Jean-Baptiste Colbert (French:[ʒɑ̃.ba.tistkɔl.bɛʁ]; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was aFrench statesman who served asFirst Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of KingLouis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country's politics and markets, known asColbertism, a doctrine often characterized as a variant ofmercantilism, earned him the nicknamele Grand Colbert ([ləɡʁɑ̃kɔl.bɛʁ]; "the Great Colbert").
Colbert's father and grandfather were merchants in his birthplace ofReims,France. He claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A widespread (but unconfirmed) belief exists that he spent his early youth at aJesuit college, working for a Parisian banker; as well as working for the father ofJean 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 WarMichel Le Tellier. Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier.In 1647, through unknown means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle, Pussort. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source; and in 1649 Colbert became the councilor of state, i.e. a political minister.
Colbert was recommended to KingLouis XIV by Mazarin. WhileCardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis's trust in Colbert grew. In 1652, Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. This new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility ascommissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion.
Colbert's earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of amémoire to Mazarin, showing that less than half of the taxes paid by the people reached the King. The paper also contained an attack onNicolas Fouquet. Thepostmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress.[3]
In 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January 1664 Colbert became theSuperintendent of buildings; in 1665 he becameController-General of Finances; in 1669, he becameSecretary of State of the Navy; he also gained appointments as minister ofcommerce, of thecolonies, and of thepalace. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war.[3]
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 XIV, Colbert aimed the first blow at the man accused of being the greatest of the royal embezzlers, the superintendentNicolas Fouquet. Fouquet's fall secured Colbert's own advancement.[3]
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 anintendant 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 hisforestry ordinance of 1669.[4] When he had severely punished guilty officials, he turned his attention to the government's fraudulent creditors. 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 Frenchmanufacturing and bringing theeconomy back from the brink ofbankruptcy. Nevertheless, despite his best efforts, France grew increasinglyimpoverished because of the King's excessive spending on wars.[5]
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'sdirigiste 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.[3]
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 thepillory. 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 schemes have met with less equivocal condemnation.[3]
By his firm maintenance of thecorporation system, each industry remained in the hands of certain privilegedbourgeois; while the lower classes found opportunities of advancement closed. He did, however, wisely consult the interests of internal commerce.[3]
Unable to abolish the duties on the passage of goods fromprovince to province, he did what he could to induce the provinces to equalize them.[3] Currency exchange rates still remained between these provinces despite a policy focusing on the unification of French trade.[citation needed] His régime improved roads and canals.Pierre Paul Riquet (1604–1680) planned and constructed theCanal du Midi under Colbert's patronage.[3]
To encourage overseas trade with theLevant,Senegal,Guinea and other places, Colbert granted privileges to companies, but, like the notedFrench East India Company, all proved unsuccessful.[3]
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 theNear East where France had placed a consul. He employedPierre de Carcavi andÉtienne Baluze as librarians. Colbert's grandson sold the manuscript collection in 1732 to theBibliothèque Royale.[6]
He reorganised theAcademy 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 Bernini, to Paris (June–October 1665), in order to design the newEast 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 theHoly See. While in France, Bernini also sculpted a marble portrait bust of Louis XIV (Versailles palace). However the relations between the two strong-willed men, Colbert and Bernini, proved melodramatically stormy. Bernini's Louvre design was ultimately rejected.[7]
In 1666 Colbert established anAcadémie dedicated to the development of science and advising the government in this field. For theFrench Academy of Sciences he chose scientists, mathematicians, as well as physicists which at the time included anatomists, botanists, and zoologists. The first session was held on 22 December 1666 in Paris.[8] Colbert himself became a member of theAcadémie Française. He proposed one very characteristic rule with the intention of expediting the greatDictionary, 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.
In 1673 Colbert presided over the first exhibition of the works of living painters and he enriched theLouvre with hundreds of pictures and statues.
He gave many pensions to men of letters, among whom we findMolière,Corneille,Racine,Boileau,P D Huet (1630–1721) andAntoine Varillas (1626–1696); and even foreigners, asHuygens,Carlo Roberto Dati theDellacruscan. Evidence exists to show that by this munificence he hoped to draw out praises of his sovereign and himself. But this motive certainly does not account for all the splendid, if in some cases specious, services that he rendered to literature, science and art.
Colbert worked incessantly hard until his final hours. Work was his religion; he once pondered whether it was better to rise early and work or retire very late and work. He concluded that rising early and retiring late would be the ideal combination. Towards the end of his life he suffered from stomach aches, which caused him much distress. He was reduced to eating moistbread dipped in chickenbroth for his meals.
By 64 he was bedridden and died seven days after his birthday. The surgeons who examined him found that he had been suffering fromkidney stones. A huge stone was found in hisurinary tract, which would explain his pain.
In literature, the power struggle between Colbert and Fouquet is one of the main plotlines ofAlexandre Dumas, père's novelThe Vicomte of Bragelonne, the second sequel toThe Three Musketeers. Dumas paints Colbert as an uncouth and ruthless schemer who stops at little, in contrast to the more refined Fouquet, counselled byAramis, but also as a visionary patriot.
Colbert's statue stands outside theAssemblée nationale. It was vandalized in 2020 due to Colbert's part in drafting theCode Noir.[11] This legal instrument sanctioned a intentionally brutal system of torture and repression to enforce institutionalslavery in the French colonial empire and restrict the enterprise of free Black people.[12]
^Richardt, Aimé (1997).Colbert et le colbertisme (in French). Tallandier. p. 261.ISBN9782235021562.Promulgué deux ans après la mort de Colbert (en 1685), le code noir avait été conçu par lui sous le nom de code des colonies.
^One suchlaw had the intention of improving the quality of cloth. The edict declared that if the authorities found amerchant's cloth unsatisfactory on three separate occasions, they were to tie him to a post with the cloth attached to him.
^Gavin John Adams (2012).Letters to John Law. Newton Page. p. xxiii.ISBN978-1934619087.
^Busby, Keith (1993).Les Manuscrits de Chrétien de Troyes. Rodopi. pp. 113–114.ISBN978-9051836035.
^For Colbert and Bernini in Paris in 1665, see Franco Mormando,Bernini: His Life and His Rome (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 245–288.[ISBN missing]
^The tomb, commissioned by Colbert's widow in 1685, was designed byCharles Le Brun, director of official arts in France; Tuby assisted Colbert, providing one of the accompanying figures; the tomb was dismantled at theFrench Revolution and reinstated, in rearranged form, in 1818.
Colyar, H. A. de (1913). "Jean Baptiste Colbert". InMacdonell, John; Manson, Edward William Donoghue (eds.).Great Jurists of the World. London: John Murray. pp. 248–282. Retrieved9 March 2019 – via Internet Archive.
