Quick Facts
Biography
Pierre de Ruel, marquis de Beurnonville (10 May 1752 – 23 April 1821) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and later a marshal of France and Deputy Grand Master of Grand Orient de France.
Biography
Bournonville was born at Champignol-lez-Mondeville, Aube.
After service in the colonies, he married a wealthy Creole, Geneviève Gillot L'Étang. After his return to France, he purchased the post of lieutenant of the Swiss Guard of the count of Provence.
During the French Revolution he was named lieutenant-general, and took an active part in the battles of Valmy and Jemmapes. Minister of War in February 1793, he denounced his old commander, Charles François Dumouriez, to the Convention, and was one of the four deputies sent to watch him.
Handed over by Dumouriez to the Austrians on 3 April 1793, Beurnonville was not exchanged until November 1795. He entered the service again, commanded the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse and Army of the North, and was appointed inspector of infantry of the Army of England in 1798. He was sent as ambassador to Berlin in 1800, and to Madrid in 1802.
Napoleon made him a senator and count of the empire. In 1814 he was a member of the provisional government organized after the abdication of Napoleon. He followed Louis XVIII to exile in Ghent, and after the second restoration was made marquis and marshal of France (1816).