Martin Michel Charles Gaudin (1756-1841)

Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin, 1st , Gaete (19 January 1756 – 5 November 1841) was a French people, French statesman who served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

of the French Empire under

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, from November 1799 to March 1814, and during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

following Napoleon's return from exile in

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National ...

Biography

Gaudin was born in Saint-Denis in 1756. After Napoleon made him his

, where he held office until 1814, Gaudin organised the French direct contributions, reintroduced direct taxes ("droits réunis"), founded the

Banque de France The Bank of France ( French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the F ...

and the

Cour des comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' ("Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 and ...

, and set up the first cadaster, or record of land ownership as a basis of taxation. He was rewarded in 1809 with the

duché grand-fief As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

of Gaeta, in the then-French controlled

kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

; effectively, this was a life peerage, nominal but of high rank. During the Hundred Days return, Bonaparte reserved a seat for Gaudin in the planned imperial Chamber of Peers, but that never materialised. After the Bourbon restoration, he was deputy for the

Aisne département Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Gennevilliers Gennevilliers () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 46,907. History On 9 April 1929, one-fifth of the ...

château, near Paris, in 1841. He left his ''Memoirs, Opinions and Writings''.

Sources

*''Larousse'' (undated French encyclopaedia, early 20th century)
Heraldica.org- Napoleonic heraldry

External links

1756 births 1841 deaths Politicians from Paris Governors of the Banque de France French Ministers of Finance Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Dukes of the First French Empire {{France-politician-stub