Junot was born in Bussy-le-Grand, Côte-d'Or, son of Michel Junot, a farmer, and wife Marie Antoinette Bienaymé. His father was the son of François Junot and wife Edmée Laurain, while his mother was the daughter of Guy Bienaymé and wife Ursule Rigoley. Jean-Andoche went to school in Châtillon. He was studying law in Dijon when the French Revolution started. After joining a battalion as volunteer, he was twice wounded and also made sergeant. He first met Napoleon Bonaparte during the siege of Toulon in 1793, when he became his secretary.
Italian campaign
He distinguished himself in Italy but received a serious head wound at Lonato, which some claim led to a permanent change in his character, reduced the quality of his judgement and made him rash and temperamental. He was made a general of brigadeat the beginning of the Egyptian campaign but was injured in a duel and captured when he was returning as an invalid to France. He later participated in the coup of 18 Brumaire. He married Laure Martin de Permond, a long-time friend of the Bonapartes, in 1800. He was briefly ambassador to Portugal before hurrying back to serve under Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz.
Junot's major command was during the Peninsular War, when he commanded the 1807 Invasion of Portugal. Setting out in November from Salamanca, his vanguard accomplished a bloodless occupation of Lisbon on 30 November. For this feat, he was granted the ducal victory title of Duc d'Abrantès and was made Governor of Portugal. However, when a British expeditionary force landed, Junot was beaten at the Battle of Vimeiro on 21 August 1808, and he was cut off from France. Only the signing of the advantageous Convention of Sintra allowed him to avoid capture, taking however with him "the weapons and baggages" and pillage the army had managed to gather—an expression that later became famous in Portuguese usage. He went back to France in October, narrowly escaping a court martial. He returned to the Iberian peninsula in 1810 in command of the VIII Corps, under Marshal André Masséna, and was badly wounded.
Joséphine Junot d'Abrantès, married in November 1841 to Jacques-Louis Amet
Constance Junot d'Abrantès, married in 1829 Louis Antoine Aubert, and had issue
Louis Napoléon Andoche Junot, 2nd Duc d'Abrantès, who died unmarried and without issue
Andoche Alfred Michel Junot, 3rd Duc d'Abrantes, married firstly on 2 April 1845 Marie Céline Elise Lepic, and married secondly on 10 January 1853 Marie LouiseLéonie Lepic, both sisters, daughters of Joachim Lepic, 1st Baron Lepic, and wife Anne-Marguerite Pasquier, and had:
* Jeanne Joséphine Marguerite Junot d'Abrantès, married in Paris, 16 September 1869 Xavier Eugène Maurice Le Ray, who was created 4th Duc d'Abrantès in 1869, and had issue extinct in male line in 1982
