 Ãtienne charles de lomÃ©nie de brienne (9 october 1727 &ndash; 16 february 1794) was a french churchman, politician and finance minister of louis xvi. ==life== he was born in paris, of a limousin family traceable back to the 15th century. after a brilliant career as a student, he entered the church, this being the best way to attain a distinguished position. in 1751 he became a doctor of theology, though there were doubts as to the orthodoxy of his thesis. in 1752 he was appointed grand vicar to the archbishop of rouen. after visiting rome, he was made bishop of condom (1760), and in 1763 was translated to the archbishopric of toulouse. his many famous friends included a. r. j. turgot, andrÃ© morellet and voltaire, and in 1770 he was elected to the acadÃ©mie franÃ§aise. he was three times head of the bureau de jurisdiction at the general assembly of the clergy. he also took an interest in political and social questions of the day, and addressed to turgot a number of memoires on these subjects, one of them, treating of pauperism, being especially remarkable. in 1787 he was nominated as president of the assembly of notables, in which capacity he attacked the fiscal policy of calonne, whom he succeeded as head of the conseil des finances (finance minister) on april 1787. once in power, he succeeded in making the parlement register edicts dealing with internal free trade, the establishment of provincial assemblies and the redemption of the corvÃ©e. when the parlement refused to register edicts on the stamp duty and the proposed new general land-tax, he persuaded louis xvi to hold a lit de justice, to enforce their registration. to crush the opposition to these measures, he persuaded louis to exile the parlement to troyes (18 august 1787). when the parlement agreed to prolong the direct tax on all kinds of income, he recalled the councillors to paris. a further attempt to force the parlement to register an edict for raising a loan of 120 million livres met with determined opposition. the struggle of the parlement against the incapacity of brienne ended on 8 may in its consenting to an edict for its own abolition, with the proviso that the
1727_births 1794_deaths 18th-century_Roman_Catholic_archbishops Archbishops_of_Sens Archbishops_of_Toulouse Bishops_of_Condom French_Ministers_of_Finance French_cardinals French_politicians Members_of_the_AcadA(c)mie_franASSaise People_of_the_French_Revolution Politicians_from_Paris Recipients_of_the_Order_of_the_Holy_Spirit