Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac

Jean-Baptiste Sylvère Gay, 1st Viscount of Martignac (20 June 1778  – 3 April 1832) was a moderate royalist French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration 1814–30 under King Charles X.

Jean-Baptiste de Martignac GCLH
6th Prime Minister of France
In office 4 January 1828 – 8 August 1829
Monarch	Charles X
Preceded by	Jean-Baptiste de Villèle
Succeeded by	Jules de Polignac
Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Lot-et-Garonne
In office 5 October 1816 – 3 April 1832
Preceded by	Pierre Charles Sylvestre
Succeeded by	Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Constituency	Marmande
Personal details
Born	(1778-06-20)20 June 1778 Bordeaux, Gascony, France
Died	3 April 1832(1832-04-03) (aged 53) Paris, Seine, France
Political party	Ultra-royalist (1815–1828) Doctrinaires (1828–1830) Legitimist (1830–1832)
Spouse(s)	Élisabeth de Phéllipeaux ​ ( m. 1812; died 1832)
Alma mater	University of Bordeaux
Profession	Lawyer, poet, vaudevillist

Biography

Martignac was born in Bordeaux, France. In 1798 he became secretary to Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès; after serving for a while in the army, he turned to literature, producing several light plays. Under the Empire he practised with success as an advocate at Bordeaux, where in 1818 he became advocate-general of the cour royale. In 1819 he was appointed procureur-général at Limoges, and in 1821 was returned for Marmande to the Chamber of Deputies, where he supported the ultraroyalist policies of Villèle. In 1822 he was appointed councillor of state, in 1823 he accompanied the duc d'Angouléme to Spain as civil commissary; in 1824 he was created a viscount and appointed director-general of registration.[1]

In contact with practical politics his ultra-royalist views were gradually modified in the direction of the Doctrinaires, and on the fall of Villèle he was selected by Charles X to carry out the new policy of compromise. On 4 January 1828 he was appointed minister of the interior, and, though not bearing the title of president, became the virtual head of the cabinet. He succeeded in passing the act abolishing the press censorship, and in persuading the king to sign the ordinances of 16 June 1828 on the Jesuits and the little seminaries.[1]

He was exposed to attack from both the extreme left and the extreme right, and when in April 1829 a coalition of these groups defeated him in the chamber, Charles X, who had never believed in the policy he represented, replaced him by the prince de Polignac. In March 1830 Martignac voted with the majority for the address protesting against the famous ordinances; but during the revolution that followed he remained true to his legitimist principles. His last public appearance was in defence of Polignac in the Chamber of Peers in December 1830.[1]

Works

• Bordeaux au mois de Mars 1815 (1830)
• Essai historique sur les révolutions d'Espagne et l'intervention française de 1823 (1832).[1]

References

1.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Martignac, Jean Baptiste Sylvere Gay". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 792. This cites E. Daudet, Le Ministère de M. de Martignac (Paris, 1875).

Political offices
Preceded by Comte de Villèle	Prime Minister of France 1828–1829	Succeeded by Prince de Polignac