François Claude Bernard Louis de Chauvelin (Paris, 1716 –

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, 1773), marquis de Chauvelin, was a French soldier, diplomat and writer. He was a correspondent of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

. One of his three children with his wife Agnés Thérèse Mazade d'Argeville (whom he married in 1759), was

Bernard-François, marquis de Chauvelin François-Bernard de Chauvelin, marquis de Grosbois (born 29 November 1766 in Paris; died 9 April 1832 in Paris), also known as ''Marquis de Chauvelin'', was a French nobleman, diplomat, parliamentarian and liberal reformer. Biography The scio ...

Life

He served in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

and became ambassador to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. From 1749 to 1753 he was ''Lieutenant-général'' of the King of France in Genoa. He was commander-in-chief of French troops on Corsica from May 1768 to July 1769 during the Conquest of Corsica. He passed his final days in the French royal court as an intimate of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

, dying of an

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

at the king's gaming table.

Sources

*''

Dictionnaire Bouillet ''Dictionnaire Bouillet'' () is the informal title of the ''Dictionnaire universel d'histoire et de géographie'' ("Universal Dictionary of History and Geography"), a French reference work in the public domain. The first edition was published i ...

'' 1716 births 1773 deaths French generals 18th-century French diplomats French conquest of Corsica Writers from Paris 18th-century French male writers {{France-mil-bio-stub