Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle

Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle (; 10 May 1760 – 26 June 1836) was a French army officer of the French Revolutionary Wars. Lisle is known for writing and it became the French national anthem. Early life Rouget de Lisle was born at Lons-le-Saunier, reputedly on a market day. His parents lived in the neighbouring village of Montaigu. A plaque was placed at the precise spot of his birth and a statue erected in the town’s center in 1882. He was the eldest son of Claude Ignace Rouget (5 April 1735 – 6 August 1792) at Orgelet and Jeanne Madeleine Gaillande (2 July 1734 – 20 March 1811). In 1784, he was initiated into “Les Frères discrets”, a masonic lodge in Charleville, just after being promoted officer. Career He enlisted into the army as an engineer and attained the rank of captain. A royalist like his father, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new constitution. Rouget de Lisle was cashiered and thrown into prison in 1793, narrowly escaping the guillotine. He was freed during the Thermidorian Reaction and retired to Montaigu. was composed 11 years before by the Italian composer Giovan Battista Viotti at the court of Marie Antoinette. France had just declared war on Austria