Nicolas Chalon du Blé
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Nicolas Chalon du Blé, (born at Chalon-sur-Saône in 1652, died in Paris in 1730), was marquis of Uxelles and Cormatin, knight, and Marshall of France, as well as a diplomat for Louis XIV. He also obtained presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs.
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 was also an acquaintance of the Le Tellier family. As a protege of Camille le Tellier de Louvois, Chalon du Blé was granted military leadership during the War of the League of Augsburg. He served as lieutenant general at the siege of Philippsburg (1688); when the French army was forced to retreat, he was charged with holding the Place de Mayence fortress in Mainz/(Mayence). He tried to withstand the siege against the Imperial forces, but eventually had to capitulate and took a shameful return to Paris. He managed to maintain the favor of Louvois and of the King, and, avfter having been granted the fief of Rougemont-le-Château (1696), he received the rank of Marshall in 1703.
He took part, as a diplomat, at the preliminary conferences of Geertruidenberg (9 March 1710), but the peace negotiations were finally 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 architects of the polysynody system of government, and obtained the first presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs, (1715-1718), when the Régence began.
Nicolas Chalon du Blé died in Paris in 1730.
