Godefroi, Comte d'Estrades

Who was Godefroi, Comte d'Estrades?

Godefroi, Comte d'Estrades was a French diplomatist and marshal.

He was born in Agen, the son of Francois d'Estrades, a partisan of Henry IV, and brother of Jean d'Estrades, bishop of Condom. He became a page to Louis XIII, and at the age of nineteen was sent on a mission to Maurice of Holland.

In 1646 he was named ambassador extraordinary to Holland, and took part in the conferences at Münster. Sent in 1661 to England, he obtained in 1662 the restitution of Dunkirk. In 1667 he negotiated the treaty of Breda with the king of Denmark, and in 1678 the treaty of Nijmwegen, which ended the war with Holland. Independently of these diplomatic missions, he took part in the principal campaigns of Louis XIV, in Italy, in Catalonia, in Holland; and was created marshal of France in 1675. He left Lettres, memoires et négociations en qual d'ambassadeur en Hollande depuis 1663 jusqu'en 1668, of which the first edition in 1709 was followed by a nine-volume edition.

Of the sons of Godefroi d'Estrades, Jean Francois d'Estrades was ambassador to Venice and Piedmont; Louis, marquis d'Estrades, succeeded his father as governor of Dunkirk, and was the father of Godefroi Louis, comte d'Estrades, lieutenant-general, who was killed at the siege of Belgrade, 1717.