1. Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was a French Navy sailor and an adventurer who played an important role in Vietnam in the 19th century.
17 Facts About Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau
1. 2.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau served the Nguyen dynasty from 1794 to 1819, and 1821 to 1826, and took the Vietnamese name of Nguyen Van Thang.
3.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was among the soldiers who were gathered by Father Pierre Pigneau de Behaine to support the efforts of Nguyen Phuc Anh to conquer Vietnam.
4.
Once Nguyen Anh became emperor Gia Long, Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau remained at the court.
5.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau received the title 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.
6.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau married into a Vietnamese Catholic mandarin family, as did Vannier or Laurent Barizy.
7.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau married Ho Thi Hue, of the Ho Catholic family.
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Gia Long 8.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau became a Counsellor to Emperor Gia Long under the Vietnamese name of Nguyen Van Thang.
9.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau then traveled to France on the Henri in 1819, and returned to Vietnam in 1821, as the French consul in Hue, with mission to obtain more trade privileges for France.
10.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau offered to Emperor Minh Mang a peace treaty with France, but this was rejected.
11.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour on 26 August 1818 and of the Order of Saint-Louis on 14 July 1820.
12.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau is buried in Lorient in the Carnel cemetery.
13.
In 1826, his nephew Eugene Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was sent to Vietnam to replace him as Consul, but Eugene was denied any audience with the Emperor.
14.
Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau had a son, Nguyen Van Duc, known as Michel Duc Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau, who wrote a memoir on his early life in Hue and played a role in the embassy of Phan Thanh Gian to France in 1863.
15.
Two depictions of Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau are known: one in which he wears rather Westernized clothing, which is actually a paintover of an original painting in which he wears distinctly Vietnamese clothing, which was discovered underneath after restoration.
16.
The original painting, probably painted around 1805 when Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau was about 35, is strongly reminiscent of the uniforms worn by the armies of the soldiers of Emperor Gia Long.
17.
Beneath his blue jacket, Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau wears a full Vietnamese dress of red color, with small flowers which suggests a member of the Imperial family.