Jean-Baptiste, Comte de Valence

Jean-Baptiste Cyrus Adélaïde de Timbrune de Thiembronne, known as the comte de Valence, was born at Agen on 22 September 1757 and died at Paris on 4 February 1822. He entered the artillery school at Strasbourg in 1774 and became a captain in the Royal-Cavalerie in 1778, serving as aide de camp to the marshal de Vaux. In 1784 he received a brevet as Colonel in second of the régiment de Bretagne, and in 1785 he became first equerry to the duc d’Orléans and Colonel of the régiment de Chartres dragons. In 1790 he was appointed commander for the department of the Sarthe, and on 23 June 1791 he took the new military oath following the king’s flight; he was promoted maréchal de camp on 13 December 1791.

With the opening of war in 1792, Valence served under Luckner and took part in operations in the Austrian Netherlands, including the seizure of Courtrai, before joining Dumouriez’s army. Promoted lieutenant général on 20 August 1792, he commanded the reserve at Valmy and subsequently received the capitulations of Verdun and Longwy. Appointed general-in-chief of the armée des Ardennes on 8 October 1792, he conducted operations in the Meuse and Sambre region after Jemappes, taking Dinant, Charleroi, and Namur. In March 1793 he served in Belgium during the retreat from Maastricht and Liège; he was wounded at Neerwinden on 18 March 1793. After resigning amid political tensions, and following the interception of correspondence connected to Dumouriez’s crisis, he accompanied Dumouriez in the April 1793 defection, went to London, and then left for North America; he later lived near Hamburg until the establishment of the Consulate, returning to France in an VIII.

Under the Empire, Valence became a member of the Sénat conservateur on 1 February 1805 (12 Pluviôse an XIII) and was made a commander of the Légion d’honneur shortly thereafter. On 20 March 1807 he was appointed commander of the 5th legion of the internal reserve, and on 1 June 1808 he was created comte de l’Empire. In 1808 he was sent to the army in Spain and soon returned for reasons of health; in the Peninsular War he held divisional command and is associated with operations in 1809, including actions at Ciudad Real and Almonacid. During the 1812 campaign he commanded a cavalry division under Murat in the invasion of Russia and was present at Borodino; he continued in service during the retreat, including at Vyazma, and served for part of the 1813 campaign in Saxony. In December 1813 he was appointed imperial extraordinary commissioner at Besançon.

On 1 April 1814, as secretary of the Sénat conservateur, Valence signed the act of Napoleon’s deposition. He was named a pair de France by Louis XVIII on 4 June 1814 and promoted grand officer of the Légion d’honneur on 4 January 1815. During the Hundred Days he was again called to the Chamber of Peers (2 June 1815) and served as secretary. After Waterloo he shared command of the troops covering Paris with Grenier and Sébastiani; on 21 June 1815 he was designated as an extraordinary commissioner to seek an armistice from Blücher, which was refused. Removed from the peerage in July 1815, he was placed in retirement as a lieutenant général in September 1815, and he returned to the Chamber of Peers in November 1819. He died in Paris in 1822 and was buried at Père-Lachaise; his name appears among those inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.

Sources

• Sénat: Pairs de France — VALENCE Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Thimbrune (notice biographique)
• BnF Data: Jean-Baptiste-Cyrus-Adelaïde de Timbrune de Thiembronne Valence (comte de, 1757-1822)
• Base Léonore: TIMBRUNE THIEMBRONE COMTE DE VALENCE Jean Baptiste Cyrpus Marie
• FranceArchives: Timbrune de Thiembronne de Valence, Jean Baptiste Cyrus Adélaïde de (1757-1822)
• Château de Versailles Collections: Cyrus-Marie-Adélaïde de Timbrune, comte de Valence (MV 2351)
• Wikipedia (English): Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence
• Wikipedia (French): Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Timbrune de Thiembronne