Sully (Maximilien de Béthune)

Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully (Known as "Baron de Rosny / Duc de Sully")

Superintendent of Finances to Henry IV, Marshal of France, Modernized Agriculture and Roads

Born Dec 13, 1559

Rosny-sur-Seine (near Mantes), France

Passed Away Dec 22, 1641 Château de Villebon (Eure-et-Loir), Kingdom of France

Lifespan 82 years old

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Notice / Correction

"Labourage et pâturage sont les deux mamelles qui nourrissent la France (Tillage and pasture are the two breasts that feed France)."

Archival Overview

Invaluable chief minister, financier, and artillery commander to King Henry IV who restored France's devastated finances, famously declaring that agriculture and livestock were the two breasts that nourished the realm.

Biographical Record

A devout Huguenot who narrowly survived the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre at age twelve, Sully fought alongside Henry IV through forty pitched battles and sieges. Appointed Superintendent of Finances in 1598, he ruthlessly eliminated tax fraud, transformed royal debt into a massive treasury surplus, and drained marshes.

He created the network of tree-lined royal roads ('arbres de Sully'), built the Briare Canal connecting the Loire and Seine, and formulated the 'Grand Design' for an early European federation of nations. His famous maxim remains a foundational principle of French rural identity.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Hospice Chapel of Nogent-le-Rotrou (Monumental Sully Mausoleum)
Nogent-le-Rotrou (Eure-et-Loir), France

                         GPS: 48.3167, 0.8167                    

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