20/10/1753 : Baptism in Saint-Pierre
church, in accordance with the Languedocien
tradition, his godfather Charles Bouyer and his
godmother Jeanne Temple are two orphans of the hospital general.
Year
1772 : After having obtained
his licence of law to Faculty
of Montpellier, Cambaceres becomes lawyer in
Montpellier. It is initiated
freemason in the lodge St-Jean du
Secret (attached to the English rite).
21/10/1772 : Cambaceres buys the office
of mayor of Mirepoix (Ariege). His father Jean-Antoine de Cambaceres bought this
office at 25/09/1756.
16/11/1774 : Taking of his father's office, Cambaceres becomes adviser in the Court
of Comptes, Aides and Finances
of Montpellier.
This magistrate office belong to
his family since 1640.
17/05/1779 : Cambaceres joined the lodge l'Ancienne et la Reunion des Elus
(attached to the french
Grand Orient).
Year 1786 : Elected deputy by the montpellierian lodges at the annual assembly of the french
Grand Orient.
February 1789 : He travel again to
Paris, to obtain a financial assistance of his uncle, but the abbot Etienne-François de
Cambaceres refuses it to him.
31/03/1789 : Elected second deputy of the Nobility
in the Estates-General.
The seneschalsy of Montpellier having obtained only one seat, it does not
leave for Versailles.
REVOLUTION
08/09/1789 :
Appointed to the head of the
Subsistence Office of Montpellier.
01/10/1789 :
Beaten by a short majority for the presidency, Cambaceres is elected
vice-president of the town coucil of Montpellierl.
13/09/1791 :
Elected President of the Criminal Court of Herault by
316 vote out of 416 voters. He takes his functions the 01/01/1792 and chairs
the first session the 15/02/1792.
02/09/1792 :
Elected deputy of Herault in the Convention.
07/11/1792 :
He disputes with the Convention the capacity to judge the king.
15/01/1793 : Cambaceres votes
YES at the question “Louis Capet, above king
of the French, is he guilty of conspiracy against freedom and conspiracy
against the State security?”.
17/01/1793 :
He votes for the Louis XVI's detention until the end of the
war.
20/01/1793 : 20/01/1793:
He vote NOT at the question “will be stay of execution of the
judgement of Louis Capet? Yes or not?”. He makes vote by the Convention a
decree making it possible to the king to see his family and a priest.
04/06/1793 :
He defends with Convention a law guaranteeing the rights of the natural
children, in particular the attribution of a half-share at the time of the
successions.
09/08/1793 : Cambaceres presents his first Civil
Law project at
the Convention (695 articles in 2 parts: goods and people).
25/07/1794 :
To Tallien, Legendre and Cambon which
say to him “to act clearly” (against Robespierre), it answers “to vote with you yes,
but to fight, not, because I do not know only how one arms a rifle”.
09/09/1794 :
Presentation of the second Civil
Law project to the Convention (287 articles in 3 parts: goods, people and obligations).
07/10/1794 -
22/10/1794 : Elected President of
the Convention.
12/10/1795 :
A royalist agent named Le
Maître is arrested. One finds at
his place an alleged correspondence implying Cambaceres in a royalist complot.
DIRECTORY
12/06/1796 : Presentation of the third Civil
Law project
to the Council of Five hundred
(1104 articles in 3 parts: goods, people and obligations).
04/09/1796 : He
founds a law firm.
Specialized in business law, he becomes the legal
adviser of the french
East India
Company, the Mines
of Anzin Company (contracts
obtained via his cousin Guillaume
Sabatier), the
duke of Orleans's family,
bankers and army contractors
as Ouvrard
and the Michel brothers.
22/10/1796 : Elected President of the Council of Five
hundreds.
27/05/1797 : Not re-elected at the
election of May 1797, he leaves the Parliament.
20/07/1799 : Appointed Minister of
Justice thanks to the support of
Sieyes.
08/11/1799 : Bonaparte have dinner at
Cambaceres's home and the guests
develop the coup of 18 Brumaire's details.
CONSULATE
10/11/1799 : Without news of Saint-Cloud, Cambaceres
constitute a triumvirate of help with Bernadotte and
Augereau in order to seize the power in the event of failure of Bonaparte.
