LANNES, JEAN (1769-1809), duke of Montebello, marshal of France, was born at Lectoure (Gers) on April 11, 1769. He was apprenticed to a dyer' and had little education. He joined the army and rose to the rank of chef de brigade during the war with Spain (1793-4). In 1795, on the reform of the army by the Ther midorians, he was dismissed from his rank. He re-enlisted as a volunteer in the army of Italy, and in the campaign of 1796 he again fought his way up to the rank of general of brigade. He accompanied Napoleon to Egypt as commander of one of Kleber's brigades. Returning to France he assisted at the i8th Brumaire and was appointed general of division, and commandant of the consular guard. He commanded the advanced guard in the cross ing of the Alps in i800, winning the battle of Montebello, from which he afterwards took his title. In i8oi Napoleon sent him as ambassador to Portugal. On the establishment of the empire he was created a marshal of France, and commanded the left of the grand army in the campaign of Austerlitz. He fought with distinc tion through the campaign of 5806-7 and in 1808 Napoleon made him commander-in-chief of a detached wing of the army in Spain.
On Feb. 21, 1809, he captured Saragossa, after one of the most stubborn defences in history. Napoleon then created him duc de Montebello, and in 1809, for the last time, gave him command of the advanced guard. He took part in the engagements around Eckmiihl and the advance on Vienna. With his corps he led the French army across the Danube, and bore the brunt, with Mas sena, of the terrible battle of Aspern-Essling (q.v.). During the retreat on May 22 Lannes was wounded and died at Vienna on May 31.
Lannes ranks with Davout and Massena as the ablest of all Napoleon's marshals, and consciously or unconsciously was the best exponent of the emperor's method of making war. Hence his constant employment in tasks requiring the utmost resolution and daring, and more especially when the emperor's combinations de pended upon the vigour and self-sacrifice of a detachment or frac tion of the army.
See R. Perin, Vie militaire de Jean Lannes (1809).