Nicolas Fouquet

Nicolas Fouquet was born in Paris to an influential family of the noblesse de robe (members of the nobility under the Ancien Régime who had high positions in government, especially in law and finance). He was the second child of François IV Fouquet (who held numerous high positions in government) and his wife, the writer Marie de Maupeou (who came from a family of the noblesse de robe and who was famous for her piety and charitable works).:18–23, at the age of 13, Fouquet received his law degree from the University of Paris. Richelieu advised Fouquet on this career choice.:40 ==Political career==

In 1634, Fouquet was appointed councilor of the Parliament of Metz. Richelieu charged him with the sensitive task of verifying the accounts to determine whether or not Charles IV of Lorraine was skimming money that rightfully was due to the King of France. Fouquet, still a teenager, accomplished this task with brio. Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642, but Fouquet was successful in impressing his successor as chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, who became his protector (over the long term, the relationship was tense making him the youngest person to hold this position in the Ancien Regime. The royal finances were in a disastrous state at this time, due to many years of war under Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin and antiquated revenue practices. Only about half of total tax revenues collected actually ended up in the royal treasury, the rest being skimmed off by various parties along the way. In this unsettled situation, Fouquet was responsible for decisions as to which funds should be used to meet the demands of the state's creditors, but also for the negotiations with the great financiers who lent money to the king. Fouquet's willingness to honor some of the royal promises enhanced the credibility of the crown as a borrower and strengthened the credit of the government, though the controls on this process were either ineffective or non-existent. The long wars, and the greed of the courtiers, made it necessary at times for Fouquet to meet the demand for funds by borrowing upon his own good credit. The disorder in the accounts became hopeless, but was also normalthe kingdom had a long history of poorly controlled royal finances. In any case, debt issuance could not resolve the deplorable economic situation of the realm without an underlying ability and willingness to rein in expenditures and to bring in tax revenues. Fouquet became the central actor in a debt situation that was fundamentally untenable. Fouquet had drawn up a plan to bring some order to public finances, but he never made progress in implementing it, though it was taken up later by Colbert. fed the king's displeasure with adverse reports about the deficit and unflattering reports about Fouquet. However, Fouquet had some protectionshis high position at the parlement (he remained procureur général) gave him immunity from prosecution by any authority except the Parlement, which he largely controlled. Another reason Fouquet may have felt secure is that what he was doing was not necessarily illegaleven Colbert later admitted that "Fouquet managed to conduct his robbery while keeping his hands clean.":40 == Vaux-le-Vicomte ==

In 1641, the 26-year old Fouquet purchased the manor of Vaux-le-Vicomte and its small castle located 50 km south east of Paris. He spent enormous sums over a period of 20 years building a château on his estate. In terms of its size, magnificence and interior decor, the chateau was the forerunner of the Palace of Versailles. To design it, he brought together a team that the king later used for Versailles: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André le Nôtre. At Vaux and other major properties he owned (notably, his estate in Saint-Mandé, which bordered on the Château de Vincennes), Fouquet gathered rare manuscripts, paintings, jewels and antiques in profusion, and above all surrounded himself with artists and authors.9 Jean de La Fontaine, Pierre Corneille, Molière, Madame de Sevigné and Paul Scarron were a few of the many artists and authors who received his invitations, and for some, his patronage.:89–90 These extravagant expenditures and displays of the superintendent's wealth ultimately intensified the ill-will of the king. == Colonial and maritime activities ==

in Le Palais, Belle-Île, owned by Fouquet In 1638, Fouquet received as a gift some of his father's shares in the Company of the American Islands. In 1640, he became one of the first shareholders in the Société du Cap Nord and, in 1642, of the East India Company (Société des Indes Orientales). After his father’s death in 1641, he inherited and managed the family's interests in several other chartered companies for French colonization (Sénégal, New France). Moreover, the family, through Fouquet's father and other family ties, was already active in maritime transport and had a network of influential contacts in Brittany.1:131 Over a period of many years, Fouquet undertook to develop these existing strengths. Specifically, Fouquet was active in attempting to forward the French colonial effort and in developing the coast of Brittany as a major location for hosting maritime trade. He cultivated high ranking friends in Brittany. He bought numerous armed ships and proceeded with a quasi-military development, Heightening the concerns of the king, Fouquet was found to have ordered several warships in the Netherlands, which could have served both his colonial ambitions and as an implicit threat to the king. In addition, Fouquet used a straw man to assume the position of Viceroy (vice-roi) of the Americas without the king’s knowledge. ==Arrest==

On 17 August 1661, Louis was entertained at Vaux-le-Vicomte with a sumptuous fête, at which Molière's Les Fâcheux was produced for the first time. The king was also concerned about Fouquet's carefully cultivated network of friends and clients, which made him one of the most influential individuals in the realm. As a child, Louis had observed the armed conflict that threatened his monarchy during the Fronde and had solid reasons to be concerned about rebellion. As superintendent, Fouquet headed the enormously wealthy and influential corps of partisans (tax farmers), which, if challenged as a group, could have caused the king serious trouble. By crafty devices, Fouquet was induced to sell his office of procureur général, causing him to lose his immunity from royal prosecution; he paid the money received from the sale (about 1 million livres) into the royal treasury as a gesture to earn the favor of the king.:140, At the same time, he was weighed down by his own recent faux pasnotably, when he tried unsuccessfully to recruit a mistress of the king as a spy (the mistress refused Fouquet's offer of money and duly reported it to the king). After his visit to Vaux, the king announced that he was going to Nantes for the opening of the meeting of the provincial estates of Brittany. He required his ministers, including Fouquet, to go with him. On 5 September 1661, Fouquet was leaving the council chamber, flattered with the assurance of the king's esteem, when he was arrested by d’Artagnan, lieutenant of the king's musketeers. It is reported that the arrest took Fouquet completely by surprise because he apparently thought that he was very much in the king's good graces. He initially was imprisoned at the Chateau d’Angers. == Trial and life imprisonment ==

The trial lasted almost three years. Many procedural aspects of the investigation and trial were highly questionable, even by the standards of the 17th century. For example, the officials charged with the investigation answered directly to Fouquet's arch-enemy, Jean-Baptiste Colbert; the trial was held before a special court where judges and prosecutors were handpicked by Colbert for being hostile to Fouquet and sympathetic to the king;:156 and the trial was held in written formFouquet, a convincing orator, was not allowed to speak in his own defense. The accusations that were the subject of the trial could be punishable by death.:167 He also launched a vendetta against Fouquet's friends, supporters and family., In December 1664, Fouquet was taken to the prison fortress of Pignerol in the Alps (in what is now Italy). He remained there, incarcerated in harsh conditions, until his death in 1680. There, Eustache Dauger, the man identified by historical research as the Man in the Iron Mask but whose real name never was spoken or written, is said to have served as one of Fouquet's valets (but the link between Fouquet's imprisonment and the Man in the Iron Mask is controversial The former minister bore his imprisonment with fortitude; he composed several translations and devotionals there.:156, 167 ==Death==

According to official records, Fouquet died in Pignerol on 23 March 1680. His son, the Count of Vaux, was with him when he died. Although no death certificate was established, he is said to have died of apoplexy following a long illness. He was initially buried in the local church, Saint Claire de Pignerol. However, a year after his death, his remains were moved from there to the unmarked family crypt in the Église Sainte-Marie-des-Anges in Paris. ==In fiction==

Fouquet's story is often entwined with that of the Man in the Iron Mask, who is often identified as the true king or even as an identical twin brother of Louis XIV. As such, he is a pivotal character in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne, where he is depicted heroically. Aramis, an ally of Fouquet, tries to seize power by replacing Louis XIV with his identical twin brother. It is Fouquet who, out of sheer loyalty to the crown, foils Aramis's plot and saves Louis. This does not, however, prevent his downfall. James Whale's film The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) is very loosely adapted from Dumas' novel, and by contrast, depicts Fouquet as the story's main villain, who tries to keep the existence of the king's twin brother a secret. Fouquet is portrayed by Joseph Schildkraut. In the 1977 version, Fouquet is portrayed by Patrick McGoohan. In The Fifth Musketeer (1979), based on the same novel, he is portrayed by Ian McShane. In a departure from history, most of these films show him dying in the 1660s. Fouquet was portrayed by Robert Lindsay in Nick Dear's play Power. Fouquet's life (and his rivalry with Colbert) is one of the background plots/stories in the historical novel Imprimatur by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti. Fouquet and his arrest also figure prominently in Roberto Rossellini's 1966 film The Taking of Power by Louis XIV, where Fouquet is played by Pierre Barrat. In the second of Peter Greenaway's Tulse Luper films, a Nazi general by the name of Foestling, played by Marcel Iureș, becomes obsessed with Fouquet and attempts to recreate his life and death. Fouquet is described but not mentioned by name in an episode of HBO's The Sopranos. Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. makes a comparison of John Sacrimoni to King Louis' finance minister who tried to outshine him and his estate: "In the end, Louis clapped him in irons". ==References==