René de Longueil, marquis (1658) de Maisons (1596–1677),le président de Maisons, wasSurintendant des Finances underLouis XIV. He built theChâteau de Maisons.
He was born to a family ofParisianparlementaires of long standing that could trace back their origins to 1269.[1] He was councilor to the Parlement's Grand Conseil in 1618 and then Premier Président de laCour des aides in 1620. On 22 May 1622, he married Madeleine Boulenc de Crévecoeur (1609–1636) daughter of a rich magistrate of theChambre des comptes. They had four children before Madeleine de Longueuil died prematurely. René did not remarry.
In 1642, René de Longueil becamePrésident à mortier to theParlement de Paris, a high position in the judicial hierarchy. In 1645, he was appointed governor of the châteaux ofVersailles, ofSaint-Germain-en-Laye and ofEvreux; however, with the death of his patronsCardinal Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643) he was forced to be reconciled withCardinal Mazarin, distrustful of theparlementaires, in spite of his personal attachment toprince de Condé. His moderate attitude during theFronde permitted him to come through uncompromised.
He was appointed Superintendent of Finance 23 May 1650. In mid-April 1651 he gave a sumptuous fête for Anne of Austria, the young Louis XIV and his brother Philippe, duc d'Anjou, which compromised the integrity of his position— as it would do disastrously forNicolas Fouquet atVaux— and at the majority of Louis XIV Longeuil was relieved of his post, 5 September 1651. He remained a member of the council with the title of Minister of State, and retained his parliamentary position asPrésident à mortier. In 1653, his position as governor of châteaux was withdrawn. For five years he lived in exile at Maisons and at his residence at Glisolles, near the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Conches (Eure).
In 1656, Longueil married his daughter to the marquis de Soyecourt, who held an important court appointment, and began his return to royal favour. In 1658 his domaine at Maisons was made the seat of a marquisate. In 1671, René de Longueil received a royal visit of several days from Louis XIV.He died in 1677.
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The crest of the house of Longueil, as it can be found in the French town coat of arms ofMaisons-Laffitte, is the following: "Azure, three roses argent 2 + 1, a chief or three roses gules per fess".[2] It is worth mentioning that inMontreal in 1668 (i.e. during René's lifetime), the son of an innkeeper and a resident ofLongueil,Dieppe-bornCharles le Moyne, was ennobled byLouis XIV, establishing the title ofBaron de Longueuil. With the coat of arms that he received, the resemblance to that of the Parisian family is obvious and since a genealogical connection has yet to be established,[3] this design may have been made with René's acceptance or knowledge. The town ofLongueil (9 miles southwest ofDieppe) in France later adopted elements from the arms of thesebarons[4] (and to a certain extent also from the similar arms of René de Longueil's family of Paris[5]) in their coat of arms.[6] Furthermore, theCanadian city ofLongueuil, located next toMontreal, received in 2004, with the permission ofRaymond Grant, Baron de Longueuil, the coat of arms of the barons as its city crest.
