Michel Le Tellier (statesman)

Michel Le Tellier , Marquis de Barbezieux, Seigneur de Chaville, d'Etang and de Viroflay (born April 19, 1603 in Paris , † October 30, 1685 in Versailles ) was Secretary of State for Warfare at the time of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. one of the leading ministers in France and through its organizational activities made the French army the most powerful in Europe at the time.

Michel Le Tellier

Life

He came from a family that originally traded. This had become prosperous because it gained access to judicial offices and other public positions. The great-grandfather was a notary, the grandfather was a rent master and the father was a councilor at the tax court. At first he was also a lawyer. He became a member of the Grand Council as early as 1624. From 1631 he was the royal procurator . After that he was master of requets in the State Council . He was director of justice, police and finance until he was appointed director of the French army in Piedmont in 1639 . He worked in the office for three years and got to know the administrative problems in the military. He caught the eye of Jules Mazarin . This made him State Secretary in 1643. He was responsible for war, artillery, the Mediterranean fleet and eight provinces. He remained loyal to Anna of Austria and Mazarin even during the Fronde . Together with this he was primarily responsible for the government. At times he had to resign under pressure from the Fronde.

Even after the end of the reign and the beginning of the sole rule of Louis XIV, he remained at the center of power. From 1661 he was a minister in the Conseil d'En Haut. Along with Lionne and Fouquet , he was thus the leading minister. He was Colbert's sponsor . Together with this he drove the fall of Fouquet. Louis XIV always referred to him as "Monsieur Le Tellier," while otherwise he only used the surname. He once said: "No one's advice has ever been better than his, whatever it was."

He was married to Elisabeth Turpin. He used the benevolence of the king to promote his sons. The second-born Charles Maurice eventually became Archbishop of Reims . Similar to Colbert in the Navy Ministry his son, he introduced the son François-Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Louvois in the Ministry of War. In the name of his son, who was only 14 years old in 1653, he reserved the succession in office. The son later worked under him at first. The father trained him further. In 1662 he had the son sign a decree himself for the first time. But the father kept the leadership until at least 1668. But even after that, Louvois often asked his father for advice. In fact, between 1668 and 1677, the king had two ministers of war, father and son. The son took on the numerous trips outside the court while the father administered the office.

Tellier was instrumental in the reform of the French military system, which became the most powerful in Europe. The main decrees for this came from Tellier. In 1643 these were the regulations on winter quarters and the recruiting of recruits. In 1649 he issued regulations on cavalry. In 1654 regulations on infantry followed and in 1651, 1653 and 1660 regulations for the organization of internal service, salaries and meals were issued. Regulations of 1661, 1662 and 1665 dealt with the service in the fortresses and the stage. In 1666 regulations on the duty of officers were issued.

During the time of Tellier and his son, a centrally organized military administration was established. This was led by mostly bourgeois artistic directors. Only the commanding generals were superior to them. The administration took care of the supply of the troops. The recruited troops of the Thirty Years' War were transformed into an army of the state. The modernization of the army, which he started and which his son continued, made it a powerful means by which Louis XIV could take a politically and militarily offensive action. In addition to the military administration, father and son reformed the training of soldiers, regulated the officer's careers, and ensured better equipment and discipline. They laid the foundations for the army to grow from 70,000 men in 1659 to 340,000 men in 1695/97.

In 1677 he became chancellor and received the state seal. Strictly Catholic, like his son he was an advocate for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and signed the corresponding decree shortly before his death. He saw this as the crowning glory of his career.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Uwe Schultz : The ruler of Versailles. Louis XIV and his time. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54989-6 , p. 78.
2. ↑ Klaus Malettke : The Bourbons. Volume 1: From Heinrich IV. To Louis XIV. 1589–1715. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-17-020581-9 , p. 179.
3. ↑ Pierre Gaxotte: Ludwig XIV. 1978, p. 82.
4. ↑ Matthias Rogg : The origins: knights, mercenaries, soldiers. Military history up to the French Revolution in 1789. In: Karl-Volker Neugebauer (Hrsg.): Basic course in German military history. Volume 1: The time until 1914. From the warband to the mass army. 2nd, revised and revised edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-59009-8 , pp. 1–121, here p. 90.
5. ↑ Klaus Malettke: Ludwig XIV. In: Peter C. Hartmann (Hrsg.): French kings and emperors of the modern times. Beck, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-406-38506-0 , pp. 189-236, here pp. 218 f.
6. ↑ Uwe Schultz: The ruler of Versailles. Louis XIV and his time. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54989-6 , p. 291.

literature

• Pierre Gaxotte : Louis XIV. France's rise in Europe (= Bastei-Lübbe. 61031). License issue. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1978, ISBN 3-404-00878-2 , pp. 79-81.
• Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon. Volume 12: L to Lyra. 6th, completely revised and enlarged edition. New imprint. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig et al. 1908, p. 453, ( digitized version ).

predecessor	Office	successor
François Sublet de Noyers	Minister of War of France 1643–1666	François-Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Louvois