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129-710: Jérémie is called the city of the poets because of the numerous writers, poets, and historians born there. During 1762, Creole General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was born here. He is mostly known for fighting under Napoleon in Italy and Egypt and for being the father of writer Alexandre Dumas . In 1964, during the Jérémie Vespers , the Haitian army and the Tonton Macoutes massacred 27 people in Jérémie. In

258-468: A fief , often land or office, under vassalage , i.e., in exchange for allegiance and various, mainly military, services to a suzerain , who might be a higher-ranking nobleman or a monarch. It rapidly became a hereditary caste , sometimes associated with a right to bear a hereditary title and, for example in pre-revolutionary France, enjoying fiscal and other privileges. While noble status formerly conferred significant privileges in most jurisdictions, by

387-673: A general officer . All four commanded as officers in the French Army and apart from Gannibal, who was only captain and engineer-sapper in the Army of Louis XV during his formative years, they all gained their general ranks in the French Army, about four decades after Gannibal had done the same in Russia. Yet Dumas was the first person of color in the French military to become brigadier general , divisional general , and general-in-chief of

516-640: A nobility that is almost as old as the country itself. Throughout the history of the Ethiopian Empire most of the titles of nobility have been tribal or military in nature. However the Ethiopian nobility resembled its European counterparts in some respects; until 1855, when Tewodros II ended the Zemene Mesafint its aristocracy was organized similarly to the feudal system in Europe during

645-619: A British fleet led by Horatio Nelson , however, Dumas was unable to get out of Egypt until March 1799. In August 1798, Dumas discovered a large cache of gold and jewels beneath a house in French-occupied Cairo, which he turned over to Napoleon. In October, he was important in putting down an anti-French revolt in Cairo by charging into the Al-Azhar Mosque on horseback. Afterwards (according to his son, drawn largely from

774-615: A French army. Born in Saint-Domingue , Thomas-Alexandre was the son of Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman , and of Marie-Cessette Dumas , an enslaved woman of African descent. He was born into slavery because of his mother's status, but his father took him to France in 1776 and had him educated. Slavery had been illegal in metropolitan France since 1315 and thus any slave would be freed de facto by being in France . His father helped him enter

903-531: A black African (" femme africaine ", " négresse ", " négresse africaine ", " noire ", or "pure black African" ). Sources differ on the date and circumstance of her death. Two documents signed by Alexandre Dumas—his contract and certificate of marriage to Marie-Louise Labouret—state that Marie-Cessette died in La Guinaudée, near Trou Jérémie , Saint-Domingue , in 1772. Based on this date, Victor Emmanuel Roberto Wilson speculates that she may have died in

1032-413: A castle, well and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although often at a price. Nobles were expected to live "nobly", that is, from the proceeds of these possessions. Work involving manual labor or subordination to those of lower rank (with specific exceptions, such as in military or ecclesiastic service) was either forbidden (as derogation from noble status) or frowned upon socially. On

1161-602: A century, ruling with the sanction of the Solomonic emperors. The last such Muslim noble to join the ranks of Ethiopian society was Mikael of Wollo who converted, was made Negus of Wollo, and later King of Zion, and even married into the Imperial family. He lived to see his son, Lij Iyasu , inherit the throne in 1913—only to be deposed in 1916 because of his conversion to Islam. The nobility in Madagascar are known as

1290-453: A commission as a lieutenant colonel in (and second-in-command of) the Légion franche des Américains et du Midi , founded a month earlier by Julien Raimond . This was a "free legion" (i.e., formed separately from the regular army) composed of free men of color ( gens de couleur libres ). It was called the "American Legion", "Black Legion", or Saint-Georges Legion, after its commanding officer,

1419-710: A de facto aristocracy continued to exist. This process was further deepened during the Three Kingdoms period with the introduction of the Nine-rank system . By the Sui dynasty , however, the institution of the Imperial examination system marked the transformation of a power shift towards a full bureaucracy, though the process would not be truly completed until the Song dynasty. Titles of nobility became symbolic along with

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1548-551: A general expectation of deference from those of lower rank. By the 21st century even that deference had become increasingly minimized. In general, the present nobility present in the European monarchies has no more privileges than the citizens decorated in republics. In France, a seigneurie (lordship) might include one or more manors surrounded by land and villages subject to a noble's prerogatives and disposition. Seigneuries could be bought, sold or mortgaged. If erected by

1677-658: A leader who "deserves to pass into posterity and makes a favourable contrast with the executioners, his contemporaries, whom public indignation will always nail to the pillory of History!" In September 1795 Dumas served under General Jean-Baptiste Kléber in the Army of the Rhine . He participated in the French attack on Düsseldorf, where he was wounded. General Dumas joined the Army of Italy in Milan in November 1796, serving under

1806-491: A memoir that local Egyptians, judging Dumas's height and build versus Napoleon's, believed Dumas to be in command. Seeing "him ride his horse over the trenches, going to ransom the prisoners, all of them believed that he was the leader of the Expedition." From 7 to 21 July, Dumas commanded the invading army's cavalry as it marched south from Alexandria to Cairo . Conditions of heat, thirst, fatigue, and lack of supplies for

1935-663: A nobleman. In this respect, the nobility as a class has always been much more extensive than the primogeniture -based titled nobility, which included peerages in France and in the United Kingdom , grandezas in Portugal and Spain, and some noble titles in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, and Scandinavia. In Russia, Scandinavia and non-Prussian Germany, titles usually descended to all male-line descendants of

2064-704: A period of accelerated political executions in the final months of the Reign of Terror period of the French Revolution . Dumas delayed his arrival in Paris until mid-July and was not seen by the Committee before the Terror ended with the execution of Robespierre on 27 July 1794. In early August 1794 Dumas was briefly assigned to command the École de Mars military school at Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris . He

2193-399: A plantation called La Guinaudée (Guinodée ), near Jérémie (formerly in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti ) until shortly before Antoine's departure in 1775. He sold Marie-Cessette Dumas, their other two children, and her daughter by another man to a baron from Nantes before leaving Saint-Domingue. The only source for her full name, "Marie-Cessette Dumas", with that spelling,

