Pierre Joseph de Beauchamp (28 June 1752,

Vesoul Vesoul () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté located in eastern France. It is the most populated municipality of the department with inhabitants in 2014. The same year, the Communauté d'agglo ...

18 November 1801, Nice) was a French diplomat, clergyman and astronomer. He was the son of the lawyer Xavier de Beauchamp. He was made

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

to his uncle Miroudot du Bourg, titular bishop of Baghdad and set out for

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

with him in 1781. The following year he reached

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

with the French consul

Jean-François Rousseau Jean-François Xavier Rousseau (16 October 1738, Isfahan, Iran - 12 May 1808, Aleppo) was a French diplomat and orientalist, nicknamed 'Rousseau of Persia' (''Rousseau de Perse''). Life He was the son of the Geneva-born watchmaker and diplomat Ja ...

and the botanist

André Michaux André Michaux, also styled Andrew Michaud, (8 March 174611 October 1802) was a French botanist and explorer. He is most noted for his study of North American flora. In addition Michaux collected specimens in England, Spain, France, and even Per ...

. After travelling to Persia, de Beauchamp returned to France in 1790.Régis Pluchet, L'extraordinaire voyage d'un botaniste en Perse.

: 1782–1785, éditions Privat, 2014. He was made a member of the

Institut d'Égypte The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his Egyptian campaign and is the oldest scientific inst ...

on 7 September 1798, joining its physics section during the Institut's third session. From 3 March 1795 he became consul at

Muscat, Oman Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the Capital (political), capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Muscat (governorate), Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the t ...

. He was then sent on a conciliatory mission to Ottoman sultan in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Napoleon Bonaparte 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 ...

. He left

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

on 13 February 1799, but his ship was captured by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

en route. As the Ottomans had by now declared war on France, de Beauchamp, the French chargé d'affaires to Constantinople and the whole French ambassador's staff were all imprisoned at Yedi Kule. de Beauchamp died soon after his eventual return to France upon the

Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...

Sources

* Régis Pluchet, L'extraordinaire voyage d'un botaniste en Perse.

: 1782–1785, éditions Privat, 2014. * Edouard de Villiers du Terrage, ''Journal et souvenirs sur l'expédition d'Égypte'', mis en ordre et publiés par le baron Marc de Villiers du Terrage, Paris, E. Plon, Nourrit, 1899, et ''L'expédition d'Égypte 1798–1801, Journal et souvenirs d'un jeune savant'', Paris, Cosmopole, 2001 et 2003, p. 351. * Yves Laissus, ''L'Égypte, une aventure savante 1798–1801'', Paris, Fayard, 1998. * Archives Nationales, AF IV 1687, dossier 2 : Pièces concernant le décès et le testament de l'astronome-diplomate Beauchamp, membre de l'Institut d'Égypte (November 1801). *

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, manuscrits, Fr. n.a. 10157 : Papiers de Beauchamp. * Jean-Joseph Marcel, ''Supplément à toutes les biographies. Souvenirs de quelques amis d'Égypte ulkowski, Venture de Paradis, Gloutier, Ch. Magallon, Beauchamp, Belletête, Raige par JJ. Marcel'', Paris, H. Dupuy impr., 1834.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, Pierre Joseph (de) People from Vesoul 1752 births 1801 deaths 18th-century French astronomers 18th-century French diplomats