In 1418, Jacques Cole’s name became known to outsiders for the first time. In this year, at the age of 23, he married Metz, the daughter of Lambert, the rector of Bourges. Lambert also has another identity: a former servant of John, Duke of Berry. John, Duke of Berry, was an enlightened patron of the craft.
In the 15th century, in Bourges, the capital of Berry Province in central France, the Cole family was a famous business family. Jacques's father, Pierre Cole, was a fur trader in Bourges. At that time, the slaughtering industry was the most profitable industry in France. For example, according to information revealed in a lawsuit at the end of the 14th century, the weekly profit of a meat stall could reach at least 100-140 US dollars. 600 years ago, this amount The purchasing power of money is extraordinary.
The fur business also increased with the prosperity of the slaughtering industry, and Pierre accumulated a considerable amount of wealth. The power of wealth allowed him to marry Lambert, the rector of Bourges. His relationship with John, Duke of Berry, further promoted Pierre's business. Many years later, Jacques Cole also followed his father's example and gained profits by clinging to power, and went one step further than his father. Of course, this is a later story. Jacques Cole grew up in his father's fur shop and received an imperfect education. Thomas Bazin said that he was almost illiterate, but he went on to say that he was smart and had an agile business mind. mind. Ever since I was a child, my business acumen has become increasingly sharp, and my desire for money has become stronger. In order to make a fortune, he did not hesitate to use extraordinary measures. In 1427, Jacques Cole, together with two people who were expelled from Normandy by the English (part of France was occupied by the British at that time): Lavaux Ledennoy and Pierre Godard, opened counterfeit coins. The manufacturing factory manufactures metal coins of insufficient value to earn the price difference.
Two years later, Jacques’s behavior was discovered by the government, but King Charles VII of France pardoned them and only fined them. After experiencing this ups and downs, Jacques changed his path of making a fortune. Together with Pierre Godard and his brother Barthelemy Godard, he started a royal business. The romantic and luxurious life of the French court in the Middle Ages provided Jacques with unlimited business opportunities. Fine porcelain from China, spices from West Asia, Persian tapestries, peacocks from India and other commodities continued to flow into the palace through the hands of Jacques Cole. Although Charles VII didn't always pay his bills, that didn't matter, Jacques Cole was already profiting from it: through these businesses, he came into the sight of King Charles VII. And rely on the franchise granted by the king to obtain extremely considerable additional profits.
In May 1432, Jacques Cole, together with merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence and Catalonia, Spain, took a ship to the Middle East to buy spices. He was on a ship sailing from Narbonne to Alexandria, expecting to rejoin his fellow ships in Beirut. However, on the way back, the ship was wrecked on the coast of Corsica, and the locals robbed Jacques Cole of all his belongings. When he returned to France, it could be said that he had nothing but courage and ambition.
After this trip to the Middle East, Jacques Cole used his relationship with the court to quickly regroup and formed a fleet of 7 merchant ships, 4 of which were large ships - Saint-Michel Er, St. Owen, St. Jacques and Madeleine. These ships plied regularly between East and West, bringing back Levantine goods—furs and carpets; spices from Arabia and porcelain from China. They were also engaged in the slave trade and carried passengers between ports along the Mediterranean coast. Through this commercial trade, Jacques Cole gained great influence in the East. Although he himself does not appear to have been to the East before 1432, he had hundreds of agents there. He concluded treaties with Sultan Abu Said of Egypt and the Knights of St. John of Cyprus, thereby gaining huge commercial benefits. He saved some of the confiscated property of Venetian merchants in Egypt and received the care of the Venetian Republic. Around 1445, his nephew Jean de Village was sent to Cairo as Charles VII's envoy to sign a commercial treaty with the Sultan of Egypt. The Treaty guaranteed French merchants freedom of trade and protection in all Mamluk countries. Provided for the adjudication of commercial matters by the French consul in Alexandria.
French merchant ships began to gradually replace Venetian and Genoese ships. Jacques Cole also traded with the Turks, who were threatening Constantinople. Although the Christian Church prohibited trade with pagans, he obtained this right from Pope Eugene IV and reconfirmed this privilege in Rome in 1468 through Pope Nicholas III. It seems that he was responsible for the boom in arms sales to the Turks.
His commercial activities were not limited to the East, but also purchased goods throughout France. He must be a person with high organizational skills, extraordinary initiative, imagination, and a person who handles problems in every detail. He established a warehouse in almost every province in France to collect nearby local products. Bourges provided him with cloth and goldsmith's crafts; Limoges provided woolen fabrics; Lyon provided him with silks and imported goods from Germany. He had a trading house in Rouen, which kept him connected with England and Flanders. After the truce between England and France in 1444, he put French products on the British market. It is said that he has a branch in Bruges.
