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SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 58 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE See also:BETHUNE , Duc DE (156o—1641), See also:French statesman, was See also:born at the See also:chateau of See also:Rosny near Mantes, on the 13thof See also:December 156o, of a See also:noble See also:family of Flemish descent. His See also:father, See also:Francois de Bethune, See also:baron de Rosny, (1J32-1575), was the son of See also:Jean de Bethune, to whom in 1529 his wife See also:Anne de Me.lun brought as See also:part of her See also:dowry a seigneurie at Rosny-sur-See also:Seine, which later (16o1) was made a marquisate. Brought up in the Reformed faith, Maximilien was presented to See also:Henry of See also:Navarre in 1571 and was. thenceforth attached to the future See also:king of See also:France. The See also:young baron de Rosny was taken to See also:Paris by his See also:patron and was studying at the See also:college of Bourgogne at the See also:time of the See also:massacre of St See also:Bartholomew's See also:Day, from which he escaped by discreetly carrying a See also:book of See also:hours under his See also:arm. He then studied See also:mathematics and See also:history at the See also:court of Henry of Navarre, and on the outbreak of See also:civil See also:war in 5575 he enlisted in the See also:Protestant See also:army. In 1576 he accompanied the See also:duke of See also:Anjou on an expedition into the See also:Netherlands in See also:order to regain the former Rosny estates, but being unsuccessful he attached himself for a time to the See also:prince of See also:Orange. Later rejoining Henry of Navarre in See also:Guienne, he displayed bravery in the See also:field and particular ability as an engineer. In 1583 he was Henry's See also:special See also:agent in Paris. In 1584 he married Anne de See also:Courtenay, a wealthy heiress, who died, however, ih 1589. On the renewal of civil war Rosny again joined Henry of Navarre, and at the See also:battle of Ivry (159o) was seriously wounded. He counselled Henry IV.'s See also:conversion to See also:Roman Catholicism, but steadfastly refused himself to become a Roman See also:Catholic. As soon as Henry's See also:power was established, the faithful and trusted Rosny received his See also:reward in the shape of numerous estates and dignities.

On the See also:

death of D'O, the See also:superintendent of finances, in 1594, the king had appointed a See also:finance See also:commission of nine members, to which he added Rosny in 1596. The latter at once made a tour of inspection through the generalities, and introduced some order into the See also:country's affairs. He was probably made See also:sole superintendent of finances in 1598, although this See also:title does not appear in See also:official documents until the See also:close of Mot. He authorized the See also:free exportation of See also:grain and See also:wine, reduced legal See also:interest from 83 to 61%, established a special court for the trial of cases of peculation, forbade provincial See also:governors to raise See also:money on their own authority, and otherwise removed many abuses of tax-See also:collecting, abolished several offices, and by his honest, rigorous conduct of the country's finances was able to See also:save between 1600 and 1610 an See also:average of a million livres a See also:year. His achievements were by no means solely See also:financial. In 1599 he was appointed See also:grand See also:commissioner of highways and public See also:works, superintendent of fortifications and grand See also:master of See also:artillery; in 1602 See also:governor of Mantes and of Jargeau, See also:captain-See also:general of the See also:queen's gens d'armes and governor of the See also:Bastille; in 1604 governor of See also:Poitou; and in 16o6 duke and peer of Sully, ranking next to princes of the See also:blood. He declined the See also:office of See also:constable because he would not become a Roman Catholic. Sully encouraged See also:agriculture, urged the free circulation of produce, promoted stock-raising, forbade the destruction of the forests, drained swamps, built roads and See also:bridges, planned a vast See also:system of canals and actually began the See also:canal of See also:Briare. He strengthened the French military See also:establishment; under his direction Evrard began the construction of a See also:great See also:line of defences on the frontiers. Sully opposed the king's colonial policy as inconsistent with the French See also:genius, and likewise showed little favour to See also:industrial pursuits, although on the urgent solicitation of the king he established a few See also:silk factories. He fought in corrlpany with Henry IV. in See also:Savoy (r600—16or) and negotiated the treaty of See also:peace in 16o2; in 1603 he,represented Henry at the court of See also:James I. of See also:England; and throughout the reign he helped the king to put down insurrections of the nobles, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. It was Sully, too, who arranged the See also:marriage between Henry IV. and See also:Marie de Medicis.

