Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais

Beaumarchais was born Pierre-Augustin Caron in the Rue Saint-Denis, Paris, on 24 January 1732, to André-Charles Caron, a watchmaker from Meaux. The family had previously been Huguenot, but had converted to Roman Catholicism in the wake of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the increased persecution of Protestants that followed. The family was comfortably middle-class and Beaumarchais had a peaceful and happy childhood. As the only son, he was spoiled by his parents and five sisters. He took an interest in music and played several instruments. In spite of his faith, Beaumarchais retained a sympathy for Protestants and would campaign throughout his life for their civil rights.

One of his sisters, Marie-Josèphe Caron, became an artist; their cousin was the artist Suzanne Caron.

From the age of ten, Beaumarchais had some education at a "country school", where he learned some Latin. At twelve, he left school to apprentice under his father in the craft of watchmaking. He may have used his own experiences during these years as the inspiration for the character of Cherubin when he wrote the Marriage of Figaro. He generally neglected his work, and at one point was evicted by his father, only to be later allowed back after apologising for his poor behaviour.

At the time, pocket watches were commonly unreliable for timekeeping and were worn more as fashion accessories. Beaumarchais spent nearly a year researching improvements. In July 1753, at the age of twenty-one, he invented a watch escapement that made them substantially more accurate and compact.

The first man to take an interest in this new invention was Jean-André Lepaute, the royal clockmaker in France, whose work could be found in the Palais du Luxembourg, Tuileries Palace, the Palais-Royal, and the Jardin des plantes. Lepaute had become a mentor to Beaumarchais after discovering the boy's talent in a chance encounter in the Caron family shop. He encouraged him as he worked on the new invention, earned his trust, and promptly stole the idea for himself, writing a letter to the French Academy of Sciences describing the "Lepaute system". Beaumarchais was outraged when he read in the September issue of Le Mercure de France that M. Lepaute had just invented a wonderful mechanism for manufacturing a more portable clock, and wrote a strongly-worded letter to that same newspaper defending the invention as his own and urging the French Academy of Sciences to see the proof for themselves. "In the interests of truth and my reputation," he says, "I cannot let such an infidelity go by in silence and must claim as mine the invention of this device." Lepaute defended himself with a statement by three Jesuits maintaining he had shown them such a mechanism in May 1753.

The following February, the Academy indeed ruled in favor of Beaumarchais, catapulting him to stardom and relegating Lepaute to infamy, as l'affaire Lepaute became the talk of Paris. Soon afterwards, Beaumarchais was asked by King Louis XV to create a watch mounted on a ring for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Louis was so impressed by the result that he named Beaumarchais "Purveyor to the King", and the Caron family business prospered.

Marriage and new name

In 1755 Beaumarchais met Madeleine-Catherine Aubertin, a widow, and married her the following year. She helped him secure a royal office, and he gave up watchmaking. Shortly after his marriage, he adopted the name "Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais", which he derived from "le Bois Marchais", the name of a piece of land belonging to his wife. He believed the name sounded grander and more aristocratic, and adopted at the same time an elaborate coat of arms. Catherine died less than a year later, which plunged him into financial problems, and he ran up large debts.

Beaumarchais married three times. He wed Madeleine-Catherine Franquet (née Aubertin) on 22 November 1756; she died under mysterious circumstances 10 months later. He married Geneviève-Madeleine Lévêque (née Wattebled) in 1768. She died under mysterious circumstances two years later (though most scholars believed she actually suffered from tuberculosis). She bore a son, August, who died in 1772. Beaumarchais lived with his lover, Marie-Thérèse de Willer-Mawlaz, for 12 years before they married in 1786. She bore a daughter, Eugénie.

While having no shortage of lovers throughout his life, Beaumarchais was known to care deeply for both his family and close friends. He was accused by his enemies of poisoning his first two wives in order to claim inheritances they had previously married into, though no evidence was ever produced.

Court battles

The death of Duverney on 17 July 1770 triggered a decade of turmoil for Beaumarchais. A few months earlier, the two had signed a statement cancelling all debts that Beaumarchais owed Duverney (about 75,000 pounds), and granting Beaumarchais the modest sum of 15,000 pounds. Duverney's sole heir, Count de la Blache, took Beaumarchais to court, claiming the signed statement was a forgery. Although the 1772 verdict favoured Beaumarchais, it was overturned on appeal the following year by a judge, a magistrate named Goezman, whom Beaumarchais had tried in vain to bribe through Mme. Goezman.

At the same time, Beaumarchais was also involved in a dispute with the Duke de Chaulnes over the Duke's mistress, with the result that Beaumarchais was thrown in jail from February to May 1773. La Blache took advantage of Beaumarchais' court absence and persuaded Goezman to order Beaumarchais to repay all his debts to Duverney, plus interest and all legal expenses.

To garner public support, Beaumarchais published a four-part pamphlet entitled Mémoires contre Goezman. The action made Beaumarchais an instant celebrity, for the public at the time saw him as a champion for social justice and liberty. Goezman countered Beaumarchais's accusations by launching a lawsuit of his own.

On 26 February 1774, Goezman's verdict in the La Blache case was overturned, and he was removed from his post. However, both Beaumarchais and Mme. Goezman were sentenced to "blâme", meaning they were nominally deprived of their civil rights.

The case was so sensational that the judges left the courtroom through a back door to avoid the large, angry mob waiting in front of the court house.

Naturally, Beaumarchais followed few of the restrictions placed upon him.