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Richard Bonney, Dangerous and Dishonest Men: The International Bankers of Louis XIV’s France, French History, Volume 29, Issue 2, June 2015, Pages 251–252, https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crv028
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Extract
Guy Rowlands is already well known for his studies of the financing of the French army in the later wars of Louis XIV. This book adds to his reputation by placing the last, convulsive, struggle of the king against the coalition of his enemies in its international financial context. The broad outlines of the story—especially the crucial role of Samuel Bernard in the final years of war financing and the remittance of payments abroad—are reasonably familiar, but Rowlands adds important details and a welcome explanatory framework. Although Stanhope described Geneva as temporarily ‘undone by Bernard’s breaking’ in the crisis of 1709, Bernard in the longer term proved to be the great survivor. He survived Louis XIV’s reign, the collapse of Law’s system and its aftermath, and was still providing remittances for Cardinal Fleury’s administration. Doubtless more detail could be provided on how he managed this degree of longevity, given the array of enemies his activities as ‘a self-aggrandising bully’ attracted, but whether the basic picture would be greatly different is open to question.