Jean Isidore Harispe
Encyclopedia
Jean Isidore Harispe, 1st Comte Harispe (7 December 1768 – 26 May 1855) was a distinguished French
soldier of the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
, as well as a of the following period. Harispe was created a Marshal of France
in 1851.
the son of a wealthy Basque
landowner who wanted his son to become a priest. When the French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792, Harispe enlisted as a volunteer in the French army. In 1793, Harispe was elected commanding officer of a company organizing at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
. Harispe distinguished himself in War of the Pyrenees
against Spain. After peace was made with Spain in 1795, Harispe was assigned garrison duty in Bordeaux
, where he fought insurgents in the Haute-Garonne
. In 1799, he took part in the campaign in the Grisons under MacDonald
. Transferred to the Army of Italy
, he fought under Moncey
and Brune. In May 1802, he was given command of the chasseurs basque, which became the 16th demi-brigade garrisoned in Angoulême
.
and in January 1807, he was promoted to general de brigade. Transferred to the corps of Marshal Soult, Harispe was given command of a brigade of the division Verdier
. Harispe distinguished himself in fighting at Gludstadt and in the battles of Heilsberg
and Friedland
, where he was wounded again.
In December 1807, Harispe was made chief of staff of the Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coast under the orders of Marshal Moncey. With this corps, he partook in the Spanish campaign of 1808. In November 1808, Harispe fought under Marshal Lannes
at the Battle of Tudela
and in the siege of Saragossa
. After Lannes returned to France on the outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition
, Harispe became chief of staff to general Suchet
.
After being wounded in the Battle of María
, where Suchet with 10,000 men beat a Spanish force outnubering him 3-to-1, Harispe was promoted general de division. After having distinguished himself further in the sieges of Tarragona
and Lerida and in the conquest of Valencia, Harispe was made a Grand Officer in the Légion d'honneur
and created a count.
Harispe served in the Army of Aragon until 1813. In 1814, he was send to Barcelona
to serve as reinforcements to Soult, who after Vitoria
was tasked with preventing the Duke of Wellington
from invading southern France. During the retreat into France, he was forced to burn his own castle in his native town to prevent it being used by the Spanish. After the Battle of Orthez
, he covered the retreat of the army. After having fought a Portuguese division at Tarbes
on 20 March 1814, Harispe served in the Battle of Toulouse
, fought after Napoléon
had already abdicated. Tasked with defending the heights at Calvinet, he defended these redoubts to the utmost. His leg had to be amputated after it was shattered by a cannon ball.
, Harispe was made a knight of Saint Louis
and given command of the 15th military division. Upon Napoléon's return from Elba
, Harispe rallied to the emperor during the Hundred Days
and served on the Spanish border. After the second abdication, Harispe tried to prevent the Spanish invading southern France. The Second Bourbon Restoration caused Harispe to retire to his chateau until the 1830 Revolution
. During this revolution, Harispe was elected a deputy. As a supporter of the July Monarchy
, he was recalled to active duty and given command of the Hautes and Basses-Pyrénées (1830–1833), of the division of the Pyrénées occidentales (1833–1840) and of the 20th military division (1840–1850).
Harispe served as a deputy for the Basses-Pyrénées (1831–1835) and was made Grand Cross in the Légion d'honneur. Having been made a Peer of France
in 1835, he was created a Marshal of France by President Bonaparte
. After the establishment of the Second French Empire
he was made a senator. Harispe died in 1855 in Lacarre
.
Harispe has his name inscribed on the west side of the Arc de Triomphe
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
soldier of the Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, as well as a of the following period. Harispe was created a Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
in 1851.
Early life
Harispe was born in Saint-Étienne-de-BaïgorrySaint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry
Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France, located at the same time in the former province of Lower Navarre...
the son of a wealthy Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
landowner who wanted his son to become a priest. When the French Revolutionary Wars started in 1792, Harispe enlisted as a volunteer in the French army. In 1793, Harispe was elected commanding officer of a company organizing at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France close to Ostabat in the Pyrenean foothills....
. Harispe distinguished himself in War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees refers to the Pyrenees front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. Also known as Great War, War of Roussillon, or War of the Convention, it pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal from March 1793 to July 1795 during the...
against Spain. After peace was made with Spain in 1795, Harispe was assigned garrison duty in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, where he fought insurgents in the Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city is Toulouse.-History:Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.The...
. In 1799, he took part in the campaign in the Grisons under MacDonald
Étienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald
Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald, 1st duke of Taranto was a Marshal of France and military leader during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.-Family background:...
. Transferred to the Army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
, he fought under Moncey
Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey , 1st Duke of Conegliano, 1st Baron of Conegliano, Peer of France , Marshal of France, was a prominent soldier in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
and Brune. In May 1802, he was given command of the chasseurs basque, which became the 16th demi-brigade garrisoned in Angoulême
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
.
