André de Fleury

André de Fleury (1653-1743), French cardinal and minister. Educated by Jesuits, he became a priest, and in 1698 Bishop of Fréjus. In 1715 he was appointed tutor to the five-year-old great-grandson and heir of Louis XIV. His influence continued when his pupil succeeded to the throne as Louis XV. Appointed Minister of State in 1726, his elevation to Cardinal in the same year assured his precedence, although he refused the title of First Minister.

A frugal and prudent man, he stabilized the currency and secured credit for the government by regular payment of interest due. In 1739, instead of the usual deficit, there was a surplus of 15 million livres, remarkable after the excesses of Louis XIV’s reign. Abroad, he worked to reduce tension between Britain and Spain, and to reconcile France and Austria. However, in 1733, when Austria’s ally Russia barred Louis XV’s father-in-law Stanislas I Leszczyński from the Polish throne, public opinion compelled war against the two countries until the Treaty of Vienna in 1738. With the rise of the war party after the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, and the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession, Fleury’s power waned. He died in Paris on January 29, 1743.