Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne

Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne , born the October 9th 1727 with Paris, dead the February 19th 1794 with Direction, is a man of the church and politician French, cardinal and minister.

The prelate

Resulting from a family originating in the the Limousin which one can go up the line until the 15th century, it makes brilliant studies and enters the orders. In 1751, in spite of a not very orthodoxe thesis has its taste, it obtains the title of Doctor of Divinity and, the following year it is named vicar-general of the archbishop of Rouen. In 1760, after a visit with Rome, it is made bishop of Condom and, in 1763, archbishop of Toulouse, where it undertakes great public works which transform the city. In 1771, it seals the suppression of the vicariate of the house of the Enquiry of Toulouse, pronounced by the national chapter of the French Preachers, on his intervention. From 1766 to 1769, it is abbot Mont Saint-Michel. Among his friends, as famous as many, one counts Turgot, André Morellet and Voltaire. He is elected member of the French Academy in 1770. He is three times rapporteur with the Commission of Regular the of the General meeting of the clergy and is also interested in the political questions and social day. He thus addresses to Turgot several memories on these subjects, including one particularly remarkable where he studies the causes of misery.

The minister

In 1787, it is named president of the Assemblée of notable the, and it is in this quality that it tackles the fiscal policy of Calonne, to which it succeeds as superintendent of finances, on May 1st, 1787, with the support of Marie Antoinette. Once with the capacity, it succeeds in making record by the Parliament of the decrees establishing the Libre-échange inside the country and envisaging the introduction of provincial assemblies as well as the repurchase of the drudgeries. When the members of Parliament refuse to record the decrees which he proposes to apply to the excise tax and the new general tax on land, he persuades Louis XVI to hold a Lit of justice for forcing there. August 18th, 1787, the members of Parliament are exiled with Troyes and are recalled to Paris only after agree to extend the direct tax to all the forms of incomes. A new attempt aiming at forcing the Parliament to record a decree authorizing a loan of 120 million books meets a given opposition. The fight of the Parliament against the policy of Brienne ends on May 8th: it accepts its own dissolution, but provided that General states are convened to remedy the disorders of the State.

Brienne, which was appointed meanwhile archbishop of Sens, is consequently confronted with a quasi-general opposition; it is constrained to suspend the plenary Court which it intended to replace the Parliament and to promise the behavior of General states. But these concessions are not enough to maintain it with the capacity and, on August 25th, 1788, it must be withdrawn, leaving an empty treasure. December 15th, it is made cardinal and goes to Italy, where it will spend two years.

During the Revolution

It returns to France to the Révolution and lends oath to the civil Constitution of the clergy in 1790. Become constitutional bishop of the Yonne in 1791, it is repudiated by the pope and must give up the bar of cardinal on order of Pie VI. Its control passed as well as its control presents having made it suspect to the revolutionists, it is stopped in Sens, on November 9th, 1793, and is held in residence. Again stopped in 1794, he even dies the night, victim either of an attack of apoplexy, or of a poisoning. He is the brother of Louis-Marie-Athanase de Loménie, count de Brienne, Secretary of State to the War, guillotine in 1794.

Partial source

House of Brienne

External bond

Biographical note of the French Academy

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