Abel Servien

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Abel Servien

Abel Servien , marquis de Sablé and de Boisdauphin , comte de La Roche des Aubiers (born November 1, 1593 in Grenoble , † February 12, 1659 in Meudon ) was a French diplomat and statesman.

family

He came from a family of the nobility and was a son of Antoine Servien. Around 1640 he himself married Augustine Le Roux, the widow of Count d'Onzain. Several children were born from the marriage.

Life

He studied law. In 1616 he became Procureur Général ( public prosecutor ) at the Parlement in Grenoble . He followed his father in office. For Rouen he was a member of the Notable Assembly in 1617 . In 1618 he was appointed to the State Council. He went to Paris in 1624 and enjoyed the support of Cardinal Richelieu . In 1627 he became general manager in Guienne . Richelieu used him from 1628 for diplomatic tasks. So he negotiated with Spain on border issues.

In 1630 he became President of the Parliament of Bordeaux , but soon became Envoy Extraordinary to Italy. He was in the rank of Secrétaire d'État de la Guerre (a Minister of War). He was involved in ending the War of the Mantuan Succession . In 1631 he signed the Cherasco Peace Agreement between Louis XIII. and Emperor Ferdinand II. He also signed the peace with Savoy . Servien also contributed to winning the Pinerolo fortress in Piedmont for France and thus an Alpine crossing.

He was a member of the Académie française since 1634. In 1636, however, after an intrigue at the court at Richelieu, he fell out of favor. With that he lost his offices. Successor as Minister of War was François Sublet des Noyers . Servien withdrew to his possessions. Cardinal Jules Mazarin used him again as envoy. In 1644 he was involved in the conclusion of an alliance treaty with the Netherlands. Relations with the chief envoy, Count d'Avaux , were very tense.

Servien was sent to Münster in 1644 to negotiate the Peace of Westphalia . As Mazarin's confidante, he was supposed to control d'Avaux. A short time later he moved to Osnabrück , where parallel negotiations took place. He stayed there until 1646. As an agreement between Spain and the Netherlands emerged during the negotiations , he traveled to The Hague to prevent this. He returned to Münster in 1647 without success. After Henri II d'Orléans-Longueville and d'Avaux had been recalled, Servien was the only French envoy to the peace congress. He signed the treaties in Osnabrück on October 24, 1648. He ran a smaller house than other ambassadors in Münster. But he had so much wine transported from France via the Netherlands to Westphalia that the Dutch assumed he would trade it and wanted to collect customs duties on it.

In 1649 he was appointed minister and from 1651 he was trésorier (treasurer). He was also Chancellor of the Order of the Holy Spirit . From 1653 he was temporarily chief manager of finances together with Nicolas Fouquet . During the time of the Fronde he was always on Mazarin's side. In the negotiations for the Peace of the Pyrenees of 1659 he served the cardinal as an advisor.

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predecessor Office successor
Charles I. de La Vieuville Chief Financial
Officer 1653–1659 		Nicolas Fouquet
personal data
SURNAME Servien, Abel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French diplomat and statesman
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1593
PLACE OF BIRTH Grenoble
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1659
Place of death Meudon