Victor von Gibelin

Victor von Gibelin, chalk drawing by Henri-Pierre Danloux, portrayed in Paris in 1791.

Victor von Gibelin (24 January 1771 – 3 September 1853), also called Beau Gibelin, was a Swiss military officer in French service and a politician in his hometown of Solothurn in Switzerland. He was the last officer of the Swiss Guards under King Louis XVI. He became famous for his friendship with Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service from Solothurn, and for his eyewitness report of the events surrounding the Storming of the Palais des Tuileries on 10 August 1792. His report was published posthumously in German and in French in 1866.

" Let's go and see, there's the handsome Gibelin, standing guard!"

— Jakob Amiet (1817–1883), a contemporary saying about Victor von Gibelin at the court of Versailles

Early years

Victor von Gibelin was born in Solothurn. His father was Heinrich Daniel von Gibelin (1726–1783), a Swiss military officer in French service and a politician in Solothurn. His mother was Maria Anna Ludovica von Gibelin, née von Roll. From 1783 to 1786 he attended the Gymnasium in Solothurn.

In French service

12 July 1789: The Baron de Besenval's troops in the courtyard of the École militaire on the Champ de Mars, consisting of the Swiss regiments de Diesbach, de Châteauvieux and de Salis-Samade with Victor von Gibelin as well as the hussar regiments de Berchény and de Chamborant. After the Taking of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 by the revolutionaries, the baron's troops hastily withdrew on the night of 14 to 15 July.

In 1786, Victor von Gibelin became Sous-Lieutenant of the Swiss Régiment de Salis-Samade in France. In this capacity, in July 1789, he stood with his regiment on the Champ de Mars side by side with Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, an influential Swiss military officer in French service and close friend of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. In 1789, the Baron de Besenval was appointed Commandant en chef of the troops brought to Paris to suppress the riots which had been going on for some time. After 14 July 1789, Victor von Gibelin transferred to the Company de Besenval of the Swiss Guards in the same military rank, but in the function of an Officier-Major. On 10 August 1792, as Sous-Aide-Major, he commanded a battalion of the Swiss Guards during the Storming of the Palais des Tuileries, where he narrowly escaped death.

The Last Supper with the Baron de Besenval

On 2 June 1791, Victor von Gibelin was a guest at a memorable dinner at the Hôtel de Besenval, the Baron de Besenval's hôtel particulier in Paris. Pierre Victor de Besenval had invited 25 people, including his mistress Catherine-Louise, Marquise de La Suze, née de Santo-Domingo (1757–1826), wife of Louis-François de Chamillart, Marquis de La Suze, his son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur, his secretary, Jean-Baptiste-Denis Després and Victor von Gibelin's Swiss Guard comrade and compatriot from Solothurn, the Aide-Major Anton von Glutz-Ruchti (1756–1837).

Pierre Victor de Besenval only appeared to his guests briefly that evening. He wasn't feeling well, but was still in the mood to joke. When the guests were already sitting at the table in the dining room, the baron appeared, wrapped in a white cloth like the stone statue in Don Juan, and said in a sepulchral voice: "The commander's shadow visits you." Delighted with his successful joke, the baron greeted his guests before retreating – marked by weakness – to his bedroom, leaning on Victor von Gibelin. The guests, however, were shocked at the sight of the deathly pale and emaciated baron. Victor von Gibelin remained in the presence of Pierre Victor de Besenval, in whose arms the baron died an hour later. The autopsy found the cause of death to be a polyp in the heart.

"He looked like a real shadow. His sunken, otherwise beautiful face was deathly pale, and his eyes were fixed. An hour later he lay dead in my arms."

— Victor von Gibelin, on the appearance of Pierre Victor de Besenval in the dining room of the Hôtel de Besenval on 2 June 1791 and his death that night

"Le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été" (the most French Swiss ever), as Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve once called Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, was buried on 6 June 1791 in the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the church of his family's gravesite.

Victor von Gibelin owned a portrait of Pierre Victor de Besenval, which he treasured and on the back of which he hand-wrote: "Mort dans mes bras" (died in my arms). The baron's portrait was passed down within the family.

Later years

Victor von Gibelin was married twice. In 1797 his first marriage was to Elisabeth Vigier von Steinbrugg and in 1802 his second marriage was to Maria Cleophe von Sury d'Aspremont. He held several high positions in politics and the military in his hometown of Solothurn, where he died in 1853.

Further reading

In alphabetical order

• Jakob Amiet: Chevalier Victor von Gibelin, Originalbericht des Gardeoffiziers Victor von Gibelin, letzter Offizier der Schweizergarde unter König Ludwig XVI., deutsche Ausgabe, Haller'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Bern, 1866
• Wolfgang Friedrich von Mülinen: Das französische Schweizer-Garderegiment am 10. August 1792, Verlag Gebrüder Räber, Luzern, 1892