Géraud Duroc

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Géraud Duroc

Duke of Frioul
Gros - Gérard-Christophe-Michel Duroc, duc de Frioul (1772-1813).jpg
Portrait as Grand marshal of the palace, by Antoine-Jean Gros (1805)
Born25 October 1772
Pont-à-Mousson
Died23 May 1813(1813-05-23) (aged 40)
Markersdorf
Buried
Les Invalides
AllegianceKingdom of France Army of Condé
 First French Republic
 French First Empire
Service/branchArmy
Years of service1792–1813
RankGeneral of division
Battles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars
Peninsular War
Napoleonic Wars †
AwardsGrand Eagle of the Legion of Honor
Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity
Grand Cross of the Order of the Black Eagle
Duke of the Empire[1]
Other workGrand marshal of the palace
Member of the Sénat conservateur

Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc (25 October 1772 – 23 May 1813), 1st Duke of Frioul (Duc de Frioul), was a French general and diplomat who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his friendship with Napoleon Bonaparte, who appointed him as the first Grand marshal of the palace, the head of the Emperor's Military Household.

Early life and education[]

Du Roc was born in Pont-à-Mousson on 25 October 1772, to a family of the noblesse de robe originary from the Gévaudan. His father, Claude Du Roc, was a captain of the dragoons that retired to Pont-à-Mousson due to hearing loss.[2] Du Roc entered the local military school in 1781, where he studied for eight years. He then entered the School of Artillery at Châlons as a second lieutenant, in March 1792, and around this time removed the nobiliary particle "de" from his surname, in the context of the French Revolution.[2]

As a member of the nobility, Duroc felt in danger under the new Revolutionary government, which led him to abandon the school on July 1792 and become an emigré soldier in the royalist Army of Condé. He soon changed his mind however, and after the Battle of Valmy deserted the counter-revolutionary army. Along with two other deserters, Duroc was arrested by the French in Fresnes-en-Woëvre in the aftermath of the battle, and in March 1793 was allowed to return to Châlons to finish his education.[2]

Revolutionary Wars[]

Duroc joined the Revolutionary Army on 1 June 1793, being assigned Lieutenant en seconde of the 4th Field Artillery Regiment,[2] and advanced steadily in the service. Captain Duroc became aide-de-camp to Napoleon in 1796, and distinguished himself at Isonzo, Brenta and Gradisca in the Italian campaigns of 1796-1797.

He served in Egypt, and was seriously wounded at Aboukir. His devotion to Napoleon was rewarded by complete confidence. He became first aide-de-camp (1798), general of brigade (1800), and governor of the Tuileries. After the battle of Marengo, he was sent on missions to Vienna, St Petersburg (Russia), Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Napoleonic Wars[]

Napoleon before Madrid, 3 December 1808, by Carle Vernet (1810). To the emperor's right, Duroc indicates to the Spanish authorities the time at which Madrid must surrender, following the Battle of Somosierra

As Grand Marshal of the Palace, Duroc was responsible for the measures taken to secure Napoleon's personal safety, whether in France or on his campaigns, and he directed the minutest details of the imperial household.

After the Battle of Austerlitz, where he commanded the grenadiers in the absence of General Oudinot, he was employed in a series of important negotiations with Frederick William III of Prussia, with the elector of Saxony (December 1806), in the incorporation of certain states in the Confederation of the Rhine, and in the conclusion of the armistice of Znaim (July 1809).

In 1808, he was created duc de Frioul: his duchy was made duché grand-fief for his widow in 1813, a rare - but nominal - hereditary honor (extinguished in 1829), created in Napoleon's own Kingdom of Italy. After the Russian campaign, he became senator (1813).

Napoleon weeps for Duroc, wounded. Engraving by Horace Vernet.

After the Battle of Bautzen (20–21 May 1813), the Grande Armée made a slow pursuit of Allied forces. At Reichenbach on 22 May 1813, a cannonball ricocheted off a tree-trunk, hit Duroc in the stomach, tore open his belly and spilled out his intestines in a gory mess over uniform, saddle and horse,[3] which Napoleon witnessed. Whilst Duroc lay dying inside a farmhouse, he requested Napoleon's presence where he apologised to the Emperor for not being able to serve him further, asked him to be a father to his daughter, and then requested him to withdraw so that he was not present at the moment of death.[4] Napoleon bought the farm and erected a monument to his memory.

Legacy[]

Monument to General Duroc near the place of his death in battle, in Markersdorf, Germany

Duroc's remains were moved in 1847 to be buried in the Hôtel des Invalides, in Paris. His name is inscribed on the Eastern pillar of the Arc de Triomphe, on column 15.

The metro station Duroc of the Paris Métro is named after him.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Paris, Louis (1869). Dictionnaire des anoblissements (in French). 1. Paris: Bachelin-Deflorenne.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Thiry, Jean (1972). "Le grand maréchal Duroc". Le Pays Lorrain (in French). Nancy: 1.
  3. ^ Frank McLynn, Napoleon: A Biography., p. 555.
  4. ^ Frank McLynn, p. 555.
  5. ^ "LE DICO DU MÉTRO : DUROC". 2014-06-22.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Duroc, Géraud Christophe Michel". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 711. - which names as chief source for Durocs biography the Moniteur Universel (French official state periodical - 31 May 1797, 24 October 1798, 30 May 1813, &c.).
  • Heraldica.org - Napoleonic heraldry.
  • An Historical Inquiry into the Principal Circumstances and Events relative to the late Emperor Napoleon in which are investigated The Charges Brought against the Government and conduct of that Eminent Individual, by Barclay Mounteney, Effingham Wilson, London, 1824, pg 168
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