Armand-Guy-Simon de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, in short Armand de Kersaint (29 July 17424 December 1793), was a French sailor and politician. A
Girondin
The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...
, Kersaint held important naval posts during the early stages of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, Kersaint came from a
noble family
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...
; his father, Guy François de Coetnempren, comte de Kersaint, was a distinguished naval officer. Armand de Kersaint joined the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
as a
Garde-Marine In France, under the Ancien Régime, the Gardes de la Marine (Guards of the Navy), or Gardes-Marine were young gentlemen undergoing training to be naval officers. The training program was established by Cardinal Richelieu in 1670 and lasted until A ...
on 5 September 1755. In 1757, while serving on his father's ship, he was promoted to Ensign for his bravery in action. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 February 1770, and to Captain on 13 March 1779.
In July 1778, as captain of the 32-gun ''Iphigénie'', he captured the 20-gun British
post-ship
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carr ...
. In 1782 Kersaint led an expedition to capture the British-held Dutch colonies of
Demerara
Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state ...
, Essequibo, and Berbice.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Kersaint embraced reform. He adopted the new ideas, and in a pamphlet entitled ''Le Bon Sens'' (a title inspired by
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
's ''
Common Sense
''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...
'') attacked traditional privileges; he also submitted to the National Constituent Assembly a scheme for the reorganisation of the navy, but it was not accepted.
In the Legislative Assembly
On 4 January 1791 Kersaint was appointed administrator of the ''
département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...
'' of the Seine by the electoral assembly of Paris. He was also elected as a ''deputé suppléant'' to the Legislative Assembly, and was called upon to sit in it in place of a deputy who had resigned.
His main objective became the realisation of the navy scheme which he had previously submitted to the Constituent Assembly. He understood this to be made possible only through a general reform of all institutions, and subsequently gave his support to the policies of
The Mountain
The Mountain (french: La Montagne) was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards (), sat on the highest benches in the National Convention.
They were the most radical group and opposed the Girondins. Th ...
, denouncing the conduct of
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
Soissons
Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...
, Reims, Sedan and the Ardennes. While on assignment, Kersaint was arrested by the municipality of Sedan, but was set free after a few days' detention. Back in Paris, he took an active part in one of the last debates of the Legislative Assembly, in which it was decided to publish a ''Bulletin officiel'', a report continued by the
National Convention
The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...
, and known by the name of the ''Bulletin de la Convention Nationale''.
In the National Convention
Kersaint was sent as a deputy to the Convention by the ''département'' of
Seine-et-Oise
Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.vice-admiral. He continued to devote himself to questions concerning the navy and national defense, prepared a report on the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
political system and the navy, and caused a decree to be passed for the formation of a committee of general defense, which after many modifications was to become the Committee of Public Safety. In January 1793, he had also had a decree passed concerning the navy. He had, however, entered the ranks of the Girondins, and had voted in the trial of the Louis XVI against the death penalty and in favor of the appeal to the people. He resigned his seat in the Convention on 20 January.
Arrest and execution
After the death of the king, his opposition became more marked; he denounced the
September Massacres
The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by '' fédérés'', gu ...
, but, when called upon to justify his attitude, confined himself to attacking Jean-Paul Marat, who had risen to immense popularity. Kersaint's friends attempted to obtain his appointment as Minister of the Marine - he failed to obtain even a post as officer.
He was arrested on 23 September at
Ville d'Avray
Ville-d'Avray () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The commune is part of the arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt in the Hauts-de-Seine department. In 2019, it had a population of ...
, near Paris, and taken before the
Revolutionary Tribunal
The Revolutionary Tribunal (french: Tribunal révolutionnaire; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. It eventually became one of the ...
, where he was accused of having conspired for the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, and of having insulted national representation by resigning his position in the Convention. Kersaint was arrested on 2 October 1793, sentenced to death on 4 December, and
guillotine
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at t ...
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...