Editing Jean Bart

{{Short description|French admiral and privateer (1650–1702)}}
{{About|the historical sailor|others|Jean Bart (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox  military person
|name=Jean Bart
|birth_name=Jan Baert
|birth_date=21 October 1650
|death_date= {{death date and age|1702|4|27|1650|10|21|df=yes}}
|image= Jean Bart mg 9487.jpg
|caption=Portrait by [[Mathieu Elias]]
|birth_place = [[Dunkirk]]
|death_place = [[Dunkirk]]
|allegiance= *{{flag|Dutch Republic}} (1662–1672)
*{{flag|Kingdom of France}} (1672–1697)
|serviceyears=1672–1697
|base of operations=
|rank=[[Admiral]]
|commands=
|battles=[[Nine Years' War]]
*[[Battle of Beachy Head (1690)|Battle of Beachy Head]]
*[[Battle of Texel (1694)|Battle of Texel]]
*[[Battle of Dogger Bank (1696)|Battle of Dogger Bank]]
|awards=Chevalier of the [[Order of Saint Louis]]
|wealth=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Jean Bart''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ baʁ}}; {{Langx|nl|Jan Baert}}; 21 October 1650 – 27 April 1702) was a Flemish [[Admiral|naval commander]] and [[privateer]].

==Early life==
Jean Bart was born in [[Dunkirk, France|Dunkirk]] in 1650<ref name=BR>{{cite web|title=Baptismal record|url=http://www.flandrianostra.org/Jan_Baert/default.htm|access-date=14 April 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429130200/http://www.flandrianostra.org/Jan_Baert/default.htm|archive-date=29 April 2012}}</ref> to a seafaring family, the son of Jean-Cornil Bart (c. 1619–1668) who has been described variously as a [[fisherman]]<ref name=AmerCyc>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Bart, or Baert, Jean |encyclopedia=The American cyclopaedia |pages=343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usVPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA343 |access-date=3 June 2011 |last1=Ripley |first1=George |last2=Dana |first2=Charles Anderson |year=1873 }}</ref> or [[French corsairs|corsair]] commander sailing for the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref name=ANE/><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWcysbs5x5AC |title=Jean Bart|isbn=9782213663975 |last1=Villiers |first1=Patrick |date=10 April 2013 |publisher=Fayard }}</ref> His grandfather, Cornil Weus([[:fr:Cornil Weus|fr]]), was a vice-admiral and fought the Dutch on behalf of Spain at the beginning of the [[Eighty Years' War]]. His great-grandfather, [[Michel Jacobsen]], distinguished himself in the service of the Spanish crown, bringing back the [[Invincible Armada]] after its failed attempt to invade England in 1588, and was appointed vice-admiral by [[Philip IV of Spain]]. His great-uncle, [[Jan Jacobsen]], also in the service of Spain, blew himself up with his ship in 1622 rather than surrender. He almost certainly spoke [[French Flemish|Dutch]], at that time the native language in the region, and his birth name was ''Jan Baert''.<ref name=AmerCyc/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Flanders: a cultural history |last=De Vries
 |first=André |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531493-9 |page=273 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7poAAAAMAAJ&q=Jan+Baert |access-date=3 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Histoire Maritime de France  |last=Guerin |first=Leon |language=fr |year=1851 |publisher=Dufour & Mulat |location=Paris |oclc=464444400 |page=[https://archive.org/details/histoiremaritim00guergoog/page/n519 479] |url=https://archive.org/details/histoiremaritim00guergoog |quote=Jan Baert.  |access-date=3 June 2011 }}</ref>

