Michel de Marillac (October 1563 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

– 7 August 1632 in Château de Châteaudun) was a French jurist and counsellor at the court of

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

, one of the leading '' dévots''. His uncle was

Charles de Marillac Charles de Marillac (c.1510 – 2 December 1560) was a French prelate and diplomat. Career De Marillac was born in Riom and was, by the age of twenty-two, an advocate in parliament in Paris. Suspected, however, of sympathizing with the ref ...

Archbishop of Vienne The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon. History The legend according to whi ...

and a member of the king's council, the '' Conseil du Roi''. A member of the circle of Marie de' Medici, he was arrested after the Queen Mother's flight in 1631 and died in prison. Michel de Marillac was Minister of Justice in 1626. He was appointed Superintendent of Finances on 27 August 1624, with Jean Bochart. His advice to Cardinal Richelieu advocated conservative policies abroad and limited involvement in northern Italy during the

War of the Mantuan Succession The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War, caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II, last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga and ruler of the duchies of Mantua ...

, while France was occupied with suppressing

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

at home and countering Habsburg influence in the drawn-out Bourbon-Habsburg wars that were not resolved until 1659. His main concern was encouraging economic growth, as a balance to the threats posed by popular unrest in France and the resistance to new forms of taxation to support the war. His key proposals reforming the legal administration were embodied in the Code Michau, published in 1629, which synthesised in 430 article headings texts adopted by the États-général of 1614 and the Assemblies of Notables, 1617–26, embracing every aspect of government. Marillac was entrusted with the position of

Keeper of the Seals The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...

(''garde des sceaux'', a Chancellor without the title),Great Officers of the Crown: Les Grands Officiers de la Couronn
/ref> after Chancellor d'Aligre was disgraced, in June 1626, compromised by his fidelity to Gaston d'Orléans. He gained increasing influence with Marie de' Medici. After the

Day of the Dupes Day of the Dupes (in french: la journée des Dupes) is the name given to a day in November 1630 on which the enemies of Cardinal Richelieu mistakenly believed that they had succeeded in persuading King Louis XIII of France to dismiss Richelieu fr ...

, 11 November 1630, Richelieu had Marillac tried by a court of hand-picked judges; he died in captivity in 1632. Marillac's brother Louis, who had served as a general of the French army in Italy during the

, was beheaded that same year. Michel was the guardian of Louis' natural daughter

Louise de Marillac Louise de Marillac , also Louise Le Gras, (August 12, 1591 – March 15, 1660) was the co-founder, with Vincent de Paul, of the Daughters of Charity. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church in the United S ...

, who became a nun, was a follower of Saint

Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. Afte ...

, with whom she founded the Daughters of Charity on 29 November 1633.

Notes

References

''Dictionnaire des surintendants et contrôleurs généraux des finances''
Michel de Marillac 1563 births 1632 deaths 17th-century French lawyers French Ministers of Finance {{KingdomofFrance-stub