His commercial headquarters are in Montpellier. Here we maintain close ties with Eastern countries. In Montpellier, he owns a large warehouse, including an exhibition room, a spacious basement, etc. He built a gathering place for merchants and Franciscans at the exchange market, which later became the residence of the Montpellier City Hall. During the last years of his life, Jacques Cole moved his business headquarters to Marseille. Here he owned a business establishment, located near the port of Marseille. Among the various city taxes, he had to pay 11,000 florins per year, which shows how huge his wealth was!
Jacques Cole established a warehouse in almost every province in France to collect and store local specialties. Bourges provided him with woolen goods and goldsmith's crafts; Limoges provided woolen goods; Lyon provided silk... In order to direct this huge business, Jacques Cole had at least 300 staff. Each firm had an agent in charge, the most famous of whom was Guillaume Devage, a native of Bourges. He dealt in the king's silverware and oversaw the purchase of merchandise for the court. Later he became comptroller of funds in Languedoc. In addition to these agents, there are also the "ship owners" of merchant ships. The leader of these was Jacques de Village, who married Jacques Cole's niece and had the honorable experience of assisting Jean Calabria in his expedition to Naples, thus becoming the Duke of Lorraine's Steward. Below the ship owner is a group of employees, such as Levant's buying agents. The entire staff seemed devoted to Jacques Cole. It seems that he has a natural ability to select talents and inspire them with his enthusiasm. In order to ensure that there were enough sailors on the ship, he often abducted thieves on the docks and tramps, "rogues, hotel owners and other evil people" in the vicinity of the port.
But Jacques Cole was not only focused on business, he was also engaged in various speculations. In Montpellier, he became a large manufacturer, established a printing and dyeing factory, and tried printing and dyeing woolen fabrics with bright red dyes, and became famous in Eastern countries for this. In Bourges, he established a paper mill and his orange-yellow trademarked paper became famous throughout the world. In Florence, he founded a silk weaving factory, which was supervised by two Florentines, the Bonatorso brothers. It is inspected regularly by two agents, Guillaume Devage and Pierre Joubert. He was in central France, collecting the king's salt tax at Bourges, Tours and Loche.
The above mentioned are not all. Jacques Cole also mined three deposits of silver, lead and copper in Beaujolais, Lyonnais and Chessy. These mines were bought by him. Every year except In addition to paying 1/10 of the profit to the king, 200 livres must be added. The mines were confiscated by the government on January 17, 1455, and operated under the king's name for a year. On April 19, 1455, Jean Dovey, the director of production, formulated extremely favorable regulations for the management of these mines.
The person in charge of the mine affairs is both a supervisor and a tax collector, named Pierre Garnier; the chief accountant and administrator is named Nicolas Tarot, named Pierre Garnier. Garnier's assistant.
Pierre Garnier is in charge of the masters and workers of the mine and must personally inspect the mine to ensure the safety of the wooden supports in the mine. The workers live a collective life, with food and accommodation provided by the mine authorities. In order to prevent mining fees from increasing when living costs suddenly rise, mine owners must store wheat that can supply one or two years in advance. Carpenters, blacksmiths, and metalworkers were better off than ordinary workers in terms of food and accommodation. Workers must swear that they will "be loyal to their duties, work hard...and act in accordance with the rules." They were subject to strict discipline and were prohibited from swearing in the name of God and the Virgin Mary. It is forbidden to wear sharp weapons such as swords and daggers except for knives for cutting bread and meat. No harm to others; no dueling or urinating in the mine. Workers and other employed persons must go to bed on time and eat on time three times a day. Article 53 of the regulations stipulates: Anyone employed in a mine is not allowed to marry and start a family. The ruler of the mine is responsible for hearing all violations of the regulations and has the power to fine or imprison violators. There are police officers in each mining group, and complaints can be filed with the inspector of Macon and the deacon of Lyon at the decision of the mine owner. Complete accounts of the income and expenditure of these mines between 1455 and 1456 have been preserved. At that time these mines were directly operated by the Royal Government. These records include some very meaningful details. Apparently the miners were paid well and lived a comfortable life. They have blankets and pillows on their beds and plenty of food. But in some other respects, these mines mined by the state are unfavorable. The cost of mining is too high and the profit is too small. The royal government has to lease them out and collect "rent" and 1/10 of the metal products. . The mines were returned to Jacques Cole's sons in 1457.
In addition to trade, Jacques Cole also set his sights on manufacturing. In Montpellier, he established a printing and dyeing factory and tried printing and dyeing woolen fabrics with bright red dyes. It is said that these woolen fabrics are very popular in Eastern countries. In his hometown of Bourges, he also opened a paper mill to produce a kind of paper with an orange trademark. For a time, "French paper was expensive". He even opened his factory to the Apennine Peninsula. In Florence, he invested in a silk weaving factory and left it to two local businessmen to manage it.
