Jacob Soll Information Master Jean-Baptiste Colberts Secret State Intelligence System Cultures of Knowledge in The Early Modern World 2011

t h e
Information Master
The Information Master
jean-baptiste colberts
secret state intelligence system
Jacob Soll
The University of Michigan Press / Ann Arbor
Copyright by the University of Michigan 2009
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America by
The University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid-free paper
2012 2011 2010 2009 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soll, Jacob, 1968
The information master : Jean-Baptiste Colberts secret state
intelligence system / Jacob Soll.
p. cm. (Cultures of knowledge in the early modern world)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-472-11690-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-472-11690-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Colbert, Jean Baptiste, 16191683. 2. Colbert, Jean-Baptiste,
16191683Political and social views. 3. Public administration
FranceHistory17th century. 4. Government informationFrance
History17th century. 5. Knowledge managementFranceHistory
17th century. 6. RecordsPolitical aspectsFranceHistory17th
century. 7. ArchivesPolitical aspectsFranceHistory17th
century. 8. FrancePolitics and government16431715. 9. France
Intellectual life17th century. 10. StatesmenFranceBiography.
I. Title.
DC130.C6S68 2009
944'.033092dc22 2008051142
ISBN13 978-0-472-02526-8 (electronic)
This book is dedicated to the memory of the reading
room of the old Bibliothque Nationale de France, with its
arches, pillars, domes, and smell of wood and old books.
This temple of learning was built on the foundations laid by
Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1666, across the street from his
house. Those who knew and loved this place miss it.
Andromaque, je pense vous! Ce petit euve,
Pauvre et triste miroir o jadis resplendit
Limmense majest de vos douleurs de veuve,
Ce Simos menteur qui par vos pleurs grandit,
A fcond soudain ma mmoire fertile,
Comme je traversais le nouveau Carrousel.
Le vieux Paris nest plus (la forme dune ville
Change plus vite, hlas! que le coeur dun mortel). . . .
Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, Le Cygne
Preface
H
istorians are often nagged by the suspicion that they could have
spent more time studying their subject. The French scholar
Prosper Boissonnade noted with no irony that he had studied
Jean-Baptiste Colbert for thirty-six years without overlooking any
source of information. He expressed fears that his work was
supercial and that he had not had enough time to research. Indeed,
it would be possible to spend decades analyzing all of Colberts corre-
spondence, for he wrote it for hours on end, with the help of teams of
secretaries, research assistants, and agents. Yet it is hard to assess whether
spending a lifetime on a project or nishing it within a few years is the
best approach. Both have their merits. Having spent only six years study-
ing Colbert, I share Boissonnades concerns. Although I read through
thousands of pages of printed and manuscript sources, I cannot make the
claim of having the ambition or the capacity to make a total, four-decade
study. I thus gratefully followed the footsteps of nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century scholars such as Pierre Clment, Lopold Delisle,
Georges Depping, Ren Memain, Boissonnade, and others who be-
lieved that studying seventeenth-century government was important
enough to dedicate their lives to it. They used research teams to catalog,
organize, and reprint the massive archives of early modern government.
Their work has guided my trek through the giant and sometimes un-
charted archival forest of Colberts paperwork.
