René Louis d'Argenson

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René-Louis d'Argenson

René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d'Argenson , (born October 18, 1694 in Paris , † January 26, 1757 ibid) was a French politician, diplomat and man of letters.

Life

D'Argenson (as he is usually called in French historiography) came from the noble family de Voyer d'Argenson, who originally came from Touraine and had been high officials in the French crown for several generations. His father Marc René d'Argenson held the post of chief police chief ( lieutenant général de police ) until 1720 , his younger brother of the same name from 1721.

After studying at the Jesuit College Louis-le-Grand and at the Paris Law School (where he was a classmate and studymate of Voltaire ) D'Argenson served as head of administration ( intendant ) of the French parts of the county of Hainaut (Hainaut) from 1720 to 1724 . He was then appointed a member of the State Council.

In November 1744, several months after France officially entered the anti- Habsburg alliance and thus in the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48), he was appointed Foreign Minister. As such, he tried to give France the role of arbitrator in Europe, to bring Prussia , which had achieved its war aims against Austria in 1742, back into the alliance and to bring together a pro-French alliance of Italian states under the leadership of Piedmont .

In 1747 he was dismissed, among other things because he was accused of not having diplomatically used the French victory over the English and Dutch troops in the Battle of Fontenoy (1745).

He withdrew from politics, devoted himself to historical studies and writing, and was elected chairman of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , of which he had been a member since 1733. As a member of the so-called Club de l'Entresol around the enlightened d'Holbach , he was an important partisan of the Paris enlightenment philosophers due to his high position and as a personal friend of Voltaire.

Works

Considérations sur le gouvernement ancien et présent de la France , a very important text for the knowledge of internal conditions in France at the time, and Les loisirs d'un ministre d'état were published from his estate . His memoirs are also of value for contemporary history.

literature

  • Edgar Zevort: Le Marquis d'Argenson et le Ministère des Affaires Étrangères du 18 Novembre 1744 au 10 Janvier 1747. Germer Bailliére et Cie., Paris 1880, ( digitized ).
  • Peter Gessler: René Louis d'Argenson 1694-1757. His ideas about self-government, unitary state, welfare, etc. Freedom in biogr. Context . Helbing & Lichtenhahn Basel, 1957. DNB 57198391X

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Considérations sur le gouvernement ancien et présent de la France. Marc Michel Rey, Amsterdam 1764.
  2. ↑ Les loisirs d'un ministre d'état, ou essais dans le goût de ceux de Montagne. Composés en 1736. 2 volumes. sn, Amsterdam (recte: Paris) 1787.
  3. ↑ Edme JB Rathéry (ed.): Journal et Mémoires du Marquis d'Argenson. 9 volumes. Renouard, Paris 1859–1867.
predecessor Office successor
Adrien-Maurice de Noailles Foreign Minister of France
November 19, 1744 - January 10, 1747 		Louis Philogène Brûlart
personal data
SURNAME Argenson, René Louis d '
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Argenson, René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d '(full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French politician, diplomat and man of letters
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1694
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH January 26, 1757
Place of death Paris