THE Brochure Series OF ARCHITECTURAL ILLUSTRATION.
1900.
JULY
No. 7.
HOUSE OF JACQUES CŒUR: BOURGES.
The house of Jacques Cœur at Bourgesis, to architect and historian alike,one of the most interesting monumentswhich have survived from the MiddleAges,—interesting to the architect notonly for its intrinsic beauty, but from thefact that it is the most complete and importantspecimen which remains of all the civilbuildings in France of the Gothic period,and which, because of the brief time occupiedin its construction, exhibits the styleof the fifteenth century in unusual purity,and interesting to the historian from itsconnection with Jacques Cœur, one of themost picturesque and remarkable figuresin French history. That Jacques Cœurwas the son of a wealthy fur merchant ofBourges, and that he was born in 1395, arethe only facts of importance in his eventfulcareer that are known, until he first makeshis appearance on the historical stage, underrather disadvantageous circumstances, in1420. The Dauphin of France, drivenacross the Loire by the English and theirBurgundian allies, had made Bourges theseat of his government, and had appointeda certain Ravant-le-Danois master of theBourges mint,—a post of some importance.Ravant-le-Danois had taken into partnership(for at this time the coining of publicmoneys was farmed out to private enterprise)Jacques Cœur, and the two, findingthat the profits of the business were not solarge as they had expected, presently resortedto illegitimate methods of increasingthem; and Cœur appears to have beenactive in the process of issuing moneywhich was considerably under the standardweight. The fraud was discovered; butthe kings of France themselves had beentoo often guilty of tampering with the coinof the realm for the offence to carry withit any deep disgrace; and, perhaps consideringthe state of the royal treasury, justiceconsidered itself satisfied with a fine equal toabout $7500. Thereafter, however, JacquesCœur appears to have cast about for a morehonorable channel into which to direct hisenergy. Enterprising, keen-eyed, determinedby some means or other to make hisfortune, he naturally turned his face eastward.The trade between Europe and theLevant had never been more active thanit was in the early part of the fifteenthcentury, in spite of the ecclesiastical restrictionslaid upon it. For the Church,still dreaming of new crus
