Rioult d’Avenay (Archange baron)
Archange Louis Rioult d’Avenay
Born on 22 November 1768 in Avenay (Calvados), died on 1 June 1809 in Trévise (Italy).
Archange Rioult d’Avenay enters service as second lieutenant in the Royal-Normandy Regiment (19th Cavalry) in February 1785. He becomes Captain in the 19th Cavalry Regiment on 19 November 1792 and makes the campaigns of 1792 and 1793 in the Army of the Moselle. Appointed Major on 16 September 1793, he is promoted Brigade-Chief of his regiment, renamed 18th Cavalry Regiment, on 10 June 1796. Suspect uring the Great Terror, he is suspended from duty.
Reinstated, he is appointed colonel of the 6th Cuirassiers Regiment on 24 February 1805. He distinguishes himself during the campaign in Poland and is appointed Brigadier on 25 June 1807 and awarded Officer’s cross of the Legion of Honour on 4 October 1808. He serves in Spain during the campaign of 1808 and submits the provinces of Salamanca and Zamora and becomes Governor-General of these provinces. He is elevated to the rank of Baron of the Empire on 15 January 1809. Posted in Italy for the campaign of 1809, he is mortally wounded at the passage of the Piave by a cannonball that takes off one of his leg and he dies shortly after.