2322-642: A stipend while governance of the country shifted to scholar officials. In the Qing dynasty , titles of nobility were still granted by the emperor, but served merely as honorifics based on a loose system of favours to the Qing emperor. Under a centralized system, the empire's governance was the responsibility of the Confucian-educated scholar-officials and the local gentry, while the literati were accorded gentry status. For male citizens, advancement in status

2451-459: A third of British land is in the hands of aristocrats and traditional landed gentry . Nobility is a historical, social, and often legal notion, differing from high socio-economic status in that the latter is mainly based on pedigree, income, possessions, or lifestyle. Being wealthy or influential cannot ipso facto make one noble, nor are all nobles wealthy or influential (aristocratic families have lost their fortunes in various ways, and

2580-765: A time when French generals were extremely vulnerable to accusations of treason that often led to execution. On 22 December 1793, Dumas was given command of the Army of the Alps . His campaign in the Alps centred on defeating Austrian and Piedmontese troops defending the glacier-covered Little Saint Bernard Pass at Mont Cenis , on the French-Piedmont border. After months of planning and reconnaissance from his base in Grenoble , he had to wait for snow conditions to be favourable to his troops' passage. In April and May 1794, Dumas launched several assaults on Mont Cenis. In

2709-748: A title of baron or count (cf. peerage ). Neither nobility nor titles could be transmitted through women. Some con artists sell fake titles of nobility , often with impressive-looking documentation. This may be illegal, depending on local law. They are more often illegal in countries that actually have nobilities, such as European monarchies. In the United States, such commerce may constitute actionable fraud rather than criminal usurpation of an exclusive right to use of any given title by an established class. "Aristocrat" and "aristocracy", in modern usage, refer colloquially and broadly to persons who inherit elevated social status, whether due to membership in

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2838-474: A wharf in the neutral border territory (and tiny island) of Monte Cristo (today Monte Christi , Dominican Republic ). (Some historians argue that this island inspired Alexandre Dumas 's The Count of Monte Cristo . ) Charles died of gout in 1773; Louis, the youngest of the Davy de la Pailleterie brothers, died three months later. He had served a 15-day sentence for being involved in selling defective weapons to

2967-482: A working class of the time. The latter consisted mainly of agricultural peasants who spent most of their time working outdoors and thus had tanned skin, through which superficial veins appear less prominently. Robert Lacey explains the genesis of the blue blood concept: It was the Spaniards who gave the world the notion that an aristocrat's blood is not red but blue. The Spanish nobility started taking shape around

3096-425: Is General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas's later marriage certificate and contract. Her grandson's memoir gave her name as Louise, and another source recorded Cécile. Sources have spelling variations of her name, as standardization was not common. Some scholars have suggested that "Dumas" was not a surname for Marie-Cessette, but, meaning "of the farm" ( du mas ), was added to her first names to signify that she belonged to

3225-429: Is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy . It is normally ranked immediately below royalty . Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., precedence ), and vary by country and by era. Membership in

3354-765: Is an exception. In a number of recent cases in Scotland the Lord Lyon King of Arms has controversially ( vis-à-vis Scotland's Salic law) granted the arms and allocated the chiefships of medieval noble families to female-line descendants of lords, even when they were not of noble lineage in the male line, while persons of legitimate male-line descent may still survive (e.g. the modern Chiefs of Clan MacLeod ). In some nations, hereditary titles , as distinct from noble rank, were not always recognised in law, e.g., Poland's Szlachta . European ranks of nobility lower than baron or its equivalent, are commonly referred to as

3483-400: Is derived from Sanskrit word Karyi which meant functionary. Other noble and aristocratic titles were Thakur , Sardar , Jagirdar , Mankari , Dewan , Pradhan, Kaji etc. In East Asia, the system was often modeled on imperial China, the leading culture. Emperors conferred titles of nobility . Imperial descendants formed the highest class of ancient Chinese nobility, their status based upon

3612-567: Is held by Kung Tsui-chang . There is also a "Sacrificial Official to Mencius" for a descendant of Mencius , a "Sacrificial Official to Zengzi" for a descendant of Zengzi , and a "Sacrificial Official to Yan Hui" for a descendant of Yan Hui . The bestowal of titles was abolished upon the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, as part of a larger effort to remove feudal influences and practises from Chinese society. Unlike China, Silla's bone nobles were much more aristocratic and had

3741-853: The Andriana . In much of Madagascar, before French colonization of the island, the Malagasy people were organised into a rigid social caste system, within which the Andriana exercised both spiritual and political leadership. The word "Andriana" has been used to denote nobility in various ethnicities in Madagascar: including the Merina , the Betsileo , the Betsimisaraka , the Tsimihety ,

3870-655: The Bezanozano , the Antambahoaka and the Antemoro . The word Andriana has often formed part of the names of Malagasy kings, princes and nobles. Linguistic evidence suggests that the origin of the title Andriana is traceable back to an ancient Javanese title of nobility. Before the colonization by France in the 1890s, the Andriana held various privileges, including land ownership, preferment for senior government posts, free labor from members of lower classes,

3999-551: The British Raj , many members of the nobility were elevated to royalty as they became the monarchs of their princely states, but as many princely state rulers were reduced from royals to noble zamindars . Hence, many nobles in the subcontinent had royal titles of Raja, Rai, Rana, Rao, etc. In Nepal, Kaji ( Nepali : काजी ) was a title and position used by nobility of Gorkha Kingdom (1559–1768) and Kingdom of Nepal (1768–1846). Historian Mahesh Chandra Regmi suggests that Kaji

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4128-583: The Chevalier de Saint-Georges , another mixed-race man from the French Caribbean . Flush with cash from the sale of his family estate, Davy de la Pailleterie for many years spent lavishly on Dumas. His notary said that the boy "cost him enormously". From 1777 to 1786, from age 15 to 24, thanks to his father's wealth and generosity, Dumas lived a life of considerable leisure. In 1784, at age 22, Alexandre moved to an apartment on Rue Etienne, near

