Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey (31 July 1754-20 April 1842) was one of the 26 Marshals of France during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Biography[]
Jeannot de Moncey was born in the town of Moncey in Franche-Comte, eastern France, in 1754. In 1791 he was made a Captain in the French Army and from 1793 to 1794 he fought against Spain during the French Revolutionary Wars. Within a few months he rose to command the whole Army of the Western Pyrenees, and he crushed Spain, forcing them to join the French side.
In 1799 he was discharged due to his royalist sympathies, but from 1801 to 1815 he served as Inspector of Police and in 1800 he fought under General Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. In 1801 he was appointed as one of the 26 Marshals and in 1808 he was dispatched to Spain during the Peninsular War. Moncey captured Valencia but his general Dupont was defeated at the Battle of Bailen. In 1809 he aided Emperor Napoleon's campaign along the Ebro River, but refused to take part in the Russian Campaign and therefore missed the German Campaign as well. Moncey was able, however, to command troops in the defense of France from 29 January to 3 April 1814. Moncey fought until the last, defending Montmartre until the fall of Paris on 3 April.
After the downfall of Napoleon he was loyal to King Louis XVIII of France, and did not assist his former Emperor in his comeback during the Hundred Days of 1815. He was stripped of his marshalate and peerage after he refused to take part in the trial of Marechal Michel Ney, but in 1816 his titles were restored. In 1823 he invaded Spain again during the Trienio Liberal revolt, and in 1833 he became the Governor of the Hotel des Invalides veterans' homes. He died in 1842.