biography
| name: |
Malesherbes, Chrétien (Guillaume de Lamoignon) de
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pronunciation:
[malzairb]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1721–94)
|
| biography:
| French statesman, born in Paris, France. He became a counsellor of the Parlement of Paris (1744), and was made chief censor of the press (1750). At Louis XVI's accession (1774) he became secretary of state for the royal household, instituting prison and legal reforms in tandem with Turgot's economic improvements. He resigned in 1776 on the eve of Turgot's dismissal. Despite his reforming zeal, he was mistrusted as an aristocrat during the Revolution. Arrested as a Royalist (1794), he was guillotined in Paris. |
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