Pitts Embezzlement and High Treason in Louis XIV's France

The Trial of Nicolas Fouquet
Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4214-1825-4
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Louis XIV’s vendetta against his disgraced finance minister exposed dark truths about the state's finances.

From 1661 to 1664, France was mesmerized by the arrest and trial of Nicolas Fouquet, the country’s superintendent of finance. Prosecuted on trumped-up charges of embezzlement, mismanagement of funds, and high treason, Fouquet managed to exonerate himself from all of the major charges over the course of three long years, in the process embarrassing and infuriating Louis XIV. The young king overturned the court’s decision and sentenced Fouquet to lifelong imprisonment in a remote fortress in the Alps.

A dramatic critique of absolute monarchy in pre-revolutionary France, Embezzlement and High Treason in Louis XIV's France tells the gripping tale of an overly ambitious man who rose rapidly in the state hierarchy—then overreached. Vincent J. Pitts uses the trial as a lens through which to explore the inner workings of the court of Louis XIV, who rightly feared that Fouquet would expose the tawdry financial dealings of the king's late mentor and prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pitts, Vincent J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsgeschichte, Recht der Antike
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Arbeitsmarkt
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prelude
1. The Long Reach
2. The Superintendant at Work
3. Fall of a Titan
4. Setting the Stage and Writing the Script
5. The Best-Laid Plans of Men and Ministers
6. To Do Justice without Consideration of Fortune or Self-Interest
7. A Performance beyond Comparison
8. The Honor and Conscience of Judges
9. Aftermath
Appendix. Ministerial Fortunes in Seventeenth-Century France
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Pitts, Vincent J.
Vincent J. Pitts has taught at Quinnipiac University and at Southern Connecticut State University. He is the author of La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France, 1627–1693, also published by Johns Hopkins, and The Man Who Sacked Rome: Charles de Bourbon, Constable of France, 1490–1527.Histoire Sociale - Social History

Vincent J. Pitts teaches at Quinnipiac University. He is the author of Henri IV of France: His Reign and Age, La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France: 1627–1693, and The Man Who Sacked Rome: Charles de Bourbon, Constable of France (1490–1527).