Chouannerie

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Chouannerie

The defence of Rochefort-en-Terre,

painting by Alexandre Bloch, 1885

Date 17941800

Location Brittany, Maine, Normandy

Result Republican victory

Belligerents

France (Republic - Chouan rebels

Empire) Venden rebels

migrs

Great Britain

Commanders and leaders

Jean-Baptiste de Canclaux Georges Cadoudal

Jean-Michel Beysser Joseph de Puisaye

Jean Antoine Rossignol Jean Chouan

Jean Baptiste Klber Marie Paul de Scpeaux

Lazare Hoche Aim du Boisguy

Jean Humbert Louis de Frott

Guillaume Brune Pierre Guillemot

Gabriel d'Hdouville Amateur de Boishardy

Pierre Quantin Comte Louis de Rosmorduc

Claude Ursule Gency Louis de Bourmont

Louis d'Andign

Pierre-Mathurin Mercier

Jean-Louis Treton

Guillaume Le Mtayer

Charles Armand Tuffin,

marquis de la Rouerie

Strength

Army of the West: 1795-1800:

1795: 68,000 men ~55,000 men

1799: 45,000 men

1800: 75,000 men

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v

e
French Revolutionary Wars The Chouannerie

[show]

t
e
 Royalist Revolts
of the French Revolutionary Wars

A Breton chouan

An episode of the Chouannerie

The Chouannerie was a royalist uprising or counter-revolution in 12 of the western dpartements of

France, particularly in the provinces of Brittany and Maine, against the French Revolution,
the French First Republic. It played out in three phases and lasted from the spring of 1794 until
1800.[1]
The uprising was mostly caused by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) and the leve en
masse (1793) decided by the National Convention.
A first uprising attempt was carried out by the Association bretonne to defend the French
monarchy and reinstate the specific laws and customs of Brittany that had been repealed in 1789.
The first confrontations broke out in 1792 and evolved to a peasant revolt, then to guerrilla
warfare and eventually to full-scale battles until the Republican victory in 1800.[1]
Shorter peasant uprisings in other dpartements such as in Aveyron and Lozre were also qualified
as "chouanneries". A petite chouannerie broke out in 1815 during the Hundred Days and a final
uprising ultimately took place during the Vendean War and Chouannerie of 1832.

Contents
 [hide]

1Origins
2Causes
o 2.1The Breton Association
3Course
o 3.1First phase 1794-1795
o 3.2Second phase 1795-1796
o 3.3Third phase
4Chouan leaders
5Typology of the Chouans
o 5.1Historiographic
o 5.2Novelistic
6Bibliography
o 6.1Historical
o 6.2Works of fiction
7References
8Further reading

Origins[edit]
In 1791, the adoption of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy caused the peasants around Vannes to
rise in defence of their bishop against the Republicans of Lorient who wished him to swear the oath
of loyalty to the Civil Constitution. The following spring, in the area around Quimper, a justice of the
peace led several parishes in a rising in the name of King Louis XVI against the local authorities.[2]
During the summer of 1792, incidents occurred in the districts
of Carhaix (Finistre), Lannion, Pontrieux (Ctes-d'Armor), Craon, Chteau-
Gontier and Laval (Mayenne), where the peasants opposed a levy of volunteers for the army.
At Saint-Oun-des-Toits, in the district of Laval, Jean Cottereau (known as Jean Chouan) led the
insurgents. His nickname probably came from his imitation of the call of the tawny owl (the chouette
hulotte) for a recognition-signal.[2] A reward was put[by whom?] on his head, but nevertheless he reached
England in March 1793. The republican administration recognised him and his brother as the leaders
of the revolt.[3]

Causes[edit]
The Breton Association[edit]
Main article: Charles Armand Tuffin, marquis de la Rouerie

Course[edit]
This section needs expansion. You
can help by adding to it. (December
2008)

First phase 1794-1795[edit]

Chouan ambush, painting by variste Carpentier, nineteenth century.

In January 1794, the Vendeans of the Vende militaire, following the setback of the Vire de
Galerne, tried to resist the infernal columns of General Turreau. During this time, groups of Chouans
north of the Loire took up arms again in the areas crossed by the Vendeans. The Chouannerie was
born on the borders of the Mayenne and of the Ille-et-Vilaine,
near Fougres, Vitr and Laval.[4] These small groups led by Jean Chouan, Aim du
Boisguy and Jean-Louis Treton (nicknamed Jambe d'Argent, i.e. "Silver Leg"), regrouped Chouans
and Vendeans who survived the Vire de Galerne, leaders who were compromised in the peasant
uprisings of March 1793 and even deserters.[5]Condemned to live in almost total secrecy, the
Chouans knew that being captured by the Republicans would mean certain death. Most of them
were motivated by a desire to avenge their relatives who had disappeared in the Vire de Galerne.[5]
In guerilla warfare, Chouans in groups of a few score or a few hundred men ambushed military
detachments, couriers and stagecoaches carrying government funds. They attacked Republican
towns, executed informers, constitutional priests and republicans, a large number of them
administrators.
To oppose the Chouans, Republicans built strongholds or fortified towns which were defended by
local territorial guards. They were led by general Jean Antoine Rossignol, chief commander of
the Army of the Coasts of Brest. A law enacted on 23 March 1793 mandated that captured
insurgents should be executed by firing squad or by guillotine within twenty-four hours. Rossignol
also assembled groups of Fake Chouan outlaws in order to do as much as possible to discredit the
real Chouans.
Murders were carried out throughout the whole war with a varying degree of intensity. For example,
in the district of Fougres, in conflict between some 2,000 Chouans and a fluctuating number of
Republicans, 219 people were assassinated or executed by Chouans and 300 by Republicans. This
did not include deaths during fights, summary executions on the battlefield, or executions following
the expeditive revolutionary due process of law.[6]
Joseph de Puisaye

