Captain François-Marie Renaud d'Avène des Méloizes (1655 – April 22, 1699) was a French

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

officer who came to

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...

in 1685 in command of the

Troupes de Marine The (TDM, ) is a corps of the French Army that includes several specialities: infantry, artillery, armoured, airborne, engineering, and transmissions (Signals). Despite its name, it forms part of the Army, not the Navy. Intended for amphibio ...

and led the successful expedition against the

Senecas The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...

. The Comte de Frontenac considered him "one of the best and wisest officers" in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He is buried in the vaults of Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral,

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Early life

Born at Château des Aubues,

Lormes Lormes () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. The mystic Simon Ganneau (1805–1851) was born in Lormes, as was the writer Henri Bachelin (1879–1941), winner of the 1918 Prix Femina for ''Le Serviteur''. Demographics On ...

Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

; the ancestral home of his mother's family since the early fifteenth century. He was the son of Edmé Renaud d’Avène,

Seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

des Méloizes et de Berges. His mother, Adrienne de Montsaulnin, was the daughter of Colonel Adrien de Montsaulnin of Château des Aubues; Seigneur de Montal, Aubues and Sancy; by his wife Gabrielle de Bussy-Rabutin of

Château de Bussy-Rabutin The Château de Bussy-Rabutin, also known as Château de Bussy-le-Grand, is a ''château'' which developed from a 12th-century castle, located in the commune of Bussy-le-Grand, in the Côte-d'Or departments of France, department, Bourgogne, easte ...

; Dame de Chantal and Montal. Renaud was a first cousin of Louis de Montsaulnin (d.1686), 1st

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

de Montsaulnin; and the uncle of General Louis de Montsaulnin (1688-1743), a godson of

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

and later Governor of

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

etc.

Military career

His uncle, Charles de Montsaulnin (1621-1696), was a close friend of

Louis, Grand Condé Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (8 September 1621 – 11 December 1686), known as the Great Condé (French: ''Le Grand Condé'') for his military exploits, was a French general and the most illustrious representative of the Condé branc ...

and in 1668 Méloizes was commissioned into Condé's regiment. Four years later, he was a

Standard-bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

in the

Dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat ...

and the following year he held the same position in the

of the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army (french: Armée Royale Française) was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon Dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude ...

. In 1685, he acquired a company in the

and by August of that year he arrived with his regiment at

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. In 1687, he accompanied

Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville (10 December 1637 – 22 September 1710) was Governor General of New France from 1685 to 1689 and was a key figure in the Beaver Wars. Replacing Joseph Antoine de LaBarre in 168 ...

, on his expedition against the

, and signed the document recording the taking of their country.

Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a nu ...

held him in high esteem, considering him to be "one of the best and wisest officers" in

. At the time of his marriage his wife's grandfather gave him the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

of La Cloutièrerie, within the

Seigneury ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (o ...

of Beauport, selling it in 1693. He also owned some property in the Upper Town of

. Renaud d’Avène des Méloizes died 22 April 1699 at Quebec and was buried in the vaults of the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral.

Family

Nicolas-Marie Renaud d'Avène Des Méloizes

In May, 1687, at

, Renaud d’Avène des Méloizes married Françoise-Thérèse (1670-1698), daughter of Nicholas Dupont de Neuville (1632-1716),

de Neuville and member of the

Sovereign Council of New France The Sovereign Council (french: Conseil souverain) was a governing body in New France. It served as both Supreme Court for the colony of New France, as well as a policy-making body, though this latter role diminished over time. The council, though ...

. They were the parents of nine children. Six survived them and they were brought up by their maternal grandparents after their parents died in 1698, *Louise-Thérèse Renaud d’Avène des Méloizes (1690-1759), became ''La Soeur de la Sainte-Vierge'' at the

Hôtel-Dieu de Québec The Hotel-Dieu de Québec is a teaching hospital located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and affiliated with Université Laval's medical school. It is part of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ), a network of five teaching hosp ...

. *Marie-Thérèse Renaud d’Avène des Méloizes (1692-1711), became ''La Soeur de Saint-Gabriel'' at the

. *Marie-Françoise Renaud d'Avène des Meloizes (1693-1723). In 1711, at

, she married Eustache Chartier de Lotbinière. They were the parents of Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, 1st Marquis de Lotbinière. *Marie-Jeanne Renaud d'Avène des Meloizes (1694-1766). Educated by the

Ursulines of Quebec The Ursuline Monastery of Quebec City (french: Monastère des Ursulines de Québec) was founded by a missionary group of Ursuline nuns in 1639 under the leadership of Mother Marie of the Incarnation, O.S.U. It is the oldest institution of learni ...

. In 1711, with a

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

of 10,000 ''

Livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 gr ...

'', her grandfather arranged for her to marry Jean-Francois Martin de Lino de Chalmette,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. She refused the marriage and Chalmette instead married her uncle's sister (and later her aunt) Angelique Chariter de Lotbinière (1692-1772), the following year. Marie-Jeanne died unmarried at

. *Nicholas-Marie Renaud d'Avène des Meloizes (1696-1743),

Comte ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

des Meloizes and Chevalier de St Louis.Nicolas Renaud d'Avesnes. Comte des Meloises, chevalier de St. Louis
/ref> In 1722, he married Angelique Chartier de Lotbinière (1692-1772), daughter of

René-Louis Chartier de Lotbinière René-Louis Chartier de Lotbinière (1641–1709) was a French-Canadian Poet, 1st Seigneur de Lotbinière in New France (1672), Judge of the Provost and Admiralty Courts and Chief Councillor of the Sovereign Council of New France. Birth Baptised ...

and the sister of his brother-in-law, Eustache. Their son, Nicolas Renaud d'Avene des Meloizes-Fresnoy (1729-1803), sold the

of Neuville for 45,000 ''

'' and moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where he became the Marquis de Fresnoy through his marriage to the heiress Agathe-Louise de Fresnoy, a descendant of

Gaspard II de Coligny Gaspard de Coligny (16 February 1519 – 24 August 1572), Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman, Admiral of France, and Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. He served under kings Francis I and Henry II during the It ...

, at Château de Fresnoy. Their daughter, Angelique-Genevieve d'Avene des Meloizes (1722-1779) is the subject of Nadine Grelet's book, ''La Belle Angelique'' (2003) and one of the two central figures in '' The Golden Dog'' (1873). She was married to Michel-Jean-Hugues de Pean, but was better known for her affair with François Bigot. *Catherine-Madeleine Renaud d'Avène des Meloizes (1697-1725), was a society beauty who appears in William Kirby's book, '' The Golden Dog'' with her niece, Angelique-Genevieve d'Avene des Meloizes. She died unmarried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meloizes, Francois-Marie Renaud Davene Des 1655 births 1699 deaths French people of the French and Indian War Canadian nobility (French)