Jean-Baptiste Cléry

Jean-Baptiste Cléry (1759–1809) was the personal valet to King Louis XVI.

Contents

Biography

Before the Revolution

First serving as secretary of the Princess of Guéménée, he was made valet of the dauphin (who would become Louis XVII).

During the Revolution

Cléry became the valet of Louis XVI when he was imprisoned in the Temple until January 21, 1793. Although he was arrested on September 25, 1793, he avoided the fate of the guillotine and was freed on July 27, 1794.

After the Revolution

Cléry became valet to the Count of Provence (future Louis XVIII) and gave him his journal detailing the events of the revolution. His journal gave an account of what he saw of his touching farewell with his family. The journal was published and was well received, and later led to Cléry's being knighted by Louis XVIII. The popularity and pro-royalist sentiments generated by the memoirs led the French government to release a distorted copy of the book.[1]

Cléry moved to Austria and purchased an estate where he stayed until his death in 1809.

References

  1. ^ Cléry, Jean-Baptiste; Henry Essex Edgeworth (1961) [1798]. Sidney Scott. ed. Journal of the Terror. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 162. OCLC 3153946. ""The memoirs were published in London in 1798. They enjoyed tremendous success from the beginning, and were translated into most European languages. As a mark of his appreciation, Louis XVIII made Cléry a Knight of the Order of St Louis. The French government, however, has alarmed at the reaction in the King's favour produced by the publication of the memoirs, and caused a spurious edition to be printed containing a distorted account of the facts." 

External links

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.