Nicolas Chalon du Blé,

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 ...

Uxelles Uxelles () is a commune in the Jura department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Jura department The following is a list of the 494 communes of the Jura department of Fran ...

and

Cormatin Cormatin () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The village, on the river Grosne, is home to a castle. Geography The Grosne forms part of the commune's south-western bord ...

(24 January 1652 – 10 April 1730) was a French general and Foreign Minister. He was also created a knight and

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, and was a diplomat for

and

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 – 2 December 1723), was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as ''le Régent''. H ...

Biography

Early years

du Blé was born at

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; how ...

. His appearance was described as tall and ruddy, with a huge wig and a hat pulled down over his eyes. He tended to hide his military orders and decorations under a plain, tightly-buttoned coat.''The Man Who Would Be King; The Life of Philippe d'Orléans, Regent of France'' by Christine Pevitt. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in Great Britain, 1997. Second heir of Louis Chalon du Blé, marquis of

(who died in 1658 at the siege of Gravelines), and of Marie Le Bailleul (1626–1712), Nicolas Chalon du Blé was a protégé of Camille le Tellier de Louvois.

Military career

He was granted military leadership in 1688, during the Nine Years' War; he served as

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

at the siege of Philippsburg, and was charged with holding the Place de Mayence fortress in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, when the French army was forced to retreat. He initially defended during the Siege of Mainz against the Grand Alliance, from 1 June to 8 September 1689, but had to surrender, and was publicly booed upon his return to Paris. He retained the favor of François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois and

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 ...

, and was rewarded with the fief of Rougemont-le-Château (1696), and he received the baton of Marshal, in 1703.

Diplomatic career

He took part as a diplomat at the preliminary conferences of

Geertruidenberg Geertruidenberg () is a city and municipality in the province North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The city, named after Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, received city rights in 1213 from the count of Holland. The fortified city prospered un ...

on 9 March 1710, but the peace negotiations were broken by

at the end of the following June. Chalon du Blé again represented the king during the negotiation for the

Peace of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

in 1713. He was one of the aristocratic architects of the polysynody system of government, and obtained the first presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs, (1715–1718) when the

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of Philippe II began. This appointment was made against the better judgement of the

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, who held different foreign policy aims than Blé, and who had been the target of scorn from Blé's social circle. The Regent made the decision primarily to keep his enemy in plain view rather than in subterfuge against the government. As president of the Council of Foreign Affairs, Blé tended to the popular, traditional French view of favoring Catholic Spain over Protestant Great Britain. This was in contradiction to the Regent, who admired Britain's

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

and open economy. When the Cellamare Conspiracy came to light in 1718, however, Blé gave up antagonizing the Regent and "became polite, agreeable, and ate from his hand" in the words of Saint-Simon. According to one source, the Regent even made Blé kiss the

Treaty of the Triple Alliance The Treaty of the Triple Alliance was a treaty that allied the Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay against Paraguay. Signed in 1865, after the outbreak of the Paraguayan War, its articles (plus a Protocol) prescribed the allies' actions bo ...

, which allied France with Britain and the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...

against Spain. Nicolas Chalon du Blé was one of the most notable

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

of his age, known for his attraction to young valets as well as aspiring officers whom he "domesticated".Didier Godard, ''Le Goût de Monsieur. L'homosexualité masculine au XVIIe siècle'', editions H & O, Montblanc, 2002, page 171 He died in Paris in 1730.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalon Du Ble, Nicolas 1652 births 1730 deaths People from Chalon-sur-Saône Marshals of France 18th-century French people 17th-century French people 17th-century LGBT people 18th-century LGBT people People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans People of the Ancien Régime Marquesses of Uxelles Marquesses of Cormatin French military personnel of the Nine Years' War French military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession 18th-century French diplomats LGBT nobility