Alexandre de Beauharnais

General Alexandre Viscount of Beauharnais
General Alexandre de Beauharnais, by Georges Rouget (1834)
Birth name	Alexandre François Marie
Born	(1760-05-28)28 May 1760 Fort-Royal, Martinique, France
Died	Paris, France
Buried	Picpus Cemetery, Paris, France
Allegiance	Kingdom of France First French Republic
Service/branch	Infantry
Years of service	1776 – 1793
Rank	Divisional general
Unit	French Royal Army 20px French Revolutionary Army
Commands held	Army of the Rhine
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) Siege of Mainz (1793)
Spouse(s)	Joséphine de Beauharnais (m. 1779–94); his death
Relations	Eugène de Beauharnais (son) Hortense de Beauharnais (daughter)
Other work	Deputy in the Estates-General (1789) President of the National Constituent Assembly (1790)

Alexandre François Marie, Viscount of Beauharnais (28 May 1760 – 23 July 1794) was a French political figure and general during the French Revolution. He was the first husband of Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie, who later married Napoleon Bonaparte and became Empress of the First Empire.

Alexandre was arrested in March 1794, and following his sentence of death during the Reign of Terror, was executed by guillotine in Paris's Place de la Révolution.

Ancestry

His paternal grandparents Claude de Beauharnais (1680–1738) and Renée Hardouineau (1696–1744) were married in La Rochelle during 1713. His father François de Beauharnais, Marquess de la La Ferté-Beauharnais (1714–1800) served as Governor of Martinique. Alexandre was the third of three sons born to him by his first wife Marie Henriette Pyvart de Chastullé (1722–1767) - the first died in infancy, and the second was Francis VI of Beauharnais. His father was remarried in 1796 to Eugenie de Tascher de la Pagerie (1739–1803).

Biography

Alexandre was born in Fort-Royal (today's Fort-de-France), Martinique. On 13 December 1779 in Paris, he married Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie, the future Empress of France. They had two children:

• Eugène de Beauharnais (3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824).
• Hortense de Beauharnais (10 April 1783 – 5 October 1837), later mother of Napoleon III of France.

Alexandre fought in Louis XVI's army in the American Revolutionary War. He was later deputy of the noblesse in the Estates-General, and was president of the National Constituent Assembly from 19 June to 3 July 1791 and from 31 July to 14 August 1791. Made a general in 1792 (during the French Revolutionary Wars), he refused, in June 1793, to become Minister of War. He was named General-in-Chief of the Army of the Rhine in 1793.

On 2 March 1794, the Committee of General Security ordered his arrest. Accused of having poorly defended Mainz during the Siege of Mainz in 1793, and considered an aristocratic "suspect", he was jailed in the Carmes prison and sentenced to death during the Reign of Terror. His wife, Josephine de Beauharnais, was jailed in the same prison on 21 April 1794, but she was freed after three months, thanks to the trial of Maximilien Robespierre.

Alexandre was guillotined, together with his cousin Augustin, on the Place de la Révolution (today's Place de la Concorde) in Paris, only five days before the deposition and execution of Robespierre.

Through his son, he became an ancestor of today's Royal Houses of Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, as well as the Grand Ducal House of Luxembourg.

Ancestry

Family of Alexandre de Beauharnais

16. Jean de Beauharnais, seigneur de La Boische et de La Chaussée               8. François de Beauharnais, seigneur de La Boische                       17. Marie Mallet               4. Claude de Beauharnais, comte des Roches-Baritaud                             18. Jacques Pyvart               9. Marguerite Françoise de Pyvart de Chastillé                       19. Catherine Thierry               2. François de Beauharnais, marquis de la Ferté-Beauharnais                                   20. Pierre Hardouineau, seigneur de La Laudanière               10. Pierre Hardouineau, seigneur de La Laudanière                       21. Madeleine Milsonniau               5. Renée Hardouineau de Laudanière                             22. Gaspard Pays               11. Renée Le Pays de Beauville                       23. Renée Jarry               1. Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais                                         24. Jacques Pyvart de Chastullé               12. Jacques Pyvart de Chastullé                       25. Catherine Thierry               6. François Jacques Pyvart de Chastullé, seigneur de Chastullé                             26. François de Beauchesne               13. Madeleine de Beauchesne                       27. Marie Picualt               3. Marie Anne Henriette Françoise de Pyvart de Chastullé                                   28. Pierre Hardouineau, seigneur de La Laudanière               14. Pierre Hardouineau, seigneur de La Laudanière                       29. Madeleine Milsonniau               7. Jeanne Hardouineau de Laudanière                             30. Gaspard Pays               15. Renée Le Pays de Beauville                       31. Renée Jarry