Archives Nationales Research Articles

African Archives

During the summer of 1962 I did research in the Archives Nationales du Cameroun at Yaoundé. Because I was studying certain aspects of French rule more than others, I never attempted to examine in detail all types of records found in the Archives. Consequently, though to my knowledge all the information I obtained about the Archives is correct, there is the possibility of omissions and errors.

ON THE STRUCTURE OF A RURAL COMMUNE IN SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE

In the summer of 1958, the author had an opportunity for field survey in the commune of Villenouvelle, France, situated in Toulouse-Carcassonne's corridor of the Aquitaine basin. In this thesis, the author expresses his gratitude to Prof. A. Perpillou, of the Sorbonne, for valuable instructions in various respects of his survey; to Lavigne, agricultural expert in the Service Agricole of Toulose, and to Haury, secretary of the Commune Office, who offered every facility and copious informations for his survey. The rural communes in this region are formed of many dispersed farms, and an agglomerated part, generally called “village” which is the center of all kinds of function for the dispersed farms. In this regard, they are different from Western France, much more so in the case of the Mediterranean Midi and Northeastern France. To bring better light on such structure of these communes, for the study of dispersed settlements in Japan, seems to be of very practical value, and the more such study is made, the greater becomes the interest of this author. In the field survey, the investigation is carried out chiefly by gathering personal opinions. On the other hand, however, the author make good use of various records, documents and cadastral maps of different kinds which are in the custody of the Commune Office, and ancient manuscript kept in the Archives Nationales, and now collecting aerial photographs. The results obtained are as follows: 1) On the settlement and the land utilization in the Aquitaine basin, there are some striking contrasts between Morasse hills which are called “terreforts”, and the terrace and flood plain of the Garonne and its tributary waters. The rural landscape is susceptible to influences from land-form of this kind and the arid summer rainy winter climate as in the Midi: It is typical, in this field, that a temporay meadow is planted in between the rotation of wheat and corn (maize), and farmstead is not enclosed by fences or trees as in Western France, though farmsteads are found here and there. 2) The history of Villenouvelle is said to date from the time when it was a hamlet, settled in the:small branching valley of terreforts, and through the end of 15 century into the beginning of 16 century, market-town having a geometrical plan was formed on the famous historical route under the hill. But by this plan it again began to develop hill-land as thay have not seen enough growth there, so they have concurred with neighboring towns. The structure of the dispersed and agglomerated commune as it is at present, is formed with the consequence that hamlet, market-town and dispersed farms appeared sucessively with the passage of time. 3) In 1958, the population was 210 in dispersed parts, and 325 in agglomerated part. The inhabitants of dispersed farms are made up of faire valoir direct, fermier, metayer, and salarie agricole (gage). More than ten different types of marchants and craftsman are in the agglomerated part, and there is also a center of political affairs, education, traffic and communication, and commerce. Besides, a few landowners keep their residences in this agglomerated part, and they control politically the dispersed farmers with the exception of the absentee landowners (as in the Toulouse and other towns). 4) The distribution form of the exploited land of farmers is provided for in the structure of communes of this kind; on the other hand it has also an influence upon form and size of land under cultivation. The difference between the block system and long strip system on cultivated land derives from difference in the residential manner rather than in the farming practice. 5) The population of dispersed parts is stagnant at present; on the other hand, an the agglomerated part it shows a tendency to be gradually increasing.

The Third Estate in the Estates General of Pontoise, 1561

ALTHOUGH the session of the Estates General at Pontoise in 1561 is of almost unparalleled interest to students of religious and constitutional history, it is certainly the least known of all the post-mediaeval assemblies of the estates. This may at first seem surprising since it has been the subject of two articles based on manuscript material. Noel Valois, late archivist at the Archives Nationales, was the author of one of these articles. He concentrated his study on the elections and there found a Protestant conspiracy to capture the Estates General and establish a kind of representative government. Protestants, he discovered, had been instructed by their leaders to appear at the electoral assemblies in the bailliages and to endeavor to put into the cahiers a specific program designed to further their religion and to try to bring about the election of persons friendly to their cause. The efforts of the highly organized religious minority brought success in many of the electoral assemblies and this fact, Valois believed, accounted for what he has termed the Protestant complexion of the Estates of Pontoise. Another study of the Estates General of 1561 was made by Paul Van Dyke, who concentrated his attention on the cahiers prepared by the two secular estates at Pontoise. In them he found proof that ideas in regard to the right of representatives of the nation to impose marked limits on the power of the crown were, before the beginning of the civil wars, very widespread among Frenchmen who possessed by ancient custom any voice in the government. Some of these utterances cannot be paralleled from an English parliament until the grand remonstrance. 2 But what happened at Pontoise when the estates were in session? Here neither Valois nor Van Dyke offer us more than the barest outline, since they had little information to rely on beyond copies of the cahiers of the secular estates and a few letters, speeches, and miscellaneous documents. It is the purpose of this article partially to fill this gap in our knowledge by a study of the activities of the third estate based primarily on Manuscript 379 (ancien 9183) in the Bibliotheque du Senat (now Bibliotheque du Conseil de Ia Republique) rather than to duplicate or evaluate the work of Valois and Van Dyke. Manuscript 379 contains among other documents an authenticated copy of the proces-verbal and the original