The Maupeou family is a French aristocratic family from the Île-de-France, several representatives of which played a role as Controller-General of Finances or Chancellors in the history of the French monarchy.[1]

Family de Maupeou
CountryKingdom of France Kingdom of France
Founded
16th century
Founder
Vincent Maupeou
Titles

History

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Vincent Maupeou, the founder of the House of Maupeou, was a civil law notary at the Châtelet of Paris in the middle of the 16th century. His three sons, Pierre, Michel and Gilles, were ennobled together by letters patent from King Henry III of France on 12 January 1587.[2]

In 1692, Gilles-François de Maupeou inherited the town of Ableiges, which he developed and promoted to great success. In 1692, the hereditary title of Count of Ableiges was bestowed upon him by King Louis XIV of France.

The Maupeou family came to prominence with René Nicolas, Keeper of the Seals and last Lord Chancellor of the Ancien Régime, under the reign of Louis XV of France. In 1771, René Nicolas de Maupeou, then Chancellor since 1768, exiled 130 members of the Parlement in what amounted to a coup d'état to take back the judiciary,[3] thus restoring King Louis XV of France's authority over political reforms. At the time, the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI of France, approved the Chancellor's reforms despite a wave of hostility from the higher nobility and magistrates. Nonetheless, when Louis XVI acceded to the throne in 1774, he quickly dismissed Maupeou and the reforms he had implemented. In November of the same year, when the old parliaments were called back, he is claimed to have said: "If the king wants to lose his crown, he is master".[4]

The Maupeou family has been granted the Honours of the Court in the 17th century.

Branches

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The house of Maupeou is divided in four main genealogical branches, two remain today :

Vincent Maupeou
(+ 1575)
Pierre I de Maupeou
Lord of Monceau and of Bruyères
Michel de Maupeou
(+ 1590)
Gilles I de Maupeou
Lord of Ableiges
Pierre II de Maupeou
Lord of Monceau
René I de Maupeou
Lord of Bruyères
René II de Maupeou
Lord of Bruyères
Louis de Maupeou
(1631 - 1669)
René de Maupeou
Lord of Sablonnières

Notable members

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René Nicolas de Maupeou

References

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  1. ^ Bluche, François (2004). L'origine des magistrats du parlement de Paris au XVIIIe siècle. éditions Patrice du Puy. ISBN 2-908003-25-2.
  2. ^ Henri Gourdon de Genouillac (1869). Dictionnaire des anoblissements. libr. Bachelin-Deflorenne. maupeou.
  3. ^ "Rene Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou". Britannica.
  4. ^ Jean de Viguerie (1995). Robert Laffont (ed.). Histoire et Dictionnaire du temps des Lumières 1715-1789. ISBN 2221048105.
  5. ^ Now « Mousseau » in Évry