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 , 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 Vers ...

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 A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, 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 In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

''), he was the son of François de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan 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 Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, GE (16 January 16752 March 1755), was a French soldier, diplomat, and memoirist. He was born in Paris at the Hôtel Selvois, 6 rue Taranne (demolished in 1876 to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain). T ...

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 Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

(1689), the duke of Anjou (future King

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

) (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 The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, in 1714, one year before Louis XIV. He was Knight in the

Order of the Holy Spirit The Order of the Holy Spirit (french: Ordre du Saint-Esprit; sometimes translated into English as the Order of the Holy Ghost), is a French order of chivalry founded by Henry III of France in 1578. Today, it is a dynastic order under the House of ...

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