In Ancien Régime France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, a menin (mənɛ̃) was one of six gentlemen

Gentleman

The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...

 who were particularly attached to the person of the dauphin. They were also known as gentilshommes de la manche. The word originates in the Portuguese word menino (masculine) or menina (feminine, as in the title of the Vélasquez

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...

 painting Las Meninas

Las Meninas

Las Meninas is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures...

), meaning small or cute, where it denoted a young nobleman made a companion to the royal children. The word was used in France for the first time in 1680 when the household of the Grand Dauphin was set up.

Holders of this office during the Ancien Régime included marquis de Dangeau, the marquis de Mimeure

Jacques-Louis de Valon

Jacques Louis Valon, Marquis de Mimeure was a French soldier and poet.Menin to Louis, Dauphin of France , he entered on a military career and became lieutenant général. Louis XIV of France promoted the territory of Mimeure to a marquisate around 1697 for him.He wrote many verses which were not...

 and the comte du Muy

Louis Nicolas Victor de Félix d'Ollières

Louis Nicolas Victor de Félix d'Ollières , comte du Muy, comte de Grignan, was a French soldier and statesman from a family originating in Provence. He was made a member of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit in 1764.Former menin of the Dauphin, he remained so attached to him that he asked to be buried at...

. The Bourbon Restoration

Bourbon Restoration

The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon  – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...

 saw the return of many old court offices, and the duc d'Angoulême (dauphin from the accession of Charles X

Charles X of France

Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...

 in 1824) also had menins, including the marquis d'Osmond

Rainulphe d'Osmond

Charles Eustache Gabriel , known as Rainulphe d'Osmond, count then 5th Marquis of Osmond. He was one of the menins to duc d'Angoulême ....

.