Claude Bouthillier

Claude Bouthillier, Sieur de Fouilletourte (1581 – 13 March 1652) was a French statesman and diplomat. He held a number of offices, including Secretary of State and Superintendent of Finances, and distinguished himself in diplomacy throughout the 1630s, particularly in respect to France's entry into the Thirty Years' War.

He was a shrewd diplomat who enjoyed exceptional favour with all factions of the French court, particularly Cardinal Richelieu and Marie de Medici. At the height of his power he was the second most powerful man in France after Richelieu himself.

Early life Claude Bouthillier was born in 1581, the son of Denis Bouthillier, a clerk in the service of François de La Porte, Cardinal Richelieu's maternal grandfather. When La Porte died, he left his professional law practice to Denis Bouthillier, as well as entrusting him with the well-being of La Porte's orphaned grandchildren. This created a strong connection between the La Porte and Bouthillier families and saw the Bouthilliers greatly increase their power and wealth.

Career Claude Bouthillier began his professional life as an advocate. In 1613 he became a councillor in the Parlement of Paris. In 1619 Richelieu recommended him to the queen-mother, Marie de Medici, which led to his position as "Executive Secretary to the Queen-mother". Denis Bouthillier, Lord of Rancé, was a state councillor and advisor of Marie de Medici. Denis' son, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, was the founder of the Trappist monastic order.

Claude Bouthillier married Marie de Bragelogne and had one child, Léon Bouthillier, comte de Chavigny (1608–1652). Léon quickly became an associate to his father, who took him with him from 1629 to 1632 to all the great courts of Europe, instructing him in diplomacy. In 1632 he was named secretary of state and seconded his father's work, so that it is not easy always to distinguish their respective parts. He was accompanied on various errands by Jean François Sarrazin. After the death of Louis XIII he had to give up his office; but was sent as plenipotentiary to the negotiations at Münster. He showed himself incapable, however, giving himself up to pleasure and fetes, and returned to France to intrigue against Mazarin. Arrested twice during the Fronde, and then for a short time in power during Mazarin's exile (April 1651), he busied himself with small intrigues which came to nothing. His many children married in several important aristocratic families, further establishing the Bouthillier family's influence.