To handle and interpret such a massive set of sources, I have also re-
lied on the aid of my colleagues. While some works of scholarship are
written in seclusion, this has been, from the beginning, a collaborative
effort. I am privileged to say that this book is the product of their work
and learning as much as mine. I rst discussed the project with Ted
Rabb, over lunch at Palmer House at Princeton. It was here that we
worked out the initial concept of the book. Ted has since read countless
versions of the text and aided me with his remarkable ability to see the
big historical picture and to explain it in the clearest terms possible. His
is a rare and disappearing art to which I can only aspire. Anthony
Grafton has never wavered in his friendship and generosity. He offered
to this project his unparalleled scope of knowledge, mixed with his care-
ful scientic spirit of analysis. His inuence has shaped this book as well
as my own belief in the primary importance of the culture and tradition
of research. Ann Blair also worked with me from the beginning, helping
to hone and tighten various versions, and offering her rich erudition and
advice. Peter Burkes work inspired this book, and I am grateful for the
time he spent with me discussing it. He has never stopped being my the-
sis advisor. Roger Chartier has been a constant source of inspiration and
support, for which I am ever grateful. Margaret Jacob has given unwa-
vering support and the power of her learning to the project. Her emails
from all corners of Europe at all hours kept me going through the hard
days of writing and revising. Christian Jouhaud, Richard Kagan, Peter
Miller, Barbara Shapiro, Justin Stagl, and Peter Stallybrass read early
drafts, gave useful advice, spent much time discussing the project and
writing letters recommending it, for which I am very grateful. Enzo Bal-
dini has been a great help, discussing and circulating news of the project
in his wide network in the republic of letters. From beginning to end,
Keith Baker and Dan Edelstein have helped and inspired me to develop
the central ideas of the book, and have managed to do so with wine
present at all times. Randolph Head and Orest Ranum worked very pa-
tiently with me to pull together the nal draft. Jean Boutier, Pierre
Burger, Marc Fumaroli, Antoine Lilti, Paul Nelles, Diogo Ramada-
Curto, Emma Rothschild, and J. B. Shank generously read drafts of the
book and offered priceless commentary.
I am particularly grateful to Richard Dunn and the American Philo-
sophical Society, who rst showed interest in this project and gave it
funding. Their generous Franklin Grant got the book off the ground. A
fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities allowed
me to spend a year working on the book. Without this funding, I would
viii preface
not have been able to do the project. I am also grateful for the support
of my colleagues at Rutgers Camden and New Brunswick, as well as at
the European University Institute in Florence. Many thanks go to Ben-
jamin Bryant for his skilled editing of the bibliography, and for his loyal
friendship. Thanks to my parents and in-laws for babysitting. Thanks to
my father as always for helping to support my research and helping me
to purchase the necessary computers. Special thanks go to Chris Hebert
and the team at the University of Michigan Press. They supported this
book from its earliest beginnings and have patiently and skillfully
worked with me toward a nal project.
It goes without saying that without the aid of librarians, this book
would never have been done. Special thanks to the conservateurs of Salle
des Manuscrits of the Bibliothque Nationale; the Archives Nationales;
the Archives du Quai dOrsay; the Bibliothque Mazarine; the Biblio-
thque de lArsenal; Rutgers University Library, and in particular the
Paul Robeson Library in Camden; the Firestone Library at Princeton;
Cambridge University Library; the Archivio di Stato di Torino; and the
Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze. Thanks also to the journals French His-
torical Studies and Archival Science. Finally, I would like to thank John Pol-
lack and the librarians of the Annenberg Rare Books Room of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvanias Van Pelt Library. John has made their reading
room my base laboratory, helping to nd documents, offering useful
analysis, and tracking down and copying texts and images. They make
the access to information easy and collaborative, providing ideal research
conditions.
Thanks also go to Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Richard Bonney, Gian-
franco Borelli, Harald Braun, Arndt Brendecke, Paul Cohen, Robert
Darnton, Robert Descimon, Francesco Di Donato, Vitorio Dini, Paul
Dover, Marcus Friedrich, Susanna Friedrich, Tim Harris, Lynn Hunt,
Matt Jones, Ben Kafka, Marie-Pierre Latte, Donald Kelley, Kirstie Mc-
Clure, Martin Mulsow, Geoffrey Parker, John Pocock, Aysha Polnitz,
Laurence Pope, Sophus Reinert, Antonella Romano, Rob Schneider,
Phil Scranton, Will Slauter, Paul Sonnino, Erik Thomson, Filippo di
Vivo, Wolfgang Weber, Richard Yeo, and Cornel Zwierlein.
