Henri-Auguste de Loménie (1594 – 3 November 1666),

Count of Brienne The County of Brienne was a medieval county in France centered on Brienne-le-Château. Counts of Brienne * Engelbert I * Engelbert II * Engelbert III * Engelbert IV * Walter I (? – c. 1090) * Erard I (c. 1090 – c. 1120?) * Walter II ...

, Seigneur de La Ville-aux-Clercs was a French politician. He was secretary of state for the navy from 1615 to February 1643, and then

secretary of state for foreign affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

from 1643 to 1663 under Mazarin during the minority 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 Ver ...

. From the Loménie family (originating in Flavignac in Limousin), he was the son of

Antoine de Loménie Antoine de Lomenie, lord of La Ville-aux-Clerics (1560 - 17 January 1638 Paris) was a Secretary of the Navy under Louis XIII of 7 November 1613 to 10 August 1615, and Ambassador Extraordinary of France to England. He was the son of Martial Lomenie ...

, secretary of state to Henry IV and a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

convert. The Count de Brienne was naturally destined to public office. He traveled to Germany, Poland and Italy, by order of his father, the last as well prepare for his career. He was back in Paris towards the end of 1609, that he was noticed by Henry IV, who allowed him to attend the board sometimes.

Marie de Medici Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

, regent of France, commissioned him in 1614 to negotiate with some members of the ''États généraux'', "whose minds were unwell", and his clever response obtained from them the nomination of a president acceptable to the court. This success earned him in 1617, master of ceremonies and provost of king's orders. Until the death of his father, his principal occupation "was to accompany the King and gain the honor of his good graces, to which he succeeds." The British Embassy, where he was responsible for negotiating the marriage of

Henrietta Maria of France Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She wa ...

with the

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

. However, when he seemed to have met with success in its attempt at accommodatation, he was disowned by

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

and Richelieu. The kindness of the queen mother of Louis XI to him was also the affection of the princess to Madame de Brienne, his wife, the whole court knew to be the closest confidante of Anne of Austria. This influence kept him in power until the death of Mazarin, but before that time, his influence began to wane. The impairment of the Count of Brienne was not soon enough for the young and voluntary authority of Louis XIV; high diplomatic capacities should preferably also attract the attention of the king, a great kingdom was coming, and he had to carry and moderate both the ideas of the gigantic new prince, physical strength and moral well above that of the Count de Brienne. Hugues de Lyonne was charged in 1663, with the Department of Foreign Affairs, replacing him. He died in 1666. He wrote his memoirs for the instruction of her children: Memory containing the most remarkable events of the reign of Louis XIII and Louis XIV than to the death of Cardinal Mazarin.

Descendants

By a contract of 7 February 1623, he married (1602–1665), who brought him the title of

. They had seven children: *Marie-Antoinette (c. 1624 – 8 December 1704), married 4 June 1642 to Nicolas-Joachim, Marquis de Rouault de Gamaches (born 1621, died at Beauchamps on 22 October 1687) * (born 13 January 1636, died at Château-Landon 17 April 1698), became Secrétaire d'État des Affaires Ètrangères, succeeding his father from 24 August 1651 to 14 April 1663, Conseiller d’État on 12 September 1651, retired at Les Pères de l’Oratoire from 24 January 1664 to 12 June 1670, committed by a ''lettre de cachet'' to an insane asylum, the Abbey of Saint-Lazare, from 27 January 1674 to 1692 * Charles-François (born 1638, died 7 April 1720), Abbot of in Picardie from 1653 to 1720, Abbot of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre, and of Saint-Cyprien de Poitiers, received as '' docteur'' in the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

on 8 March 1665, appointed Bishop of Coutances by the king on 5 December 1666 and confirmed by papal bull of 12 December 1667, consecrated by

François de Harlay de Champvallon François de Harlay de Champvallon (François III de Harlay; 14 August 1625 – 6 August 1695) was the fifth Archbishop of Paris. Life and church Early years Harlay de Champvallon was born in Paris, the nephew of François de Harlay, archb ...

, Archbishop of Rouen, in the church of the Carmelite nuns at Saint-Denis on 19 February 1668, took possession of his diocese on 28 October 1668 * Alexandre-Bernard (born c. 1640, died 1673), joined the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem at the age of 5 on 16 June 1645, named Consul of Cairo and Alexandria by ''

lettres patentes Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

'' on 30 November 1647 and on 21 February 1656''Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhone'', B3359 fol.151 r°-153 v° cited by Guéraud Poumarède, "Naissance d'une institution, royale : les consuls de la nation française au levant et en Barbarie au XVIe et XVIIe siècles", ''Annuaire bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France'', 2001, p. 76 n.72
/ref> * Jeanne, died young * Madeleine, died young

Footnotes

References

* "Notice sur le Comte de Brienne" in introduction à ses Mémoires in ''Nouvelle Collection des Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France'' (Michaud-Poujoulat, publié en 1838)
"Notice sur le Comte de Brienne"
in Michaud and Poujoulat, ''Nouvelle Collection des Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France'', vol. 3, 1850. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lomenie, Henri-Auguste De, Comte De Brienne 1594 births 1666 deaths French Foreign Ministers Secretaries of State of the Navy (France) Counts of Brienne French memoirists 17th-century memoirists