Joseph Marie Terray

Joseph Marie Terray was a French financier and politician who served as the Controller-General of Finances during the last four years of the reign of King Louis XV. He was an agent of fiscal reform who implemented a series of measures to reduce the national debt, increase government revenue, and stabilize the currency. He also supported the chancellor René Nicolas de Maupeou in his attempt to curb the power of the Parlements, the provincial courts that often opposed royal authority. Terray was a controversial figure who faced opposition from the nobility, the clergy, and the common people, who accused him of corruption, tyranny, and conspiracy. He was dismissed by Louis XVI in 1774, along with Maupeou and the other ministers of Louis XV. He died in 1778 in his hôtel in Paris, which he had rebuilt in a lavish style. He was a patron of the arts and a collector of paintings, sculptures, and books.