De Pierre de Bernis
In his memoirs, Cardinal de Bernis indicates – My last name is “de Pierre”. This name is very old in the province of Languedoc.
De Pierre de Bernis appears in the archives of Languedoc from the year one thousand. In 1175, Bernard Lord of Anduze, bequeathed to the young Raymond de Pierre a large part of his lands and among these goods, the castle of Bernis. Bernis’ name was then definitively part of the family surname.
In 1250 Guillaume, fifth son of Raymond Ponce de Pierre de Bernis, inherited a house in Nîmes. It forms the foundations of the Hôtel de Bernis.
Over the centuries that followed, the family of Pierre de Bernis was divided into branches including that of Nîmes. The branch of Saint-Marcel in Ardèche from which the Cardinal (François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis) came from will die out. He then turned to the Nîmes branch to establish a direct relationship. He wants to marry his cousin Pons Simon de Pierre to his niece Sophie Du Puy Montbrun, on the basis of a Royal agreement.
King Louis XV gave his agreement and the wedding was celebrated on April 12, 1776.
Thus, the Bernis of Nîmes descend from this couple with the Cardinal’s property, which also includes the Bernis hotel. The house was then transmitted from generation to generation to Marie-Thérèse de Pierre de Bernis (1912-1978).
The only daughter of René and Marie-Charlotte de Chabrol, she was the last of the Nîmes branch to bear the name of Bernis. Orphaned at the age of seventeen, she lived between Paris and Nîmes, always accompanied by her aunt Paulette (1875-1961), the sister of her deceased father and whom she will never leave. As she showed an assertive character, her tutor Pierre de Chabrol, her mother’s brother, decided to emancipate her before the time.
It was during a horseback ride at the Mas de Fourques in Lunel, with the painter Jean Hugo, that she met Jean Godebski, whom she married in 1937.
The Cardinal Of Bernis
François Joachim de Pierre de Bernis was born on May 22, 1715 in the castle of Saint-Marcel en Vivarais. As in the aristocratic families of the time, the sons are destined for military or ecclesiastical careers. François Joachim excels brilliantly in his studies.
First at the Collège de Barnabites in Bourg-Saint-Andéol, then in Paris at Louis Le Grand in 1729 among the Jesuits.
In 1731, having shown a religious vocation, he entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice. He would become a cardinal, then a priest much later, in the 1760s.
He launched into the world and in the art of letters with great success. At the age of 29 he wrote and composed. He quickly entered the French Academy. This is how he was presented to Madame d’Étioles in the summer of 1745. She is the king’s mistress and future Madame de Pompadour.
A true friendship between them develops. She leads him to the King.
The king appointed him ambassador to Venice in October 1751. He stayed there for four years. While this position was not of primary importance, Bernis made a great reputation there, both on site and in Europe and in Paris.
He is noticed and appreciated by the quality of the relationships he forges and by the information he transmits. On his return from Venice, he is still the proven friend of Madame de Pompadour.
In August 1755, he was appointed by the king as ambassador of France to Spain, but while he was preparing to leave, he was charged by the king to lead a rapprochement with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thus marking a radical change in the foreign policy of France structured until then, around the alliance with Prussia.
This is the matter of the “overturning of alliances“, at first conducted in the greatest secrecy. He is the project manager.
After many difficulties and intrigues, the Treaty of Versailles was signed on May 1, 1756. “The king,” he said, has never been so satisfied.”
Bernis is then responsible for a great moment in the history of France.
It was at the request of the king that he was also Minister of Foreign Affairs on June 29, 1757. Later, Louis XV appointed him archbishop of Albi in 1764, then in 1769 as ambassador to Rome where he died in 1794.