Editing Jean-Baptiste Colbert (section)

===Rise to power===
Colbert was recommended to [[King Louis XIV]] by Mazarin.  While [[Cardinal Mazarin]] was in exile, Louis's trust in Colbert grew. In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away. This new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as ''commissaire des guerres''. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinal's interests with unflagging devotion.

Colbert's earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a ''mémoire'' to Mazarin, showing that less than half of the taxes paid by the people reached the King. The paper also contained an attack on [[Nicolas Fouquet]]. The [[postmaster]] of Paris, a spy of Fouquet's, read the letter, leading to a dispute which Mazarin attempted to suppress.<ref name=EB1911>Chisholm 1911.</ref>

In 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert "made sure of the King's favor" by revealing the location of some of Mazarin's hidden wealth. In January 1664 Colbert became the [[Bâtiments du Roi|Superintendent of buildings]]; in 1665 he became [[Controller-General of Finances]]; in 1669, he became [[Secretary of State of the Navy (France)|Secretary of State of the Navy]]; he also gained appointments as minister of [[commerce]], of the [[colony|colonies]], and of the [[palace]]. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war.<ref name=EB1911/>

A great financial and fiscal reform now claimed all his energies. Not only the nobility, but many others who had no legal claim to exemption, paid no taxes; the bulk of the burden fell on the rural poor. Supported by the young king [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], Colbert aimed the first blow at the man accused of being the greatest of the royal embezzlers, the superintendent [[Nicolas Fouquet]]. Fouquet's fall secured Colbert's own advancement.<ref name=EB1911/>