670 A. D. 1453. 



derful effects of the patriotic enthufiafm of the Maid of Orleans, or the 

 military talents of the French generals, an hiftorian of commerce may be 

 permitted to obferve, that this event, happy for France, and infinitely more 

 h:'.ppy for England, was in a confiderable degree owing to the unexampled 

 opulence and p;trriotifm of Jacques Coeur, who, at a time when trade 

 was fcarcely known in France, is faid to have employed three hundred 

 factors * to manage his vaft commerce, which extended to the Turks and 

 Perfians of the Eafl:, and the Saracens of Africa, the moft remote na- 

 tions then known to the merchants of Europe. His exports confilled 

 chiefly of woollen cloths, linens, and paper, then the principal manufac- 

 tures of France ; and his returns were filks, fpiceries, 8z;c. But fome fay, 

 that his dealings were chiefly in gold, filver, and arms f . This illuftri- 

 ous merchant was treafurer (' argentier') to the king of France, and lent 

 him 200,000 crowns, without which he could not have undertaken the 

 redudion of Normandy. Being fent on an embafly to Laufanne, his 

 enemies took the opportunity of his ablence to bring falle charges 

 againfl: him ; and the king, regardlefs of his multiplied fervices and 

 zealous -attachment, abandoned him to their malice. Though nothing 

 could be proved againfl: him in a trial conduced by his enemies with 

 acknowleged unfairnefs, he was condemned (19"' May 1453) to the 

 amende honorable^ to confifcation of all his property, and impriibnment. 

 Having efcaped from confinement by the grateful afliflance of one of his 

 clerks, he recovered fome part of his property which was in foreign 

 countries ; and, being appointed by the pope to command a divifion of 

 his fleet, he died in that fervice at Chio in the year 1456. [Mezeray, V. 



'n,p. 703. — Villaret, T. viii, pp. 237-243 Nouveau Did, h'lfl. V. ii, p. 



704.] 



In the year 1448 the duke of Burgundy exadted a duty of 18 fliil- 

 lings, money of Paris, upon every fack of fait. The citizens of Ghent, 

 tmaccuftomed to arbitrary impofitions, refufed to pay any new taxes. 

 Next year he laid a tax upon wheat, which they alio refufed ; and in 

 J 45 1 they refufed payment of the duty on herrings at Sluys and the duty 

 on wool. The confequence was a very furious war, which proves the 

 great power and refources of the citizens, derived entirely from their 

 ilourifhing manufadures. But the fuperior power of the duke, whofe 

 territories equaled in extent, and exceeded in population and wealth, 

 fome of the kingdoms of Europe, obhged them to fubmit to the con- 

 ditions didated by him (in which the taxes are not mentioned), to pay 

 him a fine of 300,000 riders, and moreover to pay 50,000 riders for the 

 refloration of fome churches dcftroyed iu the war. {hleyeii Ann. Flandr, 

 f. 301-314.] 



* Pn.bably all the tkrkt employed umk-r the came treafurer to tlie kiiip;, his attention would nc- 



faftors, and even the porters ard menial fcrvants cttTarily be turned to the importation of the pre- 



ought to be comprehended in this number. tious n'.ttals and the fupply of arms. 



\ Both accounts inay be true, as, after he bc« 



