The information master Jean-Baptiste Colberts secret state intelligence system (cultures of knowledge in the early modern world).

• Main Author: Soll, Jacob
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press 01.02.2010
• Edition: 1
• Series: Cultures of knowledge in the early modern world
• Subjects: 1643–1715; 17th century; Archives; Archives > Political aspects > France > History > 17th century; Biography; Colbert, Jean Baptiste, 1619-1683; Colbert, Jean Baptiste, 1619-1683 > Political and social views; Europe; France; France > Intellectual life > 17th century; France > Politics and government > 1643-1715; Government information; Government information > France > History > 17th century; HISTORY; History & Theory; Intellectual life; Knowledge management; Knowledge management > France > History > 17th century; Political and social views; Political aspects; POLITICAL SCIENCE; Politics and government; Public administration; Public administration > France > History > 17th century; Records; Records > Political aspects > France > History > 17th century; Statesmen; Statesmen > France > Biography; 17th century; 1643-1715; 1619-1683; France
• ISBN: 9780472116904; 0472025260; 9780472025268; 0472116908; 0472034642; 9780472034642
• DOI: 10.3998/mpub.243021

Jean-Baptiste Colbert saw governance of the state not as the inherent ability of the king, but as a form of mechanical mastery of subjects such as medieval legal history, physics, navigation, and the price lists of nails, sails, and gunpowder. In The Information Master , Jacob Soll shows how the legacy of Colbert’s encyclopedic tradition lies at the very center of the rise of the modern state. This innovative book argues that Colbert's practice of collecting knowledge originated in Renaissance Italy, where merchants recognized the power to be gained from merging scholarship and trade. By connecting historical literatures—archives, libraries, merchant techniques, and humanist pedagogy—that have usually remained separate, Soll has created an imaginative and refreshing work.