Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T11:54:41.874Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Brokerage at the court of Louis XIV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Sharon Kettering
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For a commission brokers negotiated an exchange between those who had patronage to grant and those in need who were willing to give something in return. They received a fee for their help as intermediaries in the search for patronage. Brokerage differed from patronage in that it was a mercenary service which did not by itself create a personal bond. Noble brokers of royal patronage in the provinces and at court were prevalent during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Provincial brokers included the governors, lieutenants general, intendants, clerics, first presidents of the sovereign courts, military commanders, great nobles, and any resident provincials related to, or well-known by, high-ranking court or government personages. Court brokers included all those regularly at court, and ranged from those immediately surrounding the king, as the fount of royal patronage, downward and outward in layers of influence calculated upon their distance from the king. Brokers in the provinces became less important during Louis XIV's reign because the king himself insisted on supervising the distribution of royal patronage at court. Patronage became more easily obtainable at Versailles than in the provinces, and, increasingly, nobles in need of patronage went to court to find it, aided in their search by courtiers acting as brokers. During Louis XIV's reign, an absolute monarchy sought successfully to centralize the brokerage of royal patronage at court, a hitherto unrecognized aspect of the process of social and political centralization known as early modern statebuilding.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 69 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Gooch, G. P., Courts and cabinets (New York, 1946), p. 32Google Scholar.

2 de La Fayette, Madame, The princess of Clèves, trans. Mitford, Nancy (New York, 1978), p. 41Google Scholar.

3 Forster, Elborg, ed. and trans., A woman's life in the court of the sun king (Baltimore, 1984), p. 261Google Scholar.

4 Aymard, Maurice, ‘Friends and neighbors’, Passions of the renaissance, ed. Chartier, Roger, trans. Goldhammer, Arthur, vol. III, A history of private life, eds. Philippe Ariès and Georges Duby (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), pp. 465–6Google Scholar.

5 Levron, Jacques, Les courtisans (Paris, 1960)Google Scholar, excerpted and translated by Hatton, Ragnhild, ed., ‘Louis XIV's courtiers’, Louis XIV and absolutism (Columbus, Ohio, 1976), pp. 130–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 See, for example, Mettam, Roger, Power and faction in Louis XIV's France (London, 1988), pp. 45–101Google Scholar; Asch, Ronald and Birke, Adolf, eds., Princes, patronage, and the nobility: the court at the beginning of the modern age (London and Oxford, 1991)Google Scholar. There have been a number of excellent biographies of court figures in recent years. See Bluche, François, Louis XIV (Paris, 1986)Google Scholar; Antoine, Michel, Louis XV (Paris, 1988)Google Scholar; Moote, A. Lloyd, Louis XIII, The Just (Berkeley, 1989)Google Scholar; Barker, Nancy, Brother to the sun king: Philippe, duke of Orléans (Baltimore, 1989)Google Scholar; Baumgartner, Frederic, Henry II, King of France, 1547–1559 (Durham, 1988)Google Scholar; Marvick, Elizabeth, Louis XIII: the making of a king (New Haven, 1986)Google Scholar; Kleinman, Ruth, Anne of Austria, Queen of France (Columbus, 1985)Google Scholar; Knecht, R. J., Francis I (Cambridge, 1982)Google Scholar. Also see Dewald, Jonathan. ‘Politics and personality in seventeenth-century France’, French Historical Studies, XVI (1990), 893–908CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy, ‘Versailles observed: the court of Louis XIV in 1709’, The mind and method of the historian, trans. Sian, and Reynolds, Ben (Chicago, 1981), pp. 149–73Google Scholar.

8 Kettering, Sharon, ‘Clientage during the French wars of religion’, Sixteenth-Century Journal, XX (1989), 222Google Scholar.

9 Jouanna, Arlette, Le devoir de révolte: la noblesse française et la gestation de l'état moderne, 1559–1661 (Paris, 1989), p. 79Google Scholar.

10 Harding, Robert, Anatomy of a power elite: the provincial governors of early modern France (New Haven, 1978), pp. 31–7Google Scholar; Kettering, Sharon, Patrons, brokers, and clients in seventeenth-century France (New York and Oxford, 1986), pp. 40–67, 98–183, 232–7Google Scholar; idem, ‘The historical development of political clientelism’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, XVIII (1989), 417–47.

11 Gilles de Gouberville unsuccessfully sought a court broker to retain an inherited royal office during the reign of Henri II. See Kettering, , Patrons, pp. 196–7Google Scholar; Blangueron, Claude, Gilles de Gouberville, gentilhomme de Contentin, 1522–1578 (Coutances, 1969), pp. 61–7Google Scholar; Foisil, Madeleine, Le sire de Gouberville, un gentilhomme normand au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1981)Google Scholar. Also see Baumgartner, , Henry II, pp. 42–63, 92–113Google Scholar.

