BOURRIENNE, LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE (1769-1834), French diplomatist, was born at Sens on the 9th of July 1769. He was educated at the military school of Brienne in Champagne along with Napoleon Bonaparte; and although the solitary habits of the latter made intimacy difficult, the two youths seem to have been on friendly terms. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (July 9, 1769 – February 7, 1834), French diplomat, was born at Sens. He was educated at the military school of Brienne in Champagne along with Napoleon Bonaparte; and although the solitary habits of the latter made intimacy difficult, the two youths seem to have been on friendly terms. However, the stories of their very close friendship, as told in Bourrienne's memoirs, are. 'The Memoirs of Napoleon 1797 - Volume V' from Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne. French diplomat (1769-1864). Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, French government official and diplomat for Napoleon, was born in 1769, at Sens, France. Bourrienne served as a diplomat in Germany for the Revolutionary Government during the 1790s.
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, French government official and diplomat for Napoleon, was born in 1769, at Sens, France. Bourrienne served as a diplomat in Germany for the Revolutionary Government during the 1790s. He was Napoleon's private secretary to Egypt in 1797 and his minister to Hamburg between 1804 and 1813. His tenure in Germany ended in disgrace when he was recalled to Paris for illegal activities including embezzlement and black marketeering. Bourrienne supported the monarchy after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.
From the description of Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne letter, 1806 July 16. (University of New Mexico-Main Campus). WorldCat record id: 48102255
Fr. diplomat; secretary to Napoleon.
From the description of Autograph letter signed : Hamburg, to M. Barrr̈e, 1807 Jan. 28. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270520042
Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, French government official and diplomat for Napoleon, was born in 1769, at Sens, France. He was reported to have met Napoleon as a child at military school, and Bourrienne used this to gain favor with Napoleon later in life. Bourrienne served as a diplomat in Germany for the Revolutionary Government during the 1790s. He was Napoleons private secretary to Egypt in 1797 and his minister to Hamburg between 1804 and 1813. His tenure in Germany ended in disgrace when he was recalled to Paris for illegal activities including embezzlement and black marketeering. Bourrienne supported the monarchy after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. Minister Talleyrand helped secure Bourrienne an appointment as Minister of Posts under Louis XVIII in 1815. Bourrienne held this position for a short time before fleeing to Belgium to escape creditors who had pursued him since his time in Hamburg. Bourrienne wrote Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1831 and died in an insane asylum in Caen, France, in 1834.
From the guide to the Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne Letter, 1806 July 16, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)
Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de
Louis Antoine Fauvelet De Bourrienne
BOURRIENNE, LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE (1769–1834),French diplomatist, was born at Sens on the 9th of July1769. He was educated at the military school of Brienne inChampagne along with Napoleon Bonaparte; and although thesolitary habits of the latter made intimacy difficult, the twoyouths seem to have been on friendly terms. It must, however,be added that the stories of their very close friendship, as told in Bourrienne’s memoirs, are open to suspicion. Leaving Brienne in1787, and conceiving a distaste for the army, Bourrienne proceededto Vienna. He was pursuing legal and diplomaticstudies there and afterwards at Leipzig, when the FrenchRevolution broke out and went through its first phases. Notuntil the spring of 1792 did Bourrienne return to France; atParis he renewed his acquaintance with Bonaparte. They led aBohemian life together, and among other incidents of that excitingtime, they witnessed the mobbing of the royal family in theTuileries (June 20) and the overthrow of the Swiss Guardsat the same spot (August 10). Bourrienne next obtained adiplomatic appointment at Stuttgart, and soon his name wasplaced on the list of political émigrés, from which it was notremoved until November 1797. Nevertheless, after the affair of13th Vendémiaire (October 5, 1795) he returned to Paris andrenewed his acquaintance with Bonaparte, who was then secondin command of the Army of the Interior and soon received thecommand of the Army of Italy. Bourrienne did not proceedwith him into Italy, but was called thither by the victoriousgeneral at the time of the long negotiations with Austria(May-October 1797), when his knowledge of law and diplomacywas of some service in the drafting of the terms of the treaty ofCampo Formio (October 17). In the following year he accompaniedBonaparte to Egypt as his private secretary, and left avivid, if not very trustworthy, account of the expedition in hismemoirs. He also accompanied him on the adventurous returnvoyage to Fréjus (September-October 1799), and was of somehelp in the affairs which led up to the coup d’état of Brumaire(November) 1799. He remained by the side of the First Consulin his former capacity, but in the autumn of 1802 incurred hisdispleasure owing to his very questionable financial dealings.In the spring of 1805 he was sent as French envoy to the free cityof Hamburg. There it was his duty to carry out the measures ofcommercial war against England, known as the ContinentalSystem; but it is known that he not only viewed those tyrannicalmeasures with disgust, but secretly relaxed them in favourof those merchants who plied him with douceurs. In the earlyspring of 1807, when directed by Napoleon to order a largenumber of military cloaks for the army, then in East Prussia,he found that the only means of procuring them expeditiouslywas to order them from England. After gaining a large fortunewhile at Hamburg, he was recalled to France in disgrace atthe close of 1810. In 1814 he embraced the royal cause, andduring the Hundred Days (1815) accompanied Louis XVIII. toGhent. The rest of his life was uneventful; he died at Caen on the 7th of February 1834, after suffering from a mental maladyfor two years.
The fame of Bourrienne rests, not upon his achievements or hisoriginal works, which are insignificant, but upon his Mémoires,edited by C. M. de Villemarest (10 vols., Paris, 1829–1831), whichhave been frequently republished and translated. The best Englishedition is that edited by Colonel R. W. Phipps (4 vols., London,1893); a new French edition has been edited by D. Lacroix (5 vols.,Paris, 1899–1900). See Bourrienne et ses erreurs, volontaires et involontaires(Paris, 1830), by Generals Belliard, Gourgaud, &c., fora discussion of the genuineness of his Memoirs; also Napoléon et ses détracteurs, by Prince Napoleon (Paris, 1887; Eng. trans., London,1888). (J. Hl. R.)
Memoirs Of Napoleon