The Sun King's Silver Coin and the Empty Treasury

The Silver Coin of the King of Glory

Here is a large silver coin. It is a Louis XIV écu blanc, created by the engraver Roettiers at the Troyes mint in 1690. It weighs approximately 27 grams and has a face value of 3 livres. Its prototype is considered to be the écu d'argent of 1641.

The personal rule of Louis XIV was marked by three major wars, and the expansion of the standing army and the construction of Versailles emptied the state treasury. The Controller-General of Finances, Colbert, restructured the revenue system and briefly achieved a surplus, but the article states unequivocally that France nevertheless grew poorer due to excessive war spending.

The Controller-General Who Achieved a Surplus

Colbert, who financially supported the Sun King's personal rule, revealed that less than half of the taxes paid by the people were reaching the king. He impeached his predecessor Fouquet, defaulted on some public debt, lowered interest payments, and shifted from direct to indirect taxes.

With his reforms, the deficit turned into a surplus in 1666. Interest payments were halved from 52 million livres to 24 million livres. For Colbert, the wealth of a nation was the amount of gold and silver hoarded within its borders. He promoted exports, suppressed imports with tariffs, and established royal manufactories. Yet, records state decisively that France still grew poorer. Excessive war spending caused gold to continuously flow out of the country.

Money Borrowed from the Future

In fact, by the time Louis XIV ascended the throne, the accounts were already being paid for by the future. In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu passed away, and the following year, Louis XIII followed him. The reign of the young king, who was enthroned at the age of four, began with the regency of his mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and Chief Minister Mazarin.

Even with a new king, the wars did not stop, and state expenditures swelled fivefold between 1600 and 1650. Where did this money come from? The Crown financed itself by selling public offices and borrowing cash in advance from financial contractors known as *traitants*, using future tax revenues as collateral.

The Bounty on the Chief Minister's Head

In 1648, this distorted system collapsed. The Crown announced that in exchange for recognizing the hereditary nature of their offices, it would withhold four years' salary from the magistrates of the high courts of justice (the *Parlements*). The courts united in resistance, demanding the abolition of the intendants, tax reductions, and the right to consent to taxation. The cornered Crown stopped payments to its lenders, the *traitants*. This was a de facto state bankruptcy.

Barricades of barrels and chains were erected in the streets of Paris, and a civil war known as the Fronde began. In January 1649, the regency government fled Paris with the young king. Soon, Chief Minister Mazarin was also forced into exile. On December 29, 1651, the Parlement of Paris placed a bounty of 150,000 livres on Mazarin's head. A state institution had put a price on the head of its chief minister.