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{{Short description|French general and Foreign Minister}}
{{Infobox noble
| name = Nicolas Chalon du Blé
| title = [[Peerage of France|Marquis of Uxelles and Cormatin]]
| image = HUXELLES (Nicolas Du Blé, maréchal d').jpg
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| more = no
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| father = Louis Chalon du Blé, Marquis of Uxelles
| mother = Marie Le Bailleul
| birth_date = 24 January 1652
| birth_place = [[Chalon-sur-Saône]], [[Kingdom of France|France]]
| christening_date =
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1730|04|10|1652|01|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
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| module = {{Infobox military person| embed=yes
| allegiance = {{Plainlist|
* {{flag|Kingdom of France}}
}}
| battles = {{Tree list}}
* [[Nine Years' War]]
** [[Siege of Philippsburg (1688)|Siege of Philippsburg]]
** [[Nine Years' War#Weapons, technology, and the art of war|Siege of Mainz]]
{{tree list/end}}
| battles_label = Wars
| awards = {{Plainlist|
* [[Order of the Holy Spirit]]
* [[Order of Saint Michael]]
}}
| rank = [[Marshal of France]]
| module =
}}
}}

'''Nicolas Chalon du Blé, [[marquis]] d'[[Uxelles]] and [[Cormatin]]''' (24 January 1652 – 10 April 1730) was a French general and Foreign Minister. He was also created a knight and [[Marshal of France]] by [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], and was a diplomat for [[Louis XIV]] and [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]].

==Biography==
[[Image:Blason Famille de Blé.svg|thumb|120px|left|Coat of Arms of the du Blé family, [[Burgundy (region)|Burgundy]].]]

===Early years===
du Blé was born at [[Chalon-sur-Saône]].

His appearance was described as tall and ruddy, with a huge wig and a hat pulled down over his eyes. He tended to hide his military orders and decorations under a plain, tightly buttoned coat.<ref name="Man">''The Man Who Would Be King; The Life of Philippe d'Orléans, Regent of France'' by Christine Pevitt. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in Great Britain, 1997.</ref>

Second son of Louis Chalon du Blé, marquis of [[Uxelles]] (who died in 1658 at the siege of [[Gravelines]]), and of Marie Le Bailleul (1626–1712), Nicolas Chalon du Blé became marquis d'Uxelles on the death of his elder brother in 1669. He was a protégé of [[Camille le Tellier de Louvois]].

===Military career===
{{See also| Nine Years' War }}
[[Image:Mayence 1689.jpg|thumb|Map of the Siege of Mayence, in 1689. Engraving, Paris, 1756]]
He was granted military leadership in 1688, during the Nine Years' War; he served as [[lieutenant general]] at the siege of [[Philippsburg]], and was charged with holding the [[Zitadelle Mainz|Place de Mayence fortress]] in [[Mainz]], when the French army was forced to retreat.

He initially defended during the [[Nine Years' War#Weapons, technology, and the art of war|Siege of Mainz]] against the [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|Grand Alliance]], from 1 June to 8 September 1689, but had to surrender, and was publicly booed upon his return to Paris. He retained the favor of [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois]] and [[Louis XIV of France]], and was rewarded with the fief of [[Rougemont-le-Château]] (1696), and he received the baton of Marshal, in 1703.

===Diplomatic career===
He took part as a diplomat at the preliminary conferences of [[Geertruidenberg]] on 9 March 1710, but the peace negotiations were broken by [[Louis XIV]] at the end of the following June. Chalon du Blé again represented the king during the negotiation for the [[Peace of Utrecht]] in 1713.

He was one of the aristocratic architects of the [[Polysynody|polysynody system of government]], and obtained the first presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs, (1715–1718) when the [[Régence|regency]] of Philippe II began. This appointment was made against the better judgement of the [[Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Regent]], who held different foreign policy aims than Blé, and who had been the target of scorn from Blé's social circle. The Regent made the decision primarily to keep his enemy in plain view rather than in subterfuge against the government.

As president of the Council of Foreign Affairs, Blé tended to the popular, traditional French view of favoring Catholic Spain over Protestant Great Britain. This was in contradiction to the Regent, who admired Britain's [[parliamentary system]] and open economy. When the [[Cellamare Conspiracy]] came to light in 1718, however, Blé gave up antagonizing the Regent and "became polite, agreeable, and ate from his hand" in the words of [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]]. According to one source, the Regent even made Blé kiss the [[Triple Alliance (1717)|Treaty of the Triple Alliance]], which allied France with Britain and the [[Dutch Republic]] against Spain.<ref name="Man"/>

Nicolas Chalon du Blé was one of the most notable [[homosexuality|homosexuals]] of his age, known for his attraction to young valets as well as aspiring officers whom he "domesticated".<ref name="Man"/><ref>Didier Godard, ''Le Goût de Monsieur. L'homosexualité masculine au XVIIe siècle'', editions H & O, Montblanc, 2002, page 171</ref> He died in Paris in 1730.

==References==
{{reflist}}

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{{Succession box
|title=[[Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
|before=[[Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Torcy]]
|after=[[Guillaume Dubois]]
|years= 23 September 1715 – 1 September 1718 }}
{{s-end}}

{{Foreign Ministers of France}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalon Du Ble, Nicolas}}
[[Category:1652 births]]
[[Category:1730 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Chalon-sur-Saône]]
[[Category:Marshals of France]]
[[Category:18th-century French military personnel]]
[[Category:17th-century French people]]
[[Category:17th-century French LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:18th-century French LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Uxelles]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Cormatin]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Nine Years' War]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession]]
[[Category:18th-century French diplomats]]
[[Category:LGBTQ nobility]]

Nicolas Chalon du Blé - Revision history

imported>Frietjes at 22:56, 25 April 2025