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COERCION (from Lat. coercere, to rest...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 646 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COERCION (from See also:Lat. coercere, to restrain)  , an application of moral or See also:physical compulsion by which a See also:person is forced to do or refrain from doing some See also:act or set of acts apart from his own voluntary See also:motion . Where the See also:coercion is See also:direct or See also:positive, i.e. where the person is compelled by physical force to do an act contrary to his will, for example, when a See also:man is compelled to join a See also:rebel See also:army, and to serve as a soldier under threats of See also:death,—his act is not legally a See also:crime . Where the coercion is implied, as when a person is legally under subjection to another, the person coerced, having no will on the subject, is not responsible . But this principle is applied only within narrow limits, and does not extend to the command of a See also:superior to an inferior; of a See also:parent to a See also:child; of a See also:master to his servant or a See also:principal to his See also:agent . Where, however, a married woman commits a crime in the presence of her See also:husband, she is generally presumed to have acted by his coercion, and to be entitled to acquittal, but this presumption does not extend to See also:grave crimes, nor to those in which the principal See also:part may be supposed to be taken by the woman, such as keeping a brothel . In See also:civil matters, such as the making of a See also:contract, where the See also:law requires the See also:free assent of the person who undertakes the See also:obligation, coercion is a ground for invalidating the See also:instrument . The See also:term " coercion " is inevitably somewhat ambiguous, and depends on the circumstances of the See also:case . In a See also:political sense, the application of the Crimes Act of 1887 to See also:Ireland was called " coercion " by those opposed to the See also:English Unionist party and See also:government, as being See also:special legislation differing from the See also:ordinary law applicable in the See also:United See also:Kingdom . M U% JACQUES (c . 1395-1456), founder of the See also:trade between See also:France and the See also:Levant, was See also:born at See also:Bourges, in which See also:city his See also:father, See also:Pierre Coeur, was a See also:rich See also:merchant . Jacques is first heard of about 1418, when he married Macee de Leodepart, daughter of See also:Lambert de Leodepart, an influential See also:citizen, See also:provost of Bourges, and a former See also:valet of See also:John, See also:duke of See also:Berry . About 1429 he formed a commercial See also:partnership with two See also:brothers named See also:Godard; and in 1432 he was at See also:Damascus, buying and bartering, and transporting the wares of the Levant—See also:gall-nuts, wools and silks, goats' See also:hair, brocades and carpets—to the interior of France by way of See also:Narbonne .

In the same See also:

year he established himself at See also:Montpellier, and there began those gigantic operations which have made him illustrious among financiers . Details are wanting; but it is certain that in a few years he placed his See also:country in a position to contend not unsuccessfully with the See also:great trading republics of See also:Italy, and acquired such reputation as to be able, See also:mere trader as he was, to render material assistance to the knights of See also:Rhodes and to See also:Venice herself . In 1436 Coeur was summoned to See also:Paris by See also:Charles VII., and made master of the See also:mint that had been established in that city . The See also:post was of vast importance, and the duties onerous . The country was deluged with the See also:base moneys of three reigns, chargedwith superscriptions both See also:French and English, and Charles had determined on a sweeping reform . In this See also:design he was ably seconded by the merchant, who, in fact, inspired or prepared all the ordinances concerning the coinage of France issued between 1435 and 1451 . In 1438 he was made steward of the royal See also:expenditure; in 1441 he and his See also:family were ennobled by letters patent . In 1444 he was sent as one of the royal commissioners to preside over the new See also:parlement of See also:Languedoc, a dignity he See also:bore till the See also:day of his disgrace . In 1445 his agents in the See also:East negotiated a treaty between the See also:sultan of See also:Egypt and the knights of Rhodes; and in 1447, at his instance, See also:Jean de See also:Village, his See also:nephew by See also:marriage, was charged with a See also:mission to Egypt . The results were most important; concessions were obtained which greatly improved the position of the French consuls in the Levant, and that See also:influence in the East was thereby founded which, though often interrupted, was for several centuries a See also:chief commercial See also:glory of France . In the same year Cceur assisted in an See also:embassy to Amadeus VIII., former duke of See also:Savoy, who had been chosen See also:pope as See also:Felix V. by the See also:council of See also:Basel; and in 1448 he represented the French See also:king at the See also:court of Pope See also:Nicholas V., and was able to arrange an agreement between Nicholas and Amadeus, and so to end the papal See also:schism .. Nicholas treated him with the utmost distinction, lodged him in the papal See also:palace, and gave him a special See also:licence to See also:traffic with the infidels .

