Charles Xavier Joseph de Franque Ville d'Abancourt (4 July 17589 September 1792) was a French statesman, minister to

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 ...

Biography

D'Abancourt was born in

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, D ...

, and was the nephew of

Charles Alexandre de Calonne Charles Alexandre de Calonne (20 January 173430 October 1802), titled Count of Hannonville in 1759, was a French statesman, best known for his involvement in the French Revolution. Realizing that the Parlement de Paris would never agree to reform ...

. He was Louis XVI's last

minister of war A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

(July 1792), and organised the defence of the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

during the 10 August attack. Commanded by the Legislative Assembly to send away the

Swiss Guard The Pontifical Swiss Guard (also Papal Swiss Guard or simply Swiss Guard; la, Pontificia Cohors Helvetica; it, Guardia Svizzera Pontificia; german: Päpstliche Schweizergarde; french: Garde suisse pontificale; rm, Guardia svizra papala) is ...

s, he refused, and was arrested for treason to the nation and sent to

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with an escort commanded by Claude Fournier, nicknamed ''l'Americain''. At

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

they learned of the massacres at Paris. Abancourt and his fellow-prisoners were murdered in cold blood during the

9 September massacres The 9 September massacres were two series of massacres of prisoners at Versailles on 9 September 1792 during the French Revolution. They occurred in the context of the September Massacres. Claude Fournier was accused of complicity in them. Those k ...

(9 September 1792) at Versailles. Fournier was unjustly charged with complicity in the crime.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abancourt, Charles D 1758 births 1792 deaths People from Douai French murder victims 18th-century French politicians 1792 crimes in Europe People killed in the French Revolution French Ministers of War Burials at the Cemetery of Saint-Louis, Versailles