Pierre Séguier

Pierre Séguier (born May 28, 1588, Paris—died Jan. 28, 1672, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fr.) was the chancellor of France under kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, in the critical period during which monarchical power was consolidated.

Séguier was born into a family that had held many legal posts, and he followed the same career. In 1612 he purchased the office of counselor in the Parlement of Paris and in 1618 became a maître des requêtes at the king’s court. He was appointed intendant (administrator) of justice in Guyenne in 1621 and then intendant to the army in Aunis and Saintonge. In 1624 his uncle resigned as one of the presidents in the Parlement of Paris in his favour. He was chosen to replace the Marquis de Châteauneuf as keeper of the seals in 1633.

In 1635 Séguier became chancellor of France, the supreme legal officer, with tenure of that dignity for life. His adherence to the powerful cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin kept him in uninterrupted exercise of his functions until 1650. He was sent in 1637 to Val-de-Grâce to examine the papers of the queen of France, Anne of Austria, who was suspected of secretly corresponding with Spain. Some historians say he saved her by warning her of the investigation. In 1639 he was sent to supervise the repression of a revolt in Normandy. He presided in 1642 over the trial of the Marquis de Cinq-Mars, who was condemned to death for conspiring against Richelieu.

During the revolt of the Fronde, Séguier, like many others, vacillated, and in the last phase of the Fronde in Paris he was aligned with the rebel princes until August 1652. During those troubles, he was twice relieved of his functions (1650–51 and 1651–56). Early in the personal reign of Louis XIV, in December 1662, he was put in charge of the trial of the finance minister, Nicolas Fouquet, who had been accused of embezzlement, and he conducted it brutally enough to secure a verdict against Fouquet. From 1665 he presided over the new Council of Justice for the reform of the legal system.

Séguier was a patron of the arts; his library was one of the most valuable of the time. He succeeded Richelieu as protector of the French Academy, which from that time until his death held its sessions in his house.