Count Raoul du Bisson (11 January 1812 – 27 February 1890) was a French aristocrat, adventurer and ''agent provocateur''. He belonged to a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

family ennobled by

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 ...

and was a relative of

Henri Conneau François-Alexandre-Henri Conneau (1803–1877) or Doctor Conneau (''Docteur''), was a loyal attendant of Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-N ...

, a personal friend and physician of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

.Richard Hill, ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan'' (London: Frank Cass, 1967), p. 116. In 1863, Du Bisson recruited a band of directionless Europeans in the cafés of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and marched them down to

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

, where he pronounced it his intention to establish a colony for the production of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

. Crossing into the Sudan, his party had been inspected by Egyptian customs and was found to be in possession of numerous arms and even cannon. This has led to the supposition that he may have been acting on the orders of Khedive İsmail Paşa, who was planning an invasion of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. After inquiries with the French authorities regarding his credentials, İsmail abandoned his plans and Du Bisson was on his own. In Khartoum, Du Bisson made numerous demands on the governor-general, Musa Paşa Hamdi, who eventually declared him '' persona non grata''. In early 1864 he led his band to

Kassala Kassala ( ar, كسلا) is the capital of the state of Kassala in eastern Sudan. Its 2008 population was recorded to be 419,030. Built on the banks of the Gash River, it is a market town and is famous for its fruit gardens. Many of its inhabit ...

, thence eastward to Kufit. There he claimed that he had the support of the French government to punish the Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II for having declared the French vice-consul Guillaume Le Jean ''persona non grata'' in Ethiopia. The British formally protested Du Bisson's presence, but the French government denied any involvement. Nevertheless, the presence of a group of sixty armed Europeans on his border—and who had only gotten there with the connivance of the khedive and the governor-general—led Tewodros to suspect a French–Turkish–Egyptian alliance against him. Du Bisson also intrigued with the local Beja tribesmen and the Egyptian government eventually ordered him to leave. His men left via Kassala and

Sawakin Suakin or Sawakin ( ar, سواكن, Sawákin, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north. Suakin used to b ...

, but not before helping put down the mutiny of the 4th Regiment at Kassala. He published an account of his Sudan adventure in 1868. After the Sudan, Du Bisson returned to France. There are contradictory reports of his ultimate fate. According to some, he was killed in the fighting during the siege of Paris by the Germans in 1870. According to others, he got involved in the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

in 1871 and was forced into exile, where he died. According to yet others, he was the leader of the republican Central Committee of the Twenty Arrondissements and boastfully claimed to have been a

Carlist Carlism ( eu, Karlismo; ca, Carlisme; ; ) is a Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty – one descended from Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855) – ...

in Spain, a

Legitimist The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They ...

under the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

, and a general of King

Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand II ( it, Ferdinando Carlo; scn, Ferdinannu Carlu; nap, Ferdinando Carlo; 12 January 1810 – 22 May 1859) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death in 1859. Family Ferdinand was born in Palermo to King Francis I of the T ...

.Frank Jelinek, ''The Paris Commune of 1871'' (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1965), pp. 102, 145, 270.

Works by Du Bisson

*Du Bisson, Raoul. ''Les Femmes, les eunuques et les guerriers du Soudan'' he Women, Eunuchs and Warriors of the Sudan Paris: H. Dufton, 1868.

References

{{Authority control 19th-century French people Military personnel of the First Carlist War