Charles III de Créquy

Charles III de Blanchefort-Créquy (1623 - 13 February 1687) was a French diplomat and general. He was a great-grandson of François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières. Charles III de Créquy was the eldest son of Charles de Créqui (died 1630), grandson of marshal Charles II de Blanchefort-Créquy (c. 1575-1638) and great-grandson of marshal François de Bonne (1543-1626), the last constable of France. His full titles were marquis de Créquy, prince then duke of Poix and Peer of France, knight of the king's orders, first gentleman of the chamber, governor of Paris and lieutenant-general of the king's armies.

Life

He served in the French army during the Thirty Years' War from 1642 to 1645 and in Catalonia in 1649. After the siege of Orbitello (1646), he was made lieutenant-general of the king's armies. To reward him for his loyal service during the king's minority, Anne of Austria and cardinal Mazarin made him comte de Créquy and raised him to a peer of France in 1652. Also, Louis XIV of France promoted Poix to a duchy-peerage in his favour, by letters patent at Melun in June 1662, registered with the Parliament of Paris on 15 December 1663, in virtue of letters of surannation on 11 December that year, and in the chambre des comptes on 12 April 1677. This peerage went extinct after the death of his only child Madeleine de Créquy, who had married Charles Belgique Hollande de La Trémoille - it included the town of Poix, the viscountcy of Esquennes, the châtellenie of Agnières, and the lands and lordships of Arnehou, Blangy, Cempuis, Croixrault, Eramecourt, Escantu, Essilières, Frettemolle, Hélincourt, la Rue Notre-Dame, Saint-Clair and Vandricourt.

He was ambassador to Rome in 1662 and there was insulted by the pro-Austrian pope Alexander VII in the Corsican Guard Affair. Alexander's Corsican Guard pulled down Charles' house, wounding his wife's servants and valets and killing one of Charles' pages. Louis XIV demanded that the governor of Rome, Alexander's nephew, come to apologise in person for this insult and that a pyramid be built in Rome in memory of the repairs.

Sources

• This article uses text from the Dictionnaire Bouillet.
• (French) http://famille.de.crequy.com/crequy05.htm

Persondata
Name	Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1623
Place of birth
Date of death	13 February 1687
Place of death