Nicolas Fouquet, marquis de Belle-Île, vicomte de Melun et Vaux (French pronunciation: [nikɔla fukɛ]; 27 January 1615 – 23 March 1680) was the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661 under King Louis XIV. He had a glittering career, and acquired enormous wealth. He fell out of favor, accused of peculation (maladministration of the state's funds) and lèse-majesté (disrespect to the monarch). The king had him imprisoned from 1661 until his death in 1680.
Nicolas Fouquet was born in Paris to an influential family of the noblesse de robe (members of the nobility under the Ancien Régime who had high positions in government, especially in law and finance). He was the second child of François IV Fouquet (who held numerous high positions in government) and his wife, the writer Marie de Maupeou (who came from a family of the noblesse de robe and who was famous for her piety and charitable works).:18–23,
Contrary to the pretensions of the family, the Fouquets did not come from a lineage of noble blood. They were originally, in fact, merchants in the cloth trade, based in Angers. Fouquet's father later amassed great wealth as a shipowner in Brittany. He was noticed by Cardinal Richelieu, who gave him important positions in government. In 1628, he became an executive associate in the Company of the American Islands, a chartered company for the colonization of French Islands, including missionary work and trade and investment.:18–23
Fouquet's family was extremely devout. They had planned that Nicolas would join the clergy. Out of the family’s 11 children who survived into adulthood, all 5 girls took vows. Among the male children, 4 took the cloth and 2 became bishops. Only Nicolas and his brother Gilles were laymen.:51
After some preliminary schooling with the Jesuits at the age of 13, Fouquet received his law degree from the University of Paris. Richelieu advised Fouquet on this career choice.:40
In 1634, Fouquet was appointed councilor of the Parlement of Metz. Richelieu charged him with the sensitive task of verifying the accounts to determine whether or not Charles IV of Lorraine was skimming money that rightfully was due to the King of France. Fouquet, still a teenager, accomplished this task with brio.:40–41 In 1636, at just 20, his father bought him the post of maître des requêtes for 150,000 livres (under the Ancien Régime, many government posts were purchased by the people holding them)., In 1640, he married the rich and well-connected Louise Fourché and received around 160,000 livres from the dowry, plus other rents and land. Louise died in 1641 at the age of 21, six months after giving birth to a daughter. Fouquet was 26 years old.
Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642, but Fouquet was successful in impressing his successor as chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, who became his protector (over the long term, the relationship was tense:59–60). From 1642 to 1650, Fouquet held various intendancies, at first in the provinces and then with the army of Mazarin. In 1648, Fouquet was named general intendant of Paris, right as the second Fronde broke out. He ably came to the aid of Mazarin and the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria (who was regent for the young Louis XIV) in defense of the monarchy. As a result, Fouquet earned the lasting loyalty and support of both Mazarin:30 and Anne.
These high-level positions raised his profile with the court. He was permitted in 1650 to buy, for 450,000 livres, the important position of procureur général to the parlement of Paris, thereby raising him to the most elite ranks of the noblesse de robe.
Fouquet's already great wealth was augmented by his marriage in 1651 to 15-year old Marie-Madeleine de Castille. She belonged to a wealthy, well-connected family of the noblesse de robe.:77 Fouquet had five children with her.
During Mazarin's exile during the second Fronde, Fouquet remained loyal to him, protecting his possessions and informing him of what was happening in the court.:59–60 Upon Mazarin's return, Fouquet demanded and received as a reward the office of superintendent of finance (on 7 February 1653), making him the youngest person to hold this position in the Ancien Regime.
The royal finances were in a disastrous state at this time, due to many years of war under Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin and antiquated revenue practices. Only about half of total tax revenues collected actually ended up in the royal treasury, the rest being skimmed off by various parties along the way. In this unsettled situation, Fouquet was responsible for decisions as to which funds should be used to meet the demands of the state's creditors, but also for the negotiations with the great financiers who lent money to the king. Fouquet's willingness to honor some of the royal promises enhanced the credibility of the crown as a borrower and strengthened the credit of the government, though the controls on this process were either ineffective or non-existent. The long wars, and the greed of the courtiers, made it necessary at times for Fouquet to meet the demand for funds by borrowing upon his own good credit.:33–42 Fouquet was aware of the risks he was running – he feared ruining his family and his friends who had helped him lend money to the crown. In December 1658, he presented his resignation to Mazarin, but, unfortunately for him, it was not accepted.
The disorder in the accounts became hopeless, but was also normal – the kingdom had a long history of poorly controlled royal finances. In any case, debt issuance could not resolve the deplorable economic situation of the realm without an underlying ability and willingness to rein in expenditures and to bring in tax revenues. Fouquet became the central actor in a debt situation that was fundamentally untenable. Fouquet had drawn up a plan to bring some order to public finances, but he never made progress in implementing it, though it was taken up later by Colbert.:63 Instead, it was business as usual: fraudulent operations were entered into with impunity, and the financiers were maintained in the position of clients via official favours and generous aid whenever they needed it. In the meantime, the peasants and commoners in the cities paid the price for this disorder.:33–42
With Mazarin's death on 9 March 1661, Fouquet expected to be made chief minister, but Louis XIV was suspicious of his loyalty to the crown and his poorly disguised ambition. Upon assuming his kingly duties, it was with Fouquet in mind that Louis XIV made the well known statement that he would be his own chief minister. Colbert, perhaps seeking to succeed Fouquet, fed the king's displeasure with adverse reports about the deficit and unflattering reports about Fouquet. However, Fouquet had some protections – his high position at the parlement (he remained procureur général) gave him immunity from prosecution by any authority except the Parlement, which he largely controlled. Another reason Fouquet may have felt secure is that what he was doing was not necessarily illegal – even Colbert later admitted that "Fouquet managed to conduct his robbery while keeping his hands clean.":40
In 1641, the 26-year old Fouquet purchased the manor of Vaux-le-Vicomte and its small castle located 50 km south east of Paris. He spent enormous sums over a period of 20 years building a château on his estate. In terms of its size, magnificence and interior decor, the chateau was the forerunner of the Palace of Versailles. To design it, he brought together a team that the king later used for Versailles: the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun, and the garden designer André le Nôtre.
At Vaux and other major properties he owned (notably, his estate in Saint-Mandé, which bordered on the Château de Vincennes), Fouquet gathered rare manuscripts, paintings, jewels and antiques in profusion, and above all surrounded himself with artists and authors. 9 Jean de La Fontaine, Pierre Corneille, Molière, Madame de Sevigné and Paul Scarron were a few of the many artists and authors who received his invitations, and for some, his patronage.:89–90