Jean baptiste colbert biography brevel

Also encouraging the technical expertise of Flemish cloth manufacturing in France, he founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais. He issued more than edicts to regulate the guilds. Colbert's father and grandfather were merchants in his birthplace of ReimsFrance. He claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A general but unconfirmed belief exists that he spent his early youth at a Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker; as well as working for the father of Jean Chapelain.

Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office, a position generally attributed to the marriage of an uncle to the sister of Secretary of War Michel le Tellier. Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. Inthrough unknown means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle, Pussort.

Inhe and his wife Marie Charron, received 40, crowns from an unknown source; and in Colbert became the councilor of state, i. Inhe purchased the Barony of Seignelay. While Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis' trust in Colbert grew. In Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. This new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as commissaire des guerres.

Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion. The paper also contained an attack upon the Superintendent Fouquet. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress.

Jean baptiste colbert biography brevel

InMazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January Colbert became the Superintendent of buildings; in he became Controller-General of Finances ; inhe became Secretary of State of the Navy; he also gained appointments as minister of commerceof the colonies and of the palace.

In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war. A great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies. Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to exemption, paid no taxes; the bulk of the burden fell on the wretched country-folk. He was a renowned French politician known for his numerous tax repressions and promising state reforms.

Colbert was born and raised in Reims, in a wealthy family. His father was a prominent merchant with a network of trading rows. Colbert began his political career under the guidance of Cardinal Mazarin, serving as his superintendent for a period of time. In the late s, he held the position of Intendant of Finances, and inColbert became the successor of Fouquet.

Inhe was appointed as the Minister of State. Jean Antoine Claude Chaptal. Jealousy of God. Jealousy and Envy. Jealous, Benjamin. Jeal, John Julian Tim othy. Jeakins, Dorothy —. Jeakins, Dorothy — Jeakins, Dorothy. JDS Uniphase Corporation. Jean Baptiste Gabriel Joachim Dausset. Jean Baptiste Greuze. Jean Baptiste Marchand. Jean Baptiste Racine.

Jean Baptiste Robinet. Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. Jean Beguin. Jean Bourgain. Jean Buridan. Jean Carre. Jean d'Arras ca. InMazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January Colbert became the Superintendent of buildings ; in he became Controller-General of Finances ; inhe became Secretary of State of the Navy ; he also gained appointments as minister of commerceof the coloniesand of the palace.

In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war. A great financial and fiscal reform now claimed all his energies. Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to exemption, paid no taxes; the bulk of the burden fell on the rural poor. Supported by the young king Louis XIVColbert aimed the first blow at the man accused of being the greatest of the royal embezzlers, the superintendent Nicolas Fouquet.

Fouquet's fall secured Colbert's own advancement. After the abolition of the office of superintendent and of many other offices dependent upon it, control of France's finances fell to a royal council. The sovereign functioned as its president, but Colbert, though only an intendant for the first four years, operated as its ruling spirit, enjoying as he did king's favor and confidence.

His ruthlessness in the execution of his functions may have set a dangerous precedent, but it probably struck him necessary in that the council could not defer to individual interests. This way of administering his policies was particularly in evidence in his preparation and enforcement of his forestry ordinance of Here he had a simple way of operating.

He repudiated some of the public loans and reduced the interest rate on others. The amount of the reduction was initially his own decision but ultimately that of a council he established to examine all claims against the state. Much more serious difficulties met his attempts to introduce equality in taxation among the various classes.

Cutting back the number of the privileged proved impossible, but Colbert firmly resisted false claims for exemption and lightened direct taxation by increasing indirect taxes, from which the privileged could not escape. At the same time, he undertook improvements to the way taxes were collected. Colbert's relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister.

He achieved a reputation for improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Nevertheless, despite his best efforts, France grew increasingly impoverished because of the King's excessive spending on wars. Having introduced a measure of order and economy into the workings of the government, Colbert called for the enrichment of the country by means of commerce.

Through Colbert's dirigiste policies, [ citation needed ] France fostered manufacturing enterprises in a wide variety of fields. The authorities established new industries, protected inventors, invited in workmen from foreign countries, and prohibited French workmen from emigrating. To maintain the character of French goods in foreign markets as well as to afford a guarantee to the domestic consumer, Colbert had the quality and quantity of each article fixed by law, punishing breaches of the regulations by public exposure of the delinquent and destruction of the goods concerned, and, on the third offense, by the pillory.

Colbert prohibited the production of certain products that might have suited consumers, and the time-consuming supervision he imposed on commercial enterprises may have acted as a hindrance to improvement. Other parts of Colbert's jeans baptiste colbert biography brevel have met with less equivocal condemnation. By his firm maintenance of the corporation system, each industry remained in the hands of certain privileged bourgeois ; while the lower classes found opportunities of advancement closed.

He did, however, wisely consult the interests of internal commerce. Unable to abolish the duties on the passage of goods from province to provincehe did what he could to induce the provinces to equalize them. To encourage overseas trade with the LevantSenegalGuinea and other places, Colbert granted privileges to companies, but, like the noted French East India Companyall proved unsuccessful.

Colbert took much interest in art and literature. He possessed a remarkably fine private library, which he delighted to fill with valuable manuscripts from every part of Europe and the Near East where France had placed a consul. He reorganised the Academy of Painting and Sculpture which Mazarin had established. Wishing to increase the prestige of the image of France and the French royal family, Colbert played an active role in bringing the great Italian architect-sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Berninito Paris June—Octoberin order to design the new East Facade of the Louvre.

This was a striking coup and caused a sensation because Bernini, the most famous artist in all of Europe, had never before or after consented to travel any significant distance to meet a patron, however highly ranked, but had to agree in this case for reasons of diplomacy between France and the Holy See.