From about this See also:

time he made large advances to Charles for carrying on his See also:wars; and in 1449, after fighting at the king's See also:side through the See also:campaign, he entered See also:Rouen in his See also:train . At this moment the great trader's glory was at its height . He had represented France in three embassies, and had supplied the sinews of that See also:war which had ousted the English from See also:Normandy . He was invested with various offices of dignity, and possessed the most See also:colossal See also:fortune that had ever been amassed by a private Frenchman . The See also:sea was covered with his See also:ships; he had 300 factors in his employ, and houses of business in all the chief cities of France . He had built houses and chapels, and had founded colleges in Paris, at Montpellier and at Bourges . The See also:house at Bourges (see HousE, See also:Plate II. See also:figs . 7 and 8) was of exceptional magnificence, and remains to-day one of the finest monuments of the See also:middle ages in France . He also built there the See also:sacristy of the See also:cathedral and a sepulchral See also:chapel for his family . His See also:brother Nicholas was made See also:bishop of Lu9on, his See also:sister married Jean Bochetel, the king's secretary, his daughter married the son of the See also:viscount of Bourges, and his son Jean became See also:archbishop of Bourges . But Coeur's gigantic See also:monopoly caused his ruin . Dealing in everything, See also:money and arms, peltry and jewels, brocades and woollens—a See also:broker, a banker, a See also:farmer—he had absorbed the trade of the country, and merchants complained they could make no gains on See also:account of " that Jacquet." He had See also:lent money to needy courtiers, to members of the royal family, and to the king himself, and his debtors, jealous of his See also:wealth, were eager for a See also:chance to cause his overthrow .

In See also:

February 1450 See also:Agnes See also:Sorel, the king's See also:mistress, suddenly died . Eighteen months later it was rumoured that she had been poisoned, and a See also:lady of the court who owed money to Jacques Cceur, Jeanne de See also:Vendome, wife of See also:Francois de Montberon, and an See also:Italian, Jacques See also:Colonna, formally accused him of having poisoned her . There was not even a pretext for such a See also:charge, but for this and other alleged crimes the king, on the 31st of See also:July 1451, gave orders for his See also:arrest and for the seizure of his goods, reserving to himself a large sum of money for the war in See also:Guienne . Commissioners extraordinary, the merchant's declared enemies, were chosen to conduct the trial, and an inquiry began, the See also:judges in which were either the prisoner's debtors or the holders of his forfeited estates . He was accused of having paid French See also:gold and ingots to the infidels, of coining See also:light money, of See also:kidnapping oarsmen for his galleys, of sending back a See also:Christian slave who had taken See also:sanctuary on See also:board one of his ships, and of committing frauds and exactions in Languedoc to the king's See also:prejudice . He defended himself with all the See also:energy of his nature . His innocence was See also:manifest; but a conviction was necessary, and in spite of strenuous efforts on the part of his See also:friends, after twenty-two months of confinement in five prisons, he was condemned to do public See also:penance for his See also:fault, to pay the king a sum equal to about £1,000,000 of See also:modern money, and to remain a prisoner till full See also:satisfaction had been obtained; his See also:sentence also embraced See also:confiscation of all his See also:property, and See also:exile during royal See also:pleasure . On the 5th of See also:June 1453 the sentence took effect; at See also:Poitiers the shameful See also:form of making See also:honourable amends was gone through; and for nearly three years nothing is known of him . It is probable that he remained in See also:prison; it is certain that his vast possessions were distributed among the intimates of Charles . In 1455 Jacques Coeur, wherever confined, contrived to See also:escape into See also:Provence . He was pursued; but a party, headed by Jean de Village and two of his old factors, carried him off to See also:Tarascon, whence, by way of See also:Marseilles, See also:Nice and See also:Pisa, he managed to reach See also:Rome . He was honourably and joyfully received by Nicholas V., who was fitting out an expedition against the See also:Turks .

On the death of Nicholas, See also:

Calixtus III. continued his See also:work, and named his See also:guest See also:captain of a See also:fleet of sixteen galleys sent to the See also:relief of Rhodes . Coeur set out on this expedition, but was taken See also:ill at See also:Chios, and died there on the 25th of See also:November 1456 . After his death Charles VII. showed himself well disposed to the family, and allowed Jacques Ceeur's sons to come into See also:possession of whatever was See also:left of their father's wealth . See the admirable monograph of Pierre See also:Clement, Jacques Coeur et Charles VII (1858, 2nd ed . 1874); A . Valet de Viriville, Charles See also:Sept et son epoque (3 vols., 1862—1865) ; and Louisa See also:Costello, Jacques Coeur, the French Argonaut (See also:London, 1847) .

End of Article: COERCION (from Lat. coercere, to restrain)
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