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Jacques Cœur

Type Figure Region France Time c. 1395–1456 Also known as Jacques Cœur、Jacques Coeur、雅克·库厄

Jacques Cœur (c. 1395–1456) was a wealthy merchant of Bourges and royal financier, serving as grand treasurer and master of the mint under Charles VI…

Timeline

  1. 1395–1428Bourges · Centre-Val de LoireAround 1418 he married the daughter of a notable of Bourges, and in partnership with the Godard brothers traded in wool, nuts, and spices, gradually accumulating capital and expanding into Eastern Mediterranean trade routes, becoming one of the wealthiest merchants in central France during the Hundred Years' War.
  2. 1429–1441Paris · Île-de-FranceAfter Charles VII recovered Paris, Cœur was appointed master of the mint and managed royal expenditure, reforming the currency, collecting the salt tax, and financing the war from his own property, while also serving as envoy to Spain and Italy. His wealth and influence made the court nobles both dependent on and envious of him.
  3. 1441–1450Bourges · Centre-Val de LoireEnnobled in 1441, he built a Gothic mansion in Bourges, arranged bishoprics and noble marriages for his children, and acquired some forty estates. His trading network spanned France, the Mediterranean, and the East, earning him the epithet "the Medici of France".
  4. 1451–1456Chios · North AegeanArrested in 1451 on charges brought by political enemies including the poisoning of Agnès Sorel, his property was confiscated; in 1555 he escaped prison and fled through Provence and Marseille to Rome. Popes Nicholas V and Callixtus III commissioned him to lead a fleet to aid Rhodes, and he died of illness on Chios on November 25, 1456.

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