11/11/1799 : Taken back in his functions of Minister of
Justice.
12/12/1799 : Cambaceres becomes Second Consul
for 10 years.
February 1800 : He moves in in the
Elbeuf hotel, at Saint-Nicaise
street.
06/05/1800 -
02/07/1800 : During
the second Italian campaign, he becomes the head of
government by interim.
02/01/1802 : The Tribunate
reject the fourth Civil
Law
project.
08/01/1802 -
27/01/1802 : During a
Bonaparte's travel at
Lyon, he becomes the head of
government by interim.
20/05/1802 -
23/05/1802 : Cambaceres does an
official travel in Seine-et-Marne and the departments bordering.
29/10/1802 -
14/11/1802 : During a
Bonaparte's travel in Normandy,
he becomes the head of government by interim.
05/03/1803 -
15/03/1804 : Vote and promulgation
of the 36 bills composing the Civil
Law.
25/06/1803 -
11/08/1803 : During a
Bonaparte's travel in Belgium, he
becomes the head of government by interim.
03/11/1803 -
18/11/1803 : During
the first Bonaparte's travel
at Boulogne, he becomes the head of government by
interim.
30/12/1803 -
06/01/1804 : During
the second Bonaparte's travel
at Boulogne, he becomes the head of government by
interim.
14/02/1804 : Cambaceres announces his opposition to the
arrest of the Moreau general.
March 1804 : Cambaceres is convened at
Malmaison with his colleague Lebrun.
Bonaparte exposes to them his will to transform the
Consulate into hereditairy
monarchy.
During the return, Cambaceres envisages “the Consulate is finished.
Imperial monarchy will start. A kind of instinct says to me that it will not
last a long time”.
10/03/1804 : Cambaceres is opposed to the arrest and the
execution of the duke of Enghien.
21/03/1804 : Vote Law which repeals the old
Law and joins together the 36 laws in a “french
Civil law”
(2281 articles in 4 parts: the application of the laws, goods, people and
the property).
15/05/1804 : Disapproving the principle of the hereditairy
Empire, Cambaceres resigns of
his functions of Second Consul.
The following day, he reconsiders his decision after
a discussion with Bonaparte.
October 1807 : He goes on an official journey to Montpellier,
where he resides by his cousin Guillaume
Sabatierduring more than one
month. Mid-december, it moves towards Bordeaux to chair a meeting of the
electoral college.
08/03/1808 :
Elected Great-Master and Guard of the Primitive Rite of Narbonne (Primitive
Scottish Rite).
02/04/1808 -
14/08/1808 : During the voyage which
Napoleon undertakes in Bayonne to arbitrate the Spanish dynastic quarrel,
Cambaceres becomes the head of government by interim.
09/08/1808 : Purchase of the Mole hotel (or Roquelaure
hotel), at Saint-Germain boulevard .
22/09/1808 -
18/10/1808 : During the interview of
Erfurt, he becomes the head of government by interim.
29/10/1808 -
23/01/1809 : During the invasion of Spain, he becomes the head of government by interim.
March 1809 : Elected Great-Master of the Beneficial Knights of the Holy City (Rectified
Scottish Rite)
13/04/1809 -
26/10/1809 : During the Austrian campaign, he becomes the head of government by interim.
29/07/1809 : Unloading of the English army (45000 men) on
Walcheren Island in Holland.
Flessingue (Vlissingen) is taken the 15/08/1809. Cambaceres charges
Bernadotte to defend Antwerp. Decimated by the fevers, the English re-embark
the 30/09/1809. The choice of Bernadotte then in disgrace is worth a severe
reprimand of the Emperor to him.
21/01/1810 : Like Fouche and Murat, Cambaceres is opposed to
the marriage of the Emperor with a princess Austrian and defends the Russian
option.
29/03/1810 -
02/04/1810 : Napoleon leaves Paris
for Compiegne in order to receive the future empress Marie-Louise there,
letting Cambaceres become the head of government by interim.
04/04/1810 -
01/06/1810 : During the
honeymoon of Napoleon and Marie-Louise in Belgium, he becomes the head of government by interim. The imperial couple resides at
Saint-Cloud until November 1810.
14/12/1810 : By Cambaceres's initiative, the order of
lawyers is restored by imperial decree
22/05/1811 -
05/06/1811 : During a
Napoleon's travel in Normandy,
he becomes the head of government by interim.
19/09/1811 -
11/11/1811 : During a
Napoleon's travel in Holland,
he becomes the head of government by interim.
09/05/1812 -
19/12/1812 : During the Russian
campaign, he becomes the head of government by interim.
23/10/1812 : Missed putch of the general Malet . He will be
judged with his accomplices the 28/10/1812 by a council of war and will be
shot the 29/10/1812.
15/04/1813 -
09/11/1813 : During the German
campaign, Cambaceres assists the Empress with the Council of Regency, which
it chairs in fact.
25/01/1814 -
06/04/1814 : During the French
campaign, Cambaceres assists the Empress with the Council of Regency, which
is chaired by Joseph named Lieutenant-general of the Empire.
29/03/1814 : He leaves Paris for Blois with the Imperial
Government.
10/04/1814 : Cambaceres is joined the
forfeiture act voted by the Senate
and the Legislative Assembly.
RESTORATION
14/04/1814 : Back to Paris,
he sits last once in the
Senate. At this meeting, the Senate give the
Lieutenancy-general of France to the count
of Artois.
20/03/1815 -
22/06/1815 : During the Hundred Days,
Cambaceres is again named Archchancellor
of the Empire
and Ministre of Justice.
February 1816 :
Sale of the Mole hotel and
purchase of the Bragelonne hotel, at University
street. Struck by the law of exile, Cambaceres leaves Paris with
Lavollee
and two servants.
16/02/1816 : Arrival in
Brussels. He
places in the Imperial Crown hotel,
at Great square then in
Wellington hotel, at Ducal
street.
April 1816 : Cambaceres have thermal
water treatments in Spa and
Aachen, his
travel
finishes
in Amsterdam,
where he resides until July 1816.
10/09/1816 : Purchase of the Schönfeld
hotel, at Parishioners
street in
Brussels.
14/05/1818 : Following the intervention of Decazes
and the baron Louis, Minister for
Finance, Louis XVIII decides that the law on proscribed does not apply any
more to Cambaceres.
28/05/1818 :
His title of duke and the
Legion of honor is
returned to him by royal decree.
19/08/1818 :
The sequestration of the Cambaceres's goods
is raised, its revenues are restored to him with the arrears by the
royal Treasury.
December 1818 :
End of the exile and back to Paris.
February 1819
to June 1821 : Cambaceres
travel three times to Aachen, Amsterdam and Brussels
officially for
having thermal water
treatments and seeing his proscribed
friends. Each time, Cambaceres
carries an important amount of money in cash;
he sends probably
this money to Saint-Helen via a dutch bank. These
annual voyages intrigue the french police.
In the last
passport, the sentence “back
to France” is underlined several times
: does Louis XVIII fear an Cambaceres's
escape? After the Napoleon's death in 1821,
Cambaceres stop travelling.
08/03/1824 : Death of Jean-Jacques
Regis of Cambaceres in Paris caused
by an attack of apoplexy.
12/03/1824 : Funerals in Saint-Thomas
d'Aquin church, in the presence of Chaptal,
Decazes,
Gaudin, Lebrun,
MacDonald, Mollien, Mortar, Soult, Suchet, Talleyrand,… Plus of 150 cars
foolow himt to his last
residence at the Pere Lachaise cemetery. At the same
time, a ceremony joins together Ramel
and others proscribed in Brussels.
Its tomb is in the 39th Division (see
Some places).
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
February 1996 : Publication of “Cambaceres”, biography
by Pierre-François Pinaud, professor at the
Ecole pratique des
Hautes Etudes (Perrin editor).
November 1999 : Publication of the “Memories or Explanations
on the principal events of his political life
published by Cambaceres” by Laurence Chatel de
Brancion
(Perrin editor).
26/05/2000 -
27/05/2000 : Conference on
Cambaceres organized by the town of Montpellier under
Laurence Chatel de Brancion's scientific
direction.
September 2001 : Publication of “Cambaceres, Napoleon's
project superintendent” by Laurence Chatel de Brancion
(Perrin editor).