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SOCIETY and GOVERNMENT in FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU and MAZARIN, 1624-61 by the Same Author

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SOCIETY and GOVERNMENT in FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU and MAZARIN, 1624-61 by the Same Author SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT IN FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN, 1624-61 By the same author POLITICAL CHANGE IN FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN, 1624-1661 THE KING'S DEBTS: Finance and Politics in France, 1589-1661 SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT IN FRANCE UNDER RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN, 1624-61 RICHARD BONNEY Professor of Modern History University of Leicester M MACMILLAN PRESS © Richard Bonney 1988 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended), or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 33-4 Alfred Place, London WCIE 7DP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published 1988 Published by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Typeset by Wessex Typesetters (Division of The Eastern Press Ltd) Frome, Somerset British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bonney, Richard Society and government in France under Richelieu and Mazarin, 1624-61. I. France-Politics and government- 1610-1643 2. France-Politics and government-1643-1715 I. Title 944'.032 DCI23 ISBN 978-0-333-41849-9 ISBN 978-1-349-19262-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19262-5 For Alexander Bonney CONTENTS List of Maps and Figure Vlll Acknowledgements IX List of Abbreviations X Introduction Xll X THE CHIEF MINISTER: POLICIES AND CRITICS X 2 THE MINISTERIAL TEAM 26 3 ADMINISTRATIVE INNOVATION AND THE REACTION OF THE OFFICE-HOLDERS 79 4 ARISTOCRATIC GRIEVANCES AND REBELLION 151 5 POPULAR REBELLION 194 Further Reading 239 Index 241 Vll LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURE Map I The provinces of France 80 Map2 The giniralitis of France at the time of Richelieu and Mazarin 88 Map3 Certain peasant revolts and urban riots 195 Figure I The King's council and the judicial and financial courts, 1624-61 83 Vlll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The tasks of judicious editing and ruthless pruning were rendered painless by the heroic efforts of Dr Margaret Camsell. The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the permission granted by the following to quote from sources which may be in copyright. These are specifically: Berce © Librairie Droz S.A., Geneva Dickmann et al. © Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munster Grillon © Editions Pedone, Paris, and Commission lnternationale pour !'Edition des Sources de l'histoirc europeene, series Monumenta Europeae Historica Mongredien © Editions Gallimard, Paris, 1961. Mousnier ©Presses Universitaires de France, Paris Mousnier, Durand ©Presses Universitaires de France, Paris Labatut Ranum ©Oxford University Press In addition, the author gratefully acknowledges the perm1ss1on granted to use three maps and one figure from Political change in France under Richelieu and Mazarin, 1624-1661 (Oxford University Press, 1978). RICHARD BONNEY IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MANUSCRIPT SOURCES AT PARIS AAE France Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, Memoires et Documents, France AG Archives de Ia Guerre AN Archives Nationales BL British Library BN Bibliotheque Nationale PRINTED SOURCES Avenel Lettres, instructions diplomatiques et papiers d'etat du Cardinal de Richelieu, ed. D. L. M. Avenel, 8 vols (1853-77). Bercc Y-M. Bercc, Histoire des croquants. Etude des soulevements populaires au xvii' siecle dans le sud-ouest de La France, 2 vols (Paris-Geneva, 1974). Cheruel Journal d'Olivier Leflvre d'Ormesson ... , ed. P. A. Cheruel, 2 vols (1860--1). Chevallier P. Chevallier, 'La veritable journee des dupes (II novembre 1630) ... ', Mimoires de La Sociiti Acadimique del'Aube, cviii ( 1978), 194--253. Clement Lettres, instructions et mimoires de Colbert ... , ed. P. Clement, 10 vols (1861-82). Courteault 'Journal inedit du Parlement de Paris pendant Ia Fronde (I dec 1651-12 avril 1651)', ed. H. Courteault, Annuaire-Bulletin de La Sociiti de l'Histoire de France [annie 1916], (1917), 163-315. Dickmann et al. Acta pacis Westphalicae. Serie I. lnstruktionen. Frankreich. Schweden. Kaiser, ed. F. Dickmann et al. (Munster, 1962). Feillet A. Feillet, La misere au temps de La Fronde et Saint­ Vincent de Paul (5th ed. 1866). F eillet et al. Oeuvres de Ret;::, ed. A. Feillet et al. ( 10 vols, 1870--96). X List of Abbreviations Floquet Relation du voyage du Chancelier Seguier en Normandie, ed. A. M. Floquet (Rouen, 1842). Grillon Les papiers de RicheLieu. Section politique intirieure. Correspondance et papiers d'etat, ed. P. Grillon (in progress; 1975- ). Histoire generate Histoire generate de Languedoc, ed. C. Devic and J. de Languedoc Vaissette, cont. E. Roschach, xiv (Toulouse, 1876). Lair J. Lair, Nicolas Foucquet . .. (2 vols, 1890). Legrelle A. Legrelle, 'Les assemblees de Ia noblesse en Normandie, 