Samuel Bernard (1651 in

Sancerre Sancerre () is a medieval hilltop town (ville) and commune in the Cher department, France overlooking the river Loire. It is noted for its wine. History Located in the area of Gaul settled by the powerful Celtic (Gaule Celtique) tribe, the Bitu ...

– January 18, 1739, in Paris),

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

of Coubert (1725), was a French noble and financier.

Life

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

origin, Samuel Bernard was the son of the painter and engraver Samuel-Jacques Bernard (1615-1687). His family was Protestant, but his father, according to the apocryphal memoirs of the Marquise de Créquy, "had embraced the sect of

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

ndhad been forced into exile." He created the French Guinea Company. Declared by Saint-Simon to be "the most famous and richest banker in Europe," he lent important funding to the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

during the reigns of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

and

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

. Louis XIV, having exhausted his finances, notably turned to Bernard in 1708 to finance the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

. In order that the King would not have to stoop to receive the financier in an audience, the

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 ...

Nicolas Desmarets Nicolas Desmaretz, marquis de Maillebois (10 September 1648, Paris – 4 May 1721, Paris) was a Controller-General of Finances during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Desmaretz was a nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Taken out of school at a ...

(1648-1721), carefully choreographed a meeting which took place at Marly. According to Saint-Simon: Bernard returned dazzled from this walk, and Desmarets secured from him all the funding that he needed. Samuel Bernard was ennobled in 1699 by Louis XIV, and created "Count of Coubert" by Louis XV in 1725. On December 29, 1719, he had effectively acquired the land of

Coubert Coubert () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Curtibéhardiens''. See also * Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department The following i ...

(

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne (river), Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square ...

) with its château, which he had rebuilt from 1724 to 1727, possibly by

Germain Boffrand Germain Boffrand () (16 May 1667 – 19 March 1754) was a French architect. A pupil of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Germain Boffrand was one of the main creators of the precursor to Rococo called the '' style Régence'', and in his interiors, of the ...

. He also had a magnificent home constructed in Paris at 46

rue du Bac Rue du Bac is a street in Paris situated in the 7th arrondissement. The street, which is 1150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Voltaire and Anatole-France and ends at the rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac is also the name of a station on ...

. In 1731, he purchased the land of Glisolles in Normandie.

Family

Samuel Bernard was first married to Magdelaine Clergeau, then remarried in 1720 to Miss de Saint-Chamans, sister of one of his daughters-in-law. He had several children: * Samuel-Jacques Bernard (1686-1753), Count of Coubert (1739), who was superintendent of finance, landholding, and business for the queen (1725) (from his first marriage). *

Gabriel Bernard de Rieux In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ� ...

(1687-1745), who married the daughter of comte de Boulainvilliers, president of the second Chamber of Inquests at the

Parliament of Paris The Parliament of Paris (french: Parlement de Paris) was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. It was fixed in Paris by Philip IV of France in 1302. The Parliament of Paris would hold sessions inside the ...

(from his first marriage). *Vincent Bernard de la Livinière. *Bonne Félicité Bernard (from his second marriage), who married Mathieu-François Molé, ''

président à mortier The ''président à mortier'' () was one of the most important legal posts of the French ''Ancien Régime''. The ''présidents'' were principal magistrates of the highest juridical institutions, the ''parlements'', which were the appeal courts. ...

'' of the Parliament of Paris. He also had several daughters by Marie-Anne-Armande Carton, known as Manon, daughter of the actor

Florent Carton Dancourt Florent Carton aka Dancourt (1 November 16617 December 1725), French dramatist and actor, was born at Fontainebleau. He belonged to a family of rank, and his parents entrusted his education to Pere de la Rue, a Jesuit, who made earnest efforts ...

, and wife of Jean-Louis-Guillaume Fontaine (1666-1714), commissioner and controller-general of the Navy: * Louise-Marie-Madeleine Fontaine (1706-1799), who married the '' fermier général''

Claude Dupin Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

(a tax and customs officer), landlord of the

château de Chenonceau The Château de Chenonceau () is a French château spanning the river Cher, near the small village of Chenonceaux, Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire. It is one of the best-known châteaux of the Loire Valley. The estate of Chenonceau is firs ...

. * Marie-Anne-Louise Fontaine (1710-1765), who married Antoine Alexis Panneau d'Arty, a high-level tax official from 1737 to 1743. * Françoise-Thérèse Fontaine (1712-1765), who married Mr. Vallet de La Touche.