I would like to make special mention of those who provided intel-
lectual, moral, and culinary support over the years, essential to the writ-
ing of this book. As they know, I see research and intellectual activity as
inextricably intertwined with la gourmandise. Thanks to Manu Barrault
and Anne Rohart for making their spare couch my base for research,
Vespa riding and late-night eating in Paris. Franoise Choay generously
Preface ix
housed me in Paris on many occasions, thus making possible my re-
search. Thanks to Alessandro Arienzo for his interest in my work, dis-
cussions, intellectual and soul empowering powwows and feasts in
Naples, singing with Borelli and passing long evenings at the Enoteca
near Ges Nuovo. Bill Connell has been a sturdy rock of support and a
true friend in research, conferencing, and dinners at home and across the
world. John McCormick seems to show up at key moments offering ad-
vice, support, and an inspiring condence in the link between very good
wine and intellectual activity.
Roger OKeefe has been a constant source of wisdom on my own
work, international law, and the biological origins of Vaudeville. He ap-
peared miraculously both in Amsterdam for a memorable feast of won-
derful at, round Dutch barrier oysters, and in Florence for a Christmas
notable for the six hours spent in the emergency room of the childrens
hospital, as well as for a memorable tortelli in brodo and pork stewed with
fennel in Poppi. Thanks to Carrie Weber for all the friendship, late-night
emails, pep talks, inspiration, and the brilliant, hard work on the manu-
script, without which I could not have nished it; and to Tom Stegeman
for unwavering moral support, discussions about the merits of account-
ing, marathon feasts in New York, Paris, and Philadelphia, and a truly
inspiring pancetta- and Sangiovese-fueled, and possibly cardiac-threat-
ening, culinary odyssey through Tuscany that ended in the valley of
Rignana, with a reworks of Tuscan eggs, fresh trufes, and olive oil
washed down with Chianti Classico. Maurie Samuels was always there,
at all hours, to discuss the project and keep the boat of scholarship aoat.
He is a true comrade in arms. I must thank Colin Hamilton for frankly
critiquing and discussing my work, as he has done since we were in high
school, which now seems to be a century ago, as well as for an inspiring
voyage through Italy highlighted by a boat ride in Venice jusquau but de
la nuit, and a grand pranzo at the Diana in Bologna. Thanks to Richard
Serjeantson for therapeutic brainstorming and feasting expeditions in
Paris at the Grand Vfour, and at the Zygomates under the care of
Patrick Frey; as well as in Burgundy, the Perigord, and lastly Piemonte,
where, buoyed by a wave of Barolo from 1981, we reached for the
gourmet sky.
A special thanks and farewell goes to Alexander Lippincott for fuel-
ing this project when it ran out spiritual of steam, on the wintry Thurs-
day evenings in Philadelphia, with bottles of Bordeaux and slabs of
restorative steak from North Dakota. Colbert liked Rhine valley white
wines; but this book was fed with red, most notably from Lippincotts
x preface
once endless streams, which ran upward from Chteau de La Huste, to
Loville-Las Cases, Mouton Rothschild, Palmer, Vieux Chteau Cer-
tan, Cos dEstournel, Chteau Pavie, Cheval Blanc, Margaux, and on-
ward to Petrus. His cellars, once a liquid library, are now dry and those
days are over. This book stands in memory to Eat Club in Philadelphia.
Most of all, this book owes an enormous debt to Ellen Wayland-
Smith. She supported its research and writing; discussed it over and over
again to the point of humoring me; read and reread it; and lived through
the pressure of its constant deadlines and related travel engagements, all
during the very active early youth of our marvelous daughters Sophia
and Lydia. During the last days, we nished the book together in Flor-
ence, in the house of the Bartoli family on the via Fra Paolo Sarpi, cor-
recting drafts, roasting trufed pork with bread crust and sage, and tak-
ing care of the children between trips up the hill to Fiesole to the villa
Schifanoia, walks to the Biblioteca Nazionale, lunch at Il Giova, jaunts
on the byways of Chianti and through the clouds of the Val dAoste, and
Sundays spent together at the mercato SaintAmbrogio, and at the court
of the Ramada-Curtos at the Teatro del Sale. They have been happy
days for which I am grateful. Rien sans la belle Hlne.
