François Honorat de Beauvilliers duc de Saint-Aignan

François-Honorat de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan (30 October 160716 June 1687), born in Paris, was a French military leader, administrator and man of letters. He was peer of France and a member of the Académie française.

Biography

He was the son of Honorat de Beauvilliers, comte de Saint-Aignan (1579–1622) and of Jacqueline de La Grange d'Arquian. After having been through the campaigns in

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(1634–1635), Franche-Comté (1636), and

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(1637), was sent to the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stor ...

in consequence of his having lost the Battle of Thionville in 1640. In reward for his devotion to the court party during the

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...

, his county of Saint-Aignan was elevated to a dukedom in 1663, with the special privilege of the peerage (''duché-pairie''), making him one of the highest ranking aristocrats of the kingdom of France. Beauvilliers was famous by his protection of writers and literary people, as well as by his military skills and services. He entered the Académie française in 1663. The 1st duc de Saint-Aignan died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

in 1687. He was the father of the influential duc de Beauvilliers, as well as of

Anne Marie de Bethune Anne Marie de Beauvilliers (1610–1688), was a French court official. She served as the ''dame d'atour'' to the queen of France, Queen Marie Thérèsethe consort of King Louis XIV from 1660 to 1683. She was a figure in the French royal court ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francois de Beauvilliers, 1st Duc De Saint-Aignan Beauvillier, Francois de Beauvillier, Francois de Members of the Académie Française 17th-century peers of France Peers created by Louis XIV

Biography

See also

References