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Simon Arnauld de Pomponne,Seigneur and thenMarquis (1682) ofPomponne (November 1618 inParis – 26 September 1699 inFontainebleau) was aFrench diplomat and minister.
Simon Arnauld was born in Paris in 1618. He was son ofRobert Arnauld d'Andilly, governor ofMonsieur and "intendant d'armée" underRichelieu, and of Catherine Le Fevre de la Boderie. A member of the famousJansenist familyArnauld (his siblings wereAntoine Arnauld andAngélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly), he was namedSimon Arnauld de Briottes until 1643, then Simon Arnauld d'Andilly from 1643 to 1660, and eventually Simon Arnauld de Pomponne, after the estate of Pomponne, which was left to him by his mother, when he got married in 1660.
After being taught byMartin Barcos, he entered the world of the "précieuses", attending the salon of Mme de Rambouillet with several members of his family. He wrote a number of poems for the "Guirlande de Julie", and was a friend of important writers, such asMarie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné,Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, and DukeFrançois de La Rochefoucauld.
He began his career as an intendant of the French garrison inCasale, where he staid from 1642 to 1647. Then, supported byMazarin andMichel Le Tellier, he was appointed "intendant d'armée" inItaly, inParis during theFronde, and inCatalonia.
He first acted as a diplomat in 1655, having to negotiate and sign a treaty with the Duke ofMantua, a mission he was to achieve outstandingly. However, as Jansenism began to widespread, his uncleAntoine Arnauld became one of its leaders, and his own father decided to retire inPort-Royal-des-Champs. In 1658, Mazarin thus refused to let him become chancellor ofMonsieur,Louis XIV's own brother. Worse, Pomponne turned to be both a client and a friend ofNicolas Fouquet and married one of his cousins, which caused his exiles inVerdun, in eastern France (1662–1664), then to his estate of Pomponne (1664–1665).
Though he was allowed back to Paris by the King only in 1665, his friendships with Michel Le Tellier, Le Pelletier andHugues de Lionne enabled him to be promoted as ambassador toSweden. His part was to prevent it from entering theTriple Alliance (1665–1668). Even if Sweden strengthened its links with theUnited Provinces, Pomponne gave the King complete satisfaction and so was entrusted a new mission, this time in the United Provinces (1668–1671). In 1671, however, he was recalled to Sweden for the delicate mission of forging a new alliance between Sweden and France. Therefore, the United Provinces were isolated on a diplomatic scale and could be attacked by Louis XIV.
After Hugues de Lionne, Secretary of State for Foreign affairs, died in September 1671, Simon Arnauld de Pomponne was brought to the board of which he remained in charge until 1679. His style is one of a real diplomat, trying to find agreements with other countries in wartime, andLouvois, Secretary of State for War, was more aggressive and keen to fight. From 1673 to 1675, when the ardently-Catholic English courtierEdward Colman asked the French Government for large sums of money to persuade KingCharles II to pursue a pro-French policy, Pomponne showed his strong common sense by telling his own King firmly that Charles' support was not worth bidding for. While Pomponne managed to obtain theTreaty of Nijmegen (1678), he was eventually dismissed at a time when Louis wanted to conduct a more warlike foreign policy (18 November 1679).
However, Louis remained favourable to him since his estate of Pomponne became a marquisate in 1682, and his sons were offered a regiment and an important abbey. The King called him back in 1691 (as a member of theConseil d'en haut but without the charge of a specific board), right after Louvois's death and fostered the marriage of the son of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, themarquis de Torcy, with Pomponne's daughter. Pomponne still played an important role in French policy in the 1690s.
He died inFontainebleau in 1699.
