Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully (1559–1641) was a French Huguenot statesman and soldier who served as the indispensable chief minister and Superintendent of Finances to King Henry IV of France. Having survived the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as a student in Paris, Sully served as Henry of Navarre's loyal companion throughout the French Wars of Religion, fighting alongside him in battles from Coutras to Ivry.

Appointed Superintendent of Finances in 1598, Sully miraculously balanced the bankrupt French treasury, accumulated a vast royal reserve in the Bastille, and eliminated corrupt tax-farming. Championing agriculture and forestry with his immortal phrase Labourage et pâturage sont les deux mamelles de la France ('Tilling and grazing are the two breasts of France'), he built tree-lined roads, bridges, and canals (notably the Briare Canal), establishing the economic foundation of modern France.