Jean-Joseph, marquis de Laborde (29 January 1724 – 18 April 1794) was a French businessman, ''
fermier général'' and banker to the king, who turned politician. A liberal, he was guillotined in the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
.
Biography
Laborde was born near
Jaca
Jaca (; in Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón River, situated at the crossing of two great ea ...
in
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
, into a modest ''
béarn
The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Bas ...
aise'' family. When he reached adolescence he joined his uncle, who was head of a maritime import–export company at
, and took over as head of the business on the cousin's death. He based his subsequent fortune not only on this company, but also on transatlantic trade (supplying the American colonies with basics, in return for far more financially interesting products such as tropical fruits, rare trees and
enslaved people
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
) and his sugar plantations on
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
(
Haïti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
). He
shipped nearly 10,000 people to the French colony of
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
on his
slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...
s and enslaved 2,000 on the
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
s he owned there.
His rapid rise, comparable to that of several bourgeois men of the Age of Enlightenment, gained him promotion to noble rank and allowed him to acquire several estates. He became
fermier général (1759–1767) on the suggestion of his friend the
duc de Choiseul {{Unreferenced, date=April 2019
Choiseul is an illustrious noble family from Champagne, France, descendants of the comtes of Langres. The family's head was Renaud III de Choiseul, comte de Langres and sire de Choiseul, who in 1182 married Alix ...
. He took up residence in the
château de La Ferté-Vidame
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
in 1764, the fief bringing with it the ancient title of
Vidame de Chartres
Vidame de Chartres was a title in the French nobility. There are a few vidame titles in France, of which that of Chartres is probably the best known, because a number of holders have been notable in widely different ways over the centuries. Vida ...
. He rebuilt it in the neoclassical style which now remains as a shell, and commissioned several artists. However, following a game of musical chairs, he lost it in 1784 to the
duc de Penthièvre, who had himself lost his
domaine de Rambouillet to king
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 ...
, who coveted its "terres giboyeuses" or wooded hunting lands. Laborde was named marquis and in 1784 acquired the
Château de Méréville
The Château de Méréville is a chateau in Méréville in the valley of the Juine, France. It is the rival of the Désert de Retz as two of the most extensive Landscape Gardens provided with follies and picturesque features — ''parcs à fab ...
, rebuilding it to his taste.
In politics, he was ahead of his time and of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, and (with
Mirabeau
Mirabeau may refer to:
People and characters
* Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798–1859), second President of the Republic of Texas
French nobility
* Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau (1715–1789), French physiocrat
* Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, com ...
) was one of the few noble députés (from the bailliage d'Étampes) to accept demotion to the
Third Estate
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social stratification, social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into ...
upon the Revolution. However, this was not enough to save him from being guillotined in Paris under the "loi des suspects" on the orders of
Louis de Saint-Just
Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just (; 25 August 17679 Thermidor, Year II 8 July 1794, was a French revolutionary, political philosopher, member and president of the French National Convention, a Jacobin club leader, and a major figure of the Fre ...
, in one of the last fits of 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, ...
in May 1794. In 1792, much of the fabulous
Orleans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...
of paintings was briefly his, before he was forced by events to abandon his ambition to exhibit them in his Paris house, and sold them.
Descendants
*Edouard-Jean-Joseph de Laborde Marchainville (1762–1786), a member of the
Lapérouse expedition, who drowned, along with his brother, in
Lituya Bay
Lituya Bay (; Tlingit: ''Ltu.aa'',. Spelled L'tua in translation of Tebenkov's log. meaning 'lake within the point')
is a fjord located on the coast of the south-east part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long and wide at its widest point. ...
, Alaska
*Pauline de Laborde (1765–1782), married
Jean-François Pérusse, 1st duc des Cars
*Ange-Auguste-Joseph de Laborde Boutervilliers (1766-1786), a member of the
Lapérouse expedition, who drowned, along with his brother, in
Lituya Bay
Lituya Bay (; Tlingit: ''Ltu.aa'',. Spelled L'tua in translation of Tebenkov's log. meaning 'lake within the point')
is a fjord located on the coast of the south-east part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is long and wide at its widest point. ...
, Alaska
*Nathalie de Laborde (1774–1835), married
Charles de Noailles
Charles de Noailles (26 September 1891 in Paris – 28 April 1981), Arthur Anne Marie Charles, Vicomte de Noailles, was a French nobleman and patron of the arts.
Biography
Charles was born in Paris on 26 September 1891, the son of François Jo ...
,
duc de Mouchy
Duke of Mouchy ( es, Duque de Mouchy) was a hereditary title in the peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1747 by Ferdinand VI to Philippe de Noailles, a French military officer. After failure of the 1st Duke's ...
, was ''la petite mouche'' among the many mistresses of
Chateaubriand
*
Alexandre de Laborde
Comte Louis-Joseph-Alexandre de Laborde (17 September 1773 – 20 October 1842) was a French antiquary, liberal politician and writer, a member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiquesThe Académie des Sciences morales et politiques is ...
, archaeologist, soldier and politician, who continued his father's Revolutionary political views
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*"Hubert Robert at Méréville", in ''Consumption Of Culture'', eds. Ann Bermingham, John Brewer, 2013, Routledge, , 9781134808403
google books
External links
His genealogy on Geneanet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laborde
1724 births
1794 deaths
People from Jaca
18th-century French politicians
French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
Fermiers généraux
Executed Spanish people
People of Saint-Domingue
Landscape architects
French slave traders
French slave owners