Jean-Nicolas Stofflet

Jean -Nicolas Stofflet ( born February 3, 1753 Bathelémont -lès- Bauzemont, Lorraine, † February 23, 1796 in Angers) was one of the leaders / generals on the sides of the Catholic- royalist motivated Vendée uprising against revolutionary France.

Biography

He was born the son of a miller, whose ancestors came from the Montafon, Vorarlberg come and served for years as a regular soldier in a Swiss regiment. He then held the post of gamekeeper in the service of Count Colbert Maulévrier. As the Vendée Uprising broke out, he joined it and took part in several battles, in which he distinguished himself. In 1794 he was promoted to major general and in the same year he was succeeded by Henri de La Rochejaquelein as commander of the troops.

Mutual mistrust and probably ambition and envy were the reasons why he fell out with the other commanders of the insurgents: In April 1794, he left his fellow generals Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny place in the absence of court-martialed and sentenced to death; the sentence was carried out immediately after his capture on 10 July in 1794. A year later came Stofflet by military failures in François Athanase de Charette dispute with de la Contrie, another leader of the Vendée Army; shortly afterwards he resigned and submitted to the May 2, 1795 a verdict of the National Convention.

In December of 1795 he broke with the agreed arrangements with the Republic and was the Count of Provence, the younger brother of Louis XVI. and later King Louis XVIII. promoted to Maréchal de camp. His military activities came to nothing; he was captured by the revolutionary troops, sentenced by a military court to death and shot on February 25, 1796 in Angers. He was 43 years old.

Assessment

Victoire de Donnissan de La Rochejaquelein that multiple occurrences of the Vendée uprising witnessed first hand at her husband's side, Stofflet describes as " intelligent and brave," but also as " arrogant and vain " as well as " hard and brutal " towards its own soldiers who feared him. His behavior towards his fellow generals Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny is generally regarded as completely exaggerated.