Jean-Baptiste Berthier (1721–1804) was an officer (Lieutenant-Colonel) in the French Corps of Topographical Engineers during the reigns of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

and

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

Early life

Jean-Baptiste Berthier was born on 6 January 1721 in Tonnerre,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Career

After attracting the attention of ''marchal de camp''

Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle (22 September 168426 January 1761) was a French general and statesman. Life and career Born in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Belle-Isle was the grandson of Nicolas Fouquet, who served as Superintendent ...

, he was deputed by him to supervise construction of several prominent

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 ...

public buildings, notably those of the ministries of war, navy and foreign affairs in

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 ...

. In 1758, he was made Director of Military Survey to King Louis XV, a position he retained with Louis XVI for whom he prepared the famous topographic maps of the Royal hunting grounds.

Personal life

He married his first wife, Marie Françoise L'Huillier de La Serre, in 1746. They had five children. The oldest of five children,

Louis Alexandre Berthier Louis-Alexandre Berthier (20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815), Prince of Neuchâtel and Valangin, Prince of Wagram, was a French Marshal of the Empire who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister ...

(1753), would become

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1 ...

, with the other three sons also serving in the French Army: Charles (1760) in North America, while César (1765) and Victor-Léopold (1770) became generals during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. His only daughter is only remembered as Madame d'Ogeranville.Junot Abrantès, p.285 Widowed, he remarried Françoise Chéron. They had a son Alexandre Joseph Berthier (1792–1849), who married his cousin Thérèse Léopoldine Berthier (1806–1882), and had issue, Viscounts Berthier de Wagram, extinct in 1949.

Death

He died on May 21, 1804 in Paris,

References

Sources

* Watson, S.J., ''By Command of the Emperor: A Life of Marshal Berthier'', The Bodley Head, London, 1957 * Junot Abrantès, Laure, ''Memoirs of Napoleon, His Court and Family'', R. Bentley, London, 1836 {{DEFAULTSORT:Berthier, Jean Baptiste 1721 births 1804 deaths People from Tonnerre, Yonne 18th-century French architects 18th-century French cartographers Knights of the Order of Saint Louis