Studying dusty archives can be both lonely and tedious. Yet if they
happen to be situated in the lands of the former Roman Empire, and if
they give up their treasures, there is nothing more satisfying than leang
through parchment, reading lost texts, solving old mysteries, and then
walking home to dinner through ancient streets, with the smell of cool
old stone, hungry from the knowledge gained from a hard days work.
The world changes, but from what I can tell, this pleasure has remained
a constant.
Preface xi
Contents
1. Between Public and Secret Spheres
the case of colbert 1
2. Colberts Cosmos
the expert and the rise of the modern state 13
3. The Accountant and the Coups dtat 34
4. Royal Accountability
louis xiv and the golden notebooks 50
5. The Rule of the Informers 67
6. Managing the System
colbert trains his son for the great intendancy 84
7. From Universal Library to State Encyclopedia
colberts house of solomon 94
8. Jean-Baptiste Colberts Republic of Letters
the state control of knowledge 120
9. The Information State in Play
archives, erudition, and the affair of the 140
10. The System Falls Apart, but the State Remains 153
Notes 169
Bibliography 243
Index 269
Illustrations following page 146
c ha p t e r 1
Between Public and Secret Spheres
the case of colbert
I
n 1698, the Cambridge-trained naturalist and royal physician
Martin Lister wrote an account of his trip to Paris.
1
Lister de-
scribed birds, hedges, agstones, housing materials, architectural
and antiquarian treasures, and French traditions, clothing, and diet.
2
He
measured the wheels of carriages, not above two Foot and a half Di-
ameter; which makes them [carriages] easie to get into.
3
He visited mu-
seums and the workshop of the great gardener of Versailles, Andr Le
Ntre.
4
Most of all, Lister visited libraries. Part book and manuscript
collections, part antiquarian and natural history museums, Parisian li-
braries were famed storehouses of erudition and science, and thus oblig-
atory stops on any grand tour.
5
Among the libraries he visited was that of Louis XIVs famed minis-
ter, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (161983). A block from the Royal Library,
on the rue de Richelieu, it was still the nest private collection in Paris.
Here Lister found something unique among the Parisian collections.
Colbert had died in 1683, and his son, the marquis of Seignelay, had fol-
lowed his father to the grave in 1690, but their old family librarian, ti-
enne Baluze, still stood guard over the collection.
6
Once the hub of Col-
berts administration, the library was now slowly turning into a private
museum. With Baluze as his guide, Lister toured the library:
I saw the Library of the late Monsieur Colbert, the great patron of
Learning. The Gallery, wherein the printed Books are kept, is a
Ground-Room, with Windows on one side only, along a ne Garden.
It is the neatest Library in Paris, very large, and exceedingly well-fur-
nishd. At the upper-end is a fair Room, wherein the Papers of State
are kept; particularly those of the Administration of Cardinal Mazarin,
and his own Accounts, when he was in Employment. These make up
many hundred Folios, nely bound in Red Maroquin and Gilt. The
Manuscript Library is above-stairs, in three Rooms, and is the choicest
of that kind in Paris: It contains 6,610 Volumes. The Catalogue of
them Monsieur Baluze shewed me: which he said was designed shortly
for the Press.
7
Entrance to Colberts library had once been guarded, for his nancial
registers held extensive accounts and administrative papers of Louis
XIVs France, the largest European state of its time.
8
For almost thirty
years (165483), Colbert had built his own private library in tandem
with the semipublic royal collection, creating one of the biggest library-
archives in Europe.
9
It was an encyclopedia of the state.
