The Dream Maker

“Rufin offers his readers a return . . . to a time when the wildest dreamer could be a wealthy merchant—Jacques Coeur, the treasurer poet” (Les Echos).

After a brilliant career as a trader, Jacques Coeur was summoned to the court of Charles VII and appointed Master of the Mint in 1436. He rose to become the King of France’s visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his opposition to the crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, brought France out of the darkness toward th...