François Sublet de Noyers

François Sublet de Noyers (1589 – 20 October, 1645), one of Cardinal de Richelieu's political creatures, who derived his position and political weight from the Cardinal's consistent patronage, was a secretary of state to Louis XIII, and a member of his Conseil du Roi. He was a knowledgeable patron of arts.

Sublet de Noyers held the posts of intendant des finances, then of Secretary of war, reorganizing the army in Picardie and Champagne, an example of the developing tradition of professional administrators in the kingdom. He was superintendent of the Bâtiments du Roi, charged with overseeing all constructions undertaken on the part of the Crown, and a patron consequently of public art, but also a private patron.

He came from an aristocratic family with a history of service to the French monarchy and an unshakeable Catholic faith, that came to prominence at Blois with the sons of Jean Sublet, two of whom were ennobled towards the end of the reign of Charles IX. At the end of the 16th century the family found itself established in the Marais quarter of Paris and in Normandy, where the demesne of Noyers lay in the baillage of Gisors.

François Sublet de Noyers was the early protégé of his uncle, Jean Bochart, president of the parlement de Paris and surintendant des finances, who paved his nephew's way in the Conseil des finances. François was the effective head of the family upon the retirement of his father to the Carthusian monastery of Paris. In 1613 he married Isabelle Le Sueur, daughter of a maître des comptes, who brought him a solid dowry and further connections with the noblesse de robe.

Distant relations of the Bochart de Champigny family with Richelieu placed François in the Cardinal's orbit, under the high patronage of Queen Marie de Medici and the prince de Condé. At the beginning of the 1630s Richelieu placed him in supervision of the armies of Champagne and Picardy in which post Sublet de Noyers distinguished himself in particular with the fortifications undertaken under his surveillance, and he gained useful field experience.

...
Wikipedia