Paul de Beauvilliers, 2nd duc de Saint-Aignan
- Paul de Beauvilliers, 2nd duc de Saint-Aignan
Paul de Beauvilliers, count and later (1679) 2nd duc de Saint-Aignan (1648-1714), often referred to as the "duc de Beauvilliers", was a French government official under King Louis XIV.
Born in Saint-Aignan (then in the Berry province, now in the Loir-et-Cher "département"), he was the son of François de Beauvilliers, 1st duc de Saint-Aignan. First Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber ("Premier gentilhomme de la Chambre du roi") in 1666 (a high privilege whose recipient was in charge of ordering the servants and the doorkeepers attending the king in his public bedroom), he married the second daughter of Colbert in 1671.
Chairman of the Council of the Treasury ("conseil des Finances") in 1685, he became the governor of the Duke of Burgundy (1689), the duke of Anjou (future King Philip V of Spain) (1690), and the duke of Berry (1693), thus being in charge of the education of the three grandsons of Louis XIV.
In 1691 he entered the High Council ("Conseil d'en haut"), chaired by the king himself and in charge of secrets of State regarding religion, diplomacy, and war, where he dealt essentially with foreign policy matters.
In 1697, he ordered the "intendants" (heads of the royal administration in the provinces) to conduct a general survey whose conclusions, known as the "Mémoires", offer an interesting portrayal of France in the very end of the 17th century.
Close to the duke of Burgundy, his pupil and heir to the throne, he was one of the reformists who advocated a less centralized and absolute monarchy, and whose ideas were briefly applied after 1715 (see polysynody), although he did not live long enough to see it.
The duc de Beauvilliers died in Vaucresson, near Versailles, in 1714, one year before Louis XIV.
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