Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur (10 December 175327 August 1830) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Biography

Ségur was born in

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 ...

, the son of

Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur (20 January 1724 – 3 October 1801) was a grandson of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, nobleman, Marshal of France, and Secretary of State for War under Louis XV and later Louis XVI. Biography Born in Paris, son ...

and Louise Anne Madeleine de Vernon. He entered the army in 1769, served in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

in 1781 as a colonel under Rochambeau. This cites: *

Duc de Broglie The House of Broglie (, also ; french: Maison de Broglie, or ) is a French noble family, originally Piedmontese, who migrated to France in the year 1643. History () was the name of an old Piedmontese noble family, from which were descended t ...

, "Deux Français aux États-Unis" in ''Mélanges publiés par la Société des Bibliophiles français'' (2nd part, 1903) * A. Cornereau, "La Mission du comte de Ségur dans la xviii^e division militaire," in the ''Mémoires de la Société bourguignonne de géographie et d'histoire'' (vol. 17, 1901) In 1784 he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Saint Petersburg, where he was received into the intimacy of the empress

Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

and wrote some comedies for her theatre. At Saint Petersburg he concluded (in January 1787) a commercial treaty which was exceedingly advantageous to France. The same year he accompanied Catherine II in her journey to the Crimea. He returned to Paris in 1789. Ségur took up a sympathetic attitude towards the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

at its outset and in 1791 was sent on a mission to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he was badly received. After fighting a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

he was forced to leave Berlin, and went into retirement until 1801 when, at Bonaparte's command, he was nominated by the senate to the

Corps Législatif The was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any legislative body. History The Constitution of the Year I foresaw the need for a ''corps législatif''. ...

. Subsequently he became a member of the council of state, grand master of the ceremonies, and senator, 1813. In 1814 Ségur voted for the deposition of Napoleon and entered

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 ...

's Chamber of Peers. Deprived of his offices and functions in 1815 for joining Napoleon during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

, he was reinstated in 1819, supported the Revolution of 1830, but died shortly afterwards in Paris. Ségur married on 30 April 1777 Antoinette Élisabeth d'Aguesseau, who also died in Paris, and had three sons and one daughter: * Laure Antoinette de Ségur (11 April 177815 July 1812), married Louis Auguste Vallet de La Touche, baron de Villeneuve, marquis du Blanc (Paris, 4 February 1779le Blanc, Indre, 24 December 1837), and had issue * Octave-Henri Gabriel, comte de Ségur (Paris, 5 June 1779Paris, 15 August 1818), soldier and famous suicide *

Philippe Paul, comte de Ségur Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count o ...

(Paris, 4 November 1780Paris, 25 February 1873), general and historian * Olivier Alexandre de Ségur (3 October 17904 May 1791)

Bibliography

*''Histoire des principaux évènements du règne de Fréderic-Guillaume II'' (1800) *''Pensées politiques'' (Paris, 1795) *''Histoire de France'' (n vols., 1824–1834) *''Histoire des juifs'' (1827) *''Mémoires'' (3 vols., 1824) *''Contes'' (1809) *His ''Œuvres complètes'' were published in 34 volumes in 1824 et seq.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segur, Louis Philippe, comte de Louis Philippe, comte de Members of the Académie Française Members of the Sénat conservateur French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War 1753 births 1830 deaths Diplomats from Paris 18th-century French diplomats French duellists Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Hundred Days Ambassadors of France to the Russian Empire 19th-century French historians