François de Baradas (Bourgogne , 1602 - Avignon , 1684) was a favorite of King Louis XIII.
Originally from a Burgundian family, while still a young man he was assigned to the king's stables as a page. Louis XIII took him in personal sympathy and shortly after appointed him first gentleman of the king's chamber, then governor of the castle of Saint-Germain and lieutenant of the king in Champagne. Six months after having obtained these great honors, Baradas lost all his fortune, which is why even today in the tradition of the French language the saying "Baradas fortune" is known to indicate a considerable but short-lived wealth. François Sublet de Noyers had in fact been charged with convincing Baradas to resign from his posts by paying the considerable sum of 100,000 scudi since the king intended to bestow those honors on his new favorite, Claude de Rouvroy, the future Duke of Saint-Simon. Despite the pressure of the Count of Chavigny, superintendent of the king's finances, he did not leave his province and the operation did not reach the hoped-for completion. During the siege of Corbie of 1636, conspired to stop the Cardinal Richelieu, but discovered was exiled to Avignon where he died in 1684.
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