Superintendent of Finances

Prior to the creation of the position "Surintendant des finances", France's royal financial administration had been run—from the time of Charles VII—by two financial boards which worked in a collegial manner: the four Généraux des finances oversaw the collection of taxes (taille, etc.)

In 1523, Francis I, in an effort to exert a more direct control over royal finances during his European wars and to circumvent the double-board (accused of poor oversight)—created a separate Royal Treasury (Trésor de l'Épargne) directly under the control of the King's Council (analogous institutions had existed before), but the initial results were disappointing.

From this moment through the next 40 years, numerous administrative reforms were attempted: increase in the number of "généralités"; unification of the tasks of the double-board into new positions (such as two "contrôleurs généraux" subservient to the Royal Treasurer); changes in the royal financial courts ("Cour des Comptes", "Cour des Aides"); creation of numerous provincial financial officers and boards; creation of the positions of "intendents" of finance (see below).

The position "Surintendant des finances" was officially created in 1561 during the reign of Charles IX, although some royal financial advisors had performed analogous duties previously.

An administrative ruling on 23 October 1563 mandated once-a-week reunions of the Conseil du Roi (King's Counsel) to deal with financial questions of finances; to this meeting would come the superintendent of finances and other officers of country's financial administration, such as the Treasurer (trésorier de l'Épargne).