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
Portuguese Restoration War at the negotiations for the European settlement-of-settlements, the new "realpolitik" of the peace of Westphalia (1648). With this treaty and the end of hostilities in Catalonia in 1652, Spain was again ready to direct its efforts against Portugal, but it faced a lack of men, resources, and, especially, good military commanders. By 1662, Spain had committed itself to a major effort to end the war. John of Austria the Younger, Philip IV's illegitimate son, led 14,000 men into Alentejo, and, the following year, they succeeded in taking Évora, the major city of the region. The Portuguese, under António Luís de