Jean-Baptiste Antoine Colbert,
Marquis of Seignelay (; 1 November 1651 – 3 November 1690) was a French politician.
He was the eldest son of
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, nephew of
Charles Colbert de Croissy and cousin of
Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Torcy.
Life
Seignelay married twice; firstly to Marie Marguerite d'Alegre, who died in 1678. Secondly he married Catherine de Goyon (1662–1699). Catherine was a daughter of Henri Goyon and Marie Françoise Le Tellier, herself a sister of
François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois. Their four children included:
# Marie Jean Baptiste Colbert (known as Jean Baptiste) (1683–1712)
# Théodore Alexandre Colbert (known as Théodore) (1690?–1695?)
Catherine later married again to
Charles de Lorraine, Count of Marsan a member of the powerful (and more noble)
house of Lorraine. She died in childbirth in December 1699.
On the death of his father in 1683, Seignelay was named Navy Secretary by
Louis XIV and held the post until his death. He accompanied
Abraham Duquesne at the
bombardment of Genoa in May 1684. He completed the
Code Noir
The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by King Louis XIV, Louis XIV of France in 1685 defining the conditions of Slavery in France, slavery in the French colonial empire and served as the code for slavery conduct in the French colonies ...
begun by his father. He was named Minister in 1689.
Seignelay continued his father's work of expanding the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
; between 1660 and 1690 the Navy increased under their control from 18 sailing vessels to some 125. While the arsenals too were reconstructed, modern studies criticise the Colberts, father and son, for concentrating on ships rather than infrastructure.
In 1675,
Nicolas Boileau dedicated his ninth epistle, ''Nothing is beautiful but the truth'', to Siegnelay and he was named Grand Treasurer of the
Order of the Holy Spirit. In 1683, he inherited the
Château de Sceaux
The Château de Sceaux () is a grand Château, country house in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, approximately south-southwest of the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. Situated in a large park laid out by André Le Nôtre, partly in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, ...
, which he improved, employing the services of
Jules Hardouin Mansart.
He was succeeded as Navy Minister by
Louis Phélypeaux.
See also
*
Pierre Arnoul
Sources
* Laurent Dingli,
Colbert, marquis de Seignelay. Le fils flamboyant', Paris, éditions Perrin, 1997
* Jean-Philippe Zanco,
Dictionnaire des Ministres de la Marine 1689-1958', S.P.M. Kronos, Paris 2011.
1651 births
1690 deaths
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste Antoine
Colbert family
French marquesses
Secretaries of State of the Navy (France)
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br:Jean-Baptiste Colbert