Jean Baptiste Alexandre Strolz

Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Baron de Strolz, sometimes written Stroltz, (6 August 1771 Belfort, France – 27 October 1841 Paris), was a French general during the Napoleonic wars and subsequently an important political figure. He was chief of staff to André Masséna during the Italian campaign; governor of the Basilicata province; aide-de-camp to Joseph Bonaparte King of Naples and King of Spain; Baron of the First French Empire; Member of Parliament and Pair de France. Strolz is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 22. Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Strolz was born at 5, Rue de l'Etuve in Belfort, a city in the Franche-Comté, a then German-speaking region of the Kingdom of France. He was the second son of Maria Clara, née Schmitt and Peter Leo(pold) (also known as Pierre Léon) architect and the Royal Inspector of Bridges and Streets in the Franche-Comté. His older brother was Petrus Franciscus Emilius/Pierre Francois Emile. Jean-Baptiste was baptised on the same day as his older brother, Pierre Francois Emile. Strolz's family was from the minor Austrian nobility. Jean-Baptiste's paternal grandfather had left his native Austria as a young man to avoid the ecclesiastical career his parents had assigned him. Strolz received his early education from a parish priest, following which he was sent to boarding school at Masevaux Abbey and to the Gymnase de Strasbourg. His family had a close friendship with that of Jean Baptiste Kléber and after the early death of Kléber's father, with his stepfather Jean-Martin Burger: an entrepreneur and master carpenter-builder who often worked with Pierre Léon. On 12 January 1791, Pierre Leon and Kléber were both called as expert witnesses for a remodelling project in the secularized Masevaux Abbey. Strolz's parents had Jean-Baptiste trained for a career as a lawyer, but he gave up his studies when called home by his parents during the French Revolution. He found temporary employment as sous-archiviste in the civil service in the district of Belfort.