The Ancient Regime Part 43

17. Right of the colombier, dove-cot. The chateau park contains one.

18. Right of bordelage. (The seignior is heir-at-law, except when the children of the deceased live with their parents at the time of his death. This right covers an area of forty-eight arpentss. For twenty years, through neglect or from other causes, he has derived nothing from this.

19. Right over waste and abandoned ground and to alluvial acc.u.mulations.

20. Right, purely honorary, of seat and burial in the choir, of incense and of special prayer, of funeral hangings outside and inside the church.

21. Rights of lods et ventes on copyholders, due by the purchaser of property liable to this lien, in forty days. "In Bourbonnais, the lods et ventes are collected at a third, a quarter, at the sixth, eighth and twelfth rate." The seignior of Blet and Brosses collects at rate six. It is estimated that sales are made once in eighty years; these rights bear on 1,356 arpents which are worth, the best, 192 livres per arpent the second best, 110 livres, the poorest, 75 livres. At this rate the 1,350 arpents are worth 162,750 livres. A discount of one-quarter of the lods et ventes is allowed to purchasers. Annual revenue of this right 254 livres.

22. Right of t.i.the and of charnage. The seignior has obtained all t.i.the rights, save a few belonging to the canons of Don-le-Rol and to the prior of Chaumont. The t.i.thes are levied on the thirteenth sheaf. They are comprised in the leases.

23. Right of terrage or champart: the right of collecting, after the t.i.thes, a portion of the produce of the ground. "In Bourbonnais, the terrage is collected in various ways, on the third sheaf, on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and commonly one-quarter; at Blet it is the twelfth."

The seignior of Blet collects terrage only on a certain number of the farms of his seigniory; "in relation to Brosses, it appears that all domains possessed by copyholders are subject to the right." These rights of terrage are comprised in the leases of the farms of Blet and of Brosses.

24. Cens, surcens and rentes due on real property of different kinds, houses, fields, meadows, etc., situated in the territory of the seigniory. In the seigniory of Blet, 810 arpents, divided into 511 portions, in the hands of 120 copyholders, are in this condition, and their cens annually consists of 137 francs in money, sixty-seven bushels of wheat, three of barley, 159 of oats, sixteen hens, 130 chickens, six c.o.c.ks and capons; the total valued at 575 francs. On the Brosses estate, eighty-five arpents, divided into 112 parcels, in the hands of twenty copyholders, are in this condition, and their total cens is fourteen francs money, seventeen bushels of wheat, thirty-two of barley, twenty-six hens, three chickens and one capon; the whole valued at 126 francs.

25. Rights over the commons (124 arpents in Blet and 164 arpents in Brosses).

The va.s.sals have on these only the right of use. "Almost the whole of the land, on which they exercise this right of pasturage, belongs to the seigniors, save this right with which they are burdened; it is granted only to a few individuals."

26. Rights over the fiefs mouvants of the barony of Blet. Some are situated in Bourbonnais, nineteen being in this condition. In Bourbonnais, the fiefs, even when owned by plebeians, simply owe la bouche et les mains to the seignior at each mutation. Formerly the seignior of Blet enforced, in this case, the right of redemption which has been allowed to fall into desuetude. Others are situated in Berry where the right of redemption is exercised. One fief in Berry, that of Cormesse held by the archbishop of Bourges, comprising eighty-five arpents, besides a portion of the t.i.thes, and producing 2,100 livres per annum, admitting a mutation every twenty years, annually brings to the seignior of Blet 105 livres.

Besides the charges indicated there are the following:

1. To the curate of Blet, his fixed salary. According to royal enactment in 1686, this should be 300 livres. According to arrangement in 1692, the curate, desirous of a.s.suring himself of this fixed salary, yielded to the seignior all the dimes, novales, etc. The edict of 1768 having fixed the curate's salary at 500 livres, the curate claimed this sum through writs. The canons of Dun-le-Roi and the prior of Chaumont, possessing t.i.thes on the territory of Blet, were obliged to pay a portion of it. At present it is at the charge of the seignior of Blet.

2. To the guard, besides his lodging, warming and the use of three arpents, 200 livres.

3. To the steward or registrar, to preserve the archives, look after repairs, collect lods et ventes, and fines, 432 livres, besides the use of ten arpente.

4. To the king, the vingtiemes. Formerly the estates of Blet and Brosses paid 810 livres for the two vingtiemes and the two sous per livre. After the establishment of the third vingtieme they paid 1,216 livres.

NOTES:

[Footnote 6201: Archives nationales, G. 319 ("Etat actuel de la Direction de Bourges au point de vue des aides," 1774).]

[Footnote 6202: Blet, at the present day, contains 1,629 inhabitants.

(This was around 1884, in 1996 it remains a small commune and a village of 800 people on the route nationale N76 between Bourges and Sancoins.

SR.)]

[Footnote 6203: The farms of Blet and Brosses really produce nothing for the proprietor, inasmuch as the t.i.thes and the champart (field-rents), (articles 22 and 23), are comprehended in the rate of the leases.]

END-NOTE 3:

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ACTUAL AND NOMINAL REVENUES OF ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITIES AND BENEFICES.