10
What Martin
Lister saw during his tour was the nerve center of Colberts immense ad-
ministrative project. On the rst oor, Colbert kept a humanist library
with classical works, ancient Bibles, medieval manuscripts, rare editions,
prints, scientic texts, and naturalist collections. Upstairs, in nely
bound double-book accounts, he kept his internal government reports,
administrative correspondence, state statistical reports, and the informa-
tion of industry and administration, such as reports on the quality of
cloth, and sketches of winches and sails.
11
Colbert had consciously inte-
grated a traditional humanist library and practical state and industrial ad-
ministrative archive on a large scale on a single site, with one catalog,
and one primary librarian.
12
Colbert believed that all knowledge had practical value for politics.
Though himself a relentless man of affairs, he believed antiquarian and
classical learning to be as important as engineering and accounting. He
was convinced that a ruler or minister of state could learn essential
lessons from the most unlikely of sources, such as the price lists of nails,
astronomical mathematical research, or studies on Ciceronian poetry.
Fusing the cultures of library and archival management, the world of
natural science, nance, merchant learning, and industrial technology,
he began asking questions basic to encyclopedists and archival and library
managers, as well as to Google information technicians today: how to
compile, copy, and store a mass of eclectic documents and render them
2 the i nformati on master
searchable for topics.
13
He managed his multifaceted administration
through his library, developing a system to use archives, state research
institutes, internal reports, and trained teams of specialists to develop
high policymaking in areas of colonial expansion and diplomacy, as well
as to micromanage industrial production and matters as mundane as the
policing of intellectuals, book printers, prostitutes, and the butchers
guild.
The object of this book is to bring to light the traditions that Colbert
harnessed for government, and how he did it. It seeks to go beyond the
debate over Colberts mercantilist, centralized model of state regulation,
and to examine in detail the intellectual tools he used as the patron of the
Grand Sicle, the builder of Versailles, and the architect of Louis XIVs
administrative state.
14
The rise of the modern administrative state has
long been associated with Max Webers teleology of rationalization, sec-
ularization, and the rise of bureaucracy. Louis XIVs government has
been seen by historians as a rational form of state administration, inspired
by Cartesianism and the Scientic Revolution.
15
Yet the building blocks
of Colberts intelligence system and administration were neither modern
nor purely secular. Although Colbert believed in Louis XIVs claims to
absolute monarchy, Colberts approach to learning for government grew
neither from theory, nor from pure mercantilist ideology, nor from sci-
entic tradition, but rather from his own brand of curiosity and an astute
recognition that myriad traditions of knowledge that had roots in hu-
manist, ecclesiastical, nancial, military, and naval culture could be used
to build a state.
16
In editing Colberts papers in the nineteenth century, Pierre Clment
described them as not simply an archive, but as a testament to Colberts
obsession with the mastery of information and its connection with gov-
ernment, noting the excessive care with which Colbert conserved the
documents relative to his administration and the attention he applied to
correct himself in the margins of all his own letters.
17
Philippe de
Champaignes famous 1655 portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert shows him
early in his career, as Cardinal Mazarins personal accountant, dressed in
black, holding a folded piece of paper (see g. 1). Oddly, Colbert is smil-
ing, or at least smirking. What was it that made an obsessive nancier
a man apparently never happier than when lling out account ledgers
develop the astonishing view that all knowledge was useful for political
affairs? From the accounts we have of Colbert, and from his own hu-
morless and often brutal correspondence, this smile is quite remarkable,
for he was not known for joviality. Madame de Svign famously called
Between Public and Secret Spheres 3
him Le Nord, or the north, for his cold demeanor.
18
It was Colberts
rst biographer, Courtilz de Sandras, who recognized both Colberts
stern disposition and his interest in using information to govern: He
spoke rarely, and never responded to questions immediately, wanting to
be further informed by reports [before doing so].