4257-460: The Chevalier de Saint-Georges . Dumas frequently commanded the legion, as Saint-Georges was often absent. In April 1793, General Dumouriez attempted a coup d'état; Saint-Georges and Dumas refused to join it and defended the city of Lille from coup supporters. In the summer of 1793, Saint-Georges was accused of misusing government funds, and the Legion disbanded. On 30 July 1793, he was promoted to

4386-736: The Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the Republic of Genoa (1005–1815), the Republic of Venice (697–1797), and the Old Swiss Confederacy (1300–1798), and remains part of the legal social structure of some small non-hereditary regimes, e.g., San Marino , and the Vatican City in Europe. In Classical Antiquity , the nobiles (nobles) of the Roman Republic were families descended from persons who had achieved

4515-725: The Emirate of Harar , and the Awsa sultanate . Ethiopian nobility were divided into two different categories: Mesafint ("prince"), the hereditary nobility that formed the upper echelon of the ruling class; and the Mekwanin ("governor") who were appointed nobles, often of humble birth, who formed the bulk of the nobility ( cf. the Ministerialis of the Holy Roman Empire ). In Ethiopia there were titles of nobility among

4644-527: The French National Convention abolished slavery (4 February 1794), Dumas sent a message to troops under his command in the Army of the Alps : Your comrade, a soldier and General-in-Chief ... was born in a climate and among men for whom liberty also had charms, and who fought for it first. A sincere lover of liberty and equality, convinced that all free men equal, he will be proud to march out before you, to aid you in your efforts, and

4773-644: The Louvre Palace in Paris , socializing at venues such as the Palais-Royal and Nicolet's Theater . In September 1784, while seated at Nicolet's Theater in the company of "a beautiful Creole" woman, he and his companion were harassed by a white colonial naval officer, Jean-Pierre Titon de Saint-Lamain, and one or two others. Following Dumas's verbal protests, the men "tried to force him to kneel before his attacker and beg for his freedom". The police report on

4902-459: The Mesafint borne by those at the apex of medieval Ethiopian society. The highest royal title (after that of emperor) was Negus ("king") which was held by hereditary governors of the provinces of Begemder , Shewa , Gojjam , and Wollo . The next highest seven titles were Ras , Dejazmach , Fit'awrari , Grazmach , Qenyazmach , Azmach and Balambaras . The title of Le'ul Ras

5031-587: The Song dynasty , and by its peak power shifted from nobility to bureaucrats. This development was gradual and generally only completed in full by the Song dynasty. In the Han dynasty , for example, even though noble titles were no longer given to those other than the emperor's relatives, the fact that the process of selecting officials was mostly based on a vouching system by current officials as officials usually vouched for their own sons or those of other officials meant that

5160-629: The War of the Polish Succession . Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, who reached the rank of colonel, saw action at the Siege of Philippsburg in 1734. In 1732, Antoine's younger brother Charles had been given a military posting in Saint-Domingue , a French colony in the Caribbean that generated high revenues from its sugarcane plantations , worked by African slave labour. In 1738, Charles left

5289-783: The consulship . Those who belonged to the hereditary patrician families were nobles, but plebeians whose ancestors were consuls were also considered nobiles . In the Roman Empire , the nobility were descendants of this Republican aristocracy. While ancestry of contemporary noble families from ancient Roman nobility might technically be possible, no well-researched, historically documented generation-by-generation genealogical descents from ancient Roman times are known to exist in Europe. Hereditary titles and styles added to names (such as "Prince", "Lord", or "Lady"), as well as honorifics , often distinguish nobles from non-nobles in conversation and written speech. In many nations, most of

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5418-475: The peerage , which also carries nobility and formerly a seat in the House of Lords , but never came with automatic entail of land nor rights to the local peasants' output. Nobility might be either inherited or conferred by a fons honorum . It is usually an acknowledged preeminence that is hereditary, i.e. the status descends exclusively to some or all of the legitimate , and usually male-line , descendants of

5547-589: The petty nobility , although baronets of the British Isles are deemed titled gentry . Most nations traditionally had an untitled lower nobility in addition to titled nobles. An example is the landed gentry of the British Isles . Unlike England's gentry, the Junkers of Germany, the noblesse de robe of France, the hidalgos of Spain and the nobili of Italy were explicitly acknowledged by

5676-732: The (formerly) official nobility or the monied upper class. Blue blood is an English idiom recorded since 1811 in the Annual Register and in 1834 for noble birth or descent; it is also known as a translation of the Spanish phrase sangre azul , which described the Spanish royal family and high nobility who claimed to be of Visigothic descent, in contrast to the Moors . The idiom originates from ancient and medieval societies of Europe and distinguishes an upper class (whose superficial veins appeared blue through their untanned skin) from

5805-406: The 16th century by the House of Habsburg . Historically, once nobility was granted, if a nobleman served the monarch well he might obtain the title of baron, and might later be elevated to the rank of count. As in other countries of post-medieval central Europe, hereditary titles were not attached to a particular land or estate but to the noble family itself, so that all patrilineal descendants shared

5934-460: The 21st century it had become a largely honorary dignity in most societies, although a few, residual privileges may still be preserved legally (e.g. Spain, UK) and some Asian, Pacific and African cultures continue to attach considerable significance to formal hereditary rank or titles. (Compare the entrenched position and leadership expectations of the nobility of the Kingdom of Tonga .) More than

6063-518: The Americas such as Mexico and the United States , have expressly abolished the conferral and use of titles of nobility for their citizens. This is distinct from countries that have not abolished the right to inherit titles, but which do not grant legal recognition or protection to them, such as Germany and Italy, although Germany recognizes their use as part of the legal surname. Still, other countries and authorities allow their use, but forbid attachment of any privilege thereto, e.g., Finland, Norway, and

6192-409: The Davy de la Pailleterie family estate in Belleville-en-Caux , Normandy . After his father sold that estate in 1777, they moved to a townhouse on the rue de l'Aigle d'Or in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . There, Alexandre studied at the academy of Nicolas Texier de la Boëssière  [ fr ] , where he was given a young nobleman's higher education. He learned swordsmanship from

