Pierre Seguier
| Pierre Séguier | |
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Pierre Seguier painted by Henri Testelin (ca. 1668).
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| Born |
28 May 1588 Paris, France |
| Died | 28 January 1672 (aged 83) Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France |
Pierre Séguier (French: [pjɛʁ seɡje]; 28 May 1588 – 28 January 1672) was a French statesman, chancellor of France from 1635.
Séguier was born in Paris to a prominent legal family originating in Quercy. His grandfather, Pierre Séguier (1504–1580), was président à mortier in the parlement of Paris from 1554 to 1576, and the chancellor's father, Jean Séguier, a seigneur d'Autry, was civil lieutenant of Paris at the time of his death in 1596.
Pierre was brought up by his uncle, Antoine Séguier, president and mortier in the parlement, and became master of requests in 1620. From 1621 to 1624 he was intendant of Guyenne, where he became closely allied with the duc d'Épernon. In 1624 he succeeded to his uncle's charge in the parlement, which he filled for nine years.
In this capacity he showed great independence with regard to the royal authority; but when in 1633 he became keeper of the seals under Richelieu, he proceeded to bully and humiliate the parlement in his turn. He became allied with the cardinal's family by the marriage of his daughter Marie with Richelieu's nephew, Pierre César du Cambout, marquis de Coislin, and in December 1635 he became chancellor of France. In 1637 Séguier was sent to examine the papers of the queen, Anne of Austria, at Val-de-Grâce. According to Anquetil, the chancellor saved her by warning her of the projected inquisition.
In 1639 Seguier was sent to punish the Normans for the insurrection of the Nu-Pieds, the military chief of the expedition, Gassion, being placed under his orders. He put down pillage with a strong hand, and was sufficiently disinterested to refuse a gift of confiscated Norman lands. He was the submissive tool of Richelieu in the prosecutions of Cinq-Mars and François Auguste de Thou in 1642. His authority survived the changes following on the successive deaths of Richelieu and Louis XIII, and he was the faithful servant of Anne of Austria and of Mazarin. His resolute attitude towards the parlement of Paris made the chancellor one of the chief objects of the hatred of the Frondeurs.
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