Colbert
Also known as: Clerk Colbert / M. Colbert / Monsieur Colbert · Family: French court · Role: minister · First appears: Chapter 18
Colbert, also known as Clerk Colbert, M. Colbert, and Monsieur Colbert, serves as a minister at the French court. In chapter 18, Louis XIV leaves the card tables to work with Colbert and Fouquet; by chapter 21, Colbert has deducted six thousand francs from Baisemeaux de Montlezun’s sum while allowing him a fifty-thousand-franc gratification. In chapter 22, Fouquet regards him as a rival who will find money where no one else can, and in chapter 27 Madame de Belliere describes Colbert’s maneuvers as “Treason, then--deep menaces, concealed under the semblance of public interest.”
By chapter 38, Colbert is counted as a friend of Louis XIV and Madame, his lamps invoked beside the brilliance of a passion. In chapter 39, Louis XIV reserves Colbert’s services for a better occasion while Colbert presses Fouquet to provide more money after four million francs have been spent on the festivities and three million more are ordered from the king’s private treasure. When Fouquet agrees to offer the king a fête at Vaux, Colbert remains his enemy; in chapter 46, he approaches him while watching him closely and warns Aramis that he does not want him seen together with Colbert.
At Fontainebleau in chapter 47, Fouquet’s politeness, consideration, and generosity damage Colbert’s standing with Louis XIV. By chapter 60, Colbert holds the king’s weakness and passions in his grasp: “Monsieur Colbert holds his weakness and his passions in his villainous grasp.”
Relationship record
Life events
- Fouquet’s four million francs are exhausted by the ballet’s expenses.(Chapter39)
- With: Fouquet
- “Well, sire, the colored lamps, the fireworks, the musicians, and the cooks, have swallowed up four millions in eight days.”
- Louis orders three million francs from his private treasure to finance the festivities.(Chapter39)
- With: Louis XIV
- “I will at once sign an order for three millions.”
- Fouquet agrees to offer the king a fête in the gardens of Vaux.(Chapter46 · 📍 Vaux)
- With: Fouquet
- “‘This very evening, monseigneur, this very evening.’ ‘Agreed,’ said the superintendent.”
- 1661 · Fouquet’s tactful criticism damages Colbert’s standing with Louis.(Chapter47 · 📍 Fontainebleau)
Chapter 18
- with Louis XIV (Louis works with Colbert as one of his ministers.) “the king, leaving the card-tables at eight o’clock, passed into his cabinet in order to work with M. Colbert and M. Fouquet.”