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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
ACCORDING to Lord Ernie, the period from 1750 to 1789 was, in spite of many dark features, the brightest period hitherto reached in the history of French husbandry, a period during which ‘we turn, as it were, from the sombre etchings of La Bruyère to the smiling pictures of Watteau’. It certainly was a time when the spirit of agrarian reform which was prevalent throughout Western Europe was blowing strongly in France, arousing great enthusiasms and aspirations. From the presses of France poured a spate of agricultural treatises, books and pamphlets deploring the existing agricultural system, proclaiming the virtues of the English system of capitalist farming, urging the emancipation of property and of sale from all restrictions in order to achieve increased production, higher profits, and the investment of more capital.
page 129 note 1 Prothero, R. E., The Pleasant Land of France, pp. 38–9Google Scholar.
page 129 note 2 A Biiliographie agronomique published in Paris in 1810 listed at least 1,214 such works published in France during the eighteenth century. The influence of English theory and practice has been examined by Bourde, A. J., The Influence of England on the French Agronomes 1750–1789 (Cambridge, 1953)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 130 note 1 There is a convenient summary of the influence of these factors in Ph. Sagnac, , La formation de la société française moderne (1946), ii. 162–7Google Scholar.
page 130 note 2 Quoted by Jaurès, J., Histoire socialiste de la révolution française, 2nd edn. (1927), i. 234Google Scholar.
page 130 note 3 Roupnel, G., La ville et la campagne au xviie siècle, 2nd edn. (1952), p. 249Google Scholar.
page 131 note 1 For example, by the comte d' Essuile, , Traité des Communes (1770), p. 109Google Scholar.
page 131 note 2 The administrative skirmishes which help to explain the fluctuations of the agricultural policy of the old régime are described in Bloch, M., ‘La lutte pour l'individualisme agraire dans la France du xviiie siècle’, Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, ii (1930), 329–83, 511–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 132 note 1 Chanlaire, Peuchet et, Description topographique et statistique de la France (1810), iGoogle Scholar. In the notes which follow, documentary material in the Archives Nationales and the Archives départementaies du Calvados is referred to by the abbreviations Arch. Nat., and Arch. Calv., respectively, followed by the letter denoting the series and the number of the carton. My debt to the teaching and writings of Lefebvre, M. Georges is so great that I can but refer the reader to the bibliography of his works in his Études sur la révolution française (1954)Google Scholar.
page 132 note 2 Bernier, P. D., Essai sur le tiers-état rural en Normandie (Mayenne, 1891), p. 143Google Scholar.
page 132 note 3 Letter to Benin, 5 December 1760, Arch. Calv., C.2498.
page 133 note 1 Arch. Calv., C.2501.
page 133 note 2 De Fontette seems to have done nothing during the winter of 1761–2, for whereas he promised the controller-general a draft of the decree needed and a list of nominations on 27 October 1761, he did not produce them until 25 May 1762. Arch. Calv., C.2498.
page 133 note 3 Ibid. The list of members is printed in Justin, E., Les sociétés royales d'agriculture au xviiie siécle (1757–1793) (Saint-Lô, 1935)Google Scholar.
page 133 note 4 Arch. Calv., C.2501.
page 133 note 5 Letter to Bertin 15 February 1774, Arch. Calv., C.2500.
page 134 note 1 Letters to Benin, 25 May and 27 September 1762, Arch. Calv., C.2498.
page 134 note 2 Sée, H., ‘La mise en valeur des terres incultes (défrichements et desséchements) à la fin de l'ancien régime’, Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, xi (1923), 62–81Google Scholar.
page 134 note 3 Arch. Calv., C.4197.
page 134 note 4 Prothero, , Pleasant Land, p. 39Google Scholar.
page 134 note 5 Arch. Calv., C.4197.
page 135 note 1 Arch. Calv., C.4199.
page 135 note 2 Arch. Calv., C.4203.
page 135 note 3 For example, marshes in the parish of Bréville which were included in the concession actually belonged to the barony of St. Pair which was held by the abbey of Mont St. Michel. Arch. Calv., C.4205.
page 136 note 1 In the élection of Bayeux: the bishop of Bayeux, the seigneur of Marigny, and the villages of Formigny, St. Laurent-sur-Mer, Surrain, and Colleville; in the élection of Caen: the marquis of Vassy, the seigneur of Villy, and the villages of Troarn, Cléville, Hérouvillette, Villy, Mouen, Missy, Bény. Arch. Calv., C.4202–3.
page 136 note 2 Letters to Bertin, 11 April and 11 May 1774, Arch. Nat., H.1492.
page 136 note 3 Arch. Calv., C.4199.
page 136 note 4 Arch. Calv., C.4200, 4197; Arch. Nat., Q1 1383. This decision of 27 June 1785 was extended to apply to the généralités of Rouen and Alengon in the following year: Sion, J., Les paysans de la Normandie orientate (1909), pp. 216–18Google Scholar. The liquidation of the concession proved to be an expensive item for the Crown. The Polignacs and d' Aspects received a total of 190,000 livres. Boullonmorange refused Calonne's offer of bonds assuring him of an annuity of 12,000 livres for life, and a cash payment of 80,000 livres, on the grounds that it was insufficient. Report of the maître des requêtes, Arch. Nat., Q1 84.
page 137 note 1 Arch. Calv., C.4199.
page 137 note 2 Speech of de Fontette, 2 December 1761 to the Académie royale des belles-lettres de Caen printed in Séance publique pour la rentrée de l' Académie… (Caen, 1762), pp. 87–123Google Scholar. Cf. Sauvage, R. N., ‘L'intendant Fontette et les concessions des terres incultes dans la généralité de Caen’, Normannia, xii (1939), 1–16Google Scholar; draft reply to de Beaumont regarding an application by Boisjugan, 19 August 1764. Boisjugan and his associates had not bothered to make any inquiries about the lands they asked for and did not even know what they were called but had merely copied the names of parishes. Arch. Calv., C.4197.
