The Alchemist's Paymaster: How a Fugitive Forger Bankrolled the Hundred Years' War Podcast By cover art

The Alchemist's Paymaster: How a Fugitive Forger Bankrolled the Hundred Years' War

The Alchemist's Paymaster: How a Fugitive Forger Bankrolled the Hundred Years' War

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What if France’s survival during its darkest century wasn't secured by knights or kings, but by a convicted criminal operating from a secret mint? In the 1350s, with the treasury empty, the Black Death raging, and English armies capturing the king, the French monarchy turned in desperation to a master of the forbidden arts: the alchemist. This episode uncovers the story of Jean de la Fontaine, a shadowy figure pardoned for heresy and forgery on one extraordinary condition. He was tasked with a secret royal mission: to use alchemical knowledge and clandestine engineering to mass-produce counterfeit currency. We trace his operation from the cellars of the Louvre to hidden workshops, flooding the realm with millions of *blancs* to pay the armies that kept France fighting. It was a desperate economic weapon that risked total financial collapse. Listeners will discover the razor's edge between economic warfare and national suicide, exploring how a state-sponsored fraud on a monumental scale funded the reconquest. You'll learn how the science of metallurgy and the art of deception became crucial instruments of state policy, setting a dangerous precedent for centuries of French finance. The survival of the kingdom came with a price stamped in lies. #HundredYearsWar #MedievalEconomics #Alchemy #Counterfeiting #JeanDeLaFontaine #FinancialWarfare #FrenchMonarchy Hosted by Ibnul Jaif Farabi. Produced by Light Knot Studios (lightknotstudios.com).
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