This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Coat of Arms of the du Blé family, Burgundy.

Nicolas Chalon du Blé, (born at Chalon-sur-Saône in 1652, died in Paris in 1730), inherited the titles of marquis of Uxelles and Cormatin. He was also created a knight and Marshal of France by Louis XIV, and was a diplomat for Louis XIV and Philippe II, Duke of Orleans. 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. ^[1]

Second heir 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 a protege of Camille le Tellier de Louvois. 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 Place de Mayence fortress in Mainz when the French army was forced to retreat.

Map of the Siege of Mayence, in 1689. Engraving, Paris, 1756

Blé tried to withstand the siege against the Imperial forces, but eventually had to capitulate and took a shameful return to Paris.

Despite his derided retreat, Blé managed to maintain the favor of the King and the Secretary of State for War. After having been granted the fief of Rougemont-le-Château (1696), Blé received the rank of Marshall in 1703. 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.

Blé was one of the aristocratic architects of the polysynody system of government, and obtained the first presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs, (1715-1718) when the regency of Philippe II began. This appointment was made against the better judgement of the 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 Saint-Simon. According to one source, the Regent even made Blé kiss the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, which allied France with Britain and the Dutch Republic against Spain. ^[2]

Nicolas Chalon du Blé was one of the most notable homosexuals of his age, known for his attraction to young valets as well as aspiring officers whom he "domesticated". ^[3] He died in Paris in 1730.

[edit] References

1. ^ The Man Who Would Be King; The Life of Philippe d'Orleans, Regent of France by Christine Pevitt. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in Great Britain, 1997.
2. ^ Man
3. ^ Man