12 Stocker, Christopher, ‘Office as maintenance in renaissance France’, Canadian Journal of History, VI (1971), 25, 27Google Scholar.

13 Constant, Jean-Marie, Nobles et paysans en Beauce aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles (Lille, 1981), pp. 250–3Google Scholar; idem, La vie quotidienne de la noblesse française aux XVIe–XVIIe siècles (Paris, 1985), pp. 176–82.

14 Dewald, Jonathan, Pont St-Pierre 1398–1789: Lordship, community and capitalism in early modern France (Berkeley, 1987), p. 174Google Scholar; Kettering, , Patrons, p. 163Google Scholar.

15 For the Italian renaissance courts, see Biagioli, Mario, ‘Galileo's system of patronage’, History of Science, XXVIII (1990), 6–13Google Scholar; Burke, Peter, The Italian renaissance. Culture and society in Italy, 2nd edn (Princeton, 1987), pp. 88–123Google Scholar. For the English courts, see Neale, John, ‘The Elizabethan political scene’, Essays in Elizabethan history (New York, 1958), pp. 65–6, 75Google Scholar; MacCaffrey, Wallace, ‘Place and patronage in Elizabethan politics’, Elizabethan government and society: essays presented to Sir John Neale, ed. Bindoff, S. T. (London, 1961), pp. 92–126Google Scholar; Prestwich, Menna, Politics and profit under the early Stuarts: Cranfield (Oxford, 1966), p. 278Google Scholar; Peck, Linda Levy, Northampton: patronage and policy at the court of James I (London, 1982), pp. 41–63Google Scholar; idem, Court patronage and corruption in early Stuart England (Boston, 1990).

16 Elias, Norbert, The court society, trans. Jephcott, Edmund (London, 1983), pp. 66–145Google Scholar; Ranum, Orest, ‘Courtesy, absolutism, and the rise of the French state, 1630–1660’, Journal of Modern History, LII (1980), 426–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mettam, , Power and faction, pp. 197–204Google Scholar; Wolf, John, Louis XIV (New York, 1968), pp. 133–6Google Scholar; Giesey, Ralph, ‘Models of rulership in French royal ceremonial’, Rites of power. Symbolism, ritual and politics since the Middle Ages, ed. Wilentz, Sean (Philadelphia, 1985), pp. 41–64Google Scholar.

17 Clément, Pierre, ed., Lettres, instructions et mémoires de Colbert, 10 vols. (Paris, 1861–1873), I, 535Google Scholar; Major, J. Russell, Representative government in early modern France (New Haven, 1980), p. 630Google Scholar; Mettam, , Power and faction, p. 197Google Scholar; Bluche, , Louis XIV, pp. 448–73, 511–35Google Scholar; Labatut, Jean-Pierre, Les dues et pairs de France au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1972), pp. 239–329Google Scholar.

18 Bluche, , Louis XIV, pp. 455–64, 467–73Google Scholar.

19 Jouanna, , Le devoir de révolte, p. 84Google Scholar.

20 For the use of the language of friendship in patronage, see Kettering, Sharon, ‘Friendship and clientage in early modern France’, French History, VI (1992), 139–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 ‘Mémoires de M. Antoine de Valbelle, dressés en 1682 par maître Jean Russel, avocat en la court’, R.A.3, Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence (henceforth cited as B. Méjanes), fo. 109. ‘J'avais des amis à la Cour assez chauds et assez puissants pour me garantir d'oppression.’

22 Constant, , Nobles et paysans en Beauce, p. 240Google Scholar.

23 ‘Mémoires de Valbelle’, fo. 147. ‘M. Servien était le meilleur et plus puissant de mes amis dans le conseil.’

24 Archives des Affaires Etrangères, Paris, Fonds France (henceforth cited as A.A.E.), 1715, fo. 293, Mercoeur to Mazarin, May 1650. ‘Je ne sçaurais recevoir de nouvelles preuves de votre amitié sans vous en donner aussi de ma parfaite gratitude…Mon intendant m'écrit que vous l'ouvrez continuellement en ma faveur, et que vous n'en estes point du tout avare lors qu'il s'agit de la considération de mes intérêts. Ces bons offices m'obligent d'autant plus sensiblement que vous les rendez à une personne fort eloignée de la Cour et ses finesses.’