19
Ezechiel Spanheim (16291710), the German antiquarian and diplo-
mat who had visited Louis XIVs court, described Colberts rigor and
austerity, and was also sensitive to Colberts particular reliance on pos-
sessing and handling information. He reveals a clue as to Philippe de
Champaignes portrayal of Colbert smiling with a piece of paper in his
hand:
20
He never was content, as were those who preceded him in this direc-
tion, to learn about high government business, and then to avail him-
self of the commissioners, intendants, controllers, or other people of
nance that were customarily employed; he wanted to take it all on
himself, to enter into every detail, as much in regard to income as to
expenditure, as well as the expedients to furnish these funds in the fu-
ture, wanting only to depend on his own skills, precise information
that he collected, and in relation to them, to develop methods for han-
dling this information, in exact and particular registers that he kept
himself.
21
Files, correspondence, reports, historical documents, account books,
legers, and paperwork in general made the otherwise cantankerous Col-
bert happy, not least because he recognized them as a source of power,
but also, as we shall see, because he simply reveled in the various activi-
ties involved in handling paperwork, which others often found dull and
even odious.
Adam Smith, who warned against mercantilism, recognized Col-
berts aptitude for informing himself: Mr. Colbert, the famous minister
of Lewis XIVth, was a man of probity, of great industry and knowledge
of detail; of great experience and acuteness in the examination of pub-
lick accounts, in short, every way tted for introducing method and
good order into the collection and expenditure of the publick rev-
enue.
22
Diderot and dAlemberts Encyclopdie (175172) mixed politi-
cal criticism and calls for scientic reason and political liberty with a rev-
olutionary valorization of practical, everyday knowledge.
23
It is,
therefore, not surprising that it called Colbert a great statesman and le
grand Colbert. It painted him as an innovator and the able builder of
the learned holdings of the Royal Library.
24
Diderot and his enlightened collaborators credited Colbert with
building the states nancial, industrial, and colonial apparatus and, at the
same time, with developing basic research and learning. In their eyes,
Louis XIVs minister was a glorious genius, for he established the En-
lightened ideal of practical knowledge while also systematizing the old
world of scholarship. The Encyclopdies entries under Inspector, Tax-
ation, Loan, Subsidy, Luxury, Measure, Iron, Grains,
Paper Industry, Cloth Dying, Engraving, and Tapestry, as well
as Acadmie Franaise, Acadmie Royale des Sciences, Acadmie
de Peinture, Archival Diplomatica, Cabinet of Natural History,
Letters, and Library, all discuss Colbert. Indeed, the Encyclopdie
contains 143 references to him. This is an impressive showing. Louis XIV
has 614 mentions, Richelieu 120, Newton 783, Descartes 506, Voltaire
313, Pierre Bayle 274, Spinoza 200, Francis Bacon 172, and John Locke
116. Colbert is present in all elds of the Encyclopdie: artistic, learned, sci-
entic, political, nancial, industrial, and legal. Colbert was not an ency-
clopedist, but the philosophes recognized in him a precursor to their own
interest in harnessing and mixing both formal learning and practical
knowledge.
The most detailed entry in the Encyclopdie on Colbert is that on li-
braries, and describes how he made the Royal Library and the Acadmie
Royale des Sciences a world center of learning and erudition.
25
Colbert
may not have been a Latin scholar, but he built the Latin holdings of the
library. Vision and even pretension count for something if they inspire
curiosity and innovation. Colbert was no scholar, but rather a political
administrator who did not hesitate to trample Frances ancient constitu-
tion. Yet he was, in his own way, a major gure in the history of learn-
ing. Echoing the Encyclopdie, the Cambridge Modern History notes: We
stand amazed at the different subjects which came under the survey of
Colbert and at the minute attention which he was able to bestow on
them.
26
A century earlier than Diderot, Colbert grew up in a merchant
household and trained on the shop-room oor. Though neither ency-
clopedist nor scholar, he saw before Diderot many of the elements that
would characterize the new practical learning of the eighteenth century.
