Person1619 – 1683
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Also called: Colbert
Louis XIV’s controller-general of finances (1665–1683), whose mercantilism rested on protective tariffs, royal manufactories and overseas trading companies
Where they went
1 related event
- 1
Ruling in person from 1661, Louis XIV invoked the divine right of kings and perfected absolute monarchy through a standing army, a bureaucracy and Colbert’s mercantilism, moving his court to the Palace of Versailles in 1682.
People who appear alongside
- Louis XIV1638 – 1715
King of France (r. 1643–1715), the “Sun King” and model absolute monarch, who built Versailles and pursued mercantilism through Colbert
Themes this person appears in
- Reformation and Absolutism1517 – 1796
From Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Catherine the Great — the wars of religion of a divided Christendom ended at Westphalia, and absolute monarchs armed with divine right, standing armies, bureaucracies and mercantilism, followed by the enlightened despots of eastern Europe, contended for the balance of power among sovereign states