Vendetta in the Seventeenth-Century Midi

Abstract

This paper discusses a previously unknown but potentially significant vendetta in the seventeenth-century French Midi. On 15 July 1674, Francois de Nogaret, vicomte de Trelans, was abducted by forty men from the parish church of La Bastide during mass; his killers subsequently murdered him. Within a month his killer, Francois de Senegas, was himself killed in a revenge attack and his corpse burned. The story of the vendetta is important in itself, because the richness of the archival traces it left allows us to reconstruct the events in unparalleled detail. Four significant features emerge. First, the Senegas were Protestants and the Trelans Catholics and their enmity can be traced back to the beginnings of the Wars of Religion. Second, the immediate cause of their dispute in the mid-seventeenth century was caused by clashes over seigneurial rights and royal taxation, and the evidence suggests that peasants played a major role in the drama. Third, litigation between the parties made the dispute worse and the judicial system failed to stop the violence escalating. Finally, the feud was brought to an end by a peace brokered by the intendant in 1678. This accord represents a rare archival discovery and accordingly I have published it as an appendix to the article. It demonstrates William Beik’s contention that the purview and activities of the intendants changed during the personal reign of Louis XIV, and as a consequence they became more effective agents of social control.