Nicolas Chalon du Blé

Nicolas du Blé with the Order of the Cross of the Holy Spirit, Marshal of France and diplomat Louis XIV.

Nicolas Chalon du Blé (born January 24, 1652 in Chalon-sur-Saône , † April 10, 1730 in Paris ), Marquis of Uxelles and Cormatin ( Saône-et-Loire department ), Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit and Marshal of France was a French military under Louis XIV and diplomat and foreign minister (1715-1718) under Louis XV. He is also known as Marshal d'Huxelles (or d'Uxelles).

Life

Nicolas Chalon du Blé came from an old Burgundian noble house and was born as the second son of Louis Chalon du Blé, Marquis of Uxelles (1619-1658), and Marie Le Bailleul (1626-1712). His father died as a highly decorated officer in the French army during the siege of Gravelines in 1658 , when Nicolas Chalon du Blé was just six years old. He became a protégé of François-Michel Le Tellier, marquis de Louvois and, like his father, pursued a military and diplomatic career. He was a highly intelligent man with many skills. In 1670, at the age of eighteen, he received the title of Capitaine général (political function in France until 1792) from Chalon-sur-Saône. He quickly made a career in the Royal Army in 1672, he was captain in the infantry , 1673 lieutenant colonel of a self-dug Regiment . He took part in the Dutch War and distinguished himself in the conquest of Ghent in 1678 . In 1683 he became Maréchal de camp , and in 1681 Inspector General of the French Infantry.

During the years of peace, between the Dutch War and the Palatinate War of Succession , Joseph de Montclar developed a nursery for fruit trees on the land of the Marquis of Uxelles, in Kintzheim and Haguenau .

Du Blé took part in the siege of Philippsburg in 1688 as Lieutenant-General . A year later, during the War of the Palatinate Succession, he was involved in the siege of Mainz (1689) , was able to hold the citadel against the imperial troops for a while, but finally had to retreat to Paris, where he was publicly whistled. Nevertheless, he retained the trust of the king and Louvois, was enfeoffed with Rougemont-le-Château and received the staff of the Maréchal de France on January 14, 1703 .

In 1709 he quit active military service, moved to Paris and moved to the diplomatic camp. As a general representative of Louis XIV. With the Abbé de Polignac at the inaugural conferences of Geertruidenberg (March 9, 1710). In 1713 he represented the crown in the peace negotiations in Utrecht . In the same year he was appointed governor of Alsace for his services to the crown and in 1714 was accepted into the Knightly Order of the Holy Spirit , which his father also wore. In 1715 he became city governor of Strasbourg . During this time he kept secret correspondence to Germany and Denmark.

Coat of arms of the du Blé family

After the death of the Sun King, Chalon du Blé was one of the founders of the Polysynody (multiple conciliation: replacement of all ministers of state by synods (committees, councils) each with a chairman as the system of government from 1715 to 1718 at the beginning of the so-called Régence (1715–1723)). He was a member of the newly created Regency Council and represented the French crown as chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers ( Conseil des Affaires étrangères ) from 1715 to 1718. He was later Minister of State from 1726 to 1729.

Du Blé was not married and was known as homosexual by reports of the time. After 1712 he is said to have had an affair (mariage) with Countess Wartenberg in Paris, whom he had met in Utrecht.

Single receipts

1. ↑ Maurice Lever: Les Bûchers de Sodome. Histoire des "infâmes" . Fayard, Paris 1985, ISBN 978-2-213-01553-8 .
2. ^ Didier Godard: Le Goût de Monsieur. L'homosexualité masculine au XVIIe siècle . editions H & O, Montblanc 2002, ISBN 978-2-84547-042-2 , p. 171 .
3. ↑ The now-living Europe or genealogical description of all now-living serene heads (etc.) With suppl. 8th ed . Ernst Ludw. Niedtens, 1727 ( google.de [accessed January 4, 2020]).

See also

• List of Foreign Ministers of France
• List of Marshals of France
• List of Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit

literature

• Michel Antoine: Le gouvernement et l'administration sous Louis XV. Dictionnaire biographique . Paris 1978, ISBN 2-222-02231-2 .
• Linda Frey: The Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession: An Historical and Critical Dictionary . Greenwood Press, Westport (Connecticut) 1995, ISBN 0-313-27884-9 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Torcy	Foreign Minister of France 23 September 1715 - 1 September 1718	Guillaume Dubois