François Xavier Marc Antoine de Montesquiou-Fezensac

Abbé François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac (château de

Marsan Marsan (; oc, Marçan, link=no, ) is a commune in the Gers department, southwestern France. Geography Population There exists a Swedish vanilla sauce product called , the name inspired by a visit by the owner to Marsan, Gers in the 1920s. ...

Gers Gers (; oc, Gers or , ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southwestern France. Named after the Gers River, its inhabitants are called the ''Gersois'' and ''Gersoises'' in French. In 2019, it had a population of 191,377.

, 3 August 1757 –

Chateau de Cirey The Chateau de Cirey is a chateau in Cirey-sur-Blaise, Haute-Marne, France (not to be confused with Bellevaux Abbey in Haute-Saône, sometimes also referred to as the chateau of Cirey-lès-Bellevaux). The chateau was the home of Émilie du Châ ...

Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.Anne-Pierre, marquis de Montesquiou-Fézensac Anne-Pierre, marquis de Montesquiou-Fézensac (17 October 173930 December 1798) was a French general and writer. Due to his literary talent, he became a member of the Académie française in 1784. He was elected to the Estates-General of 1789. H ...

would serve alongside him in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. Montesquiou-Fézensac was named (1782) Abbé of Beaulieu, near

Langres Langres () is a commune in France, commune in northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Haute-Marne, in the Regions of France, region of Grand Est. History As the capital o ...

. The Abbé de Montesquieu attended the

Assembly of the French clergy The assembly of the French clergy (''assemblée du clergé de France'') was in its origins a representative meeting of the Catholic clergy of France, held every five years, for the purpose of apportioning the financial burdens laid upon the clergy ...

(1785) as Agent-General.

French Revolution

The Abbé was elected by the

First Estate The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed 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 ...

to the

Estates General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...

. He would stand out alongside the Abbé Maury by his oratory, and was elected president of the

three times. He presided over the Assembly an impressive three terms (4–18 January 1790; 28 February - 15 March 1790; 14–30 March 1791). He opposed strongly the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and supported the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

. He was forced to flee to England after the

Storming of the Tuileries The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was a defining event of the French Revolution, when armed revolutionaries in Paris, increasingly in conflict with the French monarchy, stormed the Tuileries Palace. The conflict led France to abolish the monar ...

(10 August 1792). He lived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

1792-1795 during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

Restoration

He returned to France after

9 Thermidor The Coup d'état of 9 Thermidor or the Fall of Maximilien Robespierre refers to the series of events beginning with Maximilien Robespierre's address to the National Convention on 8 Thermidor Year II (26 July 1794), his arrest the next day, and ...

(27 July 1794) and immediately took up the royalist cause as one of the agents of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

. He became a member of the Royalist Committee in Paris, and for his activism he was once exiled to

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

. Under the

First Restoration The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon I in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days, in March 1815. The regime was born following the vict ...

he was appointed

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

( 13 May 1814 - 19 March 1815 ). In his brief term he appointed

Pierre-Paul Royer-Collard Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (21 June 1763 – 2 September 1845) was a French statesman and philosopher, leader of the Doctrinaires group during the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830). Biography Early life He was born at Sompuis, near Vitry-le-Fran� ...

and director of the library

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848. A conservative liberal who opposed the a ...

secretary general. The

Second Restoration The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history during which the House of Bourbon returned to power after the first fall of Napoleon on 3 May 1814. Briefly interrupted by the Hundred Days War in 1815, the Restoration lasted until the J ...

, he had the title of

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

. Elected deputy by the department of

, he opted for the Chamber of Peers with the title of Count (as of 31 August 1817) and Duke (as of 30 April 1821). He resigned his peerage 9 January 1832, shortly before his death. He was appointed member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

by royal decree of 21 March 1816 . He was also elected member of the

Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

on 12 August 1816. He left manuscripts on the history of Louis XV and Louis XVI and a travel journal for the U.S. and Canada but did nothing to have them published.

External links

* William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan
Article on the journal of the abbé de Montesquiou's North American trip

Article on the abbé de Montesquiou
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montesquiou-Fezensac, Francois-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de 1757 births 1832 deaths People from Gers French abbots French interior ministers Peers of France Counts of France Members of the Académie Française Francois 19th-century French historians