What is it about?
The article examines the ways in which France managed its monetary policy to help fund Louis XIV's wars against Europe between 1689 and 1715.
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Why is it important?
This article analyses the first experience with paper money in history, between 1701 and 1709, in others words before John Law's Scheme or the revolutionary assignats.
Perspectives
I hope this article will make a useful contribution to the fascinating and growing literature on the Financial Revolution, but here from the point of view of France, which was then Europe's main enemy and also the most powerful country. It is part of monograph I am currently completing on the Fiscal Origins of the French Revolution, 1688-1788. The monetary problems that arose out of Louis XIV's wars tells a lot about the importance of those years, which are only matched by the impact of the French Revolution, WWI and WWII when it comes to the role of money, credit and financial institutions.
Joel Felix
University of Reading
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: ‘The most difficult financial matter that has ever presented itself’: paper money and the financing of warfare under Louis XIV, Financial History Review, April 2018, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0968565017000294.
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