According to Raudot ("La France avant la Revolution," p.84), one-half extra must be added to the official valuation; according to Boiteau ("Etat de la France en 1789," p.195), this must be tripled and even quadrupled. I think that, for the episcopal sees, one-half extra should be added and, for the abbeys and priories, double, and sometimes triple and even quadruple the amount. The following facts show the variation between official and actual sums.

1. In the "Almanach Royal," the bishopric of Troyes is valued at 14,000 livres; in "France Ecclesiastique of 1788," at 50,000. According to Albert Babeau ("Histoire de la Revolution dans le department de l'Aube"), it brings in 70,000 livres. In "France Ecclesiastique," the bishopric of Strasbourg is put down at 400,000 livres. According to the Duc de Levis ("Souvenirs," p. 156) it brings in at least 600,000 livres income.

2. In the same work, the abbey of Jumieges is a.s.signed for 23,000 livres. I find, in the papers of the ecclesiastic committee, it brings to the abbe 50,000 livres. In this work the abbey of Beze is estimated at 8,000 livres. I find it bringing to the monks alone 30,000, while the abbes portion is at least as large. ("De l'Etat religieux, par les abbes de Bonnefoi et Bernard.," 1784). The abbe thus receives 30,000 livres, Bernay (Eure), is officially reported at 16,000. The "Doleances" of the cahiers estimate it at 57,000. Saint-Amand is put down as bringing to the Cardinal of York 6,000 livres and actually brings him 100,000. (De Luynes, XIII. 215).

Clairvaux, in the same work, is put down at 9,000, and in Warroquier ("Etat General de la France en 1789,") at 60,000. According to Beugnot, who belongs to the country, and a practical man, the abbe has from 300,000 to 400,000 livres income.

Saint-Faron, says Boiteau, set down at 18,000 livres, is worth 120,000 livres.

The abbey of Saint-Germain des Pres (in the stewardships), is put down at 100,000 livres. The Comte de Clermont, who formerly had it, leased it at 160, 000 livres, "not including reserved fields and all that the farmers furnished in straw and oats for his horses." (Jules Cousin, "Comte de Clermont and his Court.")

Saint-Waas d'Arras, according to "La France Ecclesiastique," brings 40,000 livres. Cardinal de Rohan refused 1,000 livres per month for his portion offered to him by the monks. (Duc de Levis, "Souvenirs," p.

156). Its value thus is about 300,000 livres.

Remiremont, the abbess always being a royal princess, one of the most powerful monasteries, the richest and best endowed, is officially valued at the ridiculous sum of 15,000 livres.

END-NOTE 4:

ON THE EDUCATION OF PRINCES AND PRINCESSES.

An entire chapter might be devoted to this subject; I shall cite but a few texts.

(Barbier, "Journal," October, 1670). The Dauphine has just given birth to an infant.

"La jeune princesse en est a sa quatrieme nourrice. . . . Jai appris a cette occasion que tout se fait par forme a la cour, suivant un protocole de medecin, en sorte que c'est un miracle d'elever un prince et une princesse. La nourrice n'a d'autres fonctions que de donner a teter a l'enfant quand on le lui apporte; elle ne peut pas lui toucher.

Il y a des remueuses et femmes preposees pour cela, mais qui n'ont point d'ordre a recevoir de la nourrice. Il y a des heures pour remuer l'enfant, trois ou quatre fois dans la journee. Si l'enfant dort, on le reveille pour le remuer. Si, apres avoir ete change, il fait dans ses langes, il reste ainsi trois ou quatre heures dans son ordure. Si une epingle le pique, la nourrice ne doit pas l'oter; il faut chercher et attendre une autre femme; l'enfant crie dans tons ces cas, il se tuurmente et s'echauffe, en sorte que c'est une vraie misere que toutes ces ceremonies."

(Madame de Genlis, "Souvenirs de Felicie," p.74. Conversation with Madame Louise, daughter of Louis XV., and recently become a Carmelite).

"I should like to know what troubled you most in getting accustomed to your new profession?

"You could never imagine," she replied, smiling. "It was the descent of a small flight of steps alone by myself. At first it seemed to me a dreadful precipice, and I was obliged to sit down on the steps and slide down in that att.i.tude."--"A princess, indeed, who had never descended any but the grand staircase at Versailles, leaning on the arm of her cavalier in waiting and surrounded by pages, necessarily trembled on finding herself alone on the brink of steep winding steps. (Such is) the education, so absurd in many respects, generally bestowed on persons of this rank; always watched from infancy, followed, a.s.sisted, escorted and everything antic.i.p.ated, (they) are thus, in great part, deprived of the faculties with which nature has endowed them."

Madame Campan, "Memoires," I. 58, 28.

"Madame Louise often told me that, although twelve years of age, she had not fully learned the alphabet. . . .

"It was necessary to decide absolutely whether a certain water-bird was fat or lean. Madame Victoire consulted a bishop. . . . He replied that, in a doubt of this kind, after having the bird cooked it would be necessary to puncture it on a very cold silver dish and, if the juice coagulated in one-quarter of an hour, the bird might be considered fat.

Madame Victoire immediately put it to test; the juice did not coagulate.