In 1814, Oudinot was named commander of the
VIII Corps, seeing action at Brienne (29 January), where
he was wounded again, and at La Rothiere (1 Febru-
ary). The fall of Napoleon, and the return of King Louis
XVII, did not adversely affect his career as he was named
commander of the Corporations Royale de Grenadiers
et Chasseurs de France and governor of the 3rd Military
Division at Metz. Napoleon’s escape from the island of
Elba and resumption of power was a key point in French
history. Though Napoleon asked for his services again,
Oudinot, who had taken an oath to support the new
king, refused, the only one of Napoleon’s former com-
manders to do so. He eventually retired to his home in
Bor-le-Duc, near Paris.
Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo (18 June 1815) left
Oudinot vindicated on his stand. The royal family of the
Bourbons considered him an ally and appointed him to
important positions. He served as a peer of France and
as inspector general of the National Guard of Paris. In
1823, he led an invasion of Spain, and he served for a
time as governor of Madrid. Oudinot remained close to
the royal family, and after the removal of Charles X in
1830, he retired rather than cooperate with the new gov-
ernment, although he later served as the governor of Les
Invalides from 1842 until his death on 13 September
1847 at the age of 80.
Charles Oudinot is perhaps one of the least remem-
bered of Napoleon’s marshals. Despite his lengthy career,
he did not win the dramatic victories that other marshals
accomplished. Nonetheless, he was an efficient and ef-
fective commander without whom Napoleon would not
have achieved as many military successes as he did.
References: Oudinot, Marie Charlotte Eugénie Julienne,
duchess de Reggio, Memoirs of Marshal Oudinot, Duc de
Reggio, translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (New
York: D. Appleton and Company, 1897); De Ségur,
Count Philippe-Paul, Napoleon’s Russian Campaign (Alex-
andria, Va.: Time/Life Books, 1980).
Oxford, John de Vere, 13th earl of (1442–1513)
English soldier
John de Vere, the second son born of John, the 12th earl
of Oxford, was born on 8 September 1442. His older
brother, Aubrey, should have become the 13th earl of
Oxford. However, Aubrey and his father both fought for
the Lancastrians when the Wars of the Roses broke out
in 1455, and both were captured and beheaded in 1462
at the order of King Edward IV. The title of earl of Ox-
ford then passed to John because he had been involved
with a peaceful reconciliation of the two families. He
was also allowed to resume the hereditary de Vere office
of lord great chamberlain, even serving in that capacity
at the coronation of Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s
queen. Oxford strengthened his connection to the royal
family when he married Margaret, a sister of Richard
Neville, earl of WarWick. Nonetheless, it was alleged
he was plotting for the removal of Edward, and in 1468
he was arrested. Although he was sent to the Tower of
London, historians believe that his brother-in-law, the
earl of Warwick, interceded on his behalf since he was
released in 1469. Some historians now believe that War-
wick himself was forming a plot against Edward and had
made Oxford a part of it.
Free from the Tower, Oxford fled to France and
joined Margaret of Anjou, the “queen mother” of the
Lancastrian side and the wife of King Henry VI, still
imprisoned in the Tower. Once Warwick had also fled to
France, the two men formed an alliance against Edward,
and they landed in England with their army in Septem-
ber 1470. One of Oxford’s first tasks was the capture and
execution of John Tiptoft, the earl of Worcester, who
had put Oxford’s father and brother to death. Worcester
was, in turn, put to death by Oxford himself, who took
over his office of constable of England when Henry VI
was restored to the throne. Andrew Kippis, a famed En-
glish historian whose multivolume collection Biographia
Britannica covers the lives of famed men and women of
England prior to the start of the 18th century, writes:
“The Earl of Oxford bore the sword in the procession
from the Tower (where the King was imprisoned) to St.
Paul’s Cathedral. Upon the recovery of the Crown, King
Henry VI called a parliament, wherein Edward being
declared a Traitor and Usurper, the Earl of Oxford, at-
tainted by him, was restored in blood, dignities, and an-
cient positions. On the 23d of December following he
was commissioned, with Richard Earl of Warwick, and
others, to levy all persons capable of bearing arms, and
to muster and review them as often as occasion should
require; and to lead and command them in opposing
Henry’s enemies.. .”
In 1471, Edward IV, who had fled England on
Henry’s restoration the year before, returned with his
own army at Ravenspur inn Yorkshire to fight the Lan-
castrians for the throne. Edward sent Oxford a messageoxFoRD, John De veRe, th eARl oF