Charles Aimé de Royrand (; 14 March 1726 – 5 December 1793) became a Vendean leader in the War in the Vendée, a revolt against the French Revolution. He joined the French Royal Army and served in an infantry regiment during the American Revolutionary War before retiring to his estates in 1780. When the Vendean insurrection broke out in 1793 he was chosen as the leader of the southern army. He led rebel forces at Luçon, Cholet and Entrames. He was fatally wounded at Entrames on 26 October and died at Baugé-en-Anjou.
Early life
Charles Aimé de Royrand was born on 14 March 1726 in Saint-Fulgent, one of three sons of Charles Samuel de Royrand and Louise Jacquette Sageot, all named Charles. The two others were Charles Louis and Charles Augustin. A fourth son René François was born in 1735. Charles Aimé joined the Navarre Infantry Regiment and later transferred to the Armagnac Regiment. After fighting in the American Revolutionary War and possibly in the earlier French and Indian War, he returned to France in 1780 and retired to his properties which were located near Saint-Fulgent, Chavagnes-en-Paillers and Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu. During his years of military service he was awarded the Order of Saint-Louis.
Vendean rebellion
Army command and Luçon
Upon the outbreak of the War in the Vendée, the local Vendeans offered to make Royrand their leader but he was reluctant to accept at first. He was soon recognized as leader of the so-called Army of the Center which defended the southern front of the Vendée. He proved to be a capable organizer while assigning his second-in-command Charles Sapinaud de La Rairie to lead the rebels in the field. The rebels formed into three main forces of which the Army of Upper Vendée was the largest, with up to 50,000 men. The Army of Lower Vendée under former naval officer François de Charette had as many as 20,000 rebels in the western marshes, while the Army of the Center counted between 10,000 and 12,000 men in the area around Les Herbiers and Chantonnay.
The rebels were opposed by the Republican Army of the Coasts of Cherbourg, Army of the Coasts of Brest under Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux and Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle under Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duke of Biron. While Canclaux held Angers, Nantes and the west coast department of Loire-Inférieure, Biron was responsible for Les Sables-d'Olonne, Luçon, Fontenay-le-Comte, Niort and Saumur. In March the Republicans deployed 34 volunteer and two regular infantry battalions plus two regiments of cavalry. The National Convention rushed reinforcements to the scene including 12 poorly-disciplined volunteer battalions from Paris under Antoine Joseph Santerre.
In May 1793, while Royrand's army watched the southern edge of the Vendée, the rebels seized Bressuire and Thouars in the east. On 13 May they captured La Châtaigneraie but were repulsed from Fontenay on the 16th. The main army of 35,000 men assembled under Charles de Bonchamps, Maurice d'Elbée, Henri de La Rochejaquelein and Louis Marie de Lescure. On 25 May, the Vendean army defeated 14,000 Republicans under Alexis Chalbos in the Battle of Fontenay-le-Comte, taking 40 guns. This was followed by a rebel victory over Jacques-François Menou's division at the Battle of Saumur on 9 June in which the Vendeans captured 46 cannons. On 28 June, Royrand attacked Luçon but Claude Sandoz and its Republican garrison drove him off. On the 29th Canclaux repulsed a Vendean attack in the Battle of Nantes. Meanwhile, Biron sent François Joseph Westermann on a destructive raid into the heart of the Vendée. The main rebel army massed against Westermann and routed his division in the First Battle of Châtillon on 5 July.
The Republican generals disagreed over how to deal with the rebellion. Biron and Canclaux wanted to mount a concentric attack while the generals and representatives on mission at Saumur, which had been reoccupied, desired to attack from the east and drive the rebels against the seacoast. Ignoring Biron's wishes, 12,000 men of the Saumur division under Jacques-Marie Pilote La Barolière moved west. On 18 July, the Vendeans attacked and routed the Republicans in the Battle of Vihiers. Biron was recalled to Paris and sent to the guillotine on 31 December 1793. Biron was replaced by Jean Antoine Rossignol, a political demagogue. Facing Royrand in the south were the Luçon division under Augustin Tuncq and the Fontenay Division under Chalbos. On 25 July Tuncq occupied Chantonnay, burning the town and destroying food and weapons before returning to Luçon. Provoked by this raid, Royrand and Elbée with 12,000–15,000 rebels attacked Luçon but were repulsed on 30 July.