René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou

Background

René Nicolas de Maupeou was born on February 25, 1714, in Montpellier, France, to a family ennobled in the sixteenth century as noblesse de robe.

Education

Maupeou was trained in law.

Career

In 1763, he became president of the Parlement of Paris, when his father was made keeper of the seals. The elder Maupeou resigned within 24 hours after assuming the chancellorship on September 15, 1768, and René-Nicolas was then appointed chancellor in his place.

In the following year Maupeou brought the abbé Joseph-Marie Terray into the ministry as controller general of finances. Terray’s plans to stabilize royal finances by levying taxes on the privileged classes were certain to meet with vigorous opposition from the Parlements. Hence Maupeou took the offensive by provoking the judges of the Parlement of Paris into calling a judicial strike. On the night of January 19–20, 1771, he ordered the magistrates of the Parlement to resume their duties. When nearly all the judges refused to comply, Maupeou exiled 130 of them to remote provinces and deprived them of their offices. The following month he established six regional courts that were to handle judicial matters in most of the vast area over which the Parlement of Paris had exercised jurisdiction. In April he set up a smaller version of the Parlement of Paris, but limited its activities to trying crown cases and registering royal edicts. Louis XV allowed Maupeou to suppress only two of the seven provincial Parlements.

Nevertheless, Maupeou’s decrees amounted to a coup d’état against the hereditary noblesse de robe, which he began to replace with appointed, salaried judges. Most important, he had denied the Parlement of Paris the right to veto royal edicts. As a result, Terray was able to proceed with his plans for tax reform.

Since Maupeou hoped to establish an enlightened royal despotism, his measures aroused the fury of the nobles and wealthy bourgeoisie whose interests had been protected by the Parlements and who, however desirous of reform, were by 1771 unwilling to accept it from the hands of the king and his ministers. Nevertheless, by the end of Louis XV’s reign, the chancellor’s new judicial system was operating successfully. After the accession of King Louis XVI in May 1774, however, Maupeou’s enemies gained the upper hand. Louis XVI restored the Parlements to their former powers and privileges in August, and Maupeou was forced into retirement.

René Nicolas de Maupeou lived in retreat, still holding the office of Chancellor (abolished July 1, 1790) until his death on July 29, 1792.

Achievements

• René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou was a powerful chancellor of France, who succeeded in temporarily depriving the Parlements (high courts of justice) of the political powers that had enabled them to block the reforms proposed by the ministers of King Louis XV.
  
  René Nicolas de Maupeou was awarded the Order of the Holy Spirit and the Order of St. Michael.

Connections

On January 22, 1744, René Nicolas de Maupeou married a rich heiress, Anne de Roncherolles. They had two sons.

Father:

René Charles de Maupeou

René Charles de Maupeou was a French politician, and chancellor of France during King Louis XV reign.

Mother:

Anne-Victoire de Lamoignon

Sister:

Anne Magdelaine Adélaïd de Maupeou

Wife:

Anne Marguerite Thérèse de Roncherolles

Son:

Charles Victor René de Maupeou

Son:

René Ange Augustin de Maupeou

Brother:

Louis Charles Alexandre de Maupeou