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The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France. R. Knecht J.
Читать онлайн.Название The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France
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isbn 9780007393381
Автор произведения R. Knecht J.
Издательство HarperCollins
The usual method of tax collection in respect of the taille was for the leading men of a parish to elect from among themselves an assessor and a collector. The assessment, once completed, was read out in church by the local priest; a week later the parishioners paid their taxes to the collector as they left church. The assessor and collector were not inclined to be lenient, for they were liable to be imprisoned or to have their property sequestered if the sum collected fell short of the anticipated total. Indirect taxes were usually farmed by the highest bidder at an auction.
The most lucrative tax was the taille, which amounted to 2.4 million livres out of a total revenue of 4.9 million in 1515. It was followed by the aides, which brought in about a third of the taille. As for the gabelle, it was bringing in 284,000 livres (about six per cent of the total revenue).
The fiscal administration in 1500, like the tax system, had not changed since the reign of Charles VII (1422–61). It comprised two administrations corresponding with the two kinds of revenue. The Trésor, which was responsible for the ‘ordinary’ revenue, was under four trésoriers de France who had very wide powers. Each was responsible for one of four areas, called respectively Languedoïl, Languedoc, Normandy and Outre-Seine-et-Yonne. The trésoriers supervised the collection and disbursement of revenues, but did not handle them. This task was left to the receveurs ordinaires, who were each responsible for a subdivision of the bailliage. The receiver-general for all revenues from the demesne was the changeur du Trésor, who was based in Paris, but only a small proportion of the revenues actually reached him, for the crown settled many debts by means of warrants (décharges) assigned on a local treasurer. This avoided the expense and risk of transporting large amounts of cash along dangerous, bandit-infested roads, while passing on the recovery costs to the creditor.
The four généraux des finances, who had charge of the ‘extraordinary’ revenues, had virtually the same powers as the trésoriers de France, each being responsible for an area, called généralité. These were subdivided into élections, of which there were 85 in 1500, but in general there were no élections in areas which had retained their representative estates (pays d’états). The élection owed its name to the élu, an official whose main function was to carry out regular tours of inspection (chevauchées) of his district, checking its ability to pay and the trust-worthiness of his underlings.
The personnel responsible for the administration of the gabelles varied according to the different kinds of salt tax. In the pays de grandes gabelles; each royal warehouse was under a grenetier assisted by a contrôleur, elsewhere the tax was farmed out by commissioners.
On the same level as the changeur du Trésor and performing the same duties, though in respect of the ‘extraordinary’ revenue, were the four receveurs généraux des finances, one for each généralité.
The two fiscal administrations were not entirely separate, for the trésoriers de France and généraux des finances (known collectively as gens des finances) were expected to reside at court whenever they were not carrying out inspections of their respective areas. They formed a financial committee, which met regularly and independently of the king’s council, and were empowered to take certain decisions on their own. They also attended the king’s council whenever important financial matters were discussed. However, their most important duty was to draw up at the start of each year a sort of national budget (état général par estimation), based on accounts sent in by each financial district.
Popular representation
The French monarchy after the Hundred Years War was stronger than it had been earlier, when it had had to share power with the great feudal magnates, yet it was not strong enough to ignore the traditional rights and privileges of its subjects. The king’s army rarely reached 25,000 men in peacetime and twice that number in war. Such a force could not be expected to hold down a population of around 15 million, particularly as the king could not depend on the loyalty of his troops; mercenaries were notoriously unreliable. The royal civil service was also minute by modern standards. In 1505 there were only 12,000 officials, or one for each 1250 inhabitants. Consequently, the monarchy could be effective only by enlisting the co-operation of its subjects. This could be done in various ways: by protecting their privileges, by keeping in close contact with them, by controlling a vast system of patronage and by using representative institutions.
At the national level the only representative institution was the Estates-General, made up of elected representatives of the three estates: clergy, nobility and third estate. But the king was under no statutory obligation to call them and in 1484 during the minority of Charles VIII they met for the last time before 1560. It does not follow that the people ceased to have a voice. At the national level, the king often called meetings of one or two estates to discuss particular questions, although such assemblies seem to have been primarily intended for propaganda purposes. As Russell Major has written, they ‘served more to keep alive the idea that the wise king acted only upon the advice of his leading subjects than they did to develop new deliberative techniques’.
However, many French provinces continued to have representative estates of their own during the long period when the Estates-General were in abeyance. They were known as pays d’états and the principal ones were Normandy, Languedoc, Dauphiné, Burgundy, Provence and Brittany. Most of the estates consisted of prelates, nobles with fiefs and representatives of the chief towns, but there were numerous exceptions. In Languedoc, for instance, only the bishops and 22 noblemen were allowed to represent their respective estates. At the opposite end, there were local assemblies where only villages and small towns were represented. The estates depended for their existence on the king: he called them, fixed the date and place of their meeting, appointed their president and determined their agenda. Royal commissioners put forward demands, negotiated with the delegates and met some of their demands. Usually the estates met once a year, but they could meet more often. The estates did not exist simply to vote taxes demanded by the king. Through the petitions they submitted to him, they could have an influence on his policies. They played a major role in legal, legislative and administrative matters. The codification of customs, for example, was done in assemblies of the estates. They had their own permanent staff supported out of special taxes. The estates apportioned and collected royal taxes within their province; they also voted money to build roads and bridges and to support various activities beneficial to the local economy. They raised troops, repaired fortifications, built hospitals and engaged in poor relief.
TWO The minority of Charles VIII and the Breton marriage(1483–94)
When Louis XI died on 30 August 1483, his son Charles was only thirteen years old – ten months short of the age of majority for a king of France as laid down by an ordinance of 1374. It was consequently necessary to provide a regent for the intervening period. Four people could claim this role: the queen mother, Charlotte of Savoy; the king’s cousin, Louis duc d’Orléans; and the king’s sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Pierre de Beaujeu. Charlotte could point to the precedent set by Blanche de Castille during the minority of Louis IX, but she was a meek woman who had been allowed only a minor political role by the late king. Orléans was old enough to rule (he was twenty-two years old), but lacked the necessary qualities, being flighty, dissolute and a spendthrift. Anne and Pierre de Beaujeu were better qualified. Anne, who was also twenty-two years old, was intelligent and proud, albeit vindictive and grasping. Her husband Pierre was her senior by twenty-one years and had gained administrative experience under Louis XI. The Beaujeus had important advantages over their rivals: they