6321-415: The Ethiopian nobility as part of their quest for aggrandizement during the 1800s. To do so they were generally obliged to abandon their faith and some are believed to have feigned conversion to Christianity for the sake of acceptance by the old Christian aristocratic families. One such family, the Wara Seh (more commonly called the "Yejju dynasty") converted to Christianity and eventually wielded power for over

6450-496: The European Union, while French law also protects lawful titles against usurpation . Not all of the benefits of nobility derived from noble status per se . Usually privileges were granted or recognized by the monarch in association with possession of a specific title, office or estate. Most nobles' wealth derived from one or more estates , large or small, that might include fields, pasture, orchards, timberland, hunting grounds, streams, etc. It also included infrastructure such as

6579-441: The French Army, a common occupation for gentlemen. Unlike his noble peers, who took arms as commissioned officers, Dumas enlisted as a private. A 1781 rule, the Ségur Ordinance , enabled men who could show four generations of nobility on their father's side to qualify to be commissioned as officers. Dumas had this, but the French race laws "made it hard for a man of mixed race to claim his rightful title or noble status". According to

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6708-418: The French attempt to conquer Egypt and the Levant during the Expédition d’Égypte of 1798-1801 when he was a commander of the French cavalry forces. On the march from Alexandria to Cairo, he clashed verbally with the Expedition's supreme commander Napoleon Bonaparte , under whom he had served in the Italian campaigns . In March 1799, Dumas left Egypt on an unsound vessel, which was forced to run aground in

6837-421: The French military (a famous scandal at the time known as the Invalides Trial [ le procès des Invalides ]). Two years after the death of both his younger brothers, Antoine returned to Europe. Marie-Cessette Dumas , described as a "great matriarch to a saga of distinguished men", was an enslaved woman and concubine of African descent owned by the Marquis Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie. They resided together at

6966-400: The French military. Dumas played a large role in the French Revolutionary Wars . Having entered the military in 1786 at age 24 as a private, by age 31 he commanded 53,000 troops as the General-in-Chief of the French Army of the Alps . Dumas's victory in opening the high Alpine passes in 1794 enabled the French to initiate their Second Italian Campaign against the Austrian Empire . During

7095-429: The Kingdom of Naples, who was at war with France. The Holy Faith Army imprisoned Dumas and the rest of the passengers and confiscated most of their belongings. Early on in the captivity, Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo tried to trade Dumas for a Corsican adventurer named Boccheciampe, an imposter posing as Prince Francis, son of Ferdinand IV, to aid the Holy Faith movement. Boccheciampe had been captured by French forces north of

7224-436: The Marquise Jeanne-Françoise, died in 1757 and his father, the Marquis Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, died in 1758. Charles (although younger than Antoine) returned to Normandy to claim the title of Marquis and the family château. The British blockade of French shipping during the Seven Years' War reduced Charles' income from sugar exports, so he tried to smuggle the commodity out of Saint-Domingue from his plantation. He used

7353-402: The Middle Ages. For more than seven centuries, Ethiopia (or Abyssinia , as it was then known) was made up of many small kingdoms, principalities, emirates and imamates , which owed their allegiance to the nəgusä nägäst (literally "King of Kings"). Despite its being a Christian monarchy, various Muslim states paid tribute to the emperors of Ethiopia for centuries: including the Adal Sultanate ,

7482-413: The Neapolitan kingdom, shortly after he had visited the prisoners, who were held inside Taranto 's Aragonese Castle , but Ruffo lost interest in a trade when he learned Boccheciampe had been killed by the French. Dumas was malnourished and kept incommunicado for two years. By the time of his release, he was partially paralyzed, almost blind in one eye, had been deaf in one ear but recovered; his physique

7611-465: The advent of modern governance, their members retain precedence of a traditional nature and are especially prominent during festivals. Outside of this, many of the traditional nobles of Nigeria continue to serve as privy counsellors and viceroys in the service of their traditional sovereigns in a symbolic continuation of the way that their titled ancestors and predecessors did during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. Many of them are also members of

7740-626: The airport of Jérémie is known as "Numero Deux". Mission Aviation Fellowship conducts charter flights into the airport. Agape Flights , based in Venice, Florida, provides weekly mail and cargo service for several missionaries in the area. Beaudrouin , Campagne , Carrefour Sanon , Dayere , Duranton , La Forêt , Leopold , Lori , Marche Leon , Previle , Rampe des Lions and Sassier . Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie ( French: [tɔmɑ alɛksɑ̃dʁ dymɑ davi də la pajət(ə)ʁi] ; known as Thomas-Alexandre Dumas ; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806)

7869-413: The airport, due to the increase in medical needs from injured refugees arriving in the wake of the quake. In October 2016, Jérémie was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Matthew as it went past Haiti. Roughly 40 nautical miles (46 mi; 74 km) west of the city lies Navassa Island , which is claimed by Haiti and the United States . The city has an airport, Jérémie Airport . The area of

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7998-432: The annual crop yield from commoners or nobles of lower rank who lived or worked on the noble's manor or within his seigneurial domain. In some countries, the local lord could impose restrictions on such a commoner's movements, religion or legal undertakings. Nobles exclusively enjoyed the privilege of hunting. In France, nobles were exempt from paying the taille , the major direct tax. Peasants were not only bound to

8127-420: The battles in Italy , Austrian troops nicknamed Dumas the Schwarzer Teufel ("Black Devil", Diable Noir in French) in 1797. The French—notably Napoleon —nicknamed him "the Horatius Cocles of the Tyrol" (after a hero who had saved ancient Rome ) for defeating a squadron of enemy troops at a bridge over the Eisack River in Clausen (today Klausen , or Chiusa , Italy) in March 1797. Dumas participated in

8256-442: The besieged city and prevented Austrian reinforcements from reaching Mantua. The French were thereby able to maintain the siege until French reinforcements could arrive, leading to the city's capitulation on 2 February 1797. Following the 16 January fighting, Dumas felt insulted by the description of his actions in a battle report by General Berthier , Bonaparte 's aide-de-camp, and wrote a letter to Napoleon cursing Berthier. Dumas

