Everything about Jean Herauld Gourville totally explained
Jean Herauld Gourville (
July 10,
1625 –
June 14,
1703) was a
French adventurer.
He was born in
La Rochefoucauld, in today's
Charente département. At the age of eighteen he entered the house of La Rochefoucauld as a servant, and in 1646 became secretary to
François de la Rochefoucauld, author of the
Maximes. Resourceful and quick-witted, he rendered services to his master during the
Fronde, in his intrigues with the parliament, the court or the princes. In these negotiations he made the acquaintance of
Condé, whom he wished to help to escape from the château of
Vincennes; of
Mazarin, for whom he negotiated the reconciliation with the princes; and of
Nicolas Fouquet.
After the Fronde he engaged in financial affairs, thanks to Fouquet. In
1658 he farmed the
taille in
Guienne. He bought depreciated
rentes and had them raised to their nominal value by the treasury; he extorted gifts from the financiers for his protection, being Fouquet's confidant in many operations of which he shared the profits. In three years he accumulated an enormous fortune, still further increased by his unfailing good fortune at cards, playing even with the king. He was involved in the trial of
Fouquet, and in April
1663 was condemned to death for
peculation and
embezzlement of public funds; but escaping, was executed in effigy. He sent a valet one night to take the effigy down from the gallows in the court of the
Palais de Justice, and then fled the country.
He remained five years abroad, being excepted in 1665 from the amnesty accorded by
Louis XIV to the condemned financiers. Having returned secretly to France, he entered the service of Condé, who, unable to meet his creditors, had need of a clever manager to put his affairs in order. In this way he was able to reappear at court, to assist at the campaigns of the war with Holland, and to offer himself for all the delicate negotiations for his master or the king. He received diplomatic missions in
Germany, in
Holland, and especially in
Spain, though it was only in 1694, that he was freed from the condemnation pronounced against him by the chamber of justice. From 1696 he fell ill and withdrew to his estate, where he dictated to his secretary, in four months and a half, his
Mémoires, an important source for the history of his time. In spite of several errors, introduced purposely, they give a clear idea of the life and morals of a financier of the age of Fouquet, and throw light on certain points of the diplomatic history. They were first published in
1724.
Gourville died in
Paris on June 14, 1703.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Jean Herauld Gourville'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://jean_herauld_gourville.totallyexplained.com">Jean Herauld Gourville Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