25 A.A.E., 1721, fo. 127, Oppède to Mazarin, 23 Apr. 1657. ‘On m'a donné advis, Monseigneur, que Madame de Venel en tous rencontres tache de me rendre des mauvais offices auprès de Votre Eminence.’

26 A.A.E., 1720, fo. 185v, Mazarin to Oppède, 17 May 1657. ‘Vous avez tort de penser qu'on vous rends des mauvais offices. Vous devez avoir plus de confiance à mon amitié. Madame de Venel n'a dit aucun mot au préjudice de vous. Je vous dis vraiment.’

27 Dessert, Daniel, Argent, pouvoir et société au Grand Siècle (Paris, 1984), pp. 341–78Google Scholar.

28 Norton, Lucy, ed. and trans., Historical memoirs of the Duc de Saint Simon; a shortened version, 1691–1715, 2 vols. (New York, 1967), I, 39–40, 61–3Google Scholar. For the complete French edition of the memoirs, see de Boislisle, Arthur, ed., Mémoires de Saint Simon, 43 vols. (Paris, 1879–1928)Google Scholar.

29 Levron, , ‘Louis XIV's courtiers’, p. 145Google Scholar.

30 Kalas, Robert, ‘Wealth, place, and power in sixteenth-century France: the rise of the Selve and Noailles families’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1982), pp. 263–5Google Scholar.

31 Lecestre, Léon, ed., Mémoires de Gourville (1646–1701), 2 vols. (Paris, 1894)Google Scholar; Freudmann, Félix, L'étonnant Gourville (1625–1703) (Paris, 1960)Google Scholar; Sonnino, Paul, Louis XIV and the origins of the Dutch war (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 38–9Google Scholar.

32 McCollim, Gary, ‘The foundation of fiscal policy in the reign of Louis XIV: the example of Nicolas Desmaretz, Controller General of Finances (1708–1715)’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State, 1979), pp. 202–8Google Scholar; Bayard, Françoise, Le monde des financiers au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1988), pp. 81–103Google Scholar.

33 Levron, , ‘Louis XIV's courtiers’, pp. 141–2Google Scholar.

34 Dessert, , Argent, pouvoir et société, pp. 346–7Google Scholar.

35 Ibid. pp. 347–8.

36 Levron, , ‘Louis XIV's courtiers’, pp. 143, 145Google Scholar.

37 Babeau, Albert, La ville sous l'Ancien Régime (Paris, 1884, Geneva, 1977), p. 215Google Scholar.

38 Dessert, , Argent, pouvoir et société, p. 316Google Scholar. ‘Je n'ai jamais su que ce fût un crime à des gens d'affaires, ni à d'autres personnes de plus grande qualité, de tirer tous les avantages qu'ils peuvent par leur industrie à l'ombre de la faveur de ceux qu'ils approchent. S'il est vrai qu'il y eût en cela un crime, M. Colbert et ceux qui ont du crédit chez M. le Cardinal seraient biens criminels, car le nom de leur maître leur a valu bien des gratifications.’

39 The French word crédit comes from the Latin noun creditum, derived from the verb credere, which means to believe, to have confidence, to trust. This is the primary meaning of the French noun crédit, the belief or trust inspired by someone. Its secondary meaning is the influence and power enjoyed by inspiring trust. Grand Larousse encyclopédique, 10 vols. (Paris, 1960), III, 629Google Scholar. Also see Kettering, , Patrons, p. 43Google Scholar.

40 Jouanna, , Le devoir de révolte, p. 65Google Scholar.

41 Ibid. p. 87.

42 de L'Estang, Jacques de Parades, ‘Mémoires, 1642–1674’, Le Musée: Revue Arlésienne, historique et littéraire, 2nd sér. 13–35 (1875–1876), 261Google Scholar. ‘M. de Souvré était un des plus puissants hommes de la Cour en crédit auprès des ministres, singulièrement auprès de M. Le Tellier, recemment son allié, le fils de celui-ci ayant épousé la nièce de l'autre, heritière de Souvré, et de M. Colbert, son ami particulier.’

43 Ibid. p. 277. ‘La grande autorité du premier président est de la créance singulière qu'il a à la Cour.’

44 Ibid. p. 114.

45 de Haitze, Pierre-Joseph, Histoire de la ville d'Aix, 6 vols. (Aix, 1880–1892), IV, 290Google Scholar.

46 de L'Estang, Parades, ‘Mémoires’, pp. 225–7, 236–8, 247–8, 254Google Scholar.

47 Schaeper, Thomas, ‘The economic history of the reign’, The reign of Louis XIV, ed. Sonnino, Paul (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1990), p. 30Google Scholar.