8385-507: The border with the Austrian Netherlands . On 15 August 1789, following the beginning of the French Revolution , his unit was sent to the small town of Villers-Cotterêts . The town's newly formed National Guard leader, innkeeper Claude Labouret, had called for them to come in response to a wave of rural violence known as the Great Fear . Dumas lodged at the Labourers Hôtel de l'Ecu for four months, during which time he became engaged to Claude Labouret's daughter Marie-Louise. Dumas's regiment

8514-423: The coalition of tyrants will learn that they are loathed equally by men of all colours. On 28 November 1792, stationed with the Black Legion in Amiens , Dumas married Marie-Louise Élisabeth Labouret in Villers-Cotterêts . According to his French biographer Claude Ribbe , it is in the courtyard of Château de Villers-Cotterêts that the young soldier Dumas met his future wife on 15 August 1789, almost 250 years to

8643-425: The concept of the 'poor nobleman' is almost as old as nobility itself). Although many societies have a privileged upper class with substantial wealth and power, the status is not necessarily hereditary and does not entail a distinct legal status , nor differentiated forms of address . Various republics, including European countries such as Greece, Turkey, and Austria, and former Iron Curtain countries and places in

8772-452: The conflict saved as many as 2,000 people. A corporal by 1792, Dumas had his first combat experience in a French attack on the Austrian Netherlands in April of that year. He was one of 10,000 men under the command of the General Biron . Stationed on the Belgian frontier in the town of Maulde , on 11 August 1792 Dumas captured 12 enemy soldiers while leading a small scouting party of four to eight horsemen. In October 1792, Dumas accepted

8901-428: The continent. Most, such as those composed of the descendants of Shaka and those of Moshoeshoe of Southern Africa, belong to peoples that have been resident in the continent for millennia. Generally their royal or noble status is recognized by and derived from the authority of traditional custom. A number of them also enjoy either a constitutional or a statutory recognition of their high social positions. Ethiopia has

9030-418: The country's political elite due to their not being covered by the prohibition from involvement in politics that governs the activities of the traditional rulers. Holding a chieftaincy title, either of the traditional variety (which involves taking part in ritual re-enactments of your title's history during annual festivals, roughly akin to a British peerage ) or the honorary variety (which does not involve

9159-402: The crown into, e.g., a barony or countship, it became legally entailed for a specific family, which could use it as their title. Yet most French nobles were untitled ("seigneur of Montagne" simply meant ownership of that lordship but not, if one was not otherwise noble, the right to use a title of nobility, as commoners often purchased lordships). Only a member of the nobility who owned a countship

9288-556: The curls of the Greeks and Romans." It described his face as 'something closer to ebony' than to 'bronze.'" General Dumas was described as 'dark—very dark.' Thomas-Alexandre had two siblings by his parents: Adolphe and Jeannette. They also had an older half-sister, Marie-Rose, born to Marie-Cessette before Davy de la Pailleterie purchased her and began a relationship. His father sold Marie-Cessette and her other three children before taking Thomas-Alexandre to France. In 1776, when Alexandre

9417-691: The dark-skinned enemy. Africa has a plethora of ancient lineages in its various constituent nations. Some, such as the numerous sharifian families of North Africa, the Keita dynasty of Mali , the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia , the De Souza family of Benin , the Abaza and Zulfikar families of Egypt and the Sherbro Tucker clan of Sierra Leone , claim descent from notables from outside of

9546-536: The day after the famous Ordinance was firmed by king Francis I in that same place. She stayed in Villers-Cotterêts with her family during his military campaigns. Dumas bought a farm of 30 acres there. They had daughters Marie-Alexandrine (b. September 1794), Louise-Alexandrine (b. January/February 1796, d. 1797), and a son, Alexandre Dumas (b. July 1802), who became a notable author, with success in plays and adventure novels. Nobleman Nobility

9675-459: The early 2000s, archaeologists uncovered an ancient synagogue of Crypto-Jews in the city, the only one found on the island . Jérémie has historically been inhabited by many mixed-race families of Jewish descent. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake , a food aid convoy transporting aid delivered to Jérémie Airport through Jérémie encountered a hijacking attempt by 20 men, on 30 January 2010. Medical supplies have also been airlifted through

9804-565: The family of Empress Menen Asfaw who ruled over the mountain fortress of Ambassel in Wollo; Wagshum , a title created for the descendants of the deposed Zagwe dynasty ; and Shum Agame , held by the descendants of Dejazmach Sabagadis , who ruled over the Agame district of Tigray. The vast majority of titles borne by nobles were not, however, hereditary. Despite being largely dominated by Christian elements, some Muslims obtained entrée into

9933-518: The family's coat of arms ) extending back five generations (all 16 great-great-grandparents). This illustrates the traditional link in many countries between heraldry and nobility; in those countries where heraldry is used, nobles have almost always been armigerous , and have used heraldry to demonstrate their ancestry and family history . However, heraldry has never been restricted to the noble classes in most countries, and being armigerous does not necessarily demonstrate nobility. Scotland , however,

10062-507: The final attack, Dumas's army, equipped with ice crampons , took the mountain by scaling ice cliffs and captured between 900 and 1,700 prisoners. Though his victory won Dumas praise from political leaders in Paris , he was called before the Committee of Public Safety in June 1794, for reasons unspecified but probably to face charges of treason, as this was the period of the "Great Terror",

10191-511: The full name "Thomas-Alexandre Dumas-Davy de la Pailleterie" on his son's birth certificate. The enlistment roll-book for the 6th Regiment of the Queen's Dragoons, which Dumas joined in 1786, described him as "6 feet tall, with frizzy black hair and eyebrows... oval face, and brown skinned, small mouth, thick lips". According to his earliest-known description (1797), he was "one of the handsomest men you could ever meet. [...] His frizzy hair recalls

10320-805: The general drove back a squadron of Austrian troops at a bridge over the Eisack River in Clausen (today Klausen , or Chiusa, Italy ). For this, the French began referring to him as "the Horatius Cocles of the Tyrol " (after a hero who saved ancient Rome). Napoleon called Dumas by this, and rewarded him by making him cavalry commander of French troops in the Tyrol; he also sent Dumas a pair of pistols. Dumas spent much of 1797 as military governor, administering Treviso province , north of Venice . Dumas