page 137 note 3 As Terray expressed it: ‘Division should only be the result of persuasion. It should always be preceded by the consent of most of the inhabitants.’ Correspondence between de Fontette and Terray 1771–4, Arch. Calv., C.4195.
page 138 note 1 Colleville-sur-Orne, Courseulles, and Cabourg; Arch. Calv., C.247; F: Don de Savignac—baronnie de Courseulles; E. Suppl. 1428, CC1.
page 138 note 2 Arch. Calv., 16B 6, reprinted in Mavidal, M. J. and Laurent, M. E., Archives Parlementaires (1879), ii. 492–-5Google Scholar.
page 138 note 3 Sion, , Paysans, p. 216Google Scholar.
page 138 note 4 Letter from d'Auvray de Vanembras, 8 April 1789, in the papers of the Vassy family. Arch. Calv., E.
page 139 note 1 Chicheboville Barbery, St. Georges-de-Pontchardon, Arch. Calv., C.7866, 16B 23 and 427.
page 140 note 1 Arch. Nat., D XIV, 13 (Rots), 12 (Quesnay); F10 334 (Mondrainville).
page 140 note 2 Arch. Calv., 16B 14.
page 140 note 3 Arch. Calv., E. Suppl. 236, FF 1.
page 140 note 4 Arch. Calv., F: Don de Savignac—baronnie de Courseulles; Suppl, E.. 520 DD1Google Scholar; 521 DD2.
page 141 note 1 Cahier of Saint-Quentin-la-Roche. Arch. Calv., 16B 223.
page 141 note 2 As Necker himself recognized: ‘An exemption from taxes for a certain number of years is not in general a sufficient encouragement to undertake the clearing of waste lands: the want of capital stops a great number of proprietors, sometimes the difficulty of borrowing money, and sometimes the high rate of interest are obstacles to the progress of cultivation.’ Necker, J., De l'administration des finances de France (1785), ii. 123Google Scholar.
page 141 note 3 Houard, , Dictionnaire analytique… de la coutume de Normandie (Rouen, 1780), iGoogle Scholar, article on communes.
page 142 note 1 Arch. Calv., 16B 42, 292, 494 respectively.
page 142 note 2 Petition of the procureur of the commune of La-Ferrière-au-Doyen, in the name of the poor, 24 vendémiaire year ii (15 10 1793), Arch. Nat., F10330Google Scholar.
page 142 note 3 On this development from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries see Bloch, M., Les caractères originaux de l'histoire rurale française, rev. edn. (1952), pp. 210–13Google Scholar.
page 143 note 1 Houard, , op. cit., i. 151Google Scholar; iii. 403, 451; Guyot, , Répertoire de jurisprudence (1784), ii. 140Google Scholar; Sée, H., ‘Une enquête sur la vaine pâture et le droit de parcours à la fin du règne de Louis XV’ Revue du dix-huitiéme siècle, i (1913), 265–78Google Scholar; Colombel, O. de, ‘La vaine pâture en Normandie’, Normannia, xi (1938), 91–107Google Scholar.
page 143 note 2 Arch. Nat., H. 1486.
page 144 note 1 Bourde, A. J., Infl. of Eng. on Fren. Agronomes, p. 127Google Scholar.
page 144 note 2 Arch. Calv., G.119; Basnage, , Commentaires sur la coutume de Normandie…, 3rd edn. (Rouen, 1709), i. 24Google Scholar; Nédélec, Y., Le diocése de Lisieux au xviiie siècle (unpublished dissertation at the École des Chartes, 1954), pp. 93–4Google Scholar.
page 144 note 3 Arch. Calv., C.7003–7578; Arch. Nat, G.622.
page 144 note 4 Arch. Nat., F10 170, F10 325. Examination of leases suggests that one of the restrictive factors was the reluctance of proprietors who also owned tithes to accept payment in money rather than in kind. Duterque, F., ‘Modes d'exploitation et d'amélioration du sol dans la région de Bayeux au xviiie siécle’, Actes du quatre-vingt-unième congrés national des sociétés savantes 1956: section d'histoire moderne et contemporaine (1956), pp. 171–83Google Scholar.
page 145 note 1 Tax-rolls of the vingtièmes, loc. cit.; Arch. Nat. F10 170; Vidalenc, J., ‘L'approvisionement de Paris en viande sous l'ancien régime’, Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, xxx (1952), 116–32Google Scholar; Jouanne, R., ‘Le prix des bceufs en Basse-Normandie au milieu du xviiie siècle’, Bulletin de la société historique et archéologique de l'Orne, 1932, pp. xl–lvGoogle Scholar.
page 145 note 2 Labrousse, C. E., Esquisse du mouvement des prix et des revenus en France au xviiie siècle (1933)Google Scholar; La crise de l'économie française à la fin de l'ancien régime (1944).
page 145 note 3 Petition of La Vespiére 13 pluviôse year ii (1 February 1794), Arch. Nat., F10 285.
page 145 note 4 Arch. Calv., 16B 302.
page 146 note 1 Petitions of Lefel, constitutional priest of Equemeauville 22 September 1793; commune of La Vespière 13 pluviôse year ii (1 February 1794); commune of Bienfaite 7 January 1794, Arch. Nat., F10 212B, 285, 331, respectively. The administrators of the département to the Council of Five Hundred, 23 frimaire year iv (14 December 1795).