Jacques Cole is extremely wealthy and his career is well known for its prosperity. A contemporary put it: "He annually acquired more wealth than all the other merchants in the kingdom put together." His fortune was estimated at around 1 million gold crowns. In today's money, its actual value would be over $2 million. As for its actual value, that is, the purchasing power of the money at the time, it is difficult to calculate. You know, at that time, 1 gold ecu could buy 50 bags of flour.
In his prosperous days, he was known for his luxurious clothing, which rivaled that of the dignitaries. Wherever he went, he always used silver cutlery. He had mansions in most of the important cities in France. Such as Lyon, Montpellier and Bourges. The magnificent house he built in Bourges is both an architectural marvel and a national historical monument. Jacques Cole's motto "Nothing is difficult, only those who are determined" can be seen everywhere. Jacques Cole was not just a businessman. He served as a salt tax inspector and collected the king's salt tax in places such as Bourges, Tours and Loche. In 1438, Jacques Cole was appointed finance minister of France by Charles VII. At that time, the Hundred Years War between France and Britain had been going on for 101 years. Under the inspiration and leadership of Joan of Arc, France had begun to switch from retreat to offensive. However, the progress of the war required a large amount of money as backing. This time Jacques · Cole became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the main thing he did was to raise funds for Charles VII.
In order to complete the task assigned by the king, Jacques Cole used the land that the French royal family was about to recover from the British as collateral to borrow money from merchants in Mediterranean cities. With this rather bad check technique, Jacques Cole actually borrowed money. In 1450, he gave the King of France 60,000 gold coins at a time as the cost of the siege of Cherbourg. Of course, this is due to the good reputation he has developed in his long-term business experience.
These loans allowed Charles VII to finally win the Hundred Years War and regain lost territory.
Even King Charles VII (who was notorious for betraying his friends) turned against him, accusing him of poisoning the king's mistress, Agnès Sorel, with all sorts of absurd accusations. It turns out that Agnès died in childbirth on February 9, 1450, and in her will, she named Jacques Cole as her executor. On July 30, 1450 he was imprisoned in the castle of Tayepur. In vain did he appeal to the grace of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The archbishop of Tours and the bishop of Poitiers defended him in vain. He is still being questioned by the Special Committee. One of the commissioners was Antoine de Chabana, an early bandit leader in France during the Hundred Years' War and a native of Montpellier who was a bitter enemy of Cole. His Holiness actively participated in the trial in person. From the summer of 1451 to June 1452, Charles VII imprisoned Jacques Cole in Lusignan. When the proceedings were transferred to Tours, the king was Plessy at Tours. After the poisoning charges failed, Jacques Cole still faced other charges. On May 29, 1453, the day Constantinople was occupied by the Turks, the King of France announced at the committee that Jacques Cole had committed the crime of embezzling the king's tax revenue, counterfeiting currency, transporting large amounts of currency to the Turks, and bringing in money. It is a crime to export gold and silver from France. But considering his past contributions and the pope's intercession, Jacques Cole's death sentence was pardoned. However, he was deprived of all his official titles and sentenced to no title. He held a torch to plead guilty. He must redeem the Christian slave whom he has delivered to Egypt, or replace him with another; return the 100,000 gold coins which he extorted from the king's subjects; and pay a fine of 300,000 gold crowns, until he has completed all the above. Xiang Fang can be released from prison. All his property was confiscated and he was sentenced to permanent exile. The auction of his property took several years. There is no doubt that there are many confiscations of property that are false. One of the inquisitors, Antoine de Chabana, never paid the king for the property he purchased. Many properties were sold at low prices, with legal fees consuming almost the entire amount auctioned. The merchant ship belonging to Jacques Cole, who was not in France during the trial, has never returned to the country, and the goods on board were unloaded in the warehouses of foreign chapters. However, some of the ships were later captured and sold to Bernard Devore for 9,100 livres. Among them was a cargo ship named San Michele, which was later captured by the Turks.
In October 1454, Jacques Cole escaped from prison in Poitiers, hid in several monasteries he had donated, and then traveled to Beaucaire, the seat of his nephew Jean de Village. . Jean protected him and helped him reach Nice, from where he sailed to Rome. Pope Nicholas V welcomed his arrival, while his successor, Pope Callistus III, exploited Jacques Cole's extraordinary organizational genius. He was given the authority to command a fleet prepared to counterattack the Turks. On November 15, 1456, he died on the island of Chios during the expedition of this fleet.
On his deathbed, Jacques Cole recommended his children to the king, and by this time Charles VII had returned part of their father's property to them. All the return work was also completed by Charles VII. On April 14, 1454, he returned Jacques Cole's residence in Bourges and all his property in Berry to his two sons Raoul and Geoffrey. Later Charles VII returned the residence in Lyon and the mines in that area. On the death of Charles VII, Jacques Cole's son, Archbishop of Bourges, attempted to reopen the proceedings and petition the king. The issue was brought to the Supreme Court, but nothing was heard.