horse,[3] which Napoleon witnessed. Whilst Duroc lay dying inside a farmhouse, he requested Napoleon's presence where he apologised to the Emperor for not being able to serve him further, asked him to be a father to his daughter, and then requested him to withdraw so that he was not present at the moment of death.[4] Alternatively, Napoleon claimed in later life that "when his bowels were falling out before my eyes, he repeatedly cried to me to have him put out of his misery. I told him: 'I feel pity for you, my friend, but there is no remedy but to suffer till the end.'"[5] Napoleon bought the farm and erected a monument to his memory.
Legacy
Duroc's remains were moved in 1847 to be buried in the
The metro station
References
- ^ Paris, Louis (1869). Dictionnaire des anoblissements (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne.
- ^ a b c d Thiry, Jean (1972). "Le grand maréchal Duroc". Le Pays Lorrain (in French). Nancy: 1.
- ^ Frank McLynn, Napoleon: A Biography., p. 555.
- ^ Frank McLynn, p. 555.
- ISBN 978-0-14-312785-7.
- ^ "LE DICO DU MÉTRO : DUROC". 2014-06-22.
- Moniteur Universel(French official state periodical - 31 May 1797, 24 October 1798, 30 May 1813, &c.).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Heraldica.org - Napoleonic heraldry.
- An Historical Inquiry into the Principal Circumstances and Events relative to the late Emperor Napoleon in which are investigated The Charges Brought against the Government and conduct of that Eminent Individual, by Barclay Mounteney, Effingham Wilson, London, 1824, pg 168