10449-437: The geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu , forty wounded French soldiers, and several Maltese and Genoan civilians. Dumas had sold the furnishings of his quarters in Cairo, and purchased 4,000 pounds of moka coffee; eleven Arabian horses (two stallions and nine mares) to establish breeding stock in France; and hired the ship. While returning to France, the ship began to sink, and Dumas had to jettison much of his cargo. The ship

10578-468: The incident shows that Titon chose not to press charges as he might have, and all participants were released. In February 1786 his father Davy de la Pailleterie married Françoise Retou, a domestic servant from the Davy de la Pailleterie estate. Dumas did not sign as a witness to the marriage contract. According to his son's memoir, the marriage precipitated a "cooling off" which led the father to tighten Dumas's allowance. Soon after, Dumas decided to join

10707-650: The mass outbreak of dysentery following a hurricane that struck the Grand Anse region of Saint-Domingue. Two other documents attest that Marie-Cessette was alive after 1772: a letter recounting her sale in 1775 and an 1801 document signed by Dumas, saying that "Marie-Cezette" will be in charge of General Dumas's properties in Saint-Domingue. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas may have earlier claimed that she had died in order to avoid having to get her approval before marriage and revealing her slave status. In addition, he

10836-928: The members of the various parlements , were ennobled by the king, constituting the noblesse de robe . The old nobility of landed or knightly origin, the noblesse d'épée , increasingly resented the influence and pretensions of this parvenu nobility. In the last years of the ancien régime the old nobility pushed for restrictions of certain offices and orders of chivalry to noblemen who could demonstrate that their lineage had extended " quarterings ", i.e. several generations of noble ancestry, to be eligible for offices and favours at court along with nobles of medieval descent, although historians such as William Doyle have disputed this so-called "Aristocratic Reaction". Various court and military positions were reserved by tradition for nobles who could "prove" an ancestry of at least seize quartiers (16 quarterings), indicating exclusively noble descent (as displayed, ideally, in

10965-581: The memories of Dumas's aide-de-camp Dermoncourt), Napoleon told him: "I shall have a painting made of the taking of the Grand Mosque. Dumas, you have already posed as the central figure." The Girodet painting, however, which Napoleon commissioned eleven years later, shows a white man charging into the mosque. On 7 March 1799, Dumas boarded a small ship called the Belle Maltaise in the company of his fellow General Jean-Baptiste Manscourt du Rozoy,

11094-661: The middle of the Mediterranean Sea , Dumas learned that he had been appointed as commander of all cavalry in the Army of the Orient . The armada arrived in the port of Alexandria at the end of June, and on 3 July Dumas led the Fourth Light Grenadiers over the walls as the French conquered the city. After fighting, Napoleon sent Dumas to pay ransom to some local Egyptians who had kidnapped French soldiers. The expedition's chief medical officer recounted in

11223-565: The military to become a sugar planter in that colony; he married Anne-Marie Tuffé, a rich local French Creole widow, and took over her estate. That year Antoine also left the Army and joined his brother and sister-in-law in Saint-Domingue. He lived with them and worked at the plantation until 1748. In that year, the two brothers quarrelled violently, after which Antoine left Charles's plantation, taking his three personal slaves with him. At this point, Antoine broke off contact with his brother and his family for thirty years, although they both lived on

11352-488: The monarchs of those countries as members of the nobility, although untitled. In Scandinavia, the Benelux nations and Spain there are still untitled as well as titled families recognised in law as noble. In Hungary members of the nobility always theoretically enjoyed the same rights. In practice, however, a noble family's financial assets largely defined its significance. Medieval Hungary's concept of nobility originated in

11481-410: The name Retoré was "picked up from a neighbour in Jérémie (where the name can be found on official records of the period)". "Dumas" is from his mother. The first record of him as "Alexandre Dumas" is in the registry book of the Queen's Dragoons (joined 2 June 1786). (It was known in his platoon that this was "not his real name". ) He used the simple form "Alex Dumas" starting in 1794. General Dumas used

11610-409: The ninth century in classic military fashion, occupying land as warriors on horseback. They were to continue the process for more than five hundred years, clawing back sections of the peninsula from its Moorish occupiers, and a nobleman demonstrated his pedigree by holding up his sword arm to display the filigree of blue-blooded veins beneath his pale skin—proof that his birth had not been contaminated by

11739-406: The nobility by dues and services, but the exercise of their rights was often also subject to the jurisdiction of courts and police from whose authority the actions of nobles were entirely or partially exempt. In some parts of Europe the right of private war long remained the privilege of every noble. During the early Renaissance, duelling established the status of a respectable gentleman and

11868-519: The nobility have been untitled, and some hereditary titles do not indicate nobility (e.g., vidame ). Some countries have had non-hereditary nobility, such as the Empire of Brazil or life peers in the United Kingdom. The term derives from Latin nobilitas , the abstract noun of the adjective nobilis ("noble but also secondarily well-known, famous, notable"). In ancient Roman society , nobiles originated as an informal designation for

11997-499: The nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal . Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, but nobility also existed in such regimes as

12126-417: The notion that nobles were "free men", eligible to own land. This basic standard explains why the noble population was relatively large, although the economic status of its members varied widely. Untitled nobles were not infrequently wealthier than titled families, while considerable differences in wealth were also to be found within the titled nobility. The custom of granting titles was introduced to Hungary in

12255-492: The novelist Dumas's account, on hearing of Alexandre's plan, his father insisted that his son take a " nom de guerre " so that he not drag the noble name "through the lowest ranks of the army". He signed up for the 6th Regiment of the Queen's Dragoons as "Alexandre Dumas" on 2 June 1786; thirteen days later, his father died. Dumas spent his first years in the Queen's Dragoons in the provincial town of Laon , Picardy, close to

12384-418: The occupation of Cairo. At some point during the occupation, Napoleon learned of the earlier mutinous talk and confronted Dumas. In his memoirs, Napoleon remembered threatening to shoot Dumas for sedition. Dumas requested leave to return to France, and Napoleon did not oppose it. Napoleon was reported to have said: "I can easily replace him with a brigadier." Following the destruction of the French armada by

