François Valentin Xavier de Blois

## Comte de Brie

Monsieur le Grand by Gerard van Honthorst, c. 1658

**François Valentin Xavier de Blois, Comte de Brie** (17 August, 1627 — present) was a Grandelumieran court official — addressed as *Monsieur le Grand* due to his post as Grand Squire of the Empire — counting himself among the members of the archaic Maison de Blois. He was the younger brother of Philippe IV, Comte de Champagne, Prime Minister under Henri IV. From the moment of his birth, he was dubbed the *Comte de Brie,* region notorious for it's cuisine above all else. In absentia for his brother's apogee, rendesvouzing throughout the Empire and solidying the Blois position out-of-court circles, the death of his quintessential sibling stipulated an expeditious entrance to court, in the stead of his 7-year-old nephew — Comte de Champagne by inheritance —, to take in the reins of the family alongside his sister-in-law, the widowed wife of Philippe. Being a 31-year-long bachelor without the need to marry, even when coerced by his brother, he placed a ring on the —divorcee and notorious salonniere— Marquise de Maintenon under his own terms, she being thereafter known at court as *'Madame la Grande'.*

## Early Life

### Birth and Ancestry

The second piece in the game of chess — the spare —, François Valentin Xavier de Blois was born on his father's Parisian domicile the Hôtel de Beauvais. Offspring of Philippe III, Comte de Champagne & princesse étrangere Charlotte de La Trémoïlle in a premature birth, yet healthy in his nature resembling earlier generations of his family rather than his immediate parents. Staying to the true and tested tradition, he was baptised by his uncle, Alphonse Chrétien de Blois, Archevêque de Sens. Upon his birth he was styled the Comte de Brie.

The archaic Maison de Blois had deeply-rooted lineage from the Middle Ages and Antiquity, of all notable families that could come to one's head, at one point or another in history, had married into the esteemed house, which achieved royal prominence in more than one ocassion. The latest individuals hailed from the houses of Bourbon, La Trémoïlle, Orange, Montmorency and Guise, and even as a spare, Valentin was subject to the ruthlessness of his parenthood.

### Childhood and Adolescence

Under the aegis of his Maréchal of a father, he was subjected to all kinds of rickety and stringent ideals that came to his father's head, alongside his older brother, Philippe. Unlike Philippe however, he veered from the obedient son and formed his own school of thought, one he was severely reprimanded for by his father, which resulted in a series of unfortunate events to rain on Valentin due to his divergent ways.

In Phillippe III's household strong-witted personages lasted and, ironically, his father had transformed Valentin into a man of headstrong demeanor — the goal for all of his children —, who was wrong for all the right reasons. The rift between them two grew astronomically as the values of both iron-willed men thrusted them so far as to create a physical distance aswell with Valentin's frequent parading of familial residences distant from his father, and closer to his other siblings and mother.

## Adulthood

In the final stretch towards being 20, the year 1646 brought a miracle no one in the family could foresee. The death of the Maréchal and succession placed on the hands of Valentin's brother, the-now-deceased Philippe IV. Valentin wrote missives to his elder brother citing that the event was a stunner he couldn't be more glad for.

### Mezzo Years

The years and decade following the death of his father, Valentin remained true to the values engraved into him from his education and did not marry, nor had sentimental attachments with any women or men while he sauntered the countryside with an entourague of other like-minded individuals, including travelling to countries in the periphery of Grandelumiere. Due to his nature as a spare in the case all things went wrong, he took a laissez-faire approach to matters, yet made yearly rounds to all important locations and familial relations in the case of Philippe's demise.

WIP!

### Court of Henri IV

On such a visit to the Walloonian city of Spa, the dreaded news of his life were forwarded to him. His Prime Minister of a brother had succumbed to disease, his mother further descended into hysteria and sister-in-law was left to handle affairs, this exacerbated a expeditious return to the capital and court, not to let other families take advantage of one of his kin.

Within the week of his return, a hurricane of activity ensued, he obtained the governorship of Champagne, a military promotion in the Regiment of the eponymous province, and more famously, the style of *Monsieur le Grand* with the attached post. This last achievement was matched with the coincidential downfall of M. le Duc de Thouars also known as the Premier Gentilhomme who charged obstentatious prices to gain admittance in the Emperor's household in the absence of M. le Duc de Joyeuse, the Grand Maitre. Following an altercation between him, Thouars and the Grand Chambellan, M. le Comte de Grignols, the post was bestowed upon Valentin at a rumored fare of "10 mere livres", a number coined by Thouars in an antagonistic campaign against Valentin's efforts.

## Character Synopsis

### Personality and Appearance

Dotting a sturdy constitution, brick-like in it's silhouette, Monsieur le Grand was a run-of-the-mill example of common Blois features. Darkened tufts of hair yet not fully black, a Roman-shaped nose and averague jaw with clearly marked eyebrows. His height stood at 5'8, in par with the height of his brothers — In his day-to-day life, his appearance was subject to uniformity until his rendezvous with Mlle. (la Marquise) de Maintenon, who's outlandish and infectious flair regarding fashion concoctions spread over to him, resulting in a change from earthly, provincial tones into vibrant shades in all the colors of the rainbow. Upon his acquisition of the post of Grand Squire of the Empire, ocassionally he would don ceremonial colors of the post in his day wear, manifesting a throwback to his uniform ways.

Within his personality, M. le Grand's was as fascinating as it was contradictory. He induced a level of seriousness for managing business and familial matters, even more stone-cold as a soldier, yet kept a charming & gentle persona around personages he knew or took a liking to, proving flirtatious and presumptous at times in these ocassions. Maintaining a profile of order and camaraderie whenever around his domains as Grand Squire, the usual Blois pridefulness and pomp rarely surfaced in Valentin, instead like his contemporaries, his real persona was buried between a level of secrecy, bureaucracy and masks.

## Titles and Styles

**17 August, 1627 — present;** *Monsieur le* Comte de Brie

**5 July, 1658 — present:** *Monsieur le Grand* (Courtesy as Grand Écuyer de l'Empire)

* jure uxoris Marquis de Maintenon, jure uxoris Seigneur de Noisy-le-Roi