Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas
Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas (also Phélippeaux ) (born July 9, 1701 in Versailles , † November 21, 1781 ibid) was a French statesman. Under Louis XV. he was from 1723 to 1749 Secrétaire d'État à la Marine , then fell out of favor, but was under Louis XVI. from 1774 until his death head minister of state.
Life
Maurepas was a son of Jérôme de Pontchartrain, Count of Maurepas , Secretary of State for the Navy and the Royal Household. As a child he was accepted into the Order of Malta and after his father's death at fourteen on August 16, 1723, he was officially appointed as his successor as Secrétaire d'État à la Marine ; he began his duties in the royal household at seventeen, took over actual administration of the navy in 1725, and held it until 1749.
Though basically light and superficial in character, Maurepas was seriously interested in scientific matters and hired France's best minds to scientifically tackle questions of navigation and ship design.
He was deeply at odds with his cousin Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle , who from 1742 until her death at the end of 1744 became Maîtresse en titre of King Louis XV. and Duchess of Châteauroux rose. Voltaire , who was in the favor of the mistress, did not get a seat in the Académie française at Maurepas' instigation, and wrote in his memoirs: "He had the mania to fall out with all his master's lovers, and that was bad for him" . After Voltaire himself had fallen out of favor with Madame de Châteauroux, he sought the proximity of Madame d'Étiolles, who rose to maîtresse en titre as Madame de Pompadour after the death of the former in 1745 and gave him admission to the academy and a chamberlain batch procured. Maurepas, however, fell out of favor in 1749 because of an epigram against Madame de Pompadour and was banished from Paris.
After the accession of Louis XVI. but he became Minister of State and Ludwig's main advisor. He placed the Treasury in Turgot's hands , the royal household in Malesherbes' hands , and made Vergennes Foreign Minister. Early in his new career, he revealed his weakness by giving in to public pressure and reinstating the old parliament that Maupeou had dismissed. In doing so he brought the most dangerous enemy of the king's absolutist power back into play. This step, as well as its intervention for the American states, contributed to the French Revolution . Envious of Turgot's influence on Louis XVI, he intrigued against him. After Turgot's dismissal in 1776, this was followed by six months of chaos and then Necker's appointment . He also had him dismissed in 1781 for his attempts at reform. Shortly afterwards he died.
From 1725 he was an honorary member of the Académie royale des sciences .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Voltaire on the King of Prussia, Memoirs , ed. u. Translated by Anneliese Botond (Title of the original edition: Memoires pour servir à la vie de M. de Voltaire, écrits par lui-même ), Frankfurt / M. (Insel Verlag), 1981 (first edition 1967), page 25
- ^ List of members since 1666: Letter M. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 21, 2020 (French).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maurepas, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux comte de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French statesman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 9, 1701 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Versailles |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 21, 1781 |
| Place of death | Versailles |