12513-548: The orders of commander-in-chief Napoleon Bonaparte . Tension between the two generals began as Dumas resisted Napoleon's policy of allowing French troops to expropriate local property. In December 1796, Dumas was in charge of a division besieging Austrian troops at the city of Mantua . By Christmas, he intercepted a spy carrying a message to the Austrian commander with important tactical information. On 16 January 1797, Dumas and his division halted an Austrian attempt to break out of

12642-444: The original titleholder, including females. In Spain, noble titles are now equally heritable by females and males alike. Noble estates, on the other hand, gradually came to descend by primogeniture in much of western Europe aside from Germany. In Eastern Europe, by contrast, with the exception of a few Hungarian estates, they usually descended to all sons or even all children. In France , some wealthy bourgeois , most particularly

12771-405: The other hand, membership in the nobility was usually a prerequisite for holding offices of trust in the realm and for career promotion, especially in the military, at court and often the higher functions in the government, judiciary and church. Prior to the French Revolution , European nobles typically commanded tribute in the form of entitlement to cash rents or usage taxes, labor or a portion of

12900-426: The political governing class who had allied interests, including both patricians and plebeian families ( gentes ) with an ancestor who had risen to the consulship through his own merit (see novus homo , "new man"). In modern usage, "nobility" is applied to the highest social class in pre-modern societies . In the feudal system (in Europe and elsewhere), the nobility were generally those who held

13029-438: The property. Others have suggested African origins of the names Cessette and Dumas, including Gabon or Dahomey. The two extant primary documents that state a racial identity for Marie-Cessette Dumas refer to her as a " négresse " (a black female) as opposed to a " mulâtresse " (a female of visible mixed race ). Secondary sources on General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, dating back to 1822, almost always describe his mother as

13158-646: The rank of brigadier general in the Army of the North . One month later, he was promoted again, to general of division . In September, he was made commander-in-chief of the Army of the Western Pyrenees . In this brief assignment (September–December 1793), Dumas's headquarters were in Bayonne , France , where he was nicknamed "Mr. Humanity" ( Monsieur de l'Humanité ) by local sans-culottes ; they wanted to intimidate him to conform to their political line at

13287-442: The rank of the empress or concubine from which they descend maternally (as emperors were polygamous). Numerous titles such as Taizi (crown prince), and equivalents of "prince" were accorded, and due to complexities in dynastic rules, rules were introduced for Imperial descendants. The titles of the junior princes were gradually lowered in rank by each generation while the senior heir continued to inherit their father's titles. It

13416-476: The revival of a Christian Andriana monarchy that would blend modernity and tradition. Contemporary Nigeria has a class of traditional notables which is led by its reigning monarchs, the Nigerian traditional rulers . Though their functions are largely ceremonial, the titles of the country's royals and nobles are often centuries old and are usually vested in the membership of historically prominent families in

13545-498: The right to collect taxes and rule over people. They also thought of the king as Buddha and justified their rule through the idea that status was determined by birth. However, this strict sense of social status gradually weakened due to the introduction of Confucianism and opposition from the lower class, and even in Silla, opportunities were given to people of low social status through Confucian tests such as '독서삼품과(讀書三品 科 )'. However,

13674-502: The right to have their tombs constructed within town limits, etc. The Andriana rarely married outside their caste: a high-ranking woman who married a lower-ranking man took on her husband's lower rank, but a high-ranking man marrying a woman of lower rank did not forfeit his status, although his children could not inherit his rank or property ( cf. morganatic marriage ). In 2011, the Council of Kings and Princes of Madagascar endorsed

13803-625: The said re-enactments, roughly akin to a knighthood ), grants an individual the right to use the word "chief" as a pre-nominal honorific while in Nigeria. Historically Rajputs formed a class of aristocracy associated with warriorhood , developing after the 10th century in the Indian subcontinent . During the Mughal era , a class of administrators known as Nawabs emerged who initially served as governors of provinces , later becoming independent. In

13932-536: The same small island. Antoine made a living in Jérémie , Saint-Domingue , as a coffee and cacao planter , under the assumed name of "Antoine de l'Isle". At some point during these years, Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie purchased the slave woman Marie-Cessette "for an exorbitant price" and made her his concubine . In 1762, she gave birth to their mixed-race son Thomas-Alexandre. During her time with Antoine, she also bore him two or three daughters. Antoine's mother,

14061-414: The southern Italian Kingdom of Naples , where he was taken prisoner and thrown into a dungeon. He languished there until the spring of 1801. Returning to France after his release, he and his wife had a son, Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), who would become one of France's most widely-read authors. The son's most famous literary characters were inspired by his father. Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie

14190-523: The still strict status order of Silla caused opposition from many people and collapsed when the country moved to Goryeo. In Goryeo, powerful families along with existing nobles became nobles, claiming a new lineage nobility. And in Goryeo, dissatisfied lower class people confronted the nobles and took power for a short period of time. Goryeo also had many hereditary families, and they were more aristocratic than Confucian bureaucrats, forcibly collecting taxes from

14319-577: The troops on the desert march were harsh; there were several suicides. While camped in Damanhour , General Dumas met with several other generals ( Lannes , Desaix , and Murat ). They vented criticisms of Napoleon's leadership and discussed the possibility of refusing to march beyond Cairo. Dumas soon participated in the Battle of the Pyramids (following which he chased retreating Mameluke horsemen) and

14448-756: The various subnational kingdoms of the country . Membership of initiatory societies that have inalienable functions within the kingdoms is also a common feature of Nigerian nobility, particularly among the southern tribes, where such figures as the Ogboni of the Yoruba , the Nze na Ozo of the Igbo and the Ekpe of the Efik are some of the most famous examples. Although many of their traditional functions have become dormant due to

14577-753: Was 14, his father sold the boy for 800 French livres in Port-au-Prince , officially to Lieutenant Jacques-Louis Roussel (but unofficially to Captain Langlois). This sale (with the right of redemption) provided both a legal way to have Alexandre taken to France with Langlois and a temporary loan to pay for his father's passage. The boy accompanied Captain Langlois to Le Havre , France, arriving on 30 August 1776, where his father bought him back and freed him. From his arrival in France until Autumn 1778, Alexandre (named Thomas Retoré) first lived with his father at