The Chouannerie spread quickly to Brittany and reached the Ctes-d'Armor, dominated by the
Chevalier de Boishardy. On 15 March it reached Morbihan where Joseph de Fay and Bjarry (former
officers of the Vendean army) assisted by Pierre Guillemot incited a peasant uprising aimed
at Vannes. The insurgents were easily countered by the Republicans at the battle of Mangolrian.
However, in the Finistreand the west of the Ctes-d'Armor, the Basse-Cornouaille, the Lon and
the Trgor did not take part in the uprising.
Georges Cadoudal and Pierre-Mathurin Mercier, nicknamed la Vende, rescued from the battle of
Savenay, moved to the Morbihan where Boulainvilliers was appointed general-in-chief of the
dpartement. However, Boulainvilliers defected to Ille-et-Vilaine with money taken from
headquarters. Sbastien de La Haye de Silz succeeded him as general. Boulainvilliers foolishly
returned a few months later in the Morbihan; he was captured and shot by Pierre Guillemot's men.
Other dpartements, however, did not stand as united as the Morbihan. In the north of Anjou, Marie
Paul de Scpeaux de Bois-Guignot was named commander for the north of Maine-et-Loire. His
authority later extended to Loire-atlantique, Mayenne and Sarthe. However, he commanded in name
only: as in other dpartements, his authority as a Chouan chief only extended to his own
canton. Joseph de Puisaye, a former officer compromised in the federalist revolts, realised the
necessity of centralised command and attempted to assume the function of general-in-chief of the
Chouans. Recognized by some chiefs, Puisaye embarked from Dinard to London on 11 September
1794 to meet future king Charles X of France. Major-general Pierre Dezoteux de Cormatin, his
second-in-command, assumed command in his absence. Charles X favoured absolute
monarchy and distrusted Puisaye, who advocated parliamentary monarchy. However, following the
intervention of British prime minister William Pitt the Younger, Puisaye was appointed general-in-
chief of the Royal and Catholic Army of Brittany on 15 October 1794 with the rank of Lieutenant
general (thus entrusting him with the king's authority). His power thus extended to all the insurgent
areas north of the Loire, including the Maine and Anjou, where Scpeaux appointed him general-in-
chief.
Robespierre fell on 28 July 1794. Consequently, the Terror ended and the Convention
nationale became more flexible and open to negotiation. The Agence royaliste de Parisasked the
Chouans in the name of Louis XVIII of France (then count of Provence) to stop fighting. On 26
December, brigadier general Jean Humbert and Chouan chief Boishardy met to discuss peace
options. While Puisaye tried to organise a landing from London, his lieutenant Cormatin assumed full
command and negotiated the Mabilais peace treaty in April 1795. He was followed by a minority of
local leaders.[7] Of the 121 leaders attending, only 21, including de Silz and Boishardy, signed the
treaty.[8]
Second phase 1795-1796[edit]

The battle of Quiberon

Un pisode de l'affaire de Quiberon (An Episode of the Quiberon affair), painting by Paul-mile Boutigny,
nineteenth century.

Because neither side had negotiated in good faith, there was an increase in tension following the
death of Louis XVII on 8 June. The peace was broken on 26 August 1794 as general Lazare Hoche,
who succeeded Jean Antoine Rossignol as head of the Army of the Coasts of Brest, ordered the
arrest of those who had refused to sign the treaty of the Mabilais. Hoche thought that Cormatin was
trying to outsmart him: Cormatin was imprisoned (and would not be freed before 1802). Boishardy,
who did not sign, was killed during the night of 17 to 18 June between Brhand and Moncontour.
Likewise, de Silz, who had taken up arms again, was attacked on 28 June at Grand-Champ by the
troops of adjutant-general Josnet. De Silz was killed in action and his men retreated.
On 23 June 1795 a British fleet led by commodore John Borlase Warren landed 3,500 soldiers of
the migr army in Carnac. They joined 15,000 Chouans led by Vincent de Tintniac, Paul
Alexandre du Bois-Berthelotand Jacques Anne Joseph Le Prestre de Vauban, great-grandnephew
of marshal Sbastien Le Prestre de Vauban. However, disagreements between the general of
the migrs Louis Charles d'Hervilly and the expedition leader Puisaye cost the Royalists precious
time.

