26 - REVOLUTION

REVOLUTION Certificate of admission to the Nantes Volunteer Corps issued to Mr. Thomas MIGNOT DE LAMARTINIERE in the La Concorde Company on August 1, 1789 Document engraved by MEGUET in Nantes, adorned with revolutionary mottos and symbols (Phrygian caps, etc.) and bearing the handwritten signatures of LAMARTINIERE and the organization’s leading members, including Anne-Pierre COUSTARD DE MASSI, first Colonel of the Nantes Volunteers, and COESLIER, Major of the Nantes Volunteer Corps. 28 x 37 cm (foxing spots) The National Corps of Nantes Volunteers was a citizen militia unit created in Nantes at the very beginning of the French Revolution, as early as July 1789. Formed in response to the storming of the Bastille in Paris, this corps of “citizen-soldiers” arose from the determination of local patriots to organize themselves to maintain order and defend the new ideas. Thomas MIGNOT DE LAMARTINIERE (1768–1813) was a major general during the Revolution and the First Empire. He played an active role in the Empire’s major campaigns, fighting notably at Ulm and Eylau. His successes earned him a promotion to brigadier general in 1807 and a title of Baron of the Empire in 1808. His name is engraved beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on the 32nd column (west pillar).