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Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, (often referred to simply as Mirabeau) ( March 9, 1749 - April 2, 1791) was a French writer, popular orator and statesman. During the French Revolution, he was a moderate, favored a constitutional monarchy built on the model of Great Britain, and conducted secret negotiations with the king in order to reconcile the monarchy and the revolution--an effort that failed.
The family of Riquet, or Riqueti, originally of the little town of Digne, won wealth as merchants at Marseille, and in 1570 Jean Riqueti bought the château and seigniory of Mirabeau, which had belonged to the great Provençal family of Barras. In 1685 Honoré Riqueti obtained the title of marquis de Mirabeau.
His son Jean Antoine served with distinction through all the later campaigns of the reign of Louis XIV, and especially distinguished himself in 1705 at the battle of Cassano , where he was so severely wounded in the neck that he had ever after to wear a silver stock; yet he never rose above the rank of colonel, owing to an eccentric habit of speaking unpleasant truths to his superiors. On retiring from the service he married Françoise de Castellane, and left at his death, in 1737, three sons: Victor marquis de Mirabeau, Jean Antoine, bailli de Mirabeau, and Comte Louis Alexandre de Mirabeau.
Honoré Mirabeau was born at Bignon , near Nemours as the eldest surviving son of the economist Victor marquis de Mirabeau and his wife Marie-Geneviève de Vassan. When three years old, a virulent attack of smallpox left his face disfigured, and contributed to his father's dislike of him. Destined for the army, he was entered at a pension militaire at Paris. Of this school, which had Joseph Louis Lagrange for its professor of mathematics, there is an amusing account in the life of Gilbert ElliotGilbert Elliot can refer to: Gilbert Elliot, 1st Earl of Minto Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto. who met Mirabeau there.
On leaving school in 1767 he received a commission in a cavalryAn army unit consisting of mounted soldiers are commonly known as cavalry . Cavalry fight from the backs of their mounts, which most often are horses or camels. Infantry travelling by horse and fighting on foot are instead known as dragoons. Modern cavalr regiment which his grandfather had commanded years before. In spite of his ugliness, he won the heart of the lady to whom his colonel was attached; this led to such scandal that his father obtained a lettre de cachetIn French history, lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet''. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce arbitrary actions and judgem, and Mirabeau was imprisoned in the Ile de Réle de R (formerly also le de Rh in English Isle of Rh is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait. Administratively, it is part of the Poitou-Charentes region and in the departement of. His love affairs form a well-known history, owing to the celebrity of the letters to "Sophie".
On being released, the young count obtained leave to accompany as a volunteer the French expedition to CorsicaRegion Corse Details Information Capital: Ajaccio Population Total Density 260 196 1999 30 /km² Area8 680 km² Arrondissements5 Cantons52 Communes360 President of the regional council Camille de Rocca-Serra Departements Corse-du-Sud (2A) Haute-Corse (2B) L. After his return, he tried to keep on good terms with his father, and in 1772 he married a rich heiress, Marie Emilie, daugter of the marquess de Marignane , an alliance arranged for him by his father. His extravagance forced his father to send him into semi-exile in the country, where he wrote his earliest extant work, the Essai sur le despotisme .
His violent disposition led him to quarrel with a country gentleman who had insulted his sister, and his exile was changed by " lettre de cachetIn French history, lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet''. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce arbitrary actions and judgem" into imprisonment in the Château d'IfThe Chateau d'If is located on the small island of If, situated about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille. It is a square, three-storey building 28 m long on each side, flanked by three towers with large gun embrasures. The remainder of the island, wh in 1774. In 1775 he was removed to the castle of Joux , where he was not closely confined, having full leave to enter the town of PontarlierPontarlier is a commune of northeastern France, sous-prefecture of the Doubs departement''. Population: 19,000. External link (in French).. In a house of a friend he met Marie Thérèse de Monnier, his "Sophie", and the two fell in love. He escaped to SwitzerlandThe Swiss Confederation or Switzerland is a landlocked federal state in central Europe, with neighbours Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international c, where Sophie joined him; they then went to the United Provinces, where he lived by hack work for the booksellers; meanwhile Mirabeau had been condemned to death at Pontarlier for seduction and abduction, and in May 1777 he was seized by the French police, and imprisoned by a lettre de cachet in the castle of Vincennes.
The early part of his confinement is marked by the indecent letters to Sophie (first published in 1793), and the obscene Erotica biblion and Ma conversion. In the dungeon of Vincennes he met the fellow prisoner Marquis de Sade who was also writing erotic works; the two disliked each other intensely. Later during his confinement, he wrote the Lettres de cachet, published after his liberation (1782). It exhibits an accurate knowledge of French constitutional history skillfully applied in an attempt to show that the system of lettres de cachet was not only philosophically unjust but constitutionally illegal. It shows, though in a rather diffuse and declamatory form, that application of wide historical knowledge, keen philosophical perception, and genuine eloquence to a practical purpose which was the great, characteristic of Mirabeau, both as a political thinker and as a statesman.
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