14706-690: Was a French general , from the French colony of Saint-Domingue , in Revolutionary France . Along with his French contemporary Joseph Serrant and other notable brothers in arms in the French Army Toussaint Louverture from Saint-Domingue , Abram Petrovich Gannibal from Imperial Russia and Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski from Poland , Thomas-Alexandre Dumas is notable as a man of African descent (in Dumas's case, through his mother) leading European troops as

14835-594: Was a custom in China for the new dynasty to ennoble and enfeoff a member of the dynasty which they overthrew with a title of nobility and a fief of land so that they could offer sacrifices to their ancestors, in addition to members of other preceding dynasties. China had a feudal system in the Shang and Zhou dynasties , which gradually gave way to a more bureaucratic one beginning in the Qin dynasty (221 BC). This continued through

14964-530: Was accorded to the heads of various noble families and cadet branches of the Solomonic dynasty , such as the princes of Gojjam, Tigray, and Selalle. The heirs of the Le'ul Rases were titled Le'ul Dejazmach , indicative of the higher status they enjoyed relative to Dejazmaches who were not of the blood imperial. There were various hereditary titles in Ethiopia: including that of Jantirar , reserved for males of

15093-409: Was allowed, ipso facto , to style himself as its comte , although this restriction came to be increasingly ignored as the ancien régime drew to its close. In other parts of Europe, sovereign rulers arrogated to themselves the exclusive prerogative to act as fons honorum within their realms. For example, in the United Kingdom royal letters patent are necessary to obtain a title of

15222-473: Was an accepted manner of resolving disputes. Since the end of World War I the hereditary nobility entitled to special rights has largely been abolished in the Western World as intrinsically discriminatory , and discredited as inferior in efficiency to individual meritocracy in the allocation of societal resources. Nobility came to be associated with social rather than legal privilege, expressed in

15351-540: Was born on 25 March 1762 in Saint-Domingue (today Haiti ) to French nobleman Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie and Marie-Cessette Dumas , an enslaved African woman he owned. Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, born 1714, was the oldest of three sons of the Marquis Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie and Jeanne-Françoise Paultre (or Pautre) de Dominon. The Davy de la Pailleteries were provincial Norman aristocrats whose wealth

15480-690: Was broken. He believed his illnesses were caused by poisoning. During his imprisonment, he was aided by a secret local pro-French group, which brought him medicine and a book of remedies. In November 1799, Napoleon returned to Paris and seized power . Dumas's wife lobbied his government for assistance in finding and rescuing her husband, to little result. Napoleon's forces, under the command of Dumas's fellow general Joachim Murat , eventually defeated Ferdinand IV's army and secured Dumas's release in March 1801. Dumas made few political statements, but those he made suggest deeply felt republican beliefs . One month after

15609-596: Was forced by storms to land at Taranto , in the Kingdom of Naples . Dumas and his companions expected to get a friendly reception, having heard that the Kingdom had been overthrown by the Parthenopean Republic . But that short-lived republic had succumbed to an internal uprising by a local force known as the Holy Faith Army , led by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo , in alliance with King Ferdinand IV of

15738-598: Was in Paris on 17 July 1791, where they served as riot police along with National Guard units under the Marquis de Lafayette during the Champ de Mars Massacre of the French Revolution . Troops killed between 12 and 50 people when a large crowd gathered to sign a petition calling for the French King's removal. Two years later, when someone denounced Dumas to the Committee of Public Safety , he claimed that intervention in

15867-492: Was in a hurry to leave for the military front. Dumas used several names in his life: Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, Thomas Rethoré (or Retoré), Alexandre Dumas, Alex Dumas, and Thomas-Alexandre Dumas-Davy de la Pailleterie. "Davy de la Pailleterie" is his father's family name. He used the name "Retoré" (sometimes spelt Rethoré) during and for some years after the period in which his father sold him and then re-purchased him (1775–1776). According to biographer Tom Reiss ,

15996-412: Was in decline. The family had acquired the title of "lords" ( seigneurs ) by 1632. The French kingdom granted the title "marquis" to the family by 1708. Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie ("Antoine") had two younger brothers, Charles Anne Edouard and Louis François Thérèse. All three were educated at a military school and pursued careers as officers in the French military. They first served during

16125-535: Was in this period that Austrian troops began calling him the der schwarze Teufel ("Black Devil", or Diable Noir in French). In late February 1797, Dumas transferred to a division commanded by General Joubert , who requested Dumas for his republicanism . Under Joubert, Dumas led a small force that defeated several enemy positions along the Adige River . Dumas's achievement in this period came on 23 March, when

16254-474: Was ordered to report to Toulon , France, in March 1798 for an unspecified assignment. He joined an enormous French armada in preparation for departure to a secret destination. The armada departed on 10 May 1798, destination still unannounced. It was only on 23 June, after the fleet had conquered Malta , that Napoleon announced the mission's main purpose: to conquer Egypt. Aboard the Guillaume Tell , in

16383-584: Was possible via garnering the top three positions in imperial examinations. The Qing appointed the Ming imperial descendants to the title of Marquis of Extended Grace . The oldest held continuous noble title in Chinese history was that held by the descendants of Confucius , as Duke Yansheng , which was renamed as the Sacrificial Official to Confucius in 1935 by the Republic of China . The title

16512-586: Was reassigned to lead the Army of the West from August to October 1794. He was responsible for consolidating the recent government victory over a massive insurgency in the region of the Vendée against the French revolutionary government. He focused on increasing military discipline and eliminating soldiers' abuses of the local population. One historian, despite or because of his pro-royalist sentiments, characterised Dumas in this command as "fearless and irreproachable",

16641-627: Was subsequently omitted from mention in Napoleon 's battle report to the Directory , France's government at the time. He was then given a command well beneath his rank, leading a subdivision under General Masséna , despite a petition from Dumas's troops attesting to his valour. Under General Masséna in February 1797, Dumas helped French troops push the Austrians northward, capturing thousands. It

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