Pierre-Charles Laurent de Villedeuil (11 October 1742,

Bouchain Bouchain (; vls, Boesem) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies halfway between Cambrai and Valenciennes. Bouchain, seat of the early medieval County of Ostrevent, was taken by Arnulf I, Count of Flanders, in the 10th ...

- 28 April 1828, Paris) was

Controller-General of Finances The Controller-General or Comptroller-General of Finances (french: Contrôleur général des finances) was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1661 to 1791. It replaced the former position of Superintendent of Finances (''S ...

under

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

. His father, the engineer Pierre-Joseph Laurent, became rich thanks to his part in founding the

compagnie des mines d'Anzin The Compagnie des mines d'Anzin (Anzin Mining Company) was a large French mining company in the coal basin of Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern France. It was established in 1756 and operated for almost 200 years. The company used innovative pumpi ...

and was ennobled around 1750 as marquis de Villedeuil.

Ministry

Initially intendant for the Généralité of Rouen, on 3 May 1787 Loménie de Brienne made him controller general of finance, succeeding

Michel Bouvard de Fourqueux Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

. France's economy was in a severe crisis that his predecessors Calonne and Bouvard de Fourqueux had been unable to resolve. It was Brienne who actually acted as finance minister, with Villedeuil doing the work under his control - the latter left the role only four months later, pleading ill health. During his short time in the role, the measures he put in places did not prove sufficient to rectify the situation or to avoid the assembly of the Estates General. Opposing the Estates General, he left for England in July 1789 but returned to France in 1792 to plan Louis XVI's escape after the failure of his attempt to flee at

Varennes Varennes-en-Argonne (, literally ''Varennes in Argonne'') or simply Varennes (German: Wöringen) is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 639. Geography Varennes-en-Ar ...

. After Louis' execution he emigrated to Scotland and only returned to France after the fall of Napoleon. After the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

he was elected a member of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...

and made a knight commander of the king's orders. He was painted by

Charles Crauk Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

early in the 19th century - the portrait is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes.

Footnotes

External links

Biography - Comité pour l'histoire économique et financière de la France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent De Villedeuil, Pierre-Charles 1742 births 1828 deaths French Ministers of Finance