48 Ranum, Orest, Artisans of glory: writers and historical thought in seventeenth-century France (Chapel Hill, 1980), pp. 38, 157, 169–70Google Scholar.

49 Bluche, , Louis XIV, pp. 238–42Google Scholar.

50 Ranum, , Artisans of glory, pp. 191–3Google Scholar.

51 de Chouppes, Aymar, Mémoires du marquis de Chouppes (Paris, 1861), pp. 3–160, 193–4, 204–8 220Google Scholar.

52 Rowen, Herbert, The ambassador prepares for war: the Dutch embassy of Arnauld de Pomponne, 1669–1671 (The Hague, 1957), pp. 4–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sonnino, , Louis XIV, pp. 13–15Google Scholar.

53 Baxter, Douglas, Servants of the sword. French intendants of the army, 1630–1670 (Urbana, Ill., 1976), pp. 57–8Google Scholar. Also see Corvisier, André, ‘Clientèles et fidélités dans l'armée française aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, Hommage à Roland Mousnier: clientèles et fidélités en Europe à l'époque moderne, ed. Durand, Yves (Paris, 1981), pp. 213–36Google Scholar.

54 Stephen, Leslie and Lee, Sidney, eds., Dictionary of national biography, 21 vols. (Oxford, 1973), vol. XI, 59–62Google Scholar; Labatut, , Les ducs et pairs, p. 122Google Scholar.

55 Norton, , Historical memoirs of the Duc de Saint Simon, II, 107–12Google Scholar.

56 Ladurie, Le Roy, ‘Versailles observed’, pp. 154–6, 165Google Scholar.

57 Kettering, Sharon, ‘The patronage power of early modern French noblewomen’, The Historical Journal, XXXII (1989), 817–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 Norton, , Historical memoirs of the duc de Saint Simon, I, 22–3, 146Google Scholar; Boislisle, , Mémoires, vol. XXXIII, 366–7 and n. 2Google Scholar; Ladurie, Le Roy, ‘Versailles observed’, pp. 151–2, 156Google Scholar.

59 Schaeper, Thomas, The French council of commerce 1700–1715. A study of mercantilism after Colbert (Columbus, Ohio, 1983), pp. 50–1, 73–104Google Scholar; idem, ‘Government and business in early eighteenth-century France’, Journal of European Economic History, XVII (1988), 531–57; Rule, John, ‘Colbert de Torcy, an emergent bureaucracy, and the formulation of French foreign policy, 1698–1715’, Louis XIV and Europe, ed. Hatton, Ragnhild (Columbus, Ohio, 1976), pp. 268–9Google Scholar.

60 For local brokers, see Hickey, Daniel, ‘Tailles, clientèle et absolutisme. Le Dauphiné aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles’, Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, XXXIX (1992), 243–81Google Scholar; idem, The coming of French absolutism (Toronto, 1986), pp. 132–40, 145–9, 176–7; Tarrow, Sidney, Between center and periphery: grassroots politicians in Italy and France (New Haven, 1977), pp. 111–41Google Scholar; Hunt, Lynn, Politics, culture, and class in the French Revolution (Berkeley, 1984), pp. 189–92Google Scholar; Hufton, Olwen, Bayeux in the late eighteenth century (Oxford, 1967), pp. 46–8Google Scholar; Le Goff, Timothy, Vannes and its region. A study of town and country in eighteenth-century France (Oxford, 1981), pp. 117, 199Google Scholar; Tilly, Charles, The Vendée: a sociological analysis of the counterrevolution of 1793 (Cambridge, Mass., 1964), p. 80Google Scholar.

61 Garden, Maurice, Lyon et les lyonnais au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1970), pp. 489–92Google Scholar.

62 Beik, William, Absolutism and society in seventeenth-century France: state power and provincial aristocracy in Languedoc (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 121–3, 241–3, 292–3, 296, 334CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Maistre, André, Le canal des deux mers: canal royal du Languedoc, 1666–1810 (Toulouse, 1968)Google Scholar; de Font-Reaulx, Henri Blaquière et Anne, Documents sur le canal des deux mers et la politique de Colbert en Languedoc (Toulouse, 1967)Google Scholar.

