Michel-Louis-Étienne, Count Regnault de Saint Jean d’Angély

Michel-Louis-Étienne, Count Regnault de Saint Jean d’Angély (born Nov. 3, 1761, Saint-Fargeau, Puisaye, Fr.—died March 11, 1819, Paris) was an administrator under the French Directory and Napoleon I’s Empire. He persuaded Napoleon, at the end of the Hundred Days (1815), to abdicate for the second time.

Elected to the States General in 1789, Regnault was an inconspicuous member of the National Constituent Assembly formed later that year. As an anti-Jacobin he was arrested (1793) during the Terror but escaped. He later (1796–99) held French administrative posts in Italy and on Malta. Having aided Bonaparte in the coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), he was minister of the interior under the empire and helped to prepare the commercial code of law of 1807. During the Hundred Days he was vice president of the Conseil d’État and encouraged Napoleon to adopt liberal policies. After the Second Restoration he spent most of his remaining years in exile.