Jacques Cur, 1395, was born in a merchant family in Brill, France. He grew up in his father's fur shop, but he never received a formal education, so he was almost illiterate. However, Jacques Cur was exposed to his father's business experience from an early age. 1429, 34-year-old Jacques Cur was arrested for forging counterfeit money. However, the French King Charles VII did not sentence him to a heavy sentence, but thought that this man had a flexible mind and could be of great use in the future. Soon, Jacques Cur buttered up to Charles VII and became a "Red Top Merchant".
At that time, the French court was very luxurious. Jacques Cur, who was ahead of the times, saw such a business opportunity: he presented precious commodities such as porcelain from China, carpets from Persia, Indian peacocks and Arabic spices to Charles VII and supplied them to the French court for a long time. This not only made him earn considerable profits, but also made his position in the French court rise continuously.
Jacques Cur skillfully used his position as an imperial businessman to expand his business to the whole of Europe. At the same time, he gave the Pope the privilege of trading with pagans by paying a lot of gold and silver treasures. Jacques Cur had hundreds of agents in Eastern Europe and West Asia, and signed a treaty with the Egyptian Sultan, which enabled his caravan to travel everywhere. 15 During the 1930s and 40s, his ships were moored at almost all ports in the whole Mediterranean. In France, there are many mines and various factories in Jacques Cur. It can be said that any city in France has its warehouses.
Of course, in addition to wealth, Jacques Cur also extended his hand to power. After all, in those days, power also meant wealth to a great extent. At this time, France had been fighting for 100 years because of the hundred-year war between Britain and France, and the military expenditure was extremely short. The French king appointed him as the finance minister.
Jacques Cur has raised a lot of money for Charles VII by virtue of his outstanding talent in financial management. In addition, he donated his private property to the king. With the support of its huge sum of money, Charles VII finally defeated the British and recovered all the areas occupied by the British except Calais.
It is no exaggeration to say that Jacques Cur is a shrewd businessman. During the war, although he gave the king a lot of money, he also extended his influence to French politics. At that time, almost all the nobles were guests of Jacques Cur. He made his brother and eldest son archbishops of France, and his daughter married a local government official. He can even exert influence on the Pope.
The profligate Jacques Cur began to act rashly. As the saying goes, Jacques Cur not only made counterfeit money in the mint, but also sold weapons to the enemy during the war. As for his tenure as tax inspector and finance minister, he was even more corrupt and took bribes and abused power for personal gain.
Jacques Cur thought that gold was a symbol of nobility, and politically he gained a series of privileges that aristocrats didn't have, which made aristocrats with aristocratic ancestry increasingly dissatisfied with it. French businessmen, large and small, have always been jealous and resentful of Jacques Cur's business privileges.
As the saying goes, when the water is full, it will overflow, and when the moon is full, it will lose money. After all, Jacques Cur's wealth will bring him great disaster. Charles VII sentenced him to death for forgery, tax evasion, treason and participation in murder. Many people defended him, even the Pope intervened, and finally he was sentenced to exile. Charles VII, who had long coveted Jacques Cur's huge wealth, got most of his property.
During poitiers's exile, several monks who had benefited from him helped him escape from prison and hid Jacques Cur in a monastery. Finally, his nephew helped him escape to Rome. As soon as he arrived in Rome, he was warmly welcomed by the Pope and asked him to organize and command a fleet to attack Osman. 1456, Jacques Cur died in exploration, ending his legendary life.
Jacques Cur's life is undoubtedly tragic. He did everything he could to help Charles VII win the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France. Finally, Charles VII exiled him in turn. He made great contributions to the Hundred Years' War, but later people could not judge his contributions fairly because of his despicable character and corrupt morality. The business empire painstakingly managed by Jacques Cur finally became someone else's wedding dress.
Everyone is innocent, but he is guilty. In feudal times, big capitalists were destined to be just a piece of fat in the eyes of the powerful. Hu Xueyan said well that glistening silver is the most harmful.