Joseph Matthias Gérard de Rayneval

Joseph-Mathias Gérard de Rayneval (24 February 1736, Masevaux, Haut-Rhin – 31 December 1812, Paris), was a French diplomat and government minister of the Ancien Régime.

[1] In 1782, he was sent on a secret mission to London to make peace feelers and later undertook official diplomatic visits that led to the Eden Agreement.

John Jay, a Founding Father of the United States, upon learning of the trips suspected French duplicity, leading him to begin separate negotiations with the British.

[3] Chevalier Gérard de Rayneval was appointed to the Royal Order of Charles III and served in King Louis XVI's Conseil d'Etat.

In Paris on 8 August 1776, he married Sophie Gaucherel and had by her three children: His eldest brother was Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, comte de Munster.