René de Longueil
Encyclopedia
Superintendent of Finances
The Superintendent of Finances was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1561 to 1661. The position was abolished in 1661 with the downfall of Nicolas Fouquet, and a new position was created, the Controller-General of Finances....
under Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
. He built the Château de Maisons
Château de Maisons
The Château de Maisons , designed by François Mansart from 1630 to 1651, is a prime example of French baroque architecture and a reference point in the history of French architecture...
.
He was born to a family of Parisian parlementaires of long-standing. He was councilor to the Parlement's Grand Conseil in 1618, then Premier Président de la Cour des aides in 1620. On 22 May 1622, he married Madeleine Boulenc de Crévecoeur (1609-1636) daughter of a rich magistrate of the Chambre des comptes
Chambre des comptes
Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit...
. They had four children before Madeleine de Longueuil died prematurely; her husband did not remarry.
In 1642, René de Longueil became Président à mortier
Président à mortier
The office of président à mortier was one of the most important legal posts of the French ancien régime. The présidents were principal magistrates of the highest juridical institutions, the parlements, which were the appeal courts....
to the Parlement de Paris, a high position in the judicial hierarchy. In 1645, he was appointed governor of the châteaux of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale ....
and of Evreux; however, with the death of his patrons Cardinal Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643) he was forced to be reconciled with Cardinal Mazarin, distrustful of the parlementaires, in spite of his personal attachment to prince de Condé
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...
. His moderate attitude during the Fronde
Fronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
permitted him to come through uncompromised.
He was appointed Superintendent of Finance 23 May 1650. In mid-April 1651 he gave a sumptuous fête for Anne of Austria, the young Louis XIV and his brother Philippe, duc d'Anjou, which compromised the integrity of his position— as it would do disastrously for Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet
Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV...
at Vaux
Vaux-le-Vicomte
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is a baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, 55 km southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne département of France...
— and at the majority of Louis XIV Longeuil was relieved of his post., 5 September 1651. He remained a member of the Council with the title of Minister of State, and retained his parlementary position as Président à mortier. In 1653, his position as governor of châteaux was withdrawn. For five years he lived in exile at Maisons and at his residence at Glisolles, near the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Conches (Eure).
In 1656, Longueil married his daughter to the marquis de Soyecourt, who held an important court appointment, and began his return to royal favour. In 1658 his domaine at Maisons was made the seat of a marquisate. In 1671, René de Longueil received a royal visit of several days from Louis XIV.
He died in 1677.