The See also:

political role of Sully practically ended with the assassination of Henry IV. on the 14th of May 16ro. Although a member of the See also:council of regency, his colleagues were not disposed to See also:brook his domineering leadership, and after a stormydebate he resigned as superintendent of finances on the 26th of See also:January 1611, and retired to private See also:life. The queen-See also:mother gave him 300,000 livres for his services and confirmed him in See also:possession of his estates. He attended the estates-general in 1614, and on the whole was in sympathy with the policy and See also:government of See also:Richelieu. Ile disavowed the plots at La Rochelle, in 1621, but in the following year was arrested at See also:Moulins, though soon released. The See also:baton of See also:marshal of France was conferred on him on the 18th of See also:September 1634. The last years of his life were spent chiefly at Villebon, Rosny and Sully. He died at Villebon, on the 22nd of December 1641. By his first wife Sully had one son, Maximilien, See also:marquis de Rosny (158.7—1634), who led a life of dissipation and debauchery. By his second wife, See also:Rachel de Cochefilet, widow of the See also:lord of Chateaupers, whom he married in 1592 and who turned Protestant to please him, he had nine See also:children, of whom six died young, and one daughter married in 16os See also:Henri de See also:Rohan. Sully was not popular. He was hated by most Roman Catholics because he was a Protestant, by most Protestants because he was faithful to the king, and by all because he was a favourite, and selfish, obstinate and See also:rude.

He amassed a large See also:

personal See also:fortune, and his See also:jealousy of all other ministers and favourites was extravagant. Nevertheless he was an excellent See also:man of business, inexorable in punishing malversation and dishonesty on the part of others, and opposed to the ruinous court See also:expenditure which was the bane of almost all See also:European monarchies in his day. He was gifted with executive ability, with confidence and See also:resolution, with fondness for See also:work, and above all with deep devotion to his master. He was implicitly trusted by Henry IV. and proved himself the most able assistant of the king in dispelling the See also:chaos into which the religious and civil See also:wars had plunged France. To Sully, next to Henry IV., belongs the See also:credit for the happy transformation in France between 1598 and 16ro by which agriculture and See also:commerce were benefited and See also:foreign peace and See also:internal order were maintained. Sully See also:left a curious collection of See also:memoirs written in the second See also:person and bearing the See also:quaint title, Memoires See also:des sages et royales (economies d'estat, domestiques, politiques, et militaires de Henry le Grand, l'exemplaire des rays, le prince des vertus, des armes, et des loix, et le Pere en effet de ses peoples frangois; et des servitudes utiles, obissances convenables, et administrations loyales de See also:Maxim. de Bethune, run des plus confidens, familiers, et utiles soldats et servite,urs du grand See also:Mars des Francois: dediees a la France, a tons See also:les bons soldats, et tous peoples frangois. The memoirs are very valuable for the history of the time and as an autobiography cf Sully, in-spite of the fact that they contain many See also:fictions, such as a See also:mission under-taken by Sully to Queen See also:Elizabeth in 1601, and the famous" Grand See also:Design," a See also:plan for a See also:Christian See also:republic, which some historians have taken seriously. Two See also:folio volumes of the memoirs were splendidly printed, nominally at See also:Amsterdam, but really under Sully's own See also:eye, at his chateau in 1638; two other volumes appeared posthumously in Paris in 1662. The See also:abbe de 1'Ecluse rewrote the memoirs in See also:ordinary narrative See also:form and edited them in 1745. The best edition of the See also:original is that in J. F. See also:Michaud and J.

J. F. Poujoulat, Nouvelle collection des memoires relatifs a l'histoire de France (1854), vols. xvi.–xvii. An See also:

English See also:translation by See also:Charlotte See also:Lennox appeared in 1756 and was later revised and republished (4 vols., See also:London, 1856). See E. See also:Lavisse, Sully (Paris, 1880) ; L. Dussieux, Etude biographique sur Sully (Paris, 1887) ; G. See also:Fagniez, Economie sociale de la France sous Henri IV. (Paris, 1897) ; B. L. H. See also:Martin, Trois grands ministres, Sully, Richelieu et See also:Colbert (Paris, 1898) ; E.

Lavisse, ed. Histoire de France (Paris, 1905), vol. vi. ; P. Robiquet, Histoire municipals de Paris, vol. iii. Histoire de Henri IV. (Paris, 1904) ; E. Bonnal, L'Economie politique au X VI' siecle: Sully economiste (Paris, 1872) ; J. Gourdault, Sully et son temps (See also:

Tours, 18i3); T. Kfikelhaus, Der Ursprung des Planes vom ewigen Frieden in den Memoiren des Herzogs von Sully (See also:Berlin, 1892); C. Pfister, " Les '(Economies royales' de Sully et le grand dessein de Henri IV." in Revue historique (1894), vols. liv.–Ivi. ; Desclozeaux, " Gabrielle d'See also:Estrees et Sully " in Revue historique (1887), vol. xxxiii. (C.

H. HA).

End of Article: SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE

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