Jacques-François de Menou, Baron of Boussay (3 September 1750 – 13 August 1810) was a
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
officer and politician who served in the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (sometimes called the Great French War or the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire) were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompas ...
. He is best known for his role in the unsuccessful
French invasion of Egypt and Syria
The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine East India Company, British trade routes, expand French colonial ...
, where Menou converted to Islam and was renamed Abdallah de Menou.
French Revolution
Born in Boussay, Indre-et-Loire to an aristocratic family, he had already attained the rank of '' maréchal de camp'' in the French Royal Army in 1789 when he was elected by the Second Estate of the bailiwick of Touraine to the Estates General of 1789. He was a liberal nobleman and supported the reforms of the National Constituent Assembly, of which he was elected secretary in December and president for a standard two weeks term (27 March - 12 April 1790). He served as a member of the diplomatic committee.
With the closing of the National Assembly in September 1791, he was employed as maréchal de camp in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
Vendée
Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.1 Prairial III (20 May 1795), he forced the rebellious
Faubourg Saint-Antoine
The Faubourg Saint-Antoine () was one of the traditional suburbs of Paris, France.
It grew up to the east of the Bastille around the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, and ran along the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
Location
The Faubourg Sain ...
to capitulate.
General in chief of the Army of the Interior, he was denounced as a traitor, put on trial and acquitted in 1795.
Campaign in Egypt
In 1798, Menou commanded one of the five divisions of the Armée d'Orient in
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's campaign of Egypt. After the assassination of Jean-Baptiste Kléber (14 June 1800), Menou succeeded him at the head of Egypt as general in chief. He was not as popular as Kléber, and lacked support from the other officers. He married the daughter of a rich Egyptian, Zubaidah bint Muhammad El Bawwab, converted to Islam and was renamed Abdallah.
On 21 March 1801, Menou commanded the French expeditionary force sent to repel British forces landing at La Muiron. The French were defeated and Menou withdrew to
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
, where he surrendered to Anglo-Ottoman forces following the Siege of Alexandria on 30 August 1801.
Menou was permitted to evacuate the remaining French forces, but handed over the
Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...
in exchange, the discovery of which had been reported to him by Captain Pierre-François Bouchard; it was a vital key to understanding the lost language of hieroglyphics.
Statesman of the Empire
Menou was appointed as a member of the Tribunat on 27 Floreal X (17 May 1802). Shortly afterwards he became Administrator of the 27th Military Division (Piedmont). Subsequently, he was appointed a member of the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
on 19 Frimaire XII (11 December 1803) and a Grand Officer of the ''Order 25 Prairial XII'' (14 June 1804). He was created comte de l'Empire in 1808.
Menou's principal contributions to the French Empire came in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. He was named Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown 23 December 1807, shortly after his appointment as Governor of
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
. While still holding this appointment, he died on 13 August 1810, at the Villa Corniani near Mestre.
The name of General Menou is inscribed on the
Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...
, on the south side. By his marriage to Zubaidah El Bawwab, he had a son Jacques Mourad Soliman (born 28 July 1800 in Rosetta, Egypt).
Notes
Sources
* Louis Adolphe Thiers, ''History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon'', London 1893, v. 2, Book X, passim.