Pierre Victor, baron de Besenval de Brunstatt (born Peter Joseph Viktor von Besenval von Brunstatt; 14 October 1721 – 2 June 1791) was a Swiss military officer in French service. He was usually just referred to as Baron de Besenval (the suffix Brunstatt refers to the former barony). Over time and depending on the language, the family name was adapted according to the international careers and marriages of the family members and the different spellings were adopted by chroniclers, historians and journalists.Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Chapitre: Brunstatt devient une baronnie: Le 11 août 1726, Louis XV, roi de France, élève la terre de Brunstatt, propriété de la famille de Besenval, au rang de baronnie. Société d’Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, pp. 102–103

Pierre Victor de Besenval was the most famous person accused of the crime of lèse-nation during the French Revolution. The baron's case became exemplary. Not only because he was a foreigner, a close friend of Queen Marie Antoinette and one of the first accused of the crime of lèse-nation, but also because of his fame and his famous friends who campaigned for his release.Journal de Paris: Jeudi, 30 juillet 1789: M. Necker à l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris – Discours en faveur de M. de Besenval, Numéro 212, Vendredi, 31 juillet 1789, de la Lune le 10, de l'imprimerie de Quillau, rue du Fouare, 3, Paris, p. 952

Biography Family and relatives Pierre Victor de Besenval was born near Solothurn, Switzerland, to Jean Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt and Katarzyna, Baronne de Besenval de Brunstatt, née Bielińska (1684–1761), at the family's country estate, Schloss Waldegg. His father was a colonel of the Regiment of Swiss Guards in the pay of France. Through his mother, Pierre Victor de Besenval was the grandson of the Polish politician Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński. In 1726, when he was five years old, his mother brought him to France, where his parents already lived.

Théodora Élisabeth Catherine, Marquise de Broglie, née de Besenval de Brunstatt (1718–1777), was Pierre Victor de Besenval's sister. His maternal aunt was the diplomatically influential Marianna Denhoff, also known as Maria Magdalena, Gräfin von Dönhoff, née Bielińska.Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 208Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Marriage de Jean Victor de Besenval et Katarzyna Bielińska et informations sur Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, p. 98Genealogisch-historische Nachrichten von den allerneusten Begebenheiten, welche sich an den europäischen Höfen zutragen, Bogislaus Ernestus, Graf von Dönhoff. Der 97. Theil, des Verlegers Johann Samuel Heinsius, Leipzig, 1746, S. 796 (Ergänzungen).Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 11

Accumulation of power: A state affair in Solothurn

Although Pierre Victor de Besenval spent the vast majority of his life in Paris, he still represented his family in the political bodies of the city of Solothurn, partially represented by his cousins during his absence.

The family de Besenval was extremely powerful due to their wealth. Between 1707 and 1723, the family ruled the city of Solothurn almost single-handedly. The family's wealth came primarily from the salt trade and the mercenary business with France. The family's concentration of power was therefore viewed with mixed feelings in Solothurn. And when, in 1763, it was proposed that Pierre Victor de Besenval, who had held a seat in the Grand Council (parliament) since 1743, should be made a Conseiller Honoraire in recognition of his services to the reform of the army, this caused a state affair, whereupon Pierre Victor de Besenval was expelled from the Grand Council between 1764 and 1769.

A model military career of a Swiss patrician in French service

In 1731, Pierre Victor de Besenval joined the Swiss Guards as a cadet. He was promoted to ensign in 1733 and became the commander of the regiment's Company de Besenval in 1738. In the French army, he was promoted to brigadier in 1747, maréchal de camp in 1758 and lieutenant-général in 1762. In the same year he was appointed Inspecteur Général of the Swiss Guards and the Grisons Troops in French service. The young baron served at first as aide-de-camp to Victor-François de Broglie during the campaign of 1748 in Bohemia, then as aide-de-camp to the Duc d'Orléans during the Seven Years' War.

Pierre Victor de Besenval was not only friends with the family of the Maréchal Victor-François, Duc de Broglie, but also related to them through his sister's husband, Charles Guillaume Louis, Marquis de Broglie (1716–1786).Gabrielle Claerr Stamm: De Soleure à Paris : La saga de la famille de Besenval, seigneurs de Brunstatt, Riedisheim et Didenheim, Société d'Histoire du Sundgau, 2015, pp. 208–209

In the early 1760s, the Baron de Besenval played a key role in the Duc de Choiseul's reform of the army. After being appointed military governor of Haguenau in 1766, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Swiss Guards in 1767. Furthermore, in 1781, he was promoted to Commandant en chef of the troops and garrisons in the interior of France.

