Jacques-François Menou
Jacques-François Menou | |
---|---|
Baron of Boussay | |
Born | Boussay, France | 3 September 1750
Died | 13 August 1810 Venice, Italy | (aged 59)
Jacques-François de Menou, Baron of Boussay, later Abdallah de Menou, (3 September 1750 – 13 August 1810) was a French statesman and general of Napoleon during the French Revolutionary Wars, most noted for his role in the Egyptian Campaign conducted between 1798 and 1801.
French Revolution
Born in Boussay in central France to an ancient family, he had already attained the rank of Maréchal de camp in 1789, when he was elected by the Second Estate of the bailiwick of Touraine to the Estates General in 1789. He was a liberal nobleman and supported the reforms of the National Constituent Assembly, of which he was elected secretary in December and president for a standard two weeks term (27 March - 12 April 1790). He served as a member of the diplomatic committee.
With the closing of the National Assembly in September 1791, he was employed as Maréchal de camp in
Commander of one of the sections of Paris on
General in chief of the Armée de l'Interieur, he was denounced as a traitor, put on trial and acquitted in 1795.
Campaign in Egypt
In 1798, Menou commanded one of the five divisions of the
On 21 March 1801, Menou commanded the French expeditionary force sent to repel British forces landing at La Muiron. The French were defeated and Menou withdrew to Alexandria, where he surrendered following the Siege of Alexandria on 30 August 1801.
Menou was permitted to evacuate the remaining French forces, but handed over the Rosetta Stone in exchange, the discovery of which had been reported to him by Captain Pierre-François Bouchard; it was a vital key to understanding the lost language of hieroglyphics.[2]
Statesman of the Empire
Menou was appointed as a member of the
Menou's principal contributions to the
The name of General Menou is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, on the south side. By his marriage to Zubaidah El Bawwab, he had a son Jacques Mourad Soliman (born 28 July 1800 in Rosetta, Egypt).
Notes
- ^ "Jean-François Menou de Boussay - Base de données des députés français depuis 1789 - Assemblée nationale". www2.assemblee-nationale.fr.
- ^ Max Sewell. "The Discovery of the Rosetta Stone". Napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
Sources
- Louis Adolphe Thiers, History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon, London 1893, v. 2, Book X, passim.
External links
Media related to Jacques-François de Menou at Wikimedia Commons