French Provinces Considered Foreign: Obstacles to Free Trade or Limits of Loyalty?

The article discusses the features of the tax regime in France of the Old Order and the attitudes of contemporaries towards them. Provinces and pays, that were part of the French monarchy, differed in their legal status and paid taxes differently. In the 18th century the designation of three categories of provinces came into use. Along with the “space” of the kingdom, or the zone of “five large farms”, more than half of the country’s territory covered “provinces considered foreign” and “provinces really similar to foreign ones”. Differences in the tax regime, persisted until the beginning of the revolution, were established according to the tariff of 1664 prepared by J.-B. Colbert. Within the “five large farms” zone, inland customs were abolished. In the “provinces considered foreign”, to which the customs tariff of 1664 did not apply, the former customs on their borders were preserved. Residents of the “provinces really similar to foreign ones”, later incorporated into the French kingdom, could trade duty-free with foreign countries, but were required to pay duties when trading with other provinces of France. The absence of customs inside the zone of “five large farms” was a compensation to the “old” provinces of the kingdom for the high taxes paid by their inhabitants. In contrast, the provinces that later came under the rule of the French king enjoyed tax privileges. From this point of view, the division of provinces into categories was seen as a manifestation of the king’s concern for the welfare of his subjects. But differences in the tax status or the territories rules by the French king provoked criticism from many contemporaries. Most often they were considered an obstacle to the free development of trade and entrepreneurship. In historiography, the problem of the existence of internal customs is also interpreted as predominantly economic. However, some contemporaries believed that the provinces, “foreign” in relation to the custom regime, were not only isolated economically, but also politically alien, that is, disloyal to the king of France. The development of the very concept of loyalty at this time was not jet completed. Some considered it obsolete, but, in fact, in the discourse of the 18th century the concepts of legality and fidelity corresponded to it. In the 18th century in France, administrative and tax reforms were undertaken, aimed at uniting the country’s territory and unifying the status of its inhabitants. But such attempts always affected local privileges and met with resistance from the provincial estates and parlements. It was possible to liquidate internal customs only after radical transformation of local administration and territorial division, carried out at the end of 1789.

Keywords

borders, customs, loyalty, privileges, provinces, taxes

Received

22.12.2023

Publication date

15.07.2024

Number of characters

44692

Cite

GOST	Pimenova L. French Provinces “Considered Foreign”: Obstacles to Free Trade or Limits of Loyalty? // ISTORIYA – 2024. – V. 15. – Issue 5 (139) [Electronic resource]. URL: https://history.jes.su/S207987840031592-0-1 (circulation date: 24.08.2024). DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031592-0
MLA	Pimenova, Ludmila "French Provinces “Considered Foreign”: Obstacles to Free Trade or Limits of Loyalty?." ISTORIYA 15.5 (139) (2024) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031592-0
APA	Pimenova L. (2024). French Provinces “Considered Foreign”: Obstacles to Free Trade or Limits of Loyalty?. ISTORIYA 15(5 (139)) DOI: 10.18254/S207987840031592-0

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