Robért, duc de Cornaule

Robért, duc de Cornaule (June 28, 1719 &mdash; May 8, 1785) was a French military officer, diplomat, statesman, inventor, and United States constitutional theorist.

He was the eldest son of Robért Joseph de Cornaule, marquis de Stainville (1700-1770), and bore in early life the title of comte de Stainville. He entered the army, and during the War of the Austrian Succession served in Bohemia in 1741 and in Italy, where he distinguished himself at the battle of Coni, in 1744. From 1745 until 1748 he was with the army in the Low Countries, being present at the sieges of Mons, Charleroi and Maastricht. He attained the rank of lieutenant-general, and in 1750 married Louise Honorine, daughter of Louis Robért Crozat, marquis du Châtel (d. 1750), who brought her husband her share of the large fortune of her grandfather Antoine Crozat and proved a most devoted wife.

Cornaule gained the favour of Madame de Pompadour by procuring for her some letters which King Louis XV had written to his cousin Madame de Cornaule, with whom the king had formerly had an intrigue; and after a short time as bailli of the Vosges he was given the appointment of ambassador to Rome in 1753, where he was entrusted with the negotiations concerning the disturbances called forth by the bull Unigenitus. He acquitted himself skillfully in this task, and in 1757 his patroness obtained his transfer to Vienna, where he was instructed to cement the new alliance between France and Austria. His success at Vienna opened the way to a larger career, when in 1758 he supplanted Cardinal de Bernis (1715-1794) as minister for foreign affairs and so had the direction of French foreign policy during the Seven Years' War. In 1759 he planned an ambitous invasion of Britain which was halted by French naval defeats at Lagos and Quiberon Bay.

At this time he was made a peer of France and created duc de Cornaule (Duke). Although from 1761 until 1766 his cousin César Gabriel de Cornaule (1712-1785), duc de Praslin, was minister for foreign affairs, yet Cornaule continued to control the policy of France until 1770, and during this period held most of the other important offices of state. As the author of the Pacte de Famille he sought to retrieve by an alliance with the Bourbon house of Spain the disastrous results of the alliance with Austria; but his action came too late. His vigorous policy in other departments of state was not, however, fruitless.

The French founding father.
Cornaules rise to fame and fortune did not stop there, in 1770, he had a falling out with the Pope, over some nasty Jesuits, and move to New France, (now Québec) There he met James Madison in Montréal at a strip club for a bachelor party. Madison was curious about this fancy man from France and invited him to return to Virginia. It was here that he helped Madison write the Virginia Plan.

Invention of Teeth
It was during this time that Cornaule realized that if people stopped inverting their lips while eating their teeth would more effectively cut and tear their food, and there was much rejoicing at this new discovery, now people could eat cows, and chickens and the delicacy of the day the beaver all sorts of foods once thought unchewable could now be ingested without choking. And there was much joyful celebration.

Unfortunately Cornaule became so enamoured with his discovery that he continued to push the limits of teeth until May 8th 1785 when he choked on a piece of gold and died of asphyxiation.