Joseph Jérôme, comte

Comte

Comte is a title of Catalan, Occitan and French nobility. In the English language, the title is equivalent to count, a rank in several European nobilities. The corresponding rank in England is earl...

 Siméon (30 September 1749 - 19 January 1842) was a French

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...

 jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

 and politician. His son, Joseph Balthasar, Comte Siméon

Joseph Balthasar, Comte Siméon

Joseph Balthasar, Comte Siméon , was a French politician.He was the son of Joseph Jérôme, Comte Siméon. He entered the diplomatic service under the Empire. At the Restoration he was successively prefect of Var, Doubs and Pas de Calais. He was director-general of fine arts in 1828, and had a great...

, was a noted diplomat.

Revolution

Born in Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence

Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...

, he was the son of Joseph-Sextius Siméon (1717–1788), a professor of Law and royal secretary for the parlement

Parlement

Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...

of Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

. Joseph Jérôme Siméon followed his father's profession, but he was a pursued under the Reign of Terror

Reign of Terror

The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...

 for his share in the Girondist

Girondist

The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...

 movement in 1793, and only returned to France after the Thermidorian Reaction

Thermidorian Reaction

The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...

.

A deputy in the Council of the Five Hundred, he sided with the conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 side. In 1799, for protesting against the 18 Fructidor invasion of the chamber by Pierre François Augereau

Pierre François Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione

Charles Pierre François Augereau, 1st Duc de Castiglione was a soldier and general and Marshal of France. After serving in the French Revolutionary Wars he earned rapid promotion while fighting against Spain and soon found himself a division commander under Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy...

, he was imprisoned until the Napoleon Bonaparte

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...

's 18 Brumaire coup

18 Brumaire

The coup of 18 Brumaire was the coup d'état by which General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate...

 (9 November). In the Tribunate

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

, Siméon had an important share in the preparation of the Napoleonic code

Napoleonic code

The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...

, being rewarded by a seat in the Conseil d'État of the French Consulate

French Consulate

The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...

.

Empire and Restoration

As a figure of the First French Empire

First French Empire

The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...

, he was one of the commissioners sent in 1807 to organize the new Kingdom of Westphalia

Kingdom of Westphalia

The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...

, and was premier of King Jérôme

Jérôme Bonaparte

Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...

. He served the Bourbon Restoration

Bourbon 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...

 as councillor of state and 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 1820, he was under-secretary of state for Justice, and in the next year Minister of the Interior until the fall of the Armand-Emmanuel Richelieu

Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu

Armand Emmanuel Sophie Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu was a prominent French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration...

 ministry (12 December 1821).

A baron

Baron

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

 of the Empire, created count

Count

A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...

 by the Restoration, he was admitted to the Academy of Political and Moral Sciences

Academy of Political and Moral Sciences

The Académie des sciences morales et politiques is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.The académie was founded in 1795, suppressed in 1803, and reestablished in 1832 through the appeal of Guizot to King Louis Philippe New International Encyclopedia...

 in 1832, and in 1837 he became president of the Cour des Comptes

Cour des Comptes

The Court of Audit is a quasi-judicial body of the French government charged with conducting financial and legislative audits of most public institutions and some private institutions, including the central Government, national public corporations, social security agencies , and public services...

. He died in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

aged 93.