Biographies : 187
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BiographyCORVISART, Jean Nicolas
Jean Nicolas Corvisart was born on 15 February, 1755, in Dricourt, in the Ardennes. Early on, he joined his uncle, a priest, near Boulogne-sur-mer, who instructed him in French and Latin. At the age of twelve, he began his schooling at the Collège Sainte-Barbe, where his intelligence, thoughtful manner and athletic abilities saw him distinguish […]
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BiographyCOUSIN DE MONTAUBAN, Charles Guillaume
Cousin-Moutauban was born on 24 June, 1796, the son of Jean-Antoine Cousin-Montauban and Appoline de Launay. In July 1814 he volunteered for and was admitted into the Gardes du corps de Monsieur (the King's brother's personal guard corps), and on 13 December, 1815, he made Second Lieutenant in the 3e régiment de cuirassiers. In 1820, […]
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BiographyCROUZET, François Marie-Joseph
François Marie-Joseph Crouzet was born on 20 October, 1922, in Monts-sur-Guesnes (in the Vienne département). He completed his studies at the Ecole normale supérieure, the Faculté de Lettres de Paris and at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The early years of his career were spent as assistant d'histoire at the Faculté des […]
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BiographyCUREE, Jean-François
Born in Pézenas, in 1756, the proposer of the famous motion which allowed the Tribunat to start proceedings towards the proclamation of Empire had begun life as a (failed) lawyer before joining the Revolution and getting himself elected a member of the Directoire of the Hérault département (1790). Here his main duty was to oversee […]
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BiographyCZARTORYSKI, Adam Jerzy
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BiographyDALBERG, Carl Theodor von
The son of the Burggrave of Friedberg, private councillor to the elector of Mainz, and of Maria Sophia Anna, countess of Eltz-Kempenich, Carl Theodor von Dalberg entered university in Heidelberg to study law (1759-1761). On becoming an administrator for the elector of Mainz, Dalberg (1744-1817), became Vicar General in 1768 and governor of Erfurt in […]
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BiographyDAVOUT, Louis Nicolas (10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823)
Arguably the finest corps commander among Napoleon’s marshals, Davout was born in Burgundy to a minor noble family, and followed his father to the royal cavalry in 1788. Though a supporter of the French Revolution, he was dismissed from the regular army in 1791, but immediatelty elected colonel in command of a volunteer battalion. He […]
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BiographyDE COLOGNA, Abraham Vita
Abraham Vita de Cologna was born in Mantua, Italy, on 25 September, 1754. His father Samuel, chief Jew in the Mantua from 1758 to 1788, gave him a thorough education from an early age in Judaic theology and philosophy, which naturally lead to his becoming a rabbi. He was to become Great Rabbi of Mantua and […]
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BiographyDE PRADT, Dominique-Georges Dufour
(1759-1837), French clergyman and ambassador “The most severe judgements accumulate beneath his master of intrigue, his lack of scruples and his great intelligence, all characteristics which could only make his official protector, Talleyrand, appreciate him more”, writes Bernard Plongeron. This “quintessentially Auvergnien figure” (he seems to have walked straight out of a novel by Balzac) […]
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BiographyDECAEN, Charles-Mathieu-Isidore
Fact file Born Caen, 13 April, 1769, died of cholera, La Barre (near Montmorency, Seine-et-Oise), 9 September, 1832 Cannonier de 2e classe in the Corps de Cannoniers, Brest, 27 July, 1787 Sergeant-major in the 4e Bataillon du Calvados, 14 September, 1792 Served in the Armée du Nord and then the Armée du Rhin, 1793, notably […]