Jean de Kindelan (7 December 1759 – 13 November 1822) was a Spanish brigadier general who commanded Joseph Napoleon's Regiment in northern Europe 1809 – 1812 when it formed part of Napoleon's left flank. His known pro-French sympathies led to his not being informed of the plot for the escape of the Spanish troops stranded there after Napoleon replaced the Spanish king

Ferdinand VII Ferdinand VII (; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. Before 1813 he was known as ''el Deseado'' (the Desired), and af ...

with his elder brother

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

Early life

Juan Kindelán y O'Regan was born in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the ''Pontevedra (comarca), Comarca'' and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is als ...

Galicia (Spain) Galicia ( ; or ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain and nationalities and regions of Spain, historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces o ...

, in 1759 (the year of his birth is reported by some sources as 1755) and died in Paris in 1822. He was the son of Vicente Kindelán Luttrell of Lubrellitorn and Maria Francisca O’Regan. His father was an Irishman who settled in Spain and joined the infantry of the Royal

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

, attaining the positions of

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

and military governor of Zamora. His mother came from

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

but was probably of Irish descent. Juan (called Jean during his French service) had a brother, Sebastian Kindelán, and a sister, Maria de la Concepcion Kindelán O'Regan.

Career

Kindelan was an infantry cadet at age 10 and held the rank of captain in the Spanish Army at age 20. On 5 October 1802, Kindelan was appointed general of brigade, on 2 May 1809 he was made Colonel of the ''Joseph Napoleon'' Regiment, and on 28 May 1812 he was made

general of division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

in the service of France. In 1807, the Bourbon monarchs of Spain sent an expeditionary force from the regular Spanish Army to northern Europe to serve with the French ''La

Grande Armée The (; ) was the primary field army of the French Imperial Army (1804–1815), French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Commanded by Napoleon, from 1804 to 1808 it won a series of military victories that allowed the First French Empi ...

''. The expeditionary force, the

Division of the North The Division of the North () was a Spanish division, made up of fourteen battalions of infantry and five regiments of cavalry, "all completed to war strength", Oman, Charles (1902)''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. I, pp. 367, 374–375. ...

, was commanded by Marquis de la Romana, with Kindelan as second in command. The Spanish expeditionary force participated in the siege of the Swedish fortress of

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

in late 1807, and was then broken up and stationed in different parts of Denmark. Kindelan was

brevetted In military terminology, a brevet ( or ) is a warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank as a reward without necessarily conferring the authority and privileges granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the of ...

Lieutenant-General of the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army () was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another du ...

when he was decorated with the Legion d’Honneur on 22 June 1808. The Spanish expeditionary force was still in Denmark in the summer of 1808, when news of the recent events in Spain arrived. The Bourbons of Spain had been forced to abdicate and Napoleon proclaimed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as

King of Spain The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

on 6 June 1808. Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal and overthrowing of the Spanish monarchs would result in conflict between France and Portugal, Spain, and Great Britain in the Iberian Peninsula until 1814, which became known as the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

. When the Peninsular War broke out, La Romana made plans with the British to repatriate his men to Spain. The success of the evacuation of the La Romana Division was chiefly credited to his subterfuge and resourcefulness. At least 9,000 men of the 15,000-strong division were immediately able to board British ships on 27 August and escape to Spain. In the autumn of 1808 Napoleon considered the possibility of using Spanish regiments to serve with French troops in the

; these would later become part of King Joseph Bonaparte’s army. General de Kindelan, second in command of the former Spanish expeditionary force, had not participated in the escape plot and swore allegiance to Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and reluctant pretender to the throne of Spain. Kindelan supported the premise that among the 3,500 Spanish prisoners, there were enough men who would accept the new ruler of Spain to provide a nucleus for a new military unit for service on the French side of what the Spanish called the ''Guerra de la Independencia Española'' (Spanish War of Independence), and it fell to his lot to organise this body of soldiers into a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

. He commanded the ''Joseph Napoleon'' Regiment from 13 February 1809 until 19 January 1812. Kindelan died on 13 November 1822.

References

External links

Los toros josefinos: corridas de toros en la Guerra de la Independencia bajo el reinado de José I Bonaparte (1808-1814). Institución Fernando el Católico. 2008. Enrique Asín Cormán. (Kindelán's service in Joseph Napoleon's Regiment, p. 151)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kindelan, Jean de Spanish generals 1759 births 1822 deaths Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Spanish people of Irish descent Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Generals of the First French Empire