Studying with the Jesuits and as an accountant, and then working as a
nancial manager and military contractor, he saw the connection be-
tween these cultures and their usefulness for state administration.
Humanist encyclopedic scholars, churchmen, state administrators, and
accountants had much in common: they categorized subjects and devel-
oped methods of data collection and assessment.
27
Colbert recognized
and bridged these cultures and integrated them into his governmental
system. Ernest Lavisse remarked that Colberts education was as
mediocre as his birth, and yet Colbert was able to see new applications
for disciplines outside the respective elds.
Rather than a paragon of rationality or Cartesianism, Colbert often
sounded more like a medieval Italian banker, or an enlightened, hard-
driving Scottish merchant manager.
28
My natural inclination to work is
such, stated Colbert, that every day . . . it is impossible for my spirit to
support leisure and moderate work.
29
Colbert was a Jesuit-trained ac-
countant and state administrator, whose education had its roots in me-
dieval nancial culture and Counter-Reformation pedagogy, and as such
he was skilled in methods of data gathering and practical learning.
30
His
state information system shows that curious learning and encyclopedism
are not necessarily critical and corrosive to autocratic political authority.
Indeed, political absolutism and methods from critical scholarship could,
under particular circumstances, mutually serve each other. Louis XIV
and Colbert may not have succeeded in instituting complete absolute
government, yet the early decades of Louiss reign show the extent to
which an able minister such as Colbert could use administrative and
nancial tools not only to dominate Frances politics, society, and cul-
ture, but also to build his centralized state information system, a feat im-
possible in the days of more balanced constitutional power-sharing.
31
Louis XIV claimed the innovation of the mtier du roy: governing
his large kingdom himself. Yet he relied on the administrative tech-
niques and methods of learning and information handling designed by
Colbert. Louis gave the orders, but he depended on Colbert to build an
administrative machine and show Louis how to use it. Colberts biogra-
pher Pierre Clment insists on this point: Louis le Grand was trained by
the Grand Colbert.
32
The abb de Choisy points out Colberts role as
Louis XIVs personal informant and teacher:
He presented to the King, every rst day of the year, an agenda in
which his revenues were marked down in detail; and each time the
King signed laws, Colbert made him remember to write them in his
agenda, so that he could see when it pleased him how many funds he
had left (as opposed to past times when he [Louis XIV] could never
know how much he had).
33
Without Colbert, Louis XIV, the most powerful king in Europe, had
not the slightest knowledge of how his nances worked. Louis XIV
credited his minister with the feat of directing the royal nances, noting
that he trusted him with the register of state funds.
34
He needed not
only a minister who could inform him about his kingdom, but also a
technical instructor to help him build and use his innovative, absolutist
state apparatus. Colbert showed Louis how he could dominate and use
the world of learning not only as a source of public propaganda, but also
as a tool of secret government. As much as mercantilism, this was Col-
berts contribution to state governmental culture.
With the resources of a nation-state at his disposal, Colbert the bib-
liophile administrator, accountant, and founder of academies amassed
enormous libraries and state, diplomatic, industrial, colonial, and naval
archives; hired researchers and archival teams; founded scientic acade-
mies and journals; ran a publishing house; and managed an international
network of scholars.
35
By Colberts death in 1683, the Royal Library,
which became in part a state archive, contained around 36,000 printed
books and 10,500 manuscripts, and Colberts own collection numbered
some 23,000 printed books and 5,100 manuscripts.
36
It was one of the
largest collections in the world.
Aside from scholarly curiosity and the advancement of the cultural
prestige of the French monarchy, the focus of this new collection was to
defend national interests in the conicts over the Dutch annexations, the
rgale, and Spanish rights; to compete with Dutch and English trade; and
to assert royal prerogative over the parlements.
37
Colbert thus set out to
create a national, legal, and nancial database. He sent his agents to the
various document depots of Francecharterhouses, parliamentary reg-
istries, monasteries, and episcopal archivesto copