biography
| name: |
Fleury, André-Hercule de
|
pronunciation:
[floeree]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1653–1743)
|
| biography:
| French clergyman and statesman, born in Lodève, S France. As a young priest he entered court service (1679), became almoner to Louis XIV (1683), Bishop of Fréjus (1698), and in 1715 tutor to the future Louis XV. Replacing the Duc de Bourbon as chief minister (1726), he was made cardinal, and effectively controlled the government of Louis XV until 1743. Through skilful diplomacy he limited French involvement in the War of the Polish Succession (1733–8), restoring the country's prestige as a mediator. His moderation gave France the tranquillity her tangled finances demanded, and he carried out legal and economic reforms which stimulated trade. |
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