The Man Who Outshone the Sun King: A Life of Gleaming Opulence and Wretched Reversal in the Reign of Louis XIV

by Charles Drazin

Overview

Late in 1664, the musketeer D'Artagnan rode beside a carriage as it left Paris, carrying his friend Nicolas Fouquet to life imprisonment in a cell next door to the Man in the Iron Mask. From a glorious zenith as Louis XIV's first minister and Cardinal Mazarin's protégé and eventual protector; builder of the stunningly opulent chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte; and patron of the arts and lover of beautiful women, Fouquet had suffered a wretched decline.

The story of the rise and fall of Nicolas Fouquet is both compelling and unforgettable. Charles Drazin's beautifully written and vivid account brings to life Fouquet's remarkable gains in fortune, influence, and power, as well as the lavish and hazardous world of the royal court in seventeenth-century France.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786726462
Publisher:	Da Capo Press
Publication date:	10/20/2008
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Charles Drazin edited the literary journals of John Fowles. He teaches film studies at the University of London and has written numerous books about film. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

In Drazin (film studies, Univ. of London), long-neglected Frenchman Nicholas Foucquet (1615-80) has finally found a sympathetic chronicler of his fascinating and influential life. Foucquet was born into the noblesse de robe and thanks to his father's wealth and connections obtained a key position with the Parlement of Paris when he was only 20 years old. By the time Cardinal Jules Mazarin gained ministerial control of the French monarchy, Foucquet had already shown himself to be an astute practitioner of the intricate methods of generating wealth for the Crown, for Mazarin, and for himself. His financial skills led to his appointment in 1653 as superintendent of finances, but his extravagant lifestyle proved to be his downfall. Foucquet's opulence enraged an ascending Sun King (Louis XIV), and he was thrown into prison, where he died a lonely death. Drazin portrays Foucquet as a complex character whose grasping ambition was tempered by a devotion to the arts and the pursuit of knowledge; much of his wealth went to paintings and manuscripts that contributed to the European cultural awakening. Drazin's characterization of Foucquet's fate provides graphic insight into Louis XIV's concerted and successful effort to gain administrative control of his monarchy. Although written by a nonspecialist and with the general reader in mind, this biography should be considered by any library with a strong 17th-century French history collection.
—Jim Doyle

Library Journal

Library Journal, 11/1/08
“Long-neglected Frenchman Nicholas Foucquet has finally found a sympathetic chronicler of his fascinating and influential life…Drazin's characterization of Foucquet's fate provides graphic insight…[Written] with the general reader in mind.”

Santa Fe New Mexican, 3/13/09
“Drazin’s writing is…competent and readable…This is an informative book.”

HistoryWire.com, 7/11/09
“The gripping saga of Louis's first minister, builder of the opulent chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, patron of the arts, and lover of beautiful women, but also the man who ended up convicted of embezzlement and treason…Graceful prose.”

Reference and Research Book News, August 2009
“Reveal[s] Foucquet's colorful and extravagant life and the King's envy, jealousy and eventual betrayal.

From the Publisher