Andre Hereule Fleury, cardinal de, a French prelate and statesman, born in Lodeve, June 22, 1653, died in Paris, Jan. 29, 1743. He was educated at a Jesuit college in Paris, and was appointed almoner to the queen Marie Therese, then to Louis XIV., who unwillingly promoted him to the bishopric of Frejus in 1698, at the request of the archbishop of Paris. On the king's death the regent appointed him preceptor to Louis XV., then about five years old. On the death of the regent in 1723 he advised the young king to take the duke de Bourbon as first minister, reserving for himself a seat in the privy council, and the dispensation of ecclesiastical preferments. In 1726 he caused the duke de Bourbon to be dismissed, and, notwithstanding ho was himself in his 73d year, assumed supreme power, with the title of minister of state and superintendent of the general post office. In the same year he was created a cardinal. Under his administration France was generally at peace, the disorders of the past reign disappeared, reforms were made in the government, arts and sciences were fostered, and the country enjoyed comparative prosperity at home.

But abroad she lost her high place in the councils of Europe, her army degenerated, her navy decayed, and toward the close of his life the cardinal was charged with involving France in the war of the Austrian succession, which had been begun against his wishes, and up to the time of his death had been little more than a series of disasters for his country. He sought to introduce into the public administration the frugality practised in his own household; and with all his opportunities for emolument, he died poor.