Louis Robert Hippolytus de Brean de Pelo

The son of Jean Francois Rene Amalric de Brein (1668-1738), Count de Moron and de Pelot, Advisor to the Parliament of Brittany , and Catherine Francoise Lefebvre de La Faluier.

He was a friend of Voltaire ^[1] , in 1717 he entered the service of the second lieutenant of the Flemish gendarmes, in 1724 he became a colonel in the dragoon regiment Pelo ^[2] .

In Paris, he was a member of the secular literary and scientific association Antresol, whose members were Lord Bolingbroke , Marquis d'Argenson , Abbot Saint-Pierre and other famous people, and Cardinal Fleury was his patron. Society gathered weekly in the Tuileries Garden ^[3] .

As a capable mathematician, de Plelo developed a method for refining astronomical observations, and also studied mechanics. His poems were partially published in 1774 and 1784 in Geneva by Claude-Sixtus de Marcy in the collection Nouveau recueil des meilleurs contes en vers, faisant suite a celui imprimé en 1774 ^[4] .

In 1729 he was appointed ambassador to Copenhagen ^[2] . He continued his scientific and literary studies, in particular, sent the work Observations sur l'Aurore boreale du 8 octobre 1731 to the Academy of Sciences ^[4] .

Danzig Expedition

In 1734 he took part in the Danzig expedition of the brigadier Gabriel de Lamotte de Lapeyruz .

De Lamotte, who appreciated the hopeless situation of the besieged supporters of Leshchinsky and the forces of Minich , decided to interrupt the expedition and return to France. On the way back to Copenhagen, Count de Pelo gathered the officers of the expeditionary detachment for a meeting, inviting them to arrange another landing near Danzig ^[5] .

One of the officers directly told the ambassador that it was easy for him to make adventurous plans while remaining in his office. Wounded by this reproach, de Plelo decided to personally lead the operation ^[6] . According to Voltaire, the "young man" was very annoyed by the shameful retreat of the French. Before leaving, he sent a letter to one of the secretaries of state, announcing his decision, and adding: “I am sure that I will not return from there; I entrust you with my wife and children ” ^[7] .

On May 23, a detachment landed at the mouth of the Vistula and set up camp on the island of La Plata ( Westerplatte ), under the protection of the guns of the coastal fort Weihselmünde. On the 27th, the French forces of three infantry regiments (La Marsh, Perigord and Blaise, about 2.5 thousand) made an attempt to break through to the city through the position of the besiegers, who had significant numerical superiority. At the same time, the besieged undertook a sortie ^{[6] [8]} .

Having passed through the swamp and forest under the flanking shelling of the guns of the Sommershanz battery, the French approached the positions of the Russians, who met them with heavy gunfire. The grenadiers who soaked gunpowder and ammunition launched a hopeless bayonet attack, but were surrounded on three sides and, having lost more than 200 people, fled back to Weichselmünde ^[9] .

The Count de Pelo died in this battle. There are several versions of his death. According to the most romantic story, he fell in the thick of the battle, receiving 15 bayonet attacks ^[6] ; according to another version of it, bleeding, the Russians found under some tree and transferred to their camp, where the count died of blood loss ^[10] .

Contemporaries paid tribute to the bravery of de Pelo, while condemning his adventurous actions, as the count arbitrarily left his post, and the landing led to heavy losses, defeat and captivity of the French detachment, which capitulated in early June, after several days of the Weichselmünde bombardment ^[6] .

In honor of the Count, a street in the 15th arrondissement of Paris was named rue de Pelo ; in his homeland in Rennes, one of the streets also bears his name.

Wife (05.21.1722): (1707-1737), daughter of (1672-1725), Marquise de la Vriyere and de Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, and Francoise de Mayi Nel (1688-1742).

Children:

• (1726-1796). Husband (1740): Emmanuel Arman de Vigniero du Plessis , Duke of Aigillon (1720-1788)
• 5 children, mind. minors

• Biographie bretonne; recueil de notices sur tous les Bretons qui se sont fait un nom soit par leurs vertus ou leurs crimes, soit dans les arts, dans les sciences, dans les lettres, dans la magistrature, dans la politique, dans la guerre, etc., depuis le commencement de l'ère chrétienne jusqu'à nos jours. T. II. - Vannes-Paris: Cauderan; Dumoulin, 1857.
• De Brehan. Bretagne. Marquis de Brehan; comtes de Mauron et de Plélo etc. . - P .: Chaix, 1883.
• Frostin ch. Le comte de Plélo (1699-1734), gentilhomme breton du siècle des Lumières // Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l'Ouest. Vol. 106, No. 2, pp. 33-49. - 1999.
• Rathery E.-J.-B. Le Comte de Plélo, un gentilhomme français au XVIIIe siècle, guerrier, littérateur et diplomate, d'après des papiers de famille et les archives du ministère de la guerre et des affaires étrangères . - P .: Plon, 1876.
• Raxi de Flassan G. de . Histoire générale et raisonnée de la diplomatie française; ou de la politique de la France, depuis la fondation de la monarchie, jusqu'à la fin du règne de Louis XVI. TV - P .: Treuttel, 1811.

• Louis Robert Hippolyte de Bréhan Plélo (comte de, 1699-1734) - data.bnf.fr