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Jacques Cœur

 

(born c. 1395, Bourges, Fr. — died Nov. 25, 1456, probably Chios in the Aegean Sea) French merchant and royal official. A member of the council of King Charles VII, he was put in charge of tax collection, and was ennobled in 1441. He built a great commercial empire that dealt in salt, silks, and many other commodities, and with his huge wealth he funded the king's reconquest of Normandy (1450) and made loans to many aristocrats. Falsely accused of poisoning the king's mistress and of dishonest speculation, he was arrested in 1451 but escaped to Italy. He died while commanding a naval expedition against the Turks.

For more information on Jacques Coeur, visit Britannica.com.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Jacques Cœur
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Cœur, Jacques (zhäk kör), c.1395-1456, French merchant prince and adviser of King Charles VII, who made him chief of finances and sent him on important diplomatic missions. His reforms restored order to the confused financial situation brought about by the Hundred Years War. Cœur established French trade in the Levant, employed agents throughout the Orient, owned factories and mines in France and abroad, and rivaled the great Italian merchant republics. Through his monopolies he amassed a fabulous fortune, but he spent a large part of it to finance the campaigns that ultimately drove the English from France. In 1451 he was arrested on the charge, concocted by his debtors and enemies, of having poisoned Agnès Sorel. He was sentenced (1453), after an unfair trial, to imprisonment and a fine of several million francs. In 1454-55 he escaped to Rome. He died in Chios while leading a papal fleet against the Ottomans. His house in Bourges, which still stands, is one of the finest examples of secular medieval architecture.

Bibliography

See A. B. Kerr, Jacques Cœur (1927).

 
 
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Agnès Sorel (French royalty)
comte de Dammartin Antoine de Chabannes (French military leader)
Bourges (city, France)

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more