Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon

Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguilon (July 31, 1720 - 1782) was a French statesman and a nephew of the marechal de Richelieu.

Related Topics:
July 31 - 1720 - 1782 - French - Statesman - Marechal de Richelieu

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He entered the army at the age of seventeen, and at the age of nineteen was made colonel of the regiment of Brie. He served in the campaigns in Italy during the War of the Austrian Succession, was seriously wounded at the siege of Château-Dauphin (1744), was taken prisoner (1746) and was made maréchal de camp in 1748. His marriage in 1740 with Louise Félicité de Brehan, daughter of the Comte de Plélo, coupled with his connection with the Richelieu family, gave him an important place at court. He was a member of the so-called parti devot, the faction opposed to Madame de Pompadour, to the Jansenists and to the parlement, and his hostility to the new ideas drew upon him the anger of the pamphleteers.

Related Topics:
Italy - War of the Austrian Succession - Château-Dauphin - 1744 - 1746 - Maréchal de camp - 1748 - 1740 - Louise Félicité de Brehan - Comte de Plélo - Richelieu - Madame de Pompadour - Jansenists

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In 1753 he was appointed commandant (governor) of Brittany and soon became unpopular in that province, which had retained a large number of privileges called "liberties." He first came into collision with the provincial estates on the question of the royal imposts (1758), but was then blamed for his inertia in the preparation of a squadron against England (1759), and finally alienated the parlement of Brittany by violating the privileges of the province (1762). In June 1764 the king, at the instance of d'Aiguillon, quashed a decree of the parlement forbidding the levying of new imposts without the consent of the estates, and refused to receive the remonstrances of the parlement against the duke.

Related Topics:
1753 - Brittany - Parlement - 1764

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On November 11, 1765 La Chalotais, the procureur of the parlement, was arrested, but whether at the instigation of d'Aiguillon is not certain. The conflict between d'Aiguillon and the Bretons lasted two years. In the place of the parlement, which had resigned, d'Aiguillon organized a tribunal of more or less competent judges, who were ridiculed by the pamphleteers and ironically termed the bailliage d'Aiguillon. In 1768 the duke was forced to suppress this tribunal, and returned to court, where he resumed his intrigue with the parti dewt and finally obtained the dismissal of the minister Choiseul (December 24, 1770).

Related Topics:
November 11 - 1765 - La Chalotais - 1768 - Choiseul - December 24 - 1770

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When Louis XV, acting on the advice of Madame du Barry, reorganized the government with a view to suppressing the resistance of the parlements, d'Aiguillon was made minister of foreign affairs, Maupeou and the Abbé Terray (1715-1778) also obtaining places in the ministry. The new ministry, albeit one of reform, was very unpopular, and was styled the "triumvirate." All the failures of the government were attributed to the mistakes of the ministers. Thus d'Aiguillon was blamed for having provoked the coup d'état of Gustavus III, king of Sweden, in 1772, although the instructions of the comte de Vergennes, the French ambassador in Sweden, had been written by the minister, the duc de la Vrillere.

Related Topics:
Louis XV - Madame du Barry - Minister of foreign affairs - Maupeou - Abbé Terray - Coup d'état - Gustavus III, king of Sweden - Comte de Vergennes

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D'Aiguillon, however, could do nothing to rehabilitate French diplomacy; he acquiesced in the first division of Poland, renewed the Family Compact, and, although a supporter of the Jesuits, sanctioned the suppression of the society. After the death of Louis XV he quarrelled with Maupeou and with the young queen, Marie Antoinette, who demanded his dismissal from the ministry (1774). He died, forgotten, in 1782. In no circumstances had he shown any special ability. He was more fitted for intrigue than for government, and his attempts to restore the status of French diplomacy met with scant success.

Related Topics:
Poland - Family Compact - Jesuits - Marie Antoinette

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He was the father of Armand, duc d'Aiguillon, who succeeded him as duc d'Aiguillon.

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