Samuel Bernard

French banker and trader

• Born: October 29, 1651
• Birthplace: Sancerre, France
• Died: January 18, 1739
• Place of death: Paris, France

Bernard’s wealth enabled France to remain a strong military power and had a significant influence on the politics of Europe, as it financed Louis XIV’s major wars. Bernard’s life demonstrates how the bourgeoisie began its rise to political and economic power in France.

Sources of wealth: Banking; trade

Bequeathal of wealth: Children

Early Life

Samuel Bernard, comte de Coubert, was born in Sancerre, France, on October 29, 1651. He was the son of Jacques-Samuel Bernard, a successful painter. Although Bernard and his father were born in France, the Bernard family was of Dutch origin. The family professed the Protestant faith and was of the bourgeois class. The family initially lived in Sancerre, a Protestant stronghold, and then in Paris. Bernard would have received a standard bourgeois education enabling him to acquire a profession in business or trade.

First Ventures

Bernard began his professional career as a merchant of gold brocade and jewelry. However, he soon became involved in banking. At the time, many Protestants had fled predominantly Catholic France. Bernard received considerable assistance in starting his banking ventures from the Protestant refugees living abroad. In 1676, Bernard publicly renounced his Protestant faith in order to advance his career as a banker. However, it was always known that he maintained his Protestant beliefs, and he became known as the most successful of the Protestant bankers.

In 1685, King Louis XIV created the Compagnie de Guinée, a trading company engaged in the slave trade. Bernard was among the founding members chosen by Louis XIV. The company traded in gold and other merchandise, as well as slaves, and its business made a significant contribution to Bernard’s wealth. From 1690 to 1691, his wealth was further increased by a policy of comte de Pontchatrain, France’s minister of the marine, which permitted the sale of goods acquired through piracy.

Mature Wealth

By 1695, Bernard had gained a reputation as the wealthiest banker in Europe. While his wealth had continuously increased, the royal treasury of France had fallen into serious debt. Louis XIV needed funds to finance his military campaigns. Consequently, in 1697, Louis XIV, although not happy to turn to a Protestant banker, had his ministers obtain a loan of 11 million francs from Bernard to the royal treasury. In exchange, Bernard received a title of nobility. This ennoblement was granted on the condition that Bernard would not abandon his banking and commercial ventures so his money would always be available to the Crown.

In 1708, Louis XIV again found himself in need of money to finance his wars and turned again to the Protestant banker. This time, Louis’s financial controller, Nicolas Desmarets, arranged a meeting of the king with Bernard at the gardens of Marly. Although Bernard was extremely wealthy and had been ennobled, the king felt it beneath his dignity to receive the banker in his palace. Bernard provided a loan of 19 million francs to fund the War of the Spanish Succession. When Louis XV succeeded his grandfather as king, Bernard continued to enjoy his favored position as royal financier. In 1719, Bernard purchased a château and lands in Seine-et-Marne, France. He rebuilt the château from 1724 to 1727 and built another mansion in Paris. Louis XV made Bernard the comte de Courbet in 1725 and five years later appointed him the counselor of state. In 1731, Bernard purchased additional land in Normandy.

At the time of his death on January 18, 1739, Bernard left an estate valued at 33 million francs. The title comte de Courbet was passed to his eldest son, Samuel-Jacques Bernard.

Legacy

As a banker and trader, Samuel Bernard played a significant role in creating the institution of banking. He made important contributions to the French economy by financing both business ventures and government policies, and he influenced the operations of the trading companies. Although born neither a noble nor a Catholic, two attributes of the ruling class in seventeenth and eighteenth century France, Bernard was a powerful figure in the political and economic life of France and its court. His financial success helped change the strict class structure of Old Regime France and laid part of the groundwork for a social system in which success in business and wealth would become equivalent to inherited nobility.

Bibliography

Beik, William. Louis XIV and Absolutism: A Brief Study with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.

Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon. London: Penguin, 2002.

Lewis, W. H. The Splendid Century: Life in the France of Louis XIV. Reprint. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1997.