Hugues de Lionne (11 October 1611 – 1 September 1671) was a French statesman. He was born in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint-A ...

, of an old family of

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th cent ...

. Early trained for

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

, he fell into disgrace under

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, but his remarkable abilities attracted the notice of

Cardinal Mazarin Cardinal Jules Mazarin (, also , , ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino () or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis XI ...

, who sent him as secretary of the French embassy to the congress of Munster, and, in 1642, on a mission to the

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. In 1646 he became secretary to the queen

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (french: Anne d'Autriche, italic=no, es, Ana María Mauricia, italic=no; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 unt ...

; in 1653 obtained high office in the kings household; and in 1654 was ambassador extraordinary at the election of

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice-papal legate, and ...

. On the death of Ferdinand III, Hugues co-led the French effort to select an Emperor outside the Habsburg family. He and the Cardinal cultivated relationships with German nobility, including

Franz Egon of Fürstenberg Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

, prime minister of Cologne, and his brother Wilhelm. With their help, Hugues was instrumental in forming the

league of the Rhine The League of the Rhine (also known as the ''Erster Rheinbund'', First Rhine- Bund; or the ''Rheinische Allianz'' - Rhenish Alliance) was a defensive union of more than 50 German princes and their cities along the River Rhine, formed on 14 Aug ...

, by which

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

was cut off from the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...

, and, as minister of state, was associated with Mazarin in the

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees (french: Traité des Pyrénées; es, Tratado de los Pirineos; ca, Tractat dels Pirineus) was signed on 7 November 1659 on Pheasant Island, and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were ...

(1659), which secured the marriage of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

to the infanta

Maria Theresa of Spain Maria Theresa of Spain ( es, María Teresa de Austria; french: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal ...

. At the cardinals dying request he was appointed his successor in foreign affairs, a position he held from 3 April 1663 to 1 September 1671. Among his most important diplomatic successes were the

Treaty of Breda (1667) The Peace of Breda, or Treaty of Breda was signed in the Dutch city of Breda, on 31 July 1667. It consisted of three separate treaties between England and each of its opponents in the Second Anglo-Dutch War: the Dutch Republic, France, and De ...

, the

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) __NOTOC__ The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle or Aachen ended the War of Devolution between France and Spain. It was signed on 2 May 1668 in Aachen (french: Aix-la-Chapelle). Spain acceded on 7 May 1669. The treaty was mediated and guaranteed by th ...

and the

Sale of Dunkirk The Sale of Dunkirk took place on when Charles II of England sold his sovereign rights to Dunkirk and Fort-Mardyck to his cousin Louis XIV of France. Context Dunkirk was occupied by English forces of the Protectorate in 1658, when it was capture ...

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1671, leaving memoirs. His friend Arnauld de Pomponne replaced him as secretary of State. He was a man of pleasure, but his natural indolence gave place to an unflagging energy when the occasion demanded it; and, in an age of great ministers, his consummate statesmanship placed him in the front rank. One of his sons,

Artus de Lionne Artus de Lionne (1655–1713), abbé and Bishop of Rosalie '' in partibus infidelium'', in Turkey, was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was a son of Louis XIV's Foreign Minister, Hugues de Lionne.''Rituals of majesty: ...

, became a missionary of the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (french: Société des Missions Etrangères de Paris, short M.E.P.) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons d ...

, and was active in

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

(modern Thailand) and China.

References

* * Ulysse Chevalier, ''Lettres inédites de Hugues de Lionne précédées d'une notice historique sur la famille de Lionne'' (Valence, 1879) * * Adolphe Rochas
''Biographie du Dauphiné'' (Paris, 1860), tome ii. p. 87.
* Jules Valfrey
''La diplomatie française au XVII^e siècle
Hugues de Lionne, ses ambassadeurs'' (2 vols., Paris, 1877–1881) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lionne, Hugues de 1611 births 1671 deaths Politicians from Grenoble 17th-century French diplomats French Foreign Ministers Ambassadors of France to the Holy See Ambassadors of France to Prussia