The Cardinal's Purse and the Debased Copper Coin
After the Fronde ended, Mazarin left a personal fortune of about thirty-five million livres. Around the same time, the liard, a copper coin in the hands of the common people, was devalued to one-third of its face value in about a month.
A First Minister with a Bounty on His Head
The Parlement placed a bounty of 150,000 livres on Cardinal Mazarin's head. A state institution put a price on its serving First Minister. This was one of the high points of the Fronde.
The sale of his property was also ordered, and his collection of some 40,000 books was scattered at auction. Thus disappeared France's first public library, which had been open to all since 1643. Around 5,000 Mazarinades, pamphlets reviling the cardinal, swirled through the city like swarms of flies. These sources are noted as records of public opinion, but not necessarily of fact.
The Spark of Rebellion Lay in Finance
The background to the revolt was a long period of fiscal extraction. State expenditure quintupled between 1600 and 1650, and the Crown borrowed cash in advance from financiers known as traitants, using future taxes as collateral.
The blade of tax increases was aimed not at the peasants, but at the bureaucrats and rentiers of Paris. The rentiers, who lived on annuities from public bonds, found themselves receiving only two and a half of their four quarterly interest payments. Those who had lent money to the Crown eventually became the main protagonists of the rebellion.
The Fortune Rebuilt by an Exile
Mazarin went into exile in Cologne and initially lost his fortune at auction. However, when he passed away in Vincennes on March 9, 1661, the fortune he left behind was approximately thirty-five million livres. It is considered the largest private fortune of the 17th century, surpassing even that of his mentor, Richelieu, which was about twenty million. This means he had rebuilt it in just eight years. That fortune was never called into question.
The Copper Coins of the Same Era
In 1658, the liard, a copper coin used daily by the common people, was devalued from three deniers to one denier in the space of about a month. The small change reduced to a third of its value and the rebuilt thirty-five million livres are stories from the same period.
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The Rebellion that Began with an Account Book, and the Cannonballs Paid for with Rights
The rebellion began not with a sword, but with an account book. Under a daimyō said to have reported his 40,000-koku domain as 100,000 koku, the tax rate doubled. The bodies of those unable to pay were subjected to torture, and to quell the eventual uprising, foreign cannonballs were fired from the sea.
Coinage Struck on Paper, the Promise of Leiden
In besieged Leiden, silver ran out, and coinage was struck from church books. What backed this paper, which had no metallic support, was a single promise: that if the city survived, it would be redeemed for specie.
The Three No's and the Unpayable Bill
During the reign of Louis XVI, reformers pledged "no bankruptcy, no new taxes, no borrowing," supported a war with massive debt, and finally challenged the wall of privilege. While sound coinage maintained its standard, the state's finances were heading towards collapse.
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Everything in these pieces comes from the material itself.