Administrative Innovation and the Reaction of the Office-Holders

Abstract

The French administrative system had developed in a piecemeal way, and important political forces ensured the continuation of regional diversity. Certain provinces had been acquired relatively late by the French monarchy — Normandy, Guyenne, Burgundy, Provence and Brittany were gained only in the fifteenth century — and had retained some of their former customs and privileges. By the seventeenth century, the estates (or representative institutions) of Guyenne were in abeyance, while those of Normandy and Provence were under threat or succumbed during Richelieu’s ministry (Map 1). However, the provincial estates of one province acquired much earlier — Languedoc — remained strong, despite an attempt by the government in 1632 to ensure greater compliance by imposing the edict of Béziers. The estates of Languedoc regained their full independence in 1649, when the government needed to retain the loyalty of institutions during the Fronde. The Chancellor commented that all the pays d’états might seek comparable concessions (doc. 157). The government greatly feared local alliances between institutions such as the provincial estates and the regional lawcourts or Parlements. These rarely occurred, since rivalry between them was the norm.