Napoleonic Wars
When the War of the Third Coalition broke out, Harispe served under Marshal Augereau in the Army of the Ocean Coast. In the campaigns of 1805 and 1806, he fought in the Division Desjardin. Harispe was wounded at JenaBattle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
and in January 1807, he was promoted to general de brigade. Transferred to the corps of Marshal Soult, Harispe was given command of a brigade of the division Verdier
Jean-Antoine Verdier
Jean-Antoine Verdier was a French General during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.Born in Toulouse, he enlisted into the Régiment de la Fère on 18 February 1785...
. Harispe distinguished himself in fighting at Gludstadt and in the battles of Heilsberg
Battle of Heilsberg
The Battle of Heilsberg took place on 10 June 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars.-Overview:On 24 May 1807, the Siege of Danzig ended when Prussian General Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth capitulated to French Marshal Francois Joseph Lefebvre. With Gdansk secured, Napoleon was now free to turn...
and Friedland
Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
, where he was wounded again.
In December 1807, Harispe was made chief of staff of the Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coast under the orders of Marshal Moncey. With this corps, he partook in the Spanish campaign of 1808. In November 1808, Harispe fought under Marshal Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
at the Battle of Tudela
Battle of Tudela
The Battle of Tudela was a battle of the Peninsular War fought on November 23, 1808 near Tudela, Spain. The battle resulted in the victory of the French and Poles under Marshal Lannes against the Spanish under General Castaños....
and in the siege of Saragossa
Siege of Saragossa (1809)
The Second Siege of Saragossa was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War.It is particularly noted for its brutality.-Prelude:...
. After Lannes returned to France on the outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition
War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition, fought in the year 1809, pitted a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria. Major engagements between France and Austria, the main participants, unfolded over much of Central Europe from April to July, with...
, Harispe became chief of staff to general Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d'Albufera was a Marshal of France and one of Napoleon's most brilliant generals.-Early career:...
.
After being wounded in the Battle of María
Battle of María
The Battle of María, also known as the Battle of Belchite, resulted in the defeat of part of General Blake's Spanish army by a French force under General Suchet on June 15, 1809.-External links:**...
, where Suchet with 10,000 men beat a Spanish force outnubering him 3-to-1, Harispe was promoted general de division. After having distinguished himself further in the sieges of Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
and Lerida and in the conquest of Valencia, Harispe was made a Grand Officer in the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
and created a count.
Harispe served in the Army of Aragon until 1813. In 1814, he was send to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
to serve as reinforcements to Soult, who after Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
was tasked with preventing the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
from invading southern France. During the retreat into France, he was forced to burn his own castle in his native town to prevent it being used by the Spanish. After the Battle of Orthez
Battle of Orthez
The Battle of Orthez saw the Anglo-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington defeat a French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France near the end of the Peninsular War.-Preliminaries:...
, he covered the retreat of the army. After having fought a Portuguese division at Tarbes
Tarbes
Tarbes is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in south-western France.It is part of the historical region of Gascony. It is the second largest metropolitan area of Midi-Pyrénées, with 110,000 inhabitants....
on 20 March 1814, Harispe served in the Battle of Toulouse
Battle of Toulouse (1814)
The Battle of Toulouse was one of the final battles of the Napoleonic Wars, four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition...
, fought after Napoléon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
had already abdicated. Tasked with defending the heights at Calvinet, he defended these redoubts to the utmost. His leg had to be amputated after it was shattered by a cannon ball.
Later life
During the Bourbon RestorationBourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
, Harispe was made a knight of Saint Louis
Order of Saint Louis
The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis was a military Order of Chivalry founded on 5 April 1693 by Louis XIV and named after Saint Louis . It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, and is notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles...
and given command of the 15th military division. Upon Napoléon's return from Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
, Harispe rallied to the emperor during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
and served on the Spanish border. After the second abdication, Harispe tried to prevent the Spanish invading southern France. The Second Bourbon Restoration caused Harispe to retire to his chateau until the 1830 Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
. During this revolution, Harispe was elected a deputy. As a supporter of the July Monarchy
July Monarchy
The July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
, he was recalled to active duty and given command of the Hautes and Basses-Pyrénées (1830–1833), of the division of the Pyrénées occidentales (1833–1840) and of the 20th military division (1840–1850).
Harispe served as a deputy for the Basses-Pyrénées (1831–1835) and was made Grand Cross in the Légion d'honneur. Having been made a Peer of France
Peerage of France
The Peerage of France was a distinction within the French nobility which appeared in the Middle Ages. It was abolished in 1789 during the French Revolution, but it reappeared in 1814 at the time of the Bourbon Restoration which followed the fall of the First French Empire...
in 1835, he was created a Marshal of France by President Bonaparte
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
. After the establishment of the Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
he was made a senator. Harispe died in 1855 in Lacarre
Lacarre
Lacarre is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.It is located in the former province of Lower Navarre.-External links:*...
.
Harispe has his name inscribed on the west side of the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
.