Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau

Infobox Military Person
name= Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau
lived= 1769-1832
placeofbirth= Lorient, France
placeofdeath= Lorient, France


caption=Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau.
nickname=
allegiance=
branch=French Navy
Vietnamese Navy
serviceyears=
rank=Grand Mandarin
French consul
commands=
battles=Thi Nai, 1801
awards=
laterwork=
portrayedby=

Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau (1769, Lorient, Brittany-1832 Lorient) was a French Navy soldier and an adventurer who played an important role in Vietnam in the 19th century. He served the Nguyen Dynasty from 1794 to 1819, and 1821 to 1826, [Viet Nam By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.206 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8BfU1Z9UcC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U24_X0rpu988Jlu9uMhpWgj08f0PA] ] and took the Vietnamese name of "Nguyen Van Thang". [Viet Nam By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.206 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8BfU1Z9UcC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U24_X0rpu988Jlu9uMhpWgj08f0PA#PPA206,M1] ]

Role in Vietnam

Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was among the soldiers who were gathered by Father Pigneau de Béhaine to support the efforts of Nguyen Phuc Anh to conquer Vietnam. He came to Vietnam with Pigneau in 1794. ["The Mandarin Road to Old Hué" by Alastair Lamb , p.180 [http://books.google.com/books?id=PeyFAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau%22&dq=%22Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau%22&lr=&pgis=1] ] Chaigneau supported the offensives of Nguyen Anh, such as the 1801 naval offensive in Thi Nai. ["The Vietnamese response to French intervention, 1862-1874" by Mark W. McLeod Page 11 [http://books.google.com/books?id=hWjx-6WM6PMC&pg=PA140&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U22CCcnyR2x0H0paAGBB2XVEpnBFg] ]

Once Nguyen Anh became emperor Gia Long, Chaigneau remained at the court to become a mandarin. ["A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan" by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van, p.16 [http://books.google.com/books?id=XTW6ZlhLUQYC&pg=PA16&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U3GOQTM7ZGYUsa3wW6wa0kXnDTVRg#PPA16,M1] ] Chaigneau received the tiltle of "truong co", together with Philippe Vannier, de Forsans and Despiau, meaning second-class second-degree military mandarins, and later received the title of Grand Mandarin once Gia Long became emperor, with personal escorts of 50 soldiers. ["The Vietnamese response to French intervention, 1862-1874" by Mark W. McLeod Page 20 [http://books.google.com/books?id=hWjx-6WM6PMC&pg=PA140&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U22CCcnyR2x0H0paAGBB2XVEpnBFg] ] He also married into a Vietnamese Catholic mandarin familly, as did Vannier or Laurent Barizy. ["Viet Nam" by Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid p.207 [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ex_Hy0sv4T0C&pg=PA207&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U1GBCLvLrKrNaZWEnK0z7cjKms-RQ] ] He married to Ho Thi Hue, of the Ho Catholic familly. [Viet Nam By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.209 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8BfU1Z9UcC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U24_X0rpu988Jlu9uMhpWgj08f0PA#PPA209,M1] ]

Chaigneau became a Counsellor to Emperor Già Long under the Vietnamese name of Nguyen Van Thang. ["Sovereignty Over the Paracel and Spratly Islands" by Monique Chemillier-Gendreau Page 69 [http://books.google.com/books?id=58q1SMZbVG0C&pg=PA68&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U2YjoQwJlM5DYF3edIblT02hmjLWw#PPA69,M1] ] From 1816, he was in relation with the French Foreign Minister Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu.

Chaigneau then traveled to France on the "Henri" in 1819, ["The Vietnamese response to French intervention, 1862-1874" by Mark W. McLeod Page 140 [http://books.google.com/books?id=hWjx-6WM6PMC&pg=PA140&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U22CCcnyR2x0H0paAGBB2XVEpnBFg] ] and returned to Vietnam in 1821, as the French consul in Hue (he was the first French Consul in Cochinchina), with mission to obtain more trade privilieges for France. ["A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan" by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van [http://books.google.com/books?id=XTW6ZlhLUQYC&pg=PA16&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&lr=&sig=ACfU3U3GOQTM7ZGYUsa3wW6wa0kXnDTVRg#PPA17,M1] ] He offered to emperor Minh Mang a peace treaty with France, but this was rejected. Discouraged, he left Vietnam in 1824. ["The Last Emperors of Vietnam" by Oscar Chapuis, p.4]

In 1826, his nephew Eugène Chaigneau was sent to Vietnam to replace him as Consul, but Eugène was denied any audience with Minh Mang. ["The Last Emperors of Vietnam" by Oscar Chapuis, p.4]

Chaigneau had a son, Nguyen Van Duc, also known as Michel Duc Chaigneau, who wrote a memoir on his early life in Hue ("Souvenirs de Hue") and played a role in the embassy of Phan Thanh Gian to France in 1863. ["Viet Nam" By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid p.207 [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ex_Hy0sv4T0C&pg=PA207&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U1GBCLvLrKrNaZWEnK0z7cjKms-RQ] ] In France, he became a commissioner for the Ministry of Finance. [Viet Nam By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.210 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8BfU1Z9UcC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U24_X0rpu988Jlu9uMhpWgj08f0PA#PPA210,M1] ] Another of his sons, Jean Chaigneau, also a half-Vietnamese, later became secretary general of the city of Rennes. [Viet Nam By Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.209 [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8BfU1Z9UcC&pg=PA206&dq=%22Nguyen+Van+Thang%22+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U24_X0rpu988Jlu9uMhpWgj08f0PA#PPA209,M1] ]

Works

*"Mémoire sur la Cochinchine" ("Memoir on Cochin China"), 1820

ee also

*France-Vietnam relations

Notes

References

*Chapuis, Oscar, "The Last Emperors of Vietnam" [http://books.google.com/books?id=9RorGHF0fGIC&pg=PA4&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Chaigneau&sig=ACfU3U0DB5y6exGyUoY2foqpOWxsHHy47A#PPA3,M1]