en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Robert_Jacques_Turgot
2 corrections found
In 1743 and 1756, he accompanied Gournay, the intendant of commerce, during Gournay's tours of inspection in the provinces.
The first year is wrong. Authoritative biographies say Turgot accompanied Gournay in 1755 and 1756, not in 1743 and 1756.
Full reasoning
This sentence gives the wrong dates for Turgot's provincial inspection tours with Vincent de Gournay.
The French National Archives biography states: "En 1755 et 1756, il accompagne Gournay, alors intendant de commerce, dans ses tournées d'inspection dans les provinces". A Britannica biography says the same thing: "Turgot accompanied Gournay in 1755 and 1756 in his official tours of inspection as intendant of commerce."
So the article's "1743 and 1756" is not a supported alternate chronology; it is a date error. Turgot would also have been only sixteen in 1743, years before the later career stage described here.
2 sources
- Archives nationales — Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques (1727-1781)
En 1755 et 1756, il accompagne Gournay, alors intendant de commerce, dans ses tournées d’inspection dans les provinces.
- Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition — Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques, Marquis de l'Aulne
Turgot accompanied Gournay in 1755 and 1756 in his official tours of inspection as intendant of commerce.
The king even defended the middle-class economist against the reaction of the aristocracy.
Turgot was not middle class. Contemporary and standard reference works identify him as a baron from an old noble Norman family.
Full reasoning
Describing Turgot as a "middle-class economist" is inaccurate.
Turgot was Baron de l'Aulne, and standard biographies describe him as coming from a noble Norman family. Larousse says he was "issu d'une famille noble d'origine normande"; the older Britannica biography likewise says "His family, which was ancient and noble". Whatever one makes of his reform politics, his social rank was not middle-class in the ordinary historical sense.
So this sentence misstates his status by contrasting him with the aristocracy as if he were socially bourgeois rather than a noble officeholder.
2 sources
- Larousse — Dictionnaire de l'Histoire de France: Turgot (Anne Robert Jacques)
Issu d'une famille noble d'origine normande, il est le troisième fils de Turgot de Sousmons, président au parlement et prévôt des marchands de Paris.
- Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition — Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques, Marquis de l'Aulne
His family, which was ancient and noble, is said to have been originally Scottish, but had long been settled in Normandy.