==Naval career==
[[File:Portret van Jan Bart, 1694 Jean Bart Chef d'Esvadre sous Louis XIV, RP-P-1908-2040.jpg|thumb|1700s Dutch engraving of Jean Bart and the [[Battle of Texel (1694)]]]]
When he was young, Bart served in the Dutch navy under Admiral [[Michiel de Ruyter]].<ref name=ANE>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Bart, Jean |encyclopedia=A Naval Encyclopædia |volume=1 |pages=67 |publisher=L. R. Hamersly & co. |year=1880 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPvxNqDjeXYC&q=Bart%2C+Jean&pg=PA67 |access-date=3 June 2011 }}</ref> When war broke out between France and the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] in 1672, he entered the [[French Navy|French service]]. Since only persons of noble birth could then serve as officers in the navy, he instead became captain of one of the [[Dunkirkers|Dunkirk privateers]]. In that capacity, he displayed such astonishing bravery that [[Louis XIV]] sent him on a special mission to the [[Mediterranean]], where he gained great distinction.<ref name=nie>{{NIE|wstitle=Barth, Jean|year=1905|inline=1}}</ref>

Unable to receive a command in the navy because of his low birth, he held an irregular sort of commission, but he had such success that he became a lieutenant in 1679. He became a terror to the Dutch navy and a serious menace to the commerce of Holland. On one occasion, with six vessels, he broke through a blockading fleet, shattered a number of the enemy's ships and convoyed a transport of grain safely into Dunkirk harbor.<ref name=nie/> He rose rapidly to the rank of [[captain (naval)|captain]] and then to that of [[admiral]].<ref name=EB>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Bart, Jean}}</ref>

He achieved his greatest successes during the [[Nine Years' War]] (1688–1697).
*In 1689, at the beginning of the war, he was captured by an English warship, together with [[Claude de Forbin]], and they were taken as [[prisoners-of-war]] to [[Plymouth]]. However, three days later, they succeeded in escaping to [[Brittany]] in a rowboat, together with 20 other captured sailors.
*In 1691, he slipped through the blockade of Dunkirk, terrorised the allied merchant fleet and burnt a Scottish castle and four villages.
*In 1693, he commanded the 62-gun ship ''Le Glorieux'' under [[Anne Hilarion de Tourville|marshal de Tourville]]. After the brilliant [[Battle of Lagos (1693)|battle of Lagos]] and the capture of the "Smyrna convoy", he left the fleet and near [[Faro, Portugal|Faro]] he met six Dutch ships of 24 to 50 guns, all richly loaded, he forced them to run aground, and then burned them.
*In 1694, he achieved his greatest success at the [[Battle of Texel (1694)|Battle of Texel]] in which he captured a huge convoy of Dutch grain ships, saving Paris from starvation. He was raised into the nobility on 4 August 1694 with a peerage.
*In 1696, he struck another blow against the Dutch in the [[Battle of Dogger Bank (1696)|Battle of Dogger Bank]].

The [[Peace of Ryswick]] in 1697 put an end to his active service.

==Marriage and children==

He married the 16-year-old Nicole Gontier on 3 February 1676.
They had four children before Nicole died in 1682.
Their oldest son, [[François Cornil Bart]] (1676-1755), became vice-admiral.

Then he married Jacoba Tugghe on 13 October 1689.  They had ten children. He signed his marriage contract, which is still on file in Dunkirk, with the name "Jan Baert".

Jean Bart died of [[pleurisy]] and is buried in the [[Church of Saint-Éloi, Dunkirk|Eglise Saint-Eloi]] in Dunkirk.

==Legacy==
Many anecdotes tell of the courage and bluntness of the uncultivated sailor, who became a popular hero of the [[French Navy]]. He captured a total of 386 ships and also sank or burned a great number more. The town of Dunkirk has honoured his memory by erecting a statue and by naming a [[town square|public square]] after him. During the carnival of Dunkirk, held every year the Sunday before Holy Tuesday, local people kneel all together in front of his statue and sing the Cantate à Jean Bart<ref>[[:fr:Cantate à Jean Bart]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=August 2019}}. Jean Bart is viewed by the inhabitants of Dunkirk as a local hero. During the interwar period, in 1928, following excavations carried out in the church, Dr. Louis Lemaire found the bones of Jean Bart, which makes it possible to estimate his size, 1.90 <abbr>m.</abbr><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jean Bart (le Corsaire Dunkerquois) à Dunkerque – Dunkerque Annuaire |url=https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http://www.dunkerque-annuaire.com/fiches/jean-bart-le-corsaire-dunkerquois-dunkerque.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=archive.wikiwix.com}}</ref>

