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Jean Hoeufft (sometimes Jan or Johan) (Liege, 1578 - Paris, 5 September 1651) was a French arms dealer, banker, and financier, who held various high positions in the French court. Hoeufft made a fortune from his diplomatic and business ventures.

Early life and career


Jan Hoeufft was born in 1578 in Liège in the Spanish Netherlands to a family that originated from Roermond. His father, a merchant in timber or copper, had moved to Aachen, Liège and Heinsberg after converting to the Reformed Church. Not much is known about Jean's early life, he did not have children, and he never married.

Jean finally settled in Rouen, where there was religious freedom under Henry IV of France. He naturalized in 1601. He developed trade and ship owner activities and from 1609 until 1616 he was seriously involved in salt trade from Hiers-Brouage together with his brother Dirck, living in Dordrecht. In 1620 they commissioned a ship-of-war, to be built in Amsterdam for Charles, Duke of Guise. By 1621 he was appointed as chamberlain of Louis XIII. In the 1620's he specialized in arms trade to Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers. In 1628 he was allowed to collect taxes. In 1630's he became a banker.

Hoeufft repeatedly advanced funds to the the King, and took part in major financial deals. In 1634 his brother Dirck died. Hoeufft participated in peace talks between the Dutch and Spain, in which also Jules Mazarin and Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange were 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; 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 which position he held until his death in 1651.

Arms dealer and financier


At the time of the Thirty Year's War, arms dealing was a highly lucrative business in Europe. Hoeufft, described by a contemporary as “‘a man capable of speaking and acting’ as well as ‘[having] money to distribute to people should there be need,’” was well-suited to the job. Hoeufft delt with Axel Oxenstierna, Johan Adler Salvius, Hugo Grotius, Abraham de Wicquefort and Adriaen Pauw on the French support for the Swedish army; the money had to be allocated to the Amsterdam Wisselbank.

In finance, he was Cardinal Richelieu's banker for remitting subsidies during the Thirty Years War. and like Barthélemy Hervart after him, was the banker to William, Duke of Saxe-Weimar or his brother, general Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.

Hoeufft occupied a prominent place in the network of political interests that bound together France’s structure of alliances during the Thirty Years War. "In some sense, his political interests were so tightly interwoven with his financial and mercantile interests that they are difficult to disentangle."

Hydraulic engineering


The Hoeufft family invested over a million livres in reclamation of lakes and swamps in Picardie, Poitou and other parts of France, which for the most part were carried out by Dutch engineers between 1642 and 1653, such as Jan van Ens.

In 1650, Hoeufft was the director of the operation to drain the Poitou Marsh in western France. Since the 1640s, one of his associates was David de la Croix, who had married Hoeufft's niece, Marguerite Hoeufft. When Jean Hoeufft died, De la Croix was among the Hoeufft's beneficiaries, and also took over the marsh operation.

Death and legacy
Hoeufft died in Paris on 5 September 1651. He had two brothers Dirck and Christophe and five sisters Johanna, Catherina, Maria, Sara, and Elizabeth who scattered to Cologne, Dordrecht, London, and Utrecht. Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck and his brother gave more details. After the heirs had almost settled the case in January 1658, a certain Beeck, an unsatisfied family member, was visited by three other heirs, Pierre Fabrice de Gressenich married to Anne Hoeufft; David de la Croix, married to her sister Marguerite, and both sons-in-law to Christoph Hoeuft, and a certain Godefriedus Hillensberg. Beck, drunk, smashed De la Croix's head with a haunch. He flailed around, so that the two others fell down nearby half dead. Then Beck was transferred to a room next to the kitchen, where he stabbed himself with a knife in the belly and cut his throat. His possessions were confiscated and made available to Michel de Grammont. His body was laid out in Grand Châtelet, and subsequently transported back to Holland.

In 1736 Hoeufft's property at Petit Poitou was sold at Luçon in the Poitevin.