Maritime Power and the Power of Money in Louis XIV's France Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- General Introduction
- Part I The Strategic and Fiscal Context
- Part II The Financing of Naval Expenditure
- Part III Paymaster Accountability and the Limitations of the State
- Part IV The Development and Management of the Naval Treasury
- Part V Fiscal Overextension and Operational Paralysis in the Era of the Spanish Succession
- Conclusion
- Appendix I Military-related spending in livres by exercice or financial year in the era of the Spanish Succession conflict, 1700–13
- Appendix II Military-related spending in livres by exercice or financial year in the era of the Nine Years’ War, 1689–99
- Appendix III Royal revenues in livres excluding the capitation and dixième taxes, 1683–1713
- Appendix IV Royal revenues in livres including the capitation and dixième taxes, 1683–1713
- Appendix V The average geographical distribution of Louis XIV's fleet in terms of rated warships and frégates légères, 1701–09
- Appendix VI Naval spending by area of expenditure, 1701–09
- Appendix VII The time frame in which the trésoriers were ordered to acquit naval costs, 1701–09
- Appendix VIII Summary of borrowing by trésorier Jacques de Vanolles during the exercice of 1703
- Appendix IX Detailed breakdown by source of revenue of the funding provided to the naval and galley treasuries, 1702–08
- Select Bibliography
- Index
10 - Reforms and the Fiscal Challenges of War, 1688–1701
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- General Introduction
- Part I The Strategic and Fiscal Context
- Part II The Financing of Naval Expenditure
- Part III Paymaster Accountability and the Limitations of the State
- Part IV The Development and Management of the Naval Treasury
- Part V Fiscal Overextension and Operational Paralysis in the Era of the Spanish Succession
- Conclusion
- Appendix I Military-related spending in livres by exercice or financial year in the era of the Spanish Succession conflict, 1700–13
- Appendix II Military-related spending in livres by exercice or financial year in the era of the Nine Years’ War, 1689–99
- Appendix III Royal revenues in livres excluding the capitation and dixième taxes, 1683–1713
- Appendix IV Royal revenues in livres including the capitation and dixième taxes, 1683–1713
- Appendix V The average geographical distribution of Louis XIV's fleet in terms of rated warships and frégates légères, 1701–09
- Appendix VI Naval spending by area of expenditure, 1701–09
- Appendix VII The time frame in which the trésoriers were ordered to acquit naval costs, 1701–09
- Appendix VIII Summary of borrowing by trésorier Jacques de Vanolles during the exercice of 1703
- Appendix IX Detailed breakdown by source of revenue of the funding provided to the naval and galley treasuries, 1702–08
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Nine Years’ War demanded an unprecedented operational commitment from the navy: French control of the western Mediterranean had to be preserved, France's Atlantic and Channel coastline needed securing against the threat of an Anglo-Dutch seaborne attack, and the French king's desire to restore James II to the English throne necessitated off-shore support and an amphibious landing in Ireland. Louis XIV's strategic ambitions therefore required a significant level of activity at sea. Colbert's eldest son and successor as naval minister after 1683, the marquis de Seignelay, planned for the arming of at least 50 ships-of-the-line in 1689. The following year, when viceamiral Anne Hilarion de Costentin, comte de Tourville, achieved a victory at Beachy Head in July 1690 over the Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Arthur Herbert, earl of Torrington, a total of 90 rated warships were deployed. After Tourville's campagne du large in 1691, which sought to draw the Allied fleet away from the coast and target the returning convoy from Smyrna, 107 ships-of-the-line were armed in 1692, including the 44 warships that sailed under Tourville's command during the French defeat off the coast of Barfleur and Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue in May–June 1692.
The reprise of large fleet engagements for the first time since the Franco- Dutch War (1672–78), and the deployment of rated ships with even larger crews and more concentrated firepower than had been previously possible, had important fiscal consequences. Table 15 details the navy's spending habits in the period between 1671 and 1699. Naval expenditure in the 1690s reached previously unseen levels, and the rate at which expenses grew reflected the unprecedented scale of the navy's operational demands. The navy's spending increased over threefold from 7.9 million l. in 1688 to almost 26.7 million l. in 1691. Liable for consecutive exercices between 1678 and 1691 as the navy's only trésorier, Louis de Lubert would have been unaccustomed to the high levels of expenditure in the early years of the Nine Years’ War. In the first eleven years of Lubert's tenure as trésorier, between 1678 and 1688, average annual spending was approximately 7.1 million l., with a total of 77.9 million l. passing through his accounts in this period.
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- Information
- Maritime Power and the Power of Money in Louis XIV's FrancePrivate Finance, the Contractor State, and the French Navy, pp. 172 - 184Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023