Nicolas Mesnager

Nicolas Mesnager (or Le Mesnager or Ménager) (1658–1714) was a French diplomat.

He belonged to a wealthy merchant family, but gave up a commercial career for the law, and became advocate before the parlement of Rouen. In 1700 he was sent as deputy of Rouen to the council of commerce which was established in Paris for the extension of French trade. Here he made his mark, and was chosen to go on three missions to Spain, between the years 1704 and 1705, to negotiate financial arrangements. There he was appointed Harbor master of Cadiz and he improved trade between Spain and her colonies.

In August 1711 he was sent on a secret mission to London to detach Britain from the alliance against France, and succeeded in securing the adoption of eight articles which formed the base of the later Treaty of Utrecht.

As a reward for his skill he was made one of the three French plenipotentiaries sent to Utrecht in January 1712, and had the honour of signing the treaty the next year. As he had used much of his own large fortune to keep up his state as ambassador, he was granted a pension by the grateful king of France. His portrait by Hyacinthe Rigaud is in the gallery of Versailles. As a further show of recognition, he was awarded a grand-daughter of the Sun-King as wife. He married Louise Emilie de Vautedard (1694–1719), a daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France (1661–1711). Both Queen Anne of the United Kingdom and King Philip V of Spain contributed to the coat of arms of Nicolas Ménager.

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 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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Name	Mesnager, Nicolas
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Date of birth	1658
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Date of death	1714
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