page_title: Jean Hoeufft
section_title: Early life and career
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Hoeufft / Biography / Early life and career
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: La commune de Sacy-le-Grand par la carte de Cassini.
context_page_description: Jean Hoeufft was a French banker, financier, and arms dealer, who rose through the court of Louis XIII of France to become Treasurer to Louis XIV.
  Hoeufft made a fortune from his diplomatic and business ventures, ultimately becoming one of the richest men in Europe outside of the royal families.
context_section_description: Jan Hoeufft was born in 1578 in Liège in the Spanish Netherlands to one of the most powerful families of the United Provinces.  His father, a Roermond timber merchant, had moved to Aachen, Liège and Heinsberg after converting to the Reformed Church. Not much is known about Jean Hoeufft's early life. He did not marry and had no known children.
  Hoeufft eventually settled in Rouen, where there was religious freedom for Protestants for a time under Henry IV of France. He was naturalized in 1601. He developed trade and ship owner activities trading between Spain and the United Provinces. From 1609 until 1616, he was deeply involved in the salt trade from Hiers-Brouage, along with his brother Dirck, based in Dordrecht. They supplied ships to the East India Company, and in 1620 they commissioned a ship-of-war, to be built in Amsterdam for Charles, Duke of Guise. 
  By 1621 Hoeufft was appointed chamberlain to  Louis XIII. In the 1620s he  was involved in arms trading for Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers. In 1628 he was allowed to collect taxes, and thus became an agent of Richelieu, who used his connections to raise money on the Dutch money market. In the 1630s he became a banker. 
  Hoeufft repeatedly advanced funds to the King, and took part in major financial deals. In 1634 Hoeufft participated in peace talks between the Dutch and Spain, in which Jules Mazarin and Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange were also involved. Hoeufft played a key part in diplomatic negotiations, despite having no official authority to do so. His appointment as Commissioner of the States General of the Netherlands was formalized in 1637. 
  In 1639 his house in Rouen was sacked as part of the religious wars; it is likely he moved to La Rochelle or Paris. In 1643 he obtained the fief Fontaine-le-Comte, a former lake near Sacy-le-Grand.
  Hoeufft became treasurer and Secretary to Louis XIV of France, holding those roles until his death in 1651.
caption: Sacy-le-Grand - Map by 
  Cassini
exif: {"Image Software": "Picasa", "Image DateTime": "2014:02:05 18:11:25", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image ExifOffset": "96", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "364", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8403", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:02:05 18:00:01", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "754", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "581", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1832", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1260", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "228", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "9a950fd6f7df5dfc6cc1a06e0286a3ac"}