1658-9', Societe de l'histoire de Normandie. Melanges, 4th ser. ( 1898), 307-46. Lublinskaya Vnutrenniaia politika frantsuzkogo absoliutizma, 1633- 1649 [The internal politics of French absolutism], ed. A. D. Lublinkskaya (Leningrad, 1966). Mailfait H. Mailfait, Un magistral de /'ancien regime. Orner Talon, sa vie et ses oeuvres, 159~1652 (1902). Michaud and Orner Talon, Mimoires, ed. J. F. Michaud and Poujoulat J.J. F. Poujoulat, 3rd ser. vi (1839). Mongredien G. Mongredien, 10 novembre 1630. Lajoumee des dupes (1961). Mousnier Lettres et memoires adresses au Chancelier Seguier, 1633- 1649, ed. R. E. Mousnier (2 vols 1964). Mousnier, Durand, Problemes de stratification sociale. Deux cahiers de La Labatut noblesse pour les Etats Geniraux de 1649-1651, ed. R. E. Mousnier,J-P. Labatut andY. R. Durand (1964). Porchnev B. F. Porchnev, Les souLevements popuLaires en France de 1623 a 1648 (Fr. trans., 1963). Ranum 0. A. Ranum, RicheLieu and the councillors of Louis XIII ... (Oxford, 1963). Therivc Guy Patin, Lettres pendant La Fronde, ed. A. Therive ( 1921). XI INTRODUCTION A relatively short volume of texts and commentary can scarcely lay claim to comprehensive coverage of the ministries ofRichelieu and Mazarin. It was felt preferable, in a book dedicated to the idea of text-based study, to concentrate in depth on certain key themes. One of the great issues of French history is the transition from so-called 'Renaissance' monarchy to 'absolute' monarchy, the strengthening of royal authority and its institutions. This did not occur as a gradual, linear development. Periods of formative change were interspersed with periods of relative stagnation or even regression. Few historians would doubt that the ministries of Richelieu and Mazarin were one such period of formative change, perhaps the most important in the history ofancien regime France. Some have talked of a 'revolution in government', but the cautious student should beware of such a convenient label. Governments do not make revolutions, since the essence of government is almost invariably the maintenance of power and defence of the status quo. Richelieu, Mazarin and the other ministers wanted to conserve and restore what was best in France, not to reform and change it. The critical student should also ponder what is meant by that much over-worked term 'absolutism'. It is a word of relatively recent derivation, dating from the period of the French Revolution. In its simple formulation of 'absolute power' or 'absolute authority' it was certainly used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Richelieu, or a source very close to him, commented that 'as long as the Huguenot party subsists in France, the King will not be absolute in his kingdom' (doc. 4). The chief minister was accused by his opponents of seizing 'absolute power' (doc. 18). However, few contemporary commentators would have expected a system of government to be described under such an all-embracing label. Strictly speaking, absolute power is a logical and practical impossibility. In this respect, the great political theorist Jean Bodin commented in 1576: If we say that he has absolute power who is not subject to the law, no such prince can anywhere be found, given that all princes in the world are subject to the laws ofGod and of nature and to many human laws which are common to all peoples. XII Introduction No 'absolute' ruler in theory enjoyed absolute power in practice. One recent historian states that 'absolutism was always in the making but never made': it was an objective incapable of complete realization. Others see absolutism as no more than an ideological cloak to mask the weakness of royal power in practice. According to such an interpretation, the theoretical power of the king had to be freed from restrictions to offset the limitations on his power in practice. This comment might suggest a working definition of absolutism such as 'freedom for the monarch in practice from institutional checks on his power.' Even this definition has some drawbacks, however. The kings of Castile were called 'absolute' even though they had to consult the Cortes, the national representative institution. The French kings were called 'absolute' whether or not they summoned the Estates General. There is clearly no single European model of an 'absolute' ruler. One historian has suggested that for 'absolutism' we should read 'relative absolutism'. This has some semantic disadvantage, but the reality is that some rulers were 'more absolute' than others. Even a weak French king such as Henri II I might seem an absolute ruler compared to the prince of the Netherlands, as became clear in the negotiations between Anjou, his advisers (including Bodin) and the Dutch in 1580. The existence of elective monarchy, and other concessions to the nobles, led Bodin to doubt whether the king of Poland could be termed a sovereign ruler at all. For Bodin, the fundamental characteristic of sovereignty, under which all other powers were subsumed, was the power to give laws 'unto subjects in general without their consent'. This book is about the practice, rather than the theory, of government.
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