Claude de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux (like Rafał Leszczyński). Count d'Avaux concluded treaties between France and Sweden in 1638 and 1641, and during the years 1643–1648, he took part in the lengthy negotiations which led to the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War. However, d'Avaux was removed from the Congress of Westphalia in 1648, largely due to ideological differences and competition with the other French diplomats and with his superiors in France. Although this affair damaged his reputation, he ended his life serving the French government as a member of the high Council of the Realm. Claude de Mesmes, comte d'Avaux Claude de
Piracy in the Caribbean of the Americas all beckoned to those eager to make their fortunes and a large assortment of Frenchmen and Englishmen began new colonial ventures during the early 17th century, both in North America, which lay basically empty of European settlement north of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, where Spain remained the dominant power until late in the century. As for the Dutch Netherlands, after decades of rebellion against Spain fueled by both Dutch nationalism and their staunch Protestantism, independence had been gained in all but name (and that too would eventually come with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648). The