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Gabelle
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salt tax in France
For other uses, see Gabelle (disambiguation).
Ancien Régime<br>Structure<br>Estates of the realm
Great Officers
Maison du Roi
Estates General
Assembly of Notables
Crown lands
Provinces
Parlements
Taille
Gabelle
Seigneurial system
Peasantry
The gabelle (French pronunciation: [ɡabɛl]) was a very unpopular French salt tax that was established during the mid-14th century and lasted, with brief lapses and revisions, until 1946. The term gabelle is derived from the Italian gabella (a duty), itself originating from the Arabic word qabila (قَبِلَ, "he received").
In France, the gabelle was originally an indirect tax that was applied to agricultural and industrial commodities, such as bed sheets, wheat, spices, and wine. From the 14th century onward, the gabelle was limited and solely referred to the French crown's taxation of salt.[1]
Because the gabelle affected all French citizens (for use in cooking, for preserving food, for making cheese, and for raising livestock) and propagated extreme regional disparities in salt prices, the salt tax stood as one of the most hated and grossly unequal forms of revenue generation in the country's history.[2] The French state also monopolized the trade in salt and forced all individuals in France over the age of eight to buy a minimum amount of salt each year.[1]
Repealed in 1790 by the National Assembly in the midst of the French Revolution,[1] the gabelle was reinstated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806. It was briefly terminated and reinstated again during the French Second Republic and ultimately abolished in 1945 following France's liberation from Nazi Germany.[3]
Introduction<br>[edit]
In 1229, when the Albigensian Crusades were brought to a close by King Louis IX and his mother (Blanche of Castile), France gained control of the Rhône Estuary and nearby Mediterranean coast. This led to the establishment of the first French Mediterranean port city, Aigues-Mortes ("dead waters"), in 1246. Here, salt-evaporation ponds and storehouses were constructed. These saltworks were intended to finance Louis' crusading ambitions in the Middle East. The means by which this salt would enrich the royal treasury was through a special duty on salt producers, which became the origin of the gabelle.[4]
The temporary tax under St. Louis (as he became known) was extended in 1259 by his brother Charles I, further establishing royal control over salt, in this case over the Berre saltworks near Marseilles. This salt administration would eventually encompass Peccais, Aigues-Mortes, and the region of Camargue and come to be known as the Pays de petites gabelles. On 16 March 1341, King Philip VI established the first permanent royal tax on salt in France, known as the Pays de grandes gabelles.
Repressive as a state monopoly, it was made doubly so by the government obliging every individual above the age of eight years to buy weekly a minimum quantity of salt at a fixed price.[2] Known as the Sel de devoir, translated to "salt duty", citizens in the Pays de grandes gabelles region were forced to buy up to 7 kilograms (15lb) of salt per year.[4]
Each province had a Greniers à sel (a salt granary) where all salt produced from that region had to be taken in order to be bought (at a fixed price) and sold (at an inflated price).[5]
Classification<br>[edit]
When first instituted, the gabelle was levied uniformly on all the provinces in France at a rate of 1.66% on the sale price. For the greater part of its history the prices varied and resulted in large disparities between the different provinces.[2] There were six distinct groups of provinces, which were called pays (lit. "countries"; to be understood as an obsolete word for "region"), and classified as follows:
the Pays de grandes gabelles; this region included the Parisian Basin and the oldest provinces of the kingdom: Île-de-France, Berry, Orléanais, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, Bourbonnais, Normandy, Bourgogne (except the southeastern third), Champagne (except the county of Rethel, which retained the lower tax granted earlier), Picardy (except the area of Boulonnais and the bishopric of Cambrai). The largest of the six regions, it had not only the highest salt prices but also a mandatory salt duty for all people over eight years of age. One-third of France's population resided within this region, and paid two-thirds of all salt revenue, but only consumed one-fourth of all salt.
the Pays de petites gabelles; this region included the provinces of Lyonnais, Provence, Roussillon, Languedoc, and Dauphiné, southeast Burgundy (the districts...