- Rene-Marie Madec
Rene-Marie Madec (
February 7 1736 - 1784), called Medoc in Anglo-Indian writings, was a French adventurer inIndia .Madec was born at Quimper in
Brittany of poor parents.Aged twelve, he embarked as ship's boy on a boat from
Lorient heading for the island ofHispaniola (present dayDominican Republic ). From there, he embarked forPondichéry , French trading post inIndia . Madec lived there for about twenty five years, sometimes french corsair, sometimes british corsair. He became soldier underJoseph François Dupleix and sergeant underLally-Tollendal . Being taken prisoner by the British, he enlisted in theBengal army. Deserting with some of his companions shortly before thebattle of Buxar (1764), he became military instructor to various native princes, organizing successively the forces ofShuja-ud-Dowlah ,Nawab of Oudh , and of the Jats andRohilla s.In 1772 he took service under under the Great
Moghul Shah Alam II , who gave him the title ofNawab , reserved to the highest dignitaries of the sultan's court. When that prince was defeated atDelhi by theMahrattas , Madec rejoined his own countrymen inPondicherry , where he took an active part in the defence of the town (1778). He became King of theDeccan , defender of the Indies for the King of France and he accumulated great wealth.After the capitulation of Pondicherry, in 1779, he returned to France with a considerable fortune. The King appointed him Colonel and named him Chevalier de Saint Louis. He then settled in Quimper, at the number 5 of the street which nowadays bears his name, not far from his birth-house. He lived a fabulous life until a bad fall off a horse in 1784. He died soon thereafter. He is buried in the graveyard at
Penhars .At one time he formed a scheme or a French alliance with the
Moghul emperor against the British, but the project came to nothing.References
*1911
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