Superintendent of FinancesThe Superintendent of Finances (French: Surintendant des finances) was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1561 to 1661. The position was abolished in 1661 with the downfall of Nicolas Fouquet, and a new position was created, the Controller-General of Finances. HistoryBefore 1561Prior to the creation of the position "Surintendant des finances", France's royal financial administration had been run—from the time of Charles VII—by two financial boards which worked in a collegial manner...
Ministry of Economics and Finance (France)The Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty (French: Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique, pronounced [ministɛʁ d(ə) lekɔnɔmi e definɑ̃s]), informally referred to as Bercy, is one of the most important ministries in the Government of France. Its minister is one of the most prominent cabinet members after the prime minister. The name of the ministry has changed over time; it has included the terms "economics", "industry", "f...
Louis XVLouis 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 reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) in 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom...
Louis XIVHouseBourbonFatherLouis XIIIMotherAnne of AustriaReligionCatholicismSignatureLouis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715) was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. He is a symbol of the Age of Absolutism in Europe for styling himself as "The Sun King" (Le Roi Soleil) and "Louis the Great", which portrayed him as supreme leader. He presided over a great expansion of the French colonial empire and a patronage of arts in his court at the Palace of Versailles that defined th...
Nicolas FouquetNicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (French pronunciation:; 27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous wealth. He fell out of favor, accused of peculation (maladministration of the state's funds) and lèse-majesté (disrespect to the monarch). The king had him imprisoned from 1661 until his death in 1680. Early lifeNicolas Fouquet was born in Paris to an i...
Jacques NeckerJacques Necker (French: [ʒak nɛkɛʁ]; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a Genevan banker, financier and statesman who served as finance minister of France for Louis XVI. He was a reformer, but his innovations sometimes caused great discontent. Necker was a constitutional monarchist, a political economist, and a moralist, who wrote a severe critique of the new principle of equality before the law. Necker initially held the finance post between July 1777 and 1781. In 1781, he earned widespread recognition...
Jean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste Colbert (French: [ʒɑ̃.ba.tist kɔl.bɛʁ]; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country's politics and markets, known as Colbertism, a doctrine often characterized as a variant of mercantilism, earned him the nickname le Grand Colbert ([lə ɡʁɑ̃ kɔl.bɛʁ]; "the Great Colbert"). A native of Reims, he was appointed Inte...
PolysynodyPolysynody (from Greek πολυς numerous, several, and Greek συνοδος meeting, assembly) was an experimental system of government in use in France between 1715 and 1718 and in which each minister (secretary of state) was replaced by a council. It was introduced early into the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans following the death of Louis XIV. The Polysynody was inspired by enlightenment ideals, however the system saw mixed successes but historians generally agree that the Polysynody didn't effectively alter...
ProtestantismProtestantism is a form of Christianity that originated in the Protestant Reformation. It emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solæ summarize the basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism. Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the...
Kingdom of FranceThe Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from the High Middle Ages to 1848 during its dissolution. It was also an early colonial power, with colonies in Asia and Africa, and the largest being New France in North America geographically centred on the Great Lakes. In the 16th to the 18th centuries, the French colonial empire stretched from a total area ...
French languageFrench (français or langue française) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, French and its closest relatives—the langues d'oïl, historically spoken in northern France and southern Belgium—descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. It was influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul and by the GermanicFrankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Over time, French largely supplanted most regional Romance varieties across Fran...
IntendantAn intendant (French: [ɛ̃tɑ̃dɑ̃] ; Portuguese: intendente [ĩtẽˈdẽtɨ]; Spanish: intendente [intenˈdente]) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701 to 1714 the French royal House of Bourbon secured its hold on the throne of Spain; it extended a French-style intendancy system to Spain and Portugal - and subsequ...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.