Agreement between the officers attached to the Company of the Guards of the Marine de Brest. Report on the banquet, 1779.

Agreement between the officers attached to the Company of the Guards of the Marine de Brest. Report on the banquet, 1779.

Convention Entre Messieurs Les officiers attachés a la Compagnie Des Gardes de La Marine de Brest. Detail Du Répas Militaire.

Brest 1779

French

2 items (3, 3 pages); 1.6 cm x 20 cm, 1.5 cm x 20.1 cm (bifolium)

MSS L2024S4

Two manuscript documents concerning a banquet in Brest for officers of the French, Spanish and Neopolitan navies on October 17, 1779. The banquet was organized shortly before Monteil’s departure for America, where he was to distinguish himself to such a degree that he ended his career as the second highest ranked officer in the French Navy. One document is in the hand of François-Aymar, chevalier de Monteil, and signed by him at the end, this is the preparatory draft of a contract for the above mentioned banquet. The document is an agreement between Monteil and the caterers and contains the number of tables; the content and quantities of food to be had at each table; and the cost and method of payment for the banquet. The second document is a report on the banquet and the ball written by an anonymous author in the employ of Monteil. There are descriptions of military protocol, organization of the tables, and the order in which the gathering of three hundred military personnel of varying ranks conducted themselves into the banquet and thence to the ball. From the personal archives of François-Aymar, chevalier de Monteil (1725-1787), one of the most brilliant French naval officers of the American War of Independence and a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

L2024 S004

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