GLOSSARY OF FRENCH TERMS

aides indirect taxes, largely on drinks

anoblis newly ennobled/first-generation nobility

arpenteur land surveyor

arpent 100 perches of land; either 74, 91 or 111 per cent

of an acre depending on the region. A linear
perch might contain 18, 20, or 22 feet

avocat-général major legal officer representing the king in a

sovereign court

bailliage intermediate royal court and/or its jurisdiction

banalités seigneurial monopolies most commonly of mills

and presses

ban et arrière-ban feudal levy, call to arms

banlieu extent of municipal jurisdiction beyond the town

walls

baux mixtes leases combining different forms of payment

boisseaux a variable measure of grain or other solids

brassier agricultural worker, probably paid by the year

partly in kind

burats a strong but supple wool cloth

bureaux des finances the bureaux of the treasurers of France

established in each généralité
capitouls the municipal councillors of Toulouse

cassations annulment of legal decisions by the royal council

cens honorific due payable by holder of a censive

censive ‘commoner’ or holding property dependent on a

seigneur

chambre des comptes ‘sovereign’ courts of accounting with particular

responsibility for the business of the royal domaine

chambre des requêtes chamber of a parlement with particular competence

in litigation involving those with legal privileges

chambre tournelle chamber of a parlement dealing with criminal

cases

champarts seigneurial due paid in kind as a proportion of

the harvest

charretiers carters

charrue à versoir heavy plough with moulding board

cinq grosses fermes twelve northern provinces embraced by a single

customs boundary and comprising an area of
internal free trade

closier cultivator of enclosed garden or of a vineyard

commissaire royal agent whose authority depended on a

specific or revocable commission

contrôleur-général director of finances from Louis XIV’s reign

onwards
corps de ville municipal council

cour des aides ‘sovereign’ financial court with responsibility for

litigation relating to the taille and other taxes

droguets drugget; heavy cloth, half serge and half linen

droit d’aînesse privileged position of eldest child in matters of

inheritance

droits d’amortissement taxes payable on land acquired by corporate

institutions, usually the ecclesiastical bodies, and
therefore withdrawn from circulation

droit écrit term used to distinguish Roman law from

customary law despite the fact that customary
law was also written down by the seventeenth
century

droit de franc-fief tax payable by commoners in order to hold a fief

droit de tabellionage tax payable on notarial transactions

échevinage municipality or town council (in the north)

écuyer esquire—the lowest rank of nobility

élection A sub-division of a généralité and also a court with

competence relating to the taille, aides and other
taxes

élus principal officeholders in the elections

étapes military staging or supply posts

evocation removal of a law case from its natural or ordinary

jurisdiction
fermage leasehold farming

fermiers leaseholding tenant farmers whose leases might

also embrace seigneurial dues

fief de dignité fiefs which carried a title of honour: duchés,

baronies, marquisates, comtés, etc.

franc-aleu allodial holding

fumiers manure, dung

gabeleurs literally, a salt tax farmer but an epithet popularly

used to describe tax collectors in general

gabelle general term for a variety of impositions on salt

consumption and trade

gages small emolument attached to an office

généralité major administrative sub-division

gens sans aveu narrowly, people with no seigneur or master,

used to denote those without domicile,
pejoratively vagabonds

grand conseil offshoot of the royal council with sovereign

jurisdiction of specified matters notably in
ecclesiastical affairs

grande entrée court privilege which gave access to the petit lever
du roi

grands jours special assizes established from time to time by

the sovereign courts in distant and troublesome
localities
grenier du sel government salt store

hectare a metric measure of land equalling 2.47 acres

jardinier market gardener

journalier day labourer, journeyman

laboureur better-off peasant usually possessor of a plough

libertin freethinker

lits de justice procedure enabling the Crown to compel

registration of its edicts by the courts

lods et ventes due payable on the succession or alienation of

dependent land

maîtres des requêtes officeholders who serviced the royal council and
from whom most intendants were drawn

manouvrier cottager dependent on by-employments

menu peuple lower orders, the crowd, the populace

métairie farm holding usually with buildings, requiring a

plough and held by someone other than the
proprietor

métayage sharecropping

muids a measure of liquids or grains

négociants wholesale or overseas merchants

noblesse de robe nobility of the Robe, acquired by office

officiers venal officeholders

parlement ‘sovereign’ law court

partisans financiers

paulette tax payable every nine years by officeholders

enabling them to dispose of their offices freely

pays d’états provinces with surviving Estates, representative

institutions

petit lever court ceremony which began the king’s day on

the drawing back of the curtains on the royal bed

présidial intermediate royal court

prête-noms straw men

procureur du roi attorney in a law court

rente foncière land rent

rentes either a state bond on which interest was payable

or a private loan approximating to a mortgage

requêtes de l’hôtel the court/jurisdiction of the maîtres des requêtes

retrait féodale procedure for the recovery of improperly

alienated dependent land on payment of
compensation to the current holder

retrait lignager analogous to the retrait féodale but for alienated

family property

roman à clef novel introducing real characters under fictitious

names
semestre the division of a court and its sessions into two,
accompanied by the necessary creation of offices

sénéchaussées the southern equivalent of a bailliage

subdélégués subordinates of the intendants

terroir land encompassed by a rural community

trésoriers de France the principal treasurers who staffed the bureaux

(trésoriers-généraux) des finances

vaine pâture uncultivated land on which grazing was

permitted by custom or agreement