The queen's favourite, Swiss diplomat and the purchase of the Hôtel de Besenval

After the accession of King Louis XVI in 1774, Pierre Victor de Besenval became a favourite of Queen Marie Antoinette, whom he assisted on various occasions with advice and assistance, such as in the affair: An Incident at the Opera Ball on Mardi Gras in 1778.Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval: Mémoires de M. Le Baron de Besenval, imprimerie de Jeunehomme, rue de Sorbonne no. 4, Paris, 1805 – chez F. Buisson, libraire, rue Hautefeuille no. 31, Paris, tome II, pp. 282–329

In the service of the Swiss Confederation At that time, the Baron de Besenval was at the height of his power at the royal court. He was the most influential Swiss ever to have served at the French court. Switzerland, at the time the Confederation of the XIII cantons, capitalised on this influence, using the popular baron as its ambassador to the royal court.Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 30Alain-Jacques Tornare: 10 août 1792 – Les Tuileries : L'été tragique des relations franco-suisses, Collection Le savoir suisse – La série « Grandes Dates », presse polytechniques et universitaires romandes, première édition, 2012, p. 30

Hôtel de Besenval It was on 5 December 1767, that Pierre Victor de Besenval bought his Parisian residence, the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, thereafter renamed Hôtel de Besenval, and where he kept one of the most famous paintings of its time: La Gimblette by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The Hôtel de Besenval has housed the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation and the residence of the Swiss ambassador to France since 1938.Jean-Jacques Fiechter / Benno Schubiger: L'Ambassade de Suisse à Paris, Ambassade de Suisse, 2ème édition, août 1994, p. 13J. Vacquier, Secrétaire général de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie du VIIe Arrondissement de Paris: Les vieux hôtels de Paris – Le Faubourg Saint-Germain, décorations extérieures et intérieures, tome I, 2ème édition, F. Contet, libraire, 101, rue de Vaugirard, Paris, 1911, p. 4

French Revolution, family and last years

As the uprisings in and around Paris intensified in the summer of 1789, the Baron de Besenval remained firmly attached to the royal court and was given command of the troops which the king had concentrated in Paris to suppress the riots which had been going on for some time. The riots culminated in the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. In the eyes of contemporaries, the Baron de Besenval acted unluckily in the crisis. The aristocracy described the baron's actions as disastrous and decisive for the further course of events, which ultimately led to the French Revolution. When the revolutionary masses demanded his head after the Taking of the Bastille, Pierre Victor de Besenval tried to escape to his home country, Switzerland.

Distrusted by the people – valued by kings and queens

On 26 July 1789, Pierre Victor de Besenval was arrested while fleeing to Switzerland. On 7 November 1789, he was imprisoned in the Grand Châtelet before being accused by the tribunal of the Grand Châtelet of the crime of lèse-nation. His trial in connection with the Storming of the Bastille began on 21 November with the first judicial questioning. The prison cell of Pierre Victor de Besenval was depicted by Hubert Robert in his painting from 1789 Vue de la cellule du Baron de Besenval à la prison du Châtelet (View from the Baron de Besenval's cell in the Châtelet prison).Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994, p. 162Jean-Jacques Fiechter: Baron Peter Viktor von Besenval: Ein Solothurner am Hofe von Versailles, Rothus Verlag, Solothurn, 1994, p. 177Journal de Paris: Assemblée Nationale – M. Goupil de Preseln a annoncé l'instruction du procès commencé contre M. le Baron de Besenval et M. le Prince de Lambesc, séance du samedi soir, 21 novembre 1789, Numéro 327, Lundi, 23 novembre 1789, de la Lune le 7, de l'imprimerie de Quillau, rue Plâtrière, 11, Paris, première pageCollections Louvre: Peinture "Vue de la cellule du Baron de Besenval à la prison du Châtelet" par Hubert Robert, exécuté pendant l'incarcération de Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, à la prison du Châtelet, Département des Peintures, salle 930, numéro d'inventaire RF 2012 22, date d'acquisition (achat en vente publique, Hôtel Drouot) 23 novembre 2012

On 1 March 1790, Pierre Victor de Besenval was acquitted of all charges. This was due in no small part to the fact that his compatriot Jacques Necker – the Genevan banker and French Finance Minister, who was especially popular among the common people – kept his protective hand over him. Necker's popularity among ordinary Frenchmen stood in sharp contrast to the hostility he often encountered at court, where many aristocrats looked down on the Swiss-born commoner and reformer. Following the acquittal, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had publicly expressed their joy that the baron had been acquitted of all charges.

Another king, King Stanisław II August of Poland, with whom the Baron de Besenval was related on his mother's side, was also pleased by the acquittal. In a letter dated 7 April 1790, the king instructed his envoy in Paris to congratulate the baron's lawyer, Raymond Desèze, on his victory and had the envoy present him with a medal as a token of thanks. The letter of the King of Poland was published in the Moniteur Universel on 16 May 1790.Raymond Desèze: Plaidoyer prononcé à l'audience du Châtelet de Paris, tous les services assemblés, du Lundi 1er mars 1790, par M. Desèze, avocat au Parlement, pour M. Le Baron de Besenval, accusé, contre M. Le Procureur du Roi au Châtelet, accusateur, chez Prault, Imprimeur du Roi, Quai des Augustins, Paris, 1790Journal de Paris: L'affaire de Besenval – Acquittement de l'accusation de lèse-nation, le 1er mars 1790, Numéro 225, supplément au Journal de Paris, Vendredi, 13 août 1790, de la Lune le 4, de l'imprimerie de Quillau, rue Plâtrière, 11, Paris, supplément (no. 59)