Charles Alexandre de Calonne

Born in 1734 into a family of magistrates at Douai, he served as a provincial intendant. Becoming Controller-General of Finances to Louis XVI in 1783, he at first spent freely to sustain credit, but in 1786 realised that the crown’s debts had become unmanageable and proposed a land tax on all property. To bypass the parlements he summoned the Assembly of Notables in 1787, but met the refusal of the privileged orders and was dismissed in April. He went to England and worked with the émigrés against the Revolution, returning with Napoleon’s permission in 1802 and dying in Paris that year.