Jean Reynier

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Légion d'honneur
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Reunion
Grand Dignitary of the Royal Order of the Two-Sicilies
Grand Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry[1]

Jean Louis Ebénézer Reynier (14 January 1771 – 27 February 1814) was a

Napoleon Bonaparte in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. During the Napoleonic Wars, he continued to hold important combat commands, eventually leading an army corps during the Peninsular War in 1810–1811 and during the War of the Sixth Coalition
in 1812–1813.

Background and education

Reynier was born on 14 January 1771 in

revocation of the Edict of Nantes.[3] His brother Jean-Louis-Antoine (1762–1824), a naturalist and archeologist, held government posts in the French administration in Egypt and Naples.[3]

In March 1790, Reynier entered the

École des ponts et chaussées in Paris.[2][4] He was granted French citizenship through the 1791 constitution, which guaranteed right of return to descendants of French individuals who had fled the country due to religious persecution under the ancien régime.[4]

French Revolutionary Wars

Reynier during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. Sketch portrait by André Dutertre, c. 1798

Reynier joined the French Army as a gunner in 1792 and was drafted in October into the

general of division in November of the same year.[5]

Reynier participated in Napoleon's

Jacques-Francois Menou he defended against the British counter-invasion of Egypt in 1801. His division was present but not engaged in the Battle of Alexandria. After returning to France, Reynier killed a fellow general in a duel and was under a cloud for a time.[8]

Napoleonic Wars

Portrait by Félix Philippoteaux, 1836

On his return to duty in 1803,

Kingdom of Naples and Sicily at the Battle of Campo Tenese on 9 March 1806. This victory helped Napoleon to install his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne of the newly created Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples. On 4 July of that year, a British raiding force inflicted a severe drubbing on an overconfident Reynier at the Battle of Maida in southern Italy.[10] Reynier was later able to reassert French control of the area via the French victory at Mileto
and served under King Joseph as his Minister of War and Marine.

During the

Count of the Empire
.

During the

Wolkowysk
, he retreated when he learned of the main army's disaster.

Leading the Saxon corps plus an attached French division, Reynier fought at the battles of Kalish,

Grossbeeren and Dennewitz in 1813. During the Battle of Leipzig
, his Saxon troops suddenly changed sides. When a key bridge was blown up too quickly, Reynier was trapped and captured with his remaining French soldiers.

Reynier was released after being exchanged for the Austrian general Maximilian von Merveldt, also captured at Leipzig, and arrived in Paris on 15 February 1814. He died of gout nearly two weeks later, on 27 February.[1][8] Pastor Paul-Henri Marron presided over his funeral at the Oratoire du Louvre on 10 March.[1] Reynier was buried in the Panthéon.[1]

His name is inscribed in column 24 on the southern pillar of the Arc de Triomphe as REYNIER, right above that of fellow Vaudois volunteer Laharpe.

References

  1. ^
    Journal de l'Empire
    (in French). Paris. 16 March 1814.
  2. ^ a b c d Czouz-Tornare, Alain-Jacques. "Reynier, Jean Louis Ebénezer". Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (in French). Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b Haag, Eugene; Haag, Émile (1858). La France protestante (in French). Vol. 8. pp. 420–421.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c Baudouin Brothers, ed. (1827). Mémoires du Comte Reynier (in French). Rue de Vaugirard, Paris: Imprimerie Crapelet.
  5. ^ a b c "211 AP". ÉTAT SOMMAIRE DES FONDS D’ARCHIVES PRIVÉES SÉRIE AP (1 à 680 AP). Archives Nationales.
  6. ^ Masséna, André (1850). Koch, Frédéric (ed.). Mémoires de Masséna (in French). Vol. 7.
  7. doi:10.5169/seals-744728
    .
  8. ^ a b Chandler, Dictionary, p 377
  9. ^ Smith, p 215
  10. ^ Smith, p 221
  11. ^ Bowden & Tarbox, p 152-154
  12. ^ Bowden & Tarbox, p 132
  13. ^ Horward-Pelet, p 175

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean_Reynier&oldid=1217599876"