Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Franche-Comté before the French
- Chapter 2 The Conditions of Conquest: Louis XIV and the Free City of Besançon
- Chapter 3 The Politics of Integration: Franche-Comté as Pays Conquis, 1674–1688
- Chapter 4 The Nine Years' War and the Transformation of Crown-Elite Relations
- Chapter 5 Managing Elites: the Monarchy and the Parlement of Besançon 1699–1705
- Chapter 6 War Finance in Franche-Comté, 1701–1714
- Chapter 7 Wartime Government in Franche-Comté and the French Royal State
- Conclusion
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - Managing Elites: the Monarchy and the Parlement of Besançon 1699–1705
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Franche-Comté before the French
- Chapter 2 The Conditions of Conquest: Louis XIV and the Free City of Besançon
- Chapter 3 The Politics of Integration: Franche-Comté as Pays Conquis, 1674–1688
- Chapter 4 The Nine Years' War and the Transformation of Crown-Elite Relations
- Chapter 5 Managing Elites: the Monarchy and the Parlement of Besançon 1699–1705
- Chapter 6 War Finance in Franche-Comté, 1701–1714
- Chapter 7 Wartime Government in Franche-Comté and the French Royal State
- Conclusion
- Appendixes
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In January 1699 a spasm of anxiety jolted the judges of the Parlement of Besançon. Rumors had reached the capital of Franche-Comté that Louis XIV was considering the addition of a fourth chamber to the sovereign court. Such a measure would result in the creation and sale of numerous judicial offices. The Bisontin parlementaires feared that these new creations would saturate the venal market in Franche-Comté and thus depreciate the value of their own charges. Their concern became so great that they convinced Jean-Ferdinand Jobelot, the Parlement's first president, to write a letter to the controller general of finances protesting the expansion of the court.
Although the royal government did not in fact create a fourth chamber in the Parlement of Besançon in 1699, the judges' fears were nevertheless well founded. After Louis XIV had introduced venality of office into the province in 1692–93, the Bisontin judges had undergone an intensive apprenticeship in the practices and financial demands of this quintessential institution of the French absolute monarchy. With the end of the war in 1698, they hoped for a prolonged period of tranquillity and stability in which to enjoy their newly acquired properties.
Their respite lasted just over three years. The War of the Spanish Succession forced Louis XIV and his ministers to mobilize all of France's resources once again. Venality and the myriad fiscal expedients associated with it were pushed to their limits.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Expansion and Crisis in Louis XIV's FranceFranche-Comté and Absolute Monarchy, 1674–1715, pp. 109 - 128Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009