View source for René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis of Argenson

{{Short description|French politician (1694–1757)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name           = René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis d' Argenson
|image          = René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' Argenson.jpg
|caption        = René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, Marquis d' Argenson
|office1        = Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|term_start1    = November 1744
|term_end1      = January 1747
|predecessor1   = [[Adrien Maurice de Noailles|duc de Noailles]]
|successor1     = [[Louis Philogène Brûlart, vicomte de Puisieulx|Comte de Puisieux]]
|office2        = [[Intendant (government official)|Intendant]] [[French Hainaut]]
|term_start2    = 1720
|term_end2      = 1724
|predecessor2   = Jean-Charles Doujat
|successor2     = Félix Aubery de Vastan
|office3        = Governor of [[Épernay]]
|term_start3    = 1727
|term_end3      = 1770
|predecessor3   = Carloman Philogène Brulart, Comte de Sillery
|successor3     =
|birth_date     = 18 October 1694
|birth_place    = [[Paris]]
|death_date     = 26 January 1757
|death_place    = [[Saint-Sulpice-de-Favières]]
|nationality    = French
|party          =
|otherparty     = [[Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]]
|spouse         = Marie Madeleine Méliand
|children       = [[Marc Antoine René de Voyer|Marc Antoine]] (1722-1787)
|alma_mater     = [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand]]
|signature      =
}}
'''René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis of Argenson''' (18 October 1694{{snd}}26 January 1757) was a politician who served as [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]] from November 1744 to January 1747 and was a friend of [[Voltaire]]. His younger brother, [[Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson|Marc-Pierre, Count of Argenson]] (1696-1764), was [[Minister of the Armies (France)#From 1589 to 1791 (Ancien Régime) Secretary of State of War|Minister of War]] from 1743 to 1757.
==Life==
René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy was born 18 October 1694, eldest son of [[Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1652-1721)|Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson]] (1652-1721) and Marguerite Le Fèvre de Caumartin (1672-1719).<ref>{{cite web |title=René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson |url=https://gw.geneanet.org/frebault?lang=en&pz=henri&nz=frebault&p=rene+louis&n=de+voyer+de+paulmy+d+argenson |website=Geneanet |access-date=9 August 2019}}</ref> He had a younger brother, [[Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson|Marc-Pierre, Comte d'Argenson]] (1696-1764), who served as [[Minister of the Armies (France)#From 1589 to 1791 (Ancien Régime) Secretary of State of War|Minister of War]] from 1743 to 1747.
His father was [[Lieutenant general (France)|Lieutenant General of Police]] and [[Controller-General of Finances]], one of the most important positions in the [[Ancien Régime]]. He was a member of the ''Noblesse de robe'' or [[Nobles of the robe]], a class that formed the [[Estates of the realm#Second Estate|Second Estate]] whose rank derived from holding judicial or administrative posts. They were usually hard-working professionals, unlike the aristocratic ''Noblesse d'épée'' or [[Nobles of the Sword]].{{sfn|Gasper|2013|p=244}} His [[Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1623–1700)|grandfather]] and [[René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson|great-grandfather]] both served as French ambassador to the [[Republic of Venice]].
==Career==
D'Argenson qualified as a lawyer, and held successively the posts of councillor at the [[Parlement]] (1716), ''[[maître des requêtes]]'' (1718), councillor of state (1719), and [[Intendant (government official)|Intendant]] of justice, police and finance in [[French Hainaut|Hainaut]]. During his five years’ tenure of the last office he was mainly employed in provisioning the troops, who were suffering from the economic confusion resulting from [[John Law (economist)|John Law's]] system and the aftermath of the [[Mississippi Bubble]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}}
D'Argenson returned to court in 1724 to exercise his functions as councillor of state. At that time he had the reputation of being a conscientious man, but ill-adapted to intrigue, and was nicknamed "la bête". He entered into relations with the philosophers, and was won over to the ideas of reform. He was the friend of [[Voltaire]], who had been a fellow-student of his at the Jesuit college [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand|Louis-le-Grand]], and a leading member of the [[Club de l'Entresol]], an early modern [[think tank]], the history of which he wrote in his memoirs.<ref>{{citation |author=René Louis d'Argenson |title=Mémoires et journal inédit |date=1857 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1JwPAAAAQAAJ |publisher=[[Pierre Jannet (bibliographer)|Pierre Jannet]] |location=Paris}}</ref> It was then that he prepared his ''Considérations sur le gouvernement de la France'', which was published posthumously by his son.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}}
D'Argenson was also the friend and counsellor of the minister [[Germain Louis Chauvelin]]. In May 1744 he was appointed member of the council of finance, and in November of the same year King [[Louis XV]] chose him as secretary of state for foreign affairs, his brother, [[Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d'Argenson|Marc-Pierre, Comte d'Argenson]], being at the same time secretary of state for war. France was at that time engaged in the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], and the government had been placed by Louis XV virtually in the hands of the two brothers. The marquis d’Argenson endeavoured to reform the system of international relations. He dreamed of a "European Republic",{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}} and wished to establish arbitration between nations in pursuance of the ideas of his friend the [[abbé de Saint-Pierre]]. But he failed to realize any part of his projects. The generals negotiated in opposition to his instructions; his colleagues laid the blame on him; the intrigues of the courtiers passed unnoticed by him; whilst the secret diplomacy of the king neutralized his initiative. He concluded the marriage of the [[Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765)|Louis, the Dauphin]] to
