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. En poursuivant votre navigation sur les sites du groupe Sophia Publications, vous acceptez Colbert's father and grandfather were merchants in his birthplace of Reims, France. En effet, si le « système Colbert » est dévoué au roi, Fouquet est favorable aux intérêts de la chrétienté. The criminal proceedings against him lasted three years and excited great public interest. Celui de Colbert est le roi. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress. Jean-Baptiste Colbert (francez: [ʒɑ̃.ba.tist kɔl.bɛʁ] ; 29 august 1619 - 6 septembrie 1683) a fost un om de stat francez care a servit ca prim ministru de stat din 1661 până la moartea sa în 1683 sub conducerea regelui Louis XIV. Financiers and tax farmers had made enormous profits from loans and advances to the state treasury, and Colbert established tribunals to make them give back some of their gains. Our latest podcast episode features popular TED speaker Mara Mintzer. He worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and encouraging major public works projects, as well as to ensure that the French East India Company had access to foreign markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper and sugar. Dès lors, comme l'explique Joël Cornette : « Peut-être conviendrait-il de déplacer le débat en br ... Expositions / Cinéma / Compte rendus de livres / Bande dessinées / Portraits /  Les Classiques / Carte Blanche, Tous nos articles en partenariat avec Retronews, Une journée d'étude sur le thème de la préhistoire est organisée le 20 novembre 2020 de 14h à 18h15. 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. As there was slavery in the colonies, Colbert also drafted the Code Noir which was to be promulgated two years after his death. While in France, Bernini also sculpted a marble portrait bust of Louis XIV (Versailles palace). In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. Colbert himself became a member of the Académie française; and proposed one very characteristic rule with the intention of expediting the great Dictionary, in which he had a great interest: no one could count as present at any meeting unless he arrived before the hour of commencement and remained till the hour for leaving. (...), Le dernier film de Lucas Belvaux sera projeté au cinéma Le Champo le 24 novembre 2020. To guarantee the standard of workmanship, he made regulations for every sort of manufacture and imposed severe punishments (fines and the pillory) for counterfeiting and shortcomings. Colbert was born of a merchant family. He repudiated some of the public loans and cut off from others a percentage, which varied, at first according to his own decision, and afterwards according to that of the council that he established to examine all claims against the state. His policies inspired those of Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary of the United States.[7]. His son Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay (1651–1690) succeeded him as Navy Secretary. The special dues that existed in the various provinces could not be swept away, but a measure of uniformity was obtained in central France. To maintain the character of French goods in foreign markets, as well as to afford a guarantee to the home consumer, Colbert had the quality and measure of each article fixed by law, punishing breaches of the regulations by public exposure of the delinquent and by destruction of the goods concerned, and, on the third offense, by the pillory. Pierre Paul Riquet (1604–1680) planned and constructed the Canal du Midi under Colbert's patronage. Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin. The French East India and West India companies, founded in 1664, were followed by others for trade with the eastern Mediterranean and with northern Europe; but Colbert’s propaganda for them, though cleverly conducted, failed to attract sufficient capital, and their existence was precarious. He showed himself at first unwilling to interfere with heresy, for he realised the commercial value of the Huguenots (French Protestants), who were well represented among the merchant classes; but when the king resolved to make all France Roman Catholic, he followed him and urged his subordinates to do all that they could to promote conversions. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53163714. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Le 5 septembre 1661, le surintendant des Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, est arrêté sur ordre de Louis XIV. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion. a political minister. Dans Le Roi, l'Écureuil et la Couleuvre, Thierry Frémont campe un Colbert envieux et arrogant et Lorant Deutsch un Fouquet charmeur et inventif. Colbert undertook to levy the taille on all who were properly liable for it and so initiated a review of titles of nobility in order to expose those who were claiming exemption falsely; he also tried to make the tax less oppressive by a fairer distribution. Colbert prohibited the production of qualities which would have suited many purposes of consumption, and the odious supervision which became necessary involved great waste of time and a stereotyped regularity which resisted all improvements. Professor of Modern History, University of Paris IV, 1949–70. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. He was reduced to eating moist bread dipped in chicken broth for his meals. After holding various administrative posts, his great opportunity came in 1651, when Cardinal Mazarin, the dominant political figure in France, was forced to leave Paris and take refuge in a provincial city—an episode in the Fronde, a period (1648–53) of struggle between the crown and the French parlement. In 1673 Colbert presided over the first exhibition of the works of living painters; and he enriched the Louvre with hundreds of pictures and statues.