In [[World War II]], 70% of Dunkirk was destroyed, but the statue survived.[[File:Jean Bart dli 0613700363.jpg|thumb|313x313px|Anonymous Flanders, ''Jean Bart'', late 1700s, engraving<ref>[https://library.nga.gov/permalink/01NGA_INST/1p5jkvq/alma991620963804896 Image Collections, nga.gov]</ref>]]<gallery>
File:Jean Bart statue Dunkirk.jpg|Statue of Jean Bart in Dunkirk
File:Jean Bart.png|Jean Bart as depicted in 1845
File:Jean Bart par Jean-Léon Gérôme (1862).jpg|Painting of Jean Bart by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (1862)
</gallery>

===Ships bearing the name Jean Bart===
{{main|French ship Jean Bart}}
More than 27 ships of the [[French Navy]], over a period of 200 years, have borne the name Jean Bart. These include:
*[[Jean Bart (1788)|''Jean Bart'']] (1788) – [[Seventy-four (ship)|74-gun]] [[ship of the line]]
*[[Jean Bart (1811)|''Jean Bart'']] (1811) – 74-gun ship of the line
*[[Jean Bart (1886)|''Jean Bart'']] (1886) – First class [[cruiser]] of 4800 tonnes
*[[French battleship Jean Bart (1911)|''Jean Bart'']] (1910) – 23,600 tonne [[battleship]]; the first French [[Dreadnought]]
*[[French battleship Jean Bart (1940)|''Jean Bart'']] (1940) – 50,000 tonne battleship armed with 380mm guns. Although launched in 1940, the ship was not fitted out and completed until 1955, having spent much of [[World War II]] in dock at [[Casablanca]]; the last French battleship completed
*[[French frigate Jean Bart|''Jean Bart'']] (1988) – Anti-aircraft [[frigate]], decommissioned in August 2021.

Many smaller naval ships as well as privateers have also borne the name "Jean Bart".

===Commercial products branded Jean Bart===
*Jean Bart [[shoe polish]]
*Jean Barth [[Dutch cigarette tobacco]]

===Jean Bart in popular culture===
*Jean Bart appears as a character in [[the Baroque Cycle]] by [[Neal Stephenson]].
*In the [[manga]] and [[anime]] ''[[One Piece]]'' a slave turned pirate is named after Jean Bart.
*The Chinese smartphone game [[Azur Lane]] features a female character with a name and personality inspired by Jean Bart and the [[French battleship Jean Bart (1940)]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jean Bart – Azur Lane Wiki|date=16 May 2021|url=https://azurlane.koumakan.jp/wiki/Jean_Bart}}</ref>
*The name Jean Bart is also a frequently used name for [[Sea Scout|sea scouting]] groups.
*The book [[Het Eerste Litteken]] of Flemish writer [[Johan Ballegeer]] is an adaptation of Jan Baert's life story.
*Jean Bart is the pseudonym (pen name) of Romanian novelist [[Eugeniu Botez]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jean Bart}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081119233308/http://www.jeanbart.net/ Site consacré uniquement à Jean Bart] {{in lang|fr}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030803063842/http://www.netmarine.net/bat/fregates/jeanbart/celebre.htm Jean Bart] {{in lang|fr}}
*[http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/jean-bart.htm Jean Bart] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222131258/http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/jean-bart.htm |date=22 February 2007 }} {{in lang|en}}

{{Pirates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bart, Jean}}
[[Category:1650 births]]
[[Category:1702 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Dunkirk]]
[[Category:French Navy admirals]]
[[Category:Dunkirk Privateers]]
[[Category:French privateers]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Nine Years' War]]
[[Category:French people of Flemish descent]]