Jean Burnel (died 5 October 1789) was a young member of the Templar Order, loyal to the de la Serre family due to his infatuation with Élise de la Serre. Newly-inducted at the time of the French Revolution, he was nevertheless chosen by Frederick Weatherall as Élise's lieutenant, once the latter decided to claim her birthright: the title of Grand Master of the French Templars.[1]
In October 1789, Burnel escorted Élise to the proposed meeting place where she had summoned the Templars, in order for them to pledge their loyalties to her as the new Grand Master. Soon after their arrival at the gathering however, they discovered via threatening their host, the Marquis de Pimôdan, that Élise's known supporters were either systematically eradicated or turned to François-Thomas Germain's extremist faction.
Realizing that the meeting was a trap meant to kill her, Burnel and Élise fled, though the pair was caught by catgut ligatures dropped by assassins from a balcony above the doors of de Pimôdan's house. Luckily, the rope intended for Élise was tangled around the collar of her coat rather than her neck, giving her the necessary time to cut the ligature with her sword; Burnel did not have the same luck, and was strangled by his rope, with Élise too exhausted from the assault to intervene in time.