Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
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Vice Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve | |
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Born | Valensole, Provence, France | 31 December 1763
Died | 22 April 1806 Rennes, Brittany, France | (aged 42)
Allegiance | |
Service/ | French Navy |
Years of service | 1779–1806 |
Rank | Vice admiral |
Commands held | |
Battles/wars |
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (French pronunciation:
Early career
Villeneuve was born in 1763 at
Despite his aristocratic ancestry, he sympathised with the French Revolution, dropping the nobiliary particle from his name, and was able to continue his service in the Navy when other aristocratic officers were purged. He served during several battles, and was promoted to rear admiral in 1796 as a result of this.
At the Battle of the Nile in 1798 he was in command of the rear division. His ship, Guillaume Tell, was one of only two French ships of the line to escape the defeat.[1] He was captured soon afterwards when the British took the island of Malta, but he was soon released. He was criticised for not engaging the British at the Nile, but Napoleon considered him a "lucky man" and his career was not affected. His treatment by the British was not bad, but led to him describing them as 'gobelins gras' (lit. 'greasy goblins') in a letter to his family.[1]
In 1804,
Battle of Trafalgar
Prelude to the battle
After an abortive expedition in January, Villeneuve finally left Toulon on 29 March 1805 with eleven
On 22 July Villeneuve, now with twenty ships of the line and seven frigates, passed Cape Finisterre on the northwest coast of Spain and entered the Bay of Biscay. Here he met a British fleet of fifteen ships of the line commanded by Vice Admiral Sir Robert Calder. In the ensuing Battle of Cape Finisterre, a confused action in bad visibility, the British, though outnumbered, were able to cut off and capture two Spanish ships.
For two days Villeneuve shadowed the retreating British, but did not seek a battle. Instead he sailed to A Coruña, arriving on 1 August. Here he received orders from Napoleon to sail to Brest and Boulogne as planned. Instead, perhaps believing a false report of a superior British fleet in the Bay of Biscay, and against the Spanish commanders' objections, he sailed away back to Cádiz, rendering Napoleon's planned invasion of Britain wholly impossible.
The battle
At Cádiz the combined French and Spanish fleets were kept under blockade by Nelson. In September, Villeneuve was ordered to sail for Naples and attack British shipping in the Mediterranean, but he was initially unwilling to move and continued in blatant disregard of superior orders.
In mid-October he learned that Napoleon was about to replace him as commanding officer with François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros and order him to Paris to account for his actions. (Napoleon had written to the Minister of Marine, "Villeneuve does not possess the strength of character to command a frigate. He lacks determination and has no moral courage.") Before his replacement could arrive, Villeneuve gave the order to sail on 18 October.
Inexperienced crews and the difficulties of getting out of Cádiz meant that it took two days to get all 34 ships out of port and into some kind of order. On 21 October 1805 Villeneuve learned of the size of the British fleet, and turned back to Cádiz, but the combined fleets were intercepted by Nelson off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson, though outnumbered, won the Battle of Trafalgar, and Villeneuve's flagship Bucentaure was captured along with many other French and Spanish ships.
Aftermath and death
The British sent Villeneuve to England in the Euryalus but released him on parole; during this time he lived in Bishop's Waltham in Hampshire. He stayed at the Crown Inn public house and his men, who numbered 200, stayed in local houses. He was allowed to attend the funeral of Lord Nelson whilst at Bishop's Waltham.[citation needed] Freed in late 1805,[citation needed] he returned to France, where he attempted to go back into military service, but his requests were not answered.
On 22 April 1806, he was found dead at the Hôtel de la Patrie in Rennes with five stab wounds in the left lung and one in the heart.[4] He had left a farewell letter to his wife.[5] A verdict of suicide was recorded.[1] The nature of his death ensured that this verdict was much mocked in the British press of the time and suspicions abounded that Napoleon had secretly ordered Villeneuve's murder.[6] The question of whether Villeneuve committed suicide has been a source of contention among historians ever since.[5]
Legacy
His name is etched on the Arc de Triomphe.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e Hannay, David (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 84.
- ^ Villeneuve, Pierre-Charles de, (1763–1806), vice-amiral
- ^ James (1837), Vol. 3, p. 351.
- ^ The French Review. Vol. 4. Hoskin & Snowden. 1835. p. 77 – via Google Books.
- ^ Oxford Reference. Archived from the originalon 30 August 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-349-11632-7
- ISBN 978-1-61200-808-0.