December 8, 1742 (Laon) - December 21, 1819 (Paris)
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- Sérurier, jean-Mathieu-Philibert, count
Jean-Mathieu Philibert Sérurier (Laon, December 8, 1742 - Paris, December 24, 1819), was a general of the French Revolution and Marshal of the Empire (1804).[1] He was also named Count of the Empire and became Peer of France at the Restoration.
Lieutenant of the militias of Laon in 1755, at the age of thirteen, he followed a slow career and was a teacher in the infantry regiment of Aumont in 1759. He campaigned in Germany, was wounded at Warburg in 1760. /P>
During the Monarchy
Sérurier was one of Napoleon's rare generals who fought the Prussians during the Seven Years' War. He went to Portugal, then was appointed lieutenant in the Beauce infantry regiment. He served in Corsica under Marbeuf in 1770, returned to France, he was made captain in 1778. After a request for retirement in 1788, he became commander of the Médoc infantry in 1789.
The French Revolution
He faces a revolt of soldiers agitated by the French Revolution, when he is lieutenant-colonel of the 70th regiment in garrison in Perpignan. Faced with these patriotic soldiers, his aristocracy is doomed. He was about to emigrate, was stripped of his rank and arrested on October 10, 1792[2]. Reinstated by Barras, he owes him his place of brigadier general in the Italian army on June 25, 1793.
The Italian Campaign
He fights the Piedmontese in Italy. When Napoleon Bonaparte took command of the Army of Italy, he was one of his assistants, appreciated for his seriousness and his courage.
He contributed to the Battle of Mondovi (April 21, 1796), the Battle of Lonato (November 23, 1795) at La Favorite (January 16, 1797), and at Castiglione. He distinguished himself at the siege of Mantua on February 2, 1797 (14 Pluviôse year V), at the passage of the Tagliamento. Bonaparte appreciated this man of integrity, devoted and incapable of intrigue and entrusted him with the task of handing over to the Directory the flags taken from the enemy in June 1797.
By the treaty of Campo-Formio, the Republic of Venice is almost entirely under Austrian domination; Sérurier, appointed governor of Venice on October 18, 1797, was in charge of the evacuation three months later and took away food, ammunition, weapons and works of art.
Too old to be part of the Egyptian expedition, he finds a command in the army of Italy. He signaled himself at Pastrengo (March 26, 1799), he occupied Lucca in 1799, served under Scherer, but failed in front of Verona and had to capitulate at Verderio (April 28) before very superior forces. Released on parole by Souvarov, he returned to France.
The Empire
Nicknamed the "Virgin of Italy" because of her integrity, Sérurier commanded the reserve in Paris at Point du Jour and allowed the coup d'etat of 18-19 Brumaire to take place. Napoleon Bonaparte appointed him senator in the first tour of December 1799.
Vice-president of the senate in 1802; praetor of the senate in 1803, he was governor of the Invalides for the entire duration of the imperial government and marshal of the Empire in 1804, Grand Aigle of the Legion of Honor in 1805 and count of the Empire in 1808. He became general commander of the National Guard of Paris in 1809.
He will go down in the history of the Empire – and in history as a whole – as the one who organized the greatest and most glorious auto-da-fé in history. On the night of March 30 to 31, 1814, he ordered the incineration, in the courtyard of the Invalides, of the 1,417 flags taken from the enemy since the wars of Louis XIV, as well as the sword and insignia of Frederick II of Prussia . The ashes were then thrown into the Seine.
The Restoration
He votes for the forfeiture of Napoleon I in the Senate and joins Louis XVIII, who makes him a peer of France. He returns to the Emperor during the Hundred Days but stays away from any activity. The second Restoration will punish him by putting him on reform treatment and removing him from the chamber of peers when he voted for the death of Marshal Ney. He is replaced in the government of the Invalides by the Duke of Coigny.
He did not regain his dignity as Marshal of France until January 1, 1819, having obtained the Grand Cross of Saint-Louis shortly before. He died in Paris on December 24, 1819. His remains were deposited at the Invalides in 1847.
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