Pierre de Riel, Marquis de BEURNONVILLE
See onthe map
General, Marshal of France, Minister of War.
The son of a wheelwright, he became commander-in-chief in 1792, then Minister of War, and fought at Valmy and Jemmapes. Handed over to the Austrians in 1793, he spent thirty months in a fortress before being exchanged for the daughter of Louis XVI. Dumouriez, who had him arrested, called him “the French Ajax”.
The story
The son of a wheelwright from the Aube, Pierre Riel had nothing in him of a Marshal of France — and yet his name would end up cut into the Arc de Triomphe.
Born in 1752, he was made general-in-chief on 9 November 1792 and minister of war under the Convention from 4 February 1793. He fought at Valmy and at Jemappes, the two battles that saved the young Republic.
Marshal of France under the Restoration, peer of France, he was made Marquis de Beurnonville in 1817 — a late acknowledgement of a career that started in a wheelwright's yard.
The grave
The inscription makes two regimes share one stone, on the chemin Camille Jordan: “Général Comte de l'Empire, Pierre de RIEL de BEURNONVILLE, Grand-croix de la L.H., maréchal de France, 1752-1821” — General, Count of the Empire, Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur, Marshal of France. The countship came from Napoleon, the marshal's baton from the Restoration: of all the generals of the Revolution, he was the only one Napoleon kept out of the marshalate. The Souvenir français and the association for the conservation of Napoleonic monuments have restored the grave.
On site, do not miss
An inscription that piles up the titles of two regimes: “General Count of the Empire”, “Grand Cross of the L.H.”, “Marshal of France”. The grave was restored by the Souvenir Français.
Visitors' questions
Where is Beurnonville's grave at Père-Lachaise?
In Division 39, Chemin Camille Jordan, third row. The grave was restored by the Souvenir Français and the Association for the Conservation of Napoleonic Monuments. Division 39 is also Cambacérès's.
Jean-Jacques Régis de CAMBACÉRÈSWhy was Beurnonville imprisoned by the Austrians?
Because Dumouriez handed him over. Minister of War since February 1793, Beurnonville was attached to the commissioners sent to arrest the general who had defected to the enemy. “You are ruining me!” he murmured to him — Dumouriez had him arrested along with the others and handed them all over to the Austrians.
Achille FOULDDoes Beurnonville's name appear on the Arc de Triomphe?
Yes, on the north face of the monument, among the names of the generals of the Revolution and the Empire. He had fought at Valmy and Jemmapes, the two battles that saved the young Republic.
Daniel CORDIERWas Beurnonville really a Marshal of France?
Yes, but late, and not under Napoleon. His epitaph reads “Maréchal de France”, a rank he received under the Restoration, along with the title of marquis, in 1817. The cemetery association notes that, of all the generals of the Revolution, he was the only one Napoleon kept from the marshalate.
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