Louis Nicolas Le Tonnelier de Breteuil

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The Baron de Breteuil painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud

Louis Nicolas Le Tonnelier, Baron de Preuilly and de Breteuil (born September 14, 1648 in Montpellier , † May 24, 1728 in Paris ), was an officer of the French royal family under Louis XIV , who had the task of sending foreign ambassadors to court To prepare princes for an audience and to present them to the king. This was associated with the title of Introducteur des ambassadeurs .

Life

Louis Nicolas Le Tonnelier was the youngest son of Louis Le Tonnelier, director of the Languedoc province and advisor to the Paris Parliament .

As a former Lecteur du Roi , giving him access to the petit lever allowed (part of the elaborate Hofsitte under Louis XIV.), He was in 1682 by Louis XIV. As extraordinary ambassador to Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga , Duke of Mantua , sent . His task was to monitor the implementation of the secret treaty concluded with the Duke and to find out how France could exert more influence on the Italian provinces of Mantua and Montferrat (both the Habsburg monarchy , which with Leopold I provided the Roman-German Emperor , as well as Savoy -Piedmont had similar ambitions at the same time).

During his embassy work, de Breteuil came into conflict with the intricacies of the protocol and he also fell out with Marquis Luigi de Canossa, who represented the Roman-German emperor at court. 1684 recalled to Paris, he sold his office as Lecteur du Roi , but retained his right of access to the king and his apartment in the Palace of Versailles , and as in 1698 with the death of Etienne Chabenat, seigneur de Bonneuil, the Office of Introducteur of ambassadeurs free de Breteuil carried out this task until he sold his post in the year of the death of Louis XIV (1715) to Joseph Magny, marquis de Foucault, for 250,000 livres .

Louis Nicolas Le Tonnelier was married to Gabrielle Anne de Froulay in 1697. The two were the parents of the Marquise du Châtelet , scientist and lover of Voltaire , and Abbot Élisabeth Théodore Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1710–1781). From a premarital relationship with the writer Anne Ferrand , he had a daughter, born in 1686, who was placed in a convent under the name Michelle.

The office of introducteur des ambassadeurs was given to de Breteuil, although he was not of noble birth. In 1699 he bought the orphaned barony of Preuilly and borrowed his title from it. In 1706 he was allowed to use the name de Breteuil alone or together with de Preuilly .

literature

  • Marie-Lan Nguyen: Les officiers de la Maison du Roi et le cérémonial public de Henri III à Louis XVI . Mémoire de DEA, University de Paris-IV, 2000
  • Eugène Asse (editor): Lettres de la présidente Ferrand au Baron de Breteuil: suivies de l'histoire des amours de Cléante et de Belise et des poèsies d'Antoine Ferrand, révues sur les éditions originales, augmentées des variants, de nombreuses notes d 'un index et précédées d'une notice biographique , Charpentier, Paris, 1880. online on Gallica BnF
  • Louis Auguste de Breteuil, Évelyne Leve: Baron de Breteuil, Lettres d'amour, mémoires de cour (1680-1715) , Tallandier, Paris, 2013

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Louis Nicolas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Le Tonnelier, Baron de Preuilly and de Breteuil, Louis Nicolas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French diplomat and royal advisor
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1648
PLACE OF BIRTH Montpellier
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1728
Place of death Paris