Arnail François, marquis de Jaucourt, comte de l'Empire (14 November 1757–5 February 1852) was a French aristocrat and politician.
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Jaucourt was born in Tournon (Seine-et-Marne) of a Protestant family, protected by Louis Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Condé, whose Dragoon regiment he entered at the age of fifteen. He became colonel of his regiment, and made himself known for his welcoming of the French Revolution and his affiliation with the Feuillants.
A deputy to the Legislative Assembly in 1791, elected by the départment of Seine-et-Marne, he generally voted with the minority. As his views came to be considered too moderate by his colleagues, he resigned in 1792, and was soon after arrested on suspicion of being a reactionary. Madame de Staël obtained his release from Louis Pierre Manuel just before the September Massacres. He subsequently accompanied Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord on his mission to the Kingdom of Great Britain, returning to France after the execution of King Louis XVI.
He took refuge in Switzerland to escape the Reign of Terror, and returned only after Napoleon Bonaparte's 18 Brumaire coup and the establishment of the French Consulate, entering the tribunate, of which he was the president for a short period.
In 1803, Jaucourt entered the French Senate, and next year, upon the establishment of the First Empire, he became attached to the household of Joseph Bonaparte. He accompanied Joseph to the Kingdom of Naples, and was created a count of the Empire by Napoleon.
During the following years, Jaucourt distanced himself from the imperial cause, and, with the Bourbon Restoration he became Minister of State and a Peer of France. After the outcome of the Hundred Days (during which he stood by Louis XVIII), he was Naval Minister in July–September 1815, but held no further office. He devoted himself to the support of the Protestant interest in France, and tried to reduce the effects of the White Terror.
A member of the upper house after the July Revolution and throughout the reign of Louis Philippe (the July Monarchy), he was driven into private life by the establishment of the Second Republic, but lived to see the 1851 coup and to rally to the government of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, dying in Paris the next year.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Denis Decrès |
Ministers of Marine and the Colonies 9 July 1815 - 26 September 1815 |
Succeeded by François Joseph de Gratet, vicomte Dubouchage |