Lazare Hoche

A counter-attack by Lazare Hoche forced the Chouans back to the Quiberon peninsula. On 10 July,
two columns of Chouan troops wearing English uniforms embarked on British ships from the
peninsula and were landed behind Republican lines. However, the men from the first column, led by
Lantivy du Rest and Jean Jan, scattered. The second column, led by Vincent de Tintniac seconded
by Georges Cadoudal, prepared to attack but received a message from the Agence royaliste de
Paris requiring them to join a second British landing at Ctes-d'Armor. Tintniac hesitated in the face
of opposition from Cadoudal, but obeyed the order. He was killed on the way at Cotlogon on 18
July. They reached the bay of Saint-Brieuc but no British fleet joined them, so they returned to the
Morbihan and appointed Cadoudal as their general.
During this time, in Quiberon, reinforcements of 2,000 men led by Charles de Virot de
Sombreuil joined the migrs. They attempted to attack on 16 July but were crushed. Hoche
launched a final assault on 20 July and routed the migrs. D'Hervilly was fatally wounded; Puisaye
managed to board a British ship. The Republicans took more than 6,000 prisoners. 748 of them
were shot by firing squad, including Sombreuil. The day before his execution he wrote a letter to
commodore Warren denouncing the flight of chief general Joseph de Puisaye.
This letter had an enormous impact on the Chouans. A council of officers in Morbihan sentenced
Puisaye to death in absentia. Puisaye returned to Brittany in autumn 1795, where he was arrested
by Pierre-Mathurin Mercier and brought before Cadoudal. Puisaye defended himself vigorously and
found he still had the support of the count of Artois. Cadoual and Puisaye were eventually
reconciled.
Guerilla fighting resumed after the failure of the English royalist expedition and spread
to Normandy where Louis de Frott, freshly landed in France in 1795, organised the uprising.

La Chapelle de La Madeleine Malestroit (Morbihan) - 15 nivse an III (The Chapel of La Madelaine in

Malestroit), painting by Alexandre Bloch, 1886.

Puisaye had suffered some loss of reputation and blamed the Chouans of the Morbihan and their
chiefs who, according to him, were hostile towards nobles and wanted to "establish equality under a
white flag". Puisaye left the Morbihan for the Ille-et-Vilaine, where the division chiefs were of the
nobility, and joined the Mordelles division led by Jean-Joseph Ruault de La Tribonnire. He did not
receive much more support than he had in the Morbihan, but remained commander-in-chief thanks
to the support of the count of Artois. Puisaye wanted a Chouannerie led by nobles and founded the
company of the chevaliers catholiques. Several migrs joined France to fight with the Chouans, but
numerous disputes broke out between them.
In January 1796, Puisaye joined the Fougres division, the most important one in Ille-et-Vilaine, and
appointed as his chief Aim Picquet du Boisguy, chief general of the Ille-et-Vilaine and of the East of
the Ctes-d'Armor. However, in practice, Boisguy only controlled the East of Ille-et-
Vilaine; Frott and Scpeaux acknowledged Puisaye as general-in-chief in name only.
To fight the Chouans, the Republican forces were organised in three armies. The Army of the
Coasts of Brest, led by Lazare Hoche, based alternately in Rennes or Vannes, controlled
the Finistre, the Morbihan, the Ctes-d'Armor, the Ille-et-Vilaine and the Mayenne. The Army of the
West, led by Jean Baptiste Camille de Canclaux, based in Nantes, controlled the Loire-Atlantique,
le Maine-et-Loire, the Vende and the Deux-Svres. The Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg, led
by Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet, based in Saint-Malo, controlled the Manche, the Orne,
the Calvados, the Sarthe and part of the Ille-et-Vilaine.
In December 1795, the Directoire named Lazare Hoche chief general of all the Republican forces
based in the West and gave him full authority. The armies of the West, of the Coasts of Brest and of
the Coasts of Cherbourg were merged to form the Arme des ctes de l'Ocan (Army of the Coasts
of the Ocean).
Despite the Quiberon disaster, the Chouans gained some victories in the coming months. However,
Hoche changed tactics in the beginning of 1796. He set up mobile columns, promised amnesty to
Chouans who surrendered, guaranteed religious freedom and strove to discipline the army. Many
Chouans and Vendeans were amenable to these measures and laid down their arms.
Hoche's priority was to pacify the Vende. Jean-Nicolas Stofflet was captured and shot by firing
squad in Angers on 25 February 1796. Charette was hunted down, imprisoned on 23 March and
shot on 29 March 1796. His death marked the end of the War in the Vende.
Now that the Vende was pacified, Hoche turned his attention to the Chouans. Faced by large
Republican numbers, Chouan chiefs gradually surrendered. Scpeaux was the first to surrender, on
14 May.[9] Georges Cadoudal signed a peace treaty on 19 June,[10] Louis de Frott refused to sign
peace himself; he embarked for England and left his lieutenants to sign on 23 June. Aim Picquet du
Boisguy was the last to surrender, on 26 June.[11] Puisaye returned to England.
Third phase[edit]
The uprising lasted until Republican victory in 1800.[1]