Duc De Sully

Maximilien de BÐ"©thune, also known as the Duc de Sully was born in 1560 and died in 1641. During his lifetime, this French statesman contributed greatly to the financial success of the first of the Bourbon Dynasty, Henry IV of France.

Sully was born at the Chateau of Rosny near Mantes-la-Jolie to a noble family and his values were those of a reformed faith, for he was raised as a Huguenot. At the young age of 11, Maximilien was brought before Henry of Navarre which helped him gain success and he positioned himself to become affiliated with the future king of France. As a child Sully studied mathematics and history at the court of Henry of Navarre. Maturation led Sully to enlist in the Protestant army in 1575 during the civil war. His strict childhood and focus on his studies led him to exhibit courage during the war, but just as importantly, he excelled as a military engineer. This time period served as proving grounds for his future success as he became affiliated with Henry IV.

As always, religion plays a crucial role in an individual's ability to successfully run his country. Henry was brought up as a Calvinist and was considered to be "high spirited and good humored." During the wars there was great controversy between the Catholics, Protestants, and Huguenots. In order to save his own life he converted to Catholicism for a brief period of time, but ultimately changed back to Calvinism and led the Huguenots. Upon the signing of the Edict of Nantes in 1598, the wars finally ended, thus allowing Henry the independence to reconstruct France.

Henry's domestic policy was greatly focused at leading France towards absolutism. Since Henry did not have an exact plan as to how he would perform such acts, accompanied by the fact that the main complaints the nobility had before and during the French Wars of Religion were absolutism, his desire did not seem very realistic. However, he did have various advantages in regards to accompanying his goal. He was the legitimate heir and he portrayed to others a sincere desire for social stability as well as staying away from war. Furthermore, he was not affiliated with Spain which the people of France determined to be a positive factor. Not to forget, the use of paying-off nobles, persuasion, and the intimidation of using brute force often presents a changing tide of opinion.

Henry had an inner circle referred to as the Conseil des Affaires which was compiled of six ministers also known as his daily advisors. Henry had one notably bad experience with one of his advisors, Duke of Biron, who was accused and found guilty of becoming a too powerful danger to the monarchy, and he was later put on trial and executed. Following such controversy, Henry chose to befriend the nobility by creating close relations amongst one another, thus allowing him to gain a more absolute monarchy. A most distinguished accomplice during this time is certainly his chief minister, Duc de Sully. Their interactions together mark many of the most significant changes that occurred in France during this time period.

Sully`s known most notably for his accomplishments within the finance departments. During his career he was able to take a national deficit and create an excess flow of money through measures such as increasing efficiency and productivity. His successes lie in part to the fact that he was able to create a strong central infrastructure which allowed the entire kingdom to communicate and transport goods to one another in a much more timely manor. In addition, a more centralized nation was highly looked upon by Henry IV, for he was able to strengthen his absolute monarchy by keeping a closer eye on all of the proceedings occurring in his kingdom. Sully also succeeded in his attempts to eliminate dishonesty as well as diminishing expenses. At the same time, Sully needed to increase taxes, while extending monies more equally between the different departments within the kingdom, as well as seeing to it that more money went into the Treasury for savings purposes. During previous hardships, the kingdom had sold land to raise money for the treasury Ð'- much like current government bonds. In order to reduce and eliminate the crown's debt, Sully took it upon himself to lessen the amount of interest paid on money lent to the king, and at the same time he purchased royal land back from the individuals' it was originally sold to. As always, the church system can be a cumbersome entity. Therefore, Sully chose to eliminate most of the churches, reducing the number of parishes from 1.7 million to 22,600. Such measures allowed tax collection to be much quicker and more accurate process, ultimately leading to more money in the Treasury.

Sully's advancements were not confined simply to financial achievements. In the year 1599, he was granted the position of "grand commissioner of highways and public works, superintendent of fortifications and grand master of artillery; in 1602 governor of Nantes and of Jargeau, captain-general of the Queen's gens d'armes and governor of the Bastille; in 1604 he was governor of Poitou; and in 1606 the official title was granted, Duke of Sully." Furthermore, Sully advocated agricultural advancement, recommended the free circulation of produce, supported stock-raising, outlawed the obliteration of the forests, drained swamps to construct roads, built bridges over waterways, and created an immense system of canals. In addition, Sully helped increase the force of the French military establishment. Unfortunately, Sully's role as an advisor ended upon the death of Henry IV on May 14, 1610. Despite the fact that Sully served on the Queen's council of regency, his fellow contemporaries did not favor his opinion as did Henry, and after a heated argument with his colleagues, he retired from his position as the superintendent of finances on January 26,