[2] In April 1667, Artus de Gouffier (1627–1696), 5th duke of Roannais, assigned his titles and property to La Feuillade in return for a payment of 400,000 French livres, and marriage to his sister Charlotte (?

[2] The first half of the 17th century in France was a period of intense civil strife; the 1590 Edict of Nantes ended the French Wars of Religion but continued state persecution caused a series of Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s.

Their impact can be seen in the history of de La Feuillade's immediate family; his father was killed in 1632 at Castelnaudary and three of his brothers died in battle, Leon at Lens in 1648, Gabriel-Brachet at Saint-Omer in 1638 and Paul at Mardyck in 1646.

[3] He began his military career in 1649, as captain in a regiment commanded by the Duke of Orléans; during the 1650–1653 Fronde des nobles, he and his brother Georges remained loyal to the party led by Louis XIV's mother, Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin.

He was wounded in the Royalist victories of Rethel in December 1650 and the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine in July 1652, which ended the Fronde as a serious military threat, although Condé and a few supporters fought on in alliance with the Spanish.

[8] He was appointed Colonel of the Gardes Francaises when the Franco-Dutch War began in 1672, he fought in the Netherlands and various other theatres, including Franche-Comté in 1674, when he led an assault during the Siege of Besançon and took Salins-les-Bains on 22 June.

The square formed the centre of an ambitious building project, which included a number of private residences, among them the Hôtel de La Feuillade; he was ruined by the enormous cost, estimated at over seven million livres, and the work was not completed until 1696, five years after his death.

[16] He also resurrected a scheme originally proposed by the 15th century merchant Jacques Cœur to make the River Loire navigable from Roanne to its exit point into the Atlantic Ocean) at Saint-Nazaire.