Nicolas de Neufville, 1st Duke of Villeroy (14 October 1598 – 28 November 1685) was a French nobleman and

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

. He was marquis then (from 1651) 1st duke of Villeroy and (from 1663)

peer of France The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...

, marquis d'Alincourt and lord of Magny, and acted as governor of the young

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 ...

. His son

François François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * Voltaire, Fran ...

succeeded him as duke. He was the lover of Catherine-Charlotte de Gramont.

Life

He was the son of Charles de Neufville (1566–1642), Marquis of Villeroy and of Alincourt, and his second wife, Jacqueline de Harlay. His grandfather Nicolas de Neufville served as a secretary of state under Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, and

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. ...

. Nicolas de Neufville studied at the court of Louis XIII as an enfant d’honneur. In 1615, he was made governor of the

Lyonnais The Lyonnais (, ) is a historical province of France which owes its name to the city of Lyon. The geographical area known as the ''Lyonnais'' became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy after the division of the Carolingian Empire. The disintegra ...

under his father's supervision – an effective governor, he served in that post until his father's death in 1642. He served in Italy with Lesdiguières and was promoted to

marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

on 20 October 1646 thanks to being the protégé of cardinal

Jules Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the Chief minister o ...

. In March 1646, the queen-mother made marshal de Villeroy governor of

, under Mazarin's authority chosen as "surintendent for the government and conduct of the king". It is difficult to attribute him any good or bad influence in the young king's education. He was made duke of Villeroy in September 1651 and admitted to the

peerage of France The Peerage of France () was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 during the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France () was held by the greatest, highest-ranking members of the Fr ...

in 1663. He served as

Grand Master of France The Grand Master of France () was, during the and Bourbon Restoration in France, one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France and head of the "", the king's royal household. The position is similar to that of Lord Steward in England. Histo ...

at Louis XIV's coronation and was made a knight of the

Order of the Holy Spirit The Order of the Holy Spirit (; sometimes translated into English as the Order of the Holy Ghost) is a French order of chivalry founded by Henry III of France in 1578. Today, it is a dynastic order under the House of France. It should not be c ...

on 31 December 1661. Louis XIV also made him head of the '' Conseil royal des finances'' in 1661, a role (of particular importance at the time of the suppression of the '' surintendance des finances'', but becoming largely honorific) he held until his death.

Hotel de Villeroy

In 1640 Nicolas de Villeroy built a ''

hôtel particulier () is the French term for a grand urban mansion, comparable to a Townhouse (Great Britain), British townhouse. Whereas an ordinary (house) was built as part of a row, sharing party walls with the houses on either side and directly fronting on a ...

'' on 34 rue des Bourdonnais in the center of Paris in the district of les Halles. The House was built on the grounds of a former mansion already belonging to the Villeroy family since 1370. It has a second entrance from 9 rue des Dechargeurs The beautiful courtyard of the building was frequently visited by the young King Louis XIV who lived in the nearby Palais Royal and played there as a child with his brother Philippe of France. The Hotel de Villeroy still exists today, and in 1984 it was protected as a historic monument. Part of it is today used by the International Exposition center Cremerie de Paris which hosted in June 2012 the Nike Barber Shop. The Barber Shop was the centre of the advertisement campaign of the US company

Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of Sneakers, athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equ ...

. Information tours are organised every month giving the public the possibility to discover the staircase and the courtyard of the Hotel de Villeroy.

Marriage

Nicolas married Madeleine de Blanchefort on 11 July 1617 and they had four children.

Children

# Charles de Neufville, Marquis of Alincourt (died 1645) # François de Neufville (1644–1730) Duke of Villeroy married Marguerite Marie de Cossé. # Françoise de Neufville (died 1701) married (1) Juist, Count of Tournon then (2) Henri, Duke of Chaulnes then (3) Jean Vignier, Marquis of Hauterive. # Catherine de Neufville (1639–1707) married

Louis, Count of Armagnac Louis of Lorraine (7 December 1641 – 13 June 1718) was the Count of Armagnac from his father's death in 1666. The ''Grand Squire of France'', he was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Guise, itself a cadet branch of the sovereign House ...

Arms

*''D'azur au chevron d'or, accompagné de trois croisettes ancrées du même.''Christophe Levantal, Ducs et pairs et duchés-pairies laïques à l'époque moderne : 1519—1790, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1996, p. 983, note 6, et 984, note 6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villeroy 1598 births 1685 deaths Dukes of Villeroy French generals Governors of the Children of France Marshals of France 17th-century peers of France House of Neufville Peers created by Louis XIV