Paul de Beauvilliers, duc de Saint-Aignan (1648-1714)

Paul de Beauvilliers, count and later (1679) 2nd duc de Saint-Aignan (1648–1714), often referred to as the ''duc de Beauvilliers'', was a French government official under King Louis XIV.

Biography

Born in Saint-Aignan (then in the

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, raspb ...

province, now in the

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...

'' département''), he was the son of

François de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan François-Honorat de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan (30 October 160716 June 1687), born in Paris, was a French military leader, administrator and man of letters. He was peer of France and a member of the Académie française. Biography ...

and brother of

Anne Marie de Bethune Anne Marie de Beauvilliers (1610–1688), was a French court official. She served as the ''dame d'atour'' to the queen of France, Queen Marie Thérèsethe consort of King Louis XIV from 1660 to 1683. She was a figure in the French royal court ...

. His half-brother was Paul-Hippolyte de Beauvilliers, 3rd duc de Saint-Aignan. As First Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber (''Premier gentilhomme de la Chambre du roi'') in 1666 (a high privilege whose recipient was in charge of ordering the servants and the doorkeepers attending the king in his public bedroom), he had daily access to Louis XIV with whom he could discuss personal and private matters. He married Henriette-Louise Colbert, the second daughter of Colbert in 1671, thereby becoming the brother-in-law of

Charles Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes Charles Honoré d'Albert de Luynes (7 October 1646 – 5 November 1712) was a French nobleman and Duke of Luynes. He is best known as the ''Duke of Chevreuse'', his family's subsidiary title which he used until his father's death in 1690. He ...

. Both were friends of Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon and important characters of the ''Saint-Simon Mémoirs''. Chairman of the Royal Council of Finances (''conseil royal des Finances'') in 1685, he became the governor of the Duke of Burgundy (1689), the duke of Anjou (future King Philip V of Spain) (1690), and the duke of Berry (1693), thus being in charge of the education of the three grandsons of Louis XIV. In 1691 he entered the Council of Ministers (''Conseil d'en haut''), chaired by the king himself where matters of state policy were decided including religion, diplomacy, and war. He was the voice of the ''dévot'' party that advocated finding a peaceful end to France's and Louis XIV's interminable wars. In 1697, he ordered the ''intendants'' (heads of the royal administration in the provinces) to conduct a general survey whose conclusions, known as the ''Mémoires'', offer an interesting portrayal of France in the very end of the 17th century. Close to the duke of Burgundy, his pupil and heir to the throne, he was one of the reformists who advocated a less centralized and absolute monarchy, and whose ideas of

polysynody {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 Polysynody (from Greek πολυς numerous, several, and Greek συνοδος meeting, assembly) was the system of government in use in France between 1715 and 1718 and in which each minister (secretary of state) ...

were briefly applied after 1715, although he did not live long enough to see it. The duc de Beauvilliers died in

Vaucresson Vaucresson () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the Hauts-de-Seine department from the center of Paris. Vaucresson contains abundant parkland; 22 of its 308 hectares are classed as natural zones. Today Vaucresson i ...

, near Versailles, in 1714, one year before Louis XIV. He was Knight in the Order of the Holy Spirit and the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

Bibliography

The only biography of Beauvilliers is by Georges Lizerand, ''Le duc de Beauvillier 1648-1714'' published in 1933.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauvilliers, Paul de 1648 births 1714 deaths People from Loir-et-Cher Dukes of Saint-Aignan Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain 17th-century peers of France 18th-century peers of France

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References