63 See, for example, Harding, , Anatomy of a power elite, pp. 21–45Google Scholar; Kettering, , Patrons, pp. 98–140Google Scholar; Bonney, Richard, L'Absolutisme (Paris, 1989), pp. 105–9Google Scholar; Marchand, Joseph, Un intendant sous Louis XIV. Etude sur l'administration de Lebret en Provence (1687–1704) (Paris, 1889), pp. 45–90Google Scholar; Godard, Charles, Les pouvoirs des intendants sous Louis XIV (Paris, 1901)Google Scholar; Lhéritier, Michel, Tourny, 1695–1760 (Paris, 1920)Google Scholar; abbé Lavaquery, Eugène, Le Cardinal de Boisgelin (1732–1804), 2 vols. (Paris, 1920)Google Scholar; Mousnier, Roland, The institutions of France under the absolute monarchy, 1598–1789, vol. I, Society and state, trans. Pearce, Brian (Chicago, 1979), pp. 156–8Google Scholar; Beik, , Absolutism and society, pp. 100, 116, 320Google Scholar; Emmanuelli, François-Xavier, Pouvoir royal et vie régionale en Provence au déclin de la monarchie, 2 vols. (Lille, 1974), I, 277–82Google Scholar; Sabatier, Ernest, Histoire de la ville et des évêques de Béziers (Béziers, 1854, Marseille, 1977), pp. 340–73Google Scholar; Monin, Henri, Essai sur l'histoire administrative de Languedoc pendant l'intendance de Basville (1684–1719) (Paris, 1984), pp. 8–12Google Scholar.

64 Brennan, Katherine, ‘Culture and dependencies: the Society of Men of Letters of Caen from 1652 to 1705’ (unpublished doctoral dissertation, the Johns Hopkins University, 1981), pp. 23, 64–5, 74–6, 88–9, 210–12Google Scholar; Lux, David, Patronage and royal sciences in seventeenth-century France (Ithaca, 1989), pp. 9–21Google Scholar; Ranum, , Artisans of glory, pp. 169–96Google Scholar.

65 Levron, , ‘Louis XIV's courtiers’, pp. 146–7Google Scholar. Also see Roche, Daniel, Le siècle des Lumières en province. Académies et académiciens provinciaux, 1680–1789 (Paris, 1978)Google Scholar; Maillard, Jacques, Le pouvoir municipal à Angers de 1657 à 1789, 2 vols. (Angers, 1984)Google Scholar.

66 de Cosnac, Jules, ed., Mémoires de Daniel de Cosnac, 2 vols. (Paris, 1852, New York, 1968), I, 359–79, II, 108–15, 124–7Google Scholar; Barker, , Brother to the sun king, pp. 102–3Google Scholar; Sonnino, , Louis XIV, p. 37Google Scholar.

67 Dethan, Georges, Mazarin et ses amis (Paris, 1968), pp. 129–31Google Scholar; idem, Mazarin, un homme de paix à I'âge baroque, 1602–1661 (Paris, 1981), pp. 99–102; Antoine, Michel, Origines et histoire des cabinets des ministres en France (Geneva, 1975), p. 13Google Scholar.

68 A.A.E., 1727, fo. 256, no date, probably in 1661.

69 Haitze, , Histoire de la ville d'Aix, VI, 16Google Scholar; de Grimaldi, Charles, de Régusse, marquis, and Gaufridy, Jacques, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la Fronde en Provence (Aix, 1870), p. 65Google Scholar; A.A.E., 1725, fo. 147, 28 Oct. 1659; de Moissac, J. L. H. Hesmivi, ‘Histoire du Parlement de Provence’, 2 vols. unpublished, II, 185Google Scholar.

70 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (henceforth cited as B.N.), Mélanges de Colbert (henceforth cited as M.C.) 105 bis, fos. 233–6, 26 Nov. 1661 at Fréjus.

71 B.N., M.C., 117 bis, fo. 1061, 30 Oct. 1662 at Paris.

72 B.N., M.C., 128, fo. 200.

73 A.A.E., 1727, fo. 420, 13 Dec. 1668; 1728, fos. 47–8, 23 Sept. 1669.

74 Kettering, Sharon, Judicial politics and urban revolt: the Parlement of Aix-en-Provence, 1629–1659, (Princeton, 1978), pp. 239, 324Google Scholar.

75 A.A.E., 1728, fos. 8–9, Escalis de Bras to Hugues de Lionne, 2 Feb. 1669.

76 Jouanna, , Le devoir de révolte, pp. 80–90Google Scholar; Harding, , Anatomy of a power elite, pp. 31–7Google Scholar; Bluche, , Louis XIV, pp. 448–73Google Scholar; Labatut, , Les ducs et pairs, pp. 239–329Google Scholar; Bonney, Richard, Political change in France under Richelieu and Mazarin, 1624–1661 (Oxford, 1978), pp. 90–111, 284–317Google Scholar; idem, ‘Cardinal Mazarin and the great nobility during the Fronde’, English Historical Review, C (1981), 818–33.

77 Kettering, , Patrons, pp. 141–83Google Scholar.