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

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, of an old family of

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, 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 ...

. Early trained for

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

, he fell into disgrace under

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

, but his remarkable abilities attracted the notice of

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

, 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 is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. In 1646, he became secretary to the queen

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Anne of Austria Anne of Austria (; ; born Ana María Mauricia; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown ...

. In 1653, he obtained high office in the kings household and in 1654, he was ambassador extraordinary at the election of

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander 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 he held various d ...

. On the death of Ferdinand III, Hugues co-led the French effort to select an Emperor outside the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

family. He and the Cardinal cultivated relationships with German nobility, including Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, prime minister of Cologne, and his brother Wilhelm. With their help, Hugues was instrumental in forming the league of the Rhine, by which

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

was cut off from the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

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

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees(; ; ) was signed on 7 November 1659 and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were conducted and the treaty was signed on Pheasant Island, situated in the middle of the Bidasoa River on ...

(1659), which secured the marriage of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to the infanta

Maria Theresa of Spain Maria Theresa of Spain (; ; 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683) was Queen consort of France, Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infante, Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV ...

. 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 Denma ...

, 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 (). Spain acceded on 7 May 1669. Terms of the treaty The treaty was mediated and guaranteed by the ...

and the

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

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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, became a missionary of the

Paris Foreign Missions Society The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (, , MEP) is a Catholic Missionary order, missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular clergy, secular priests and Laity, lay persons dedicated to missionary wo ...

, and was active in

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

(modern Thailand) and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

References

Bibliography

* *

Ulysse Chevalier Cyr Joseph Ulysse Chevalier (24 February 1841 – 27 October 1923) was a French Catholic priest, bibliographer, and historian who specialized in the European Middle Ages. He is principally remembered for his ("Repertory of historical source ...

, ''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 People from Dauphiné (French province) Politicians from Grenoble 17th-century French diplomats Foreign ministers of France Ambassadors of France to the Holy See Ambassadors of France to Prussia