Napoléon Bessières, 2nd Duke of Istrie (2 August 1802, Paris - 21 July 1856,

Arnouville-les-Gonesse Arnouville () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. Previously known as Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, the name was officially renamed to Arnouville on 11 July 2010. Population Education Public primary sc ...

) was a French politician. Napoléon Bessières

Life

His father marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières died in battle at

Lützen is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 8 ...

in 1813, leaving the family nothing but his debts.

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

wrote to his widow that Bessières' children "inherited the affection I bore for their father" and left Napoléon Bessières 100,000 francs in his will. Louis XVIII of France also rewarded Bessières' services by making Napoléon Bessières a

peer of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

on 17 August 1815 (to take his seat when he reached the age prescribed by the 1814 charter) and confirming his inheritance of his father's title of Duke of Istrie by a royal decree of 31 August 1817. On 28 June 1828 Napoléon Bessières took his place in the Chamber of Peers and he supported

Louis-Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

's government. In 1826 he married Mathilde Louise Lagrange (1809-1873), daughter of Joseph Lagrange, though the couple later separated without children. In his will of 30 June 1853 he left the Musée d'artillerie two cannon captured at Medina-del-Rio-Secco on 14 July 1808, along with an Arab sabre and other weapons he had acquired from the Order of St John of Jerusalem.

Sources

*http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=COTE&VALUE_1=LH%2F224%2F12 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bessières, Napoleon Peers of France 1802 births 1856 deaths