[[Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France|Maria]], a daughter of King [[Augustus III of Poland]], but was unable to prevent the election of the [[Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis, Grand-Duke of Tuscany]] as [[Holy Roman Emperor]] in 1745.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}}
On 10 January 1747 Louis XV thanked d'Argenson for his services. He then retired into private life, eschewed the court, associated with Voltaire, Condillac and d’Alembert, and spent his declining years in working at the [[Académie des Inscriptions]], of which he was appointed president by the king in 1747, and revising his ''Mémoires''. Voltaire, in one of his letters, declared him to be "the best citizen that had ever tasted the ministry".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}} He died on 26 January 1757.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=458}}
==Works==
D'Argenson left a large number of manuscript works, of which his son, [[Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1722-1787)|Marc Antoine René, Marquis de Paulmy]], published the ''Considérations sur le gouvernement de France'' (Amsterdam, 1764) and ''Essais dans le goût de ceux de Montaigne'' (Amsterdam, 1785). The latter, which contains many useful biographical notes and portraits of his contemporaries, was republished in 1787 as ''Loisirs d’un ministre d’état''. D'Argenson's most important work, however, is his ''Mémoires'', covering in great detail the years 1725 to 1756, with an introductory part giving his recollections since the year 1696. They are, as they were intended to be, valuable "materials for the history of his time". There are two important editions, the first, with some letters, not elsewhere published, by the marquis d’Argenson, his great-grand-nephew (5 vols., Paris, 1857 et seq.); the second, more correct, but less complete, published by J. B. Rathery, for the Société de l’Histoire de France (9 vols., Paris, 1859 et seq.). The other works of the marquis d’Argenson, in MS., were destroyed in the fire at the [[Louvre]] library in 1871.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=458–459}}
==Family==
D'Argenson married and had a son:
* [[Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson (1722-1787)|Marc Antoine René de Voyer]] (1722–1787),  known as the marquis de Paulmy, served as Minister of War and was a noted [[bibliophile]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=458–459}}
==Influence==
In 1909, the anarchist [[Peter Kropotkin]] credited d'Argenson with making the study of politics, constitutions, and elective representation popular in the 18th century<ref>{{cite book
| title=The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793
| chapter=Chapter 2
| author=Peter Kropotkin
| year=1909
| translator=N. F. Dryhurst
| publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
| url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=214
}}</ref> and for being an early advocate of communist or communal possession of the land.<ref>{{cite book
| title=The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793
| chapter=Chapter 3
| author=Peter Kropotkin
| year=1909
| translator=N. F. Dryhurst
| publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
| url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=215
}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Argenson |volume=2 |display=Argenson s.v. René Louis de Voyer de Paulmy |pages=457–460}} Endnotes:
* {{cite book |last1=Gasper |first1=Julia |title=The Marquis d'Argens: A Philosophical Life |date=2013 |publisher=Lexington |isbn=978-0739182338 }}
**Levasseur. "Le Marquis d’Argenson£ in the ''Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques'', (vol. lxxxvii., 1868)
** E. Zevort, ''Le Marquis d’Argenson et le ministère des affaires étrangères'', (Paris, 1880)
**G. de R. de Flassan, ''Histoire de la diplomatie française'', (2nd ed., 1811)
**Voltaire, ''Siècle de Louis XV''
**E. Boutaric, ''Correspondance secrète inédite de Louis XV'', (1866)
**E. Champion, "Le Marquis d’Argenson", in the ''Révolution française'', (vol. xxxvi., 1899)
**A. Alem, ''D’Argenson économiste'' (Paris, 1899)
**Arthur Ogle, ''The Marquis d’Argenson'' (1893)
==External links==
* {{cite web |title=René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson |url=https://gw.geneanet.org/frebault?lang=en&pz=henri&nz=frebault&p=rene+louis&n=de+voyer+de+paulmy+d+argenson |website=Geneanet |access-date=9 August 2019}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title=[[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|Foreign Minister of France]]
|before=[[Adrien Maurice, duc de Noailles]]
|after=[[Louis Philogène Brûlart, vicomte de Puisieulx]]
|years=19 November 1744{{snd}}10 January 1747
}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Argenson, Rene Louis De Voyer De Paulmy D'}}
[[Category:1694 births]]
[[Category:1757 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Paris]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]]
[[Category:18th-century French politicians]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Argenson|Rene-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d']]
[[Category:French bibliophiles]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophers]]
[[Category:Age of Enlightenment]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of France]]
[[Category:Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni]]