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EON DE BEAUMONT, CHARLES GENEVIEVE LO...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 665 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EON DE See also:

BEAUMONT, See also:CHARLES See also:GENEVIEVE See also:LOUISE AUGUSTE See also:ANDRE TIMOTHEE D' (1728-181o), commonly known as the See also:CHEVALIER D'EON, See also:French See also:political adventurer, famous for the supposed See also:mystery of his See also:sex, was See also:born near See also:Tonnerre in See also:Burgundy, on the 7th of See also:October 1728. He was the son of an See also:advocate of See also:good position, and after a distinguished course of study at the See also:College See also:Mazarin he became a See also:doctor of See also:law by See also:special See also:dispensation before the usual See also:age, and adopted his See also:father's profession. He began See also:literary See also:work as a contributor to See also:Freron's Annee litteraire, and attracted See also:notice as a political writer by two See also:works on See also:financial and administrative questions, which he published in his twenty-fifth See also:year. His reputation increased so rapidly that in 1755 he was, on the recommendation of See also:Louis See also:Francois, See also:prince of See also:Conti, entrusted by Louis XV. (who had originally started his " See also:secret " See also:foreign policy—i.e. by undisclosed agents behind the backs of his ministers—in favour of the prince of Conti's ambition to be See also:king of See also:Poland) with a secret See also:mission to the See also:court of See also:Russia. It was on this occasion that he is said for the first See also:time to have assumed the See also:dress of a woman, with the connivance, it is sup-posed, of the French court.' In this disguise he obtained the See also:appointment of reader to the empress See also:Elizabeth, and won her over entirely to the views of his royal See also:master, with whom he maintained a secret See also:correspondence during the whole of his See also:diplomatic career. After a year's See also:absence he returned to See also:Paris to be immediately charged with a second mission to St See also:Petersburg, in which he figured in his true sex, and as See also:brother of the reader who had been at the See also:Russian court the year before. He played an important See also:part in the negotiations between the courts of Russia, See also:Austria and See also:France during the Seven Years' See also:War. For these diplomatic services he was rewarded with the decoration of the See also:grand See also:cross of St Louis. In 1759 he served with the French See also:army on the See also:Rhine as aide-de-See also:camp to the See also:marshal de See also:Broglie, and was wounded during the See also:campaign. He had held for some years previously a See also:commission in a See also:regiment of dragoons, and was distinguished for his skill in military exercises, particularly in See also:fencing. In 1762, on the return of the duc de See also:Nivernais, d'Eon, who had been secretary to his See also:embassy, was appointed his successor, first as See also:resident See also:agent and then as See also:minister plenipotentiary at the court of See also:Great See also:Britain.

He had not been See also:

long in this position when he lost the favour of his See also:sovereign, chiefly, according to his own See also:account, through the adverse See also:influence of Madame de See also:Pompadour, who was jealous of him as a secret correspondent of the king. Superseded by See also:count de Guerchy, d'Eon showed his irritation by denying the genuineness of the See also:letter of appointment, and by raising an See also:action against Guerchy for an See also:attempt to See also:poison him. Guerchy, on the other See also:hand, had previously commenced an action against d'Eon for See also:libel,' founded on the publication by the latter of certain See also:state documents of which he had See also:possession in his See also:official capacity. Both parties succeeded in so far as a true See also:bill was found against Guerchy for the attempt to See also:murder, though by See also:pleading his See also:privilege as See also:ambassador he escaped. a trial, and d'Eon was found guilty of the libel. Failing to come up for See also:judgment when called on, he was outlawed. For some years afterwards he lived in obscurity, appearing in public chiefly at fencing matches. During this See also:period rumours as to the sex of d'Eon, originating probably in the See also:story of his first See also:residence at St Petersburg as a See also:female, began to excite public See also:interest. In 1774 he published at See also:Amsterdam a See also:book called See also:Les Loisirs du Chevalier d'Eon, which stimulated See also:gossip. Bets were frequently laid on the subject, and an action raised before See also:Lord See also:Mansfield in 1977 for the recovery of one of these bets brought the question to a judicial decision, by which d'Eon was declared a female. A See also:month after the trial he returned to France, having received permission to do so as the result of negotiations in which See also:Beaumarchais was employed as agent. The conditions were that he was to deliver up certain state documents in his possession, and to See also:wear the dress of a female. The See also:reason for the latter of these stipulations has never been clearly explained, but he complied with it to the See also:close of his See also:life.

In 1784 he received permission to visit See also:

London for the purpose of bringing back his library and other See also:property. He did not, however, return to France, though after the Revolution he sent a letter, using the name of Madame d'Eon, in which he offered to serve in the republican army. He continued to dress as a See also:lady, and took part in fencing matches with success, though at last in 1996 he was badly hurt in one. He died in London on the 22nd of May 181o. During the closing years of his life he is said to have enjoyed a small See also:pension from See also:George III. But see See also:Lang's See also:Historical Mysteries, pp. 241-242, where this traditional account is discussed and rejected.665 A See also:post-mortem examination of the See also:body conclusively established the fact that d'Eon was a See also:man. The best See also:modern accounts are in the duc de Broglie's Le Secret du roi (1888); See also:Captain J. See also:Buchan Telfer's See also:Strange Career of the Chevalier d'Eon (1888); See also:Octave Homberg and Fernand Jousselin, Le Chevalier d'Eon (1904) ; and A. Lang's Historical Mysteries (1904).

End of Article: EON DE BEAUMONT, CHARLES GENEVIEVE LOUISE AUGUSTE ANDRE TIMOTHEE

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