Jean Herauld Gourville
Jean Herauld Gourville (July 10, 1625 – June 14, 1703) was a French
adventurer.
He was born in La Rochefoucauld,
in today's Charente departement.. At the age
of eighteen he entered the house of La Rochefoucauld as a servant, and in 1646
became secretary to Francois de La Rochefoucauld, [later in life the] 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 Conde, 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.
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