Pierre-Paul Riquet

Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos (; 29 June 1609 (some sources say 1604) – 4 October 1680) was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi.

Early life Born as Paul Riquet in Béziers, Languedoc, France, he was the eldest son of solicitor, state prosecutor and businessman François-Guillaume Riquet. As a youth, Riquet was only interested in mathematics and science.

Planning, financing, and construction of the Canal du Midi completely absorbed Riquet from 1665 forward. Numerous problems occurred, including navigating around many hills and providing a system that would feed the canal with water through the dry summer months. Advances in lock engineering and the creation of a 6 million cubic metre artificial lake, the Bassin de St. Ferréol which harvested water from streams on the Black Mountain near the Naurouze watershed,

For his achievements, he was created Baron of Bonrepos by King Louis XIV on 20 November 1666. Riquet acquired the seigneury of Caraman for his second son, Pierre-Paul II, and bought him a Brevet Lieutenant General of the Kings Armies in the French Guards. As Pierre-Paul II died without issue, he made his late brother's eldest son, Victor François de Riquet de Caraman (1698–1760), his heir in 1722.

Jean-Mathias de Riquet (1638–1714), who married Marie Madeleine de Broglie, daughter of Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie. After her death in 1699, he married Marie Louise de Montaigne, a daughter of Nicolas de Montaigne.