Pierre Forget de Fresnes
Pierre Forget de Fresnes, Baron of Véretz and Fau, Lord of Fresnes and of La Ferté-Hubert, was a French nobleman and close associate of Henry IV. A diplomat, Forget is best known today as one of the principal drafters of the Edict of Nantes.
Early life
Pierre was born in into the nobility of Touraine. He was the second son of the Chevalier Pierre Forget, Lord of Bouchet and La Branchoire, and Françoise de Fortia.Career
Forget was Lord of Fresnes-sur-Marne, Baron of Véretz and of Fau. He served, successively, as the First Secretary of the Chamber and Receiver of the King's Stables, Royal Treasurer responsible for receiving payment for venal offices in 1576, Grand Audiencier of France and Secretary of Finances in 1577, Secretary of Finance to Henry of Navarre in 1576, Ambassador to Spain in 1589, Intendant General of the King's Buildings, Secretary of State for Protestant Affairs on 22 February 1589, which he resigned from on 21 April 1610, shortly before his death.In 1594, he acquired the Lordship of Fresnes from François d'O, where he built the Château de Fresnes. At the château, he drafted his famous Edict which was signed in Nantes in 1598. The estate eventually passed to his wife's family, and was inherited by her nephew, François de Beauvilliers, 1st Duke of Saint-Aignan, who sold it to Henri du Plessis-Guénégaud in 1641.
Edict of Nantes
He was appointed, as the King's Catholic advisor, with Daniel Chamier, a Huguenot minister who represented the other side, to negotiate and draft the Edict of Nantes on 28 February 1593.Personal life
On 28 February 1593, Forget was married to Anne de Beauvilliers de Saint-Aignan, Lady of La Ferté-Hubert, a daughter of Claude II de Beauvilliers, the Count of Saint-Aignan and of Marie Babou de la Bourdaisière. Her father was Governor and Lieutenant-General of Berry, Anjou and the City of Bourges. Among her siblings were Honorat de Beauvilliers and the abbesses Claude de Beauvilliers and Marie de Beauvilliers, who became one of the many mistresses of King Henry IV, when he lodged at the Montmartre Abbey while laying siege to Paris in 1590. Together, they were the parents of:- Pierre Forget, a licentiate in law, he was Seneschal of Nouâtre and Comptroller Ordinary of the stables of His Highness the Prince of Condé; he married Françoise de Villeret, a daughter of Guillaume de Villeret, Sieur de Bessay.
Following his death in 1610, he was buried at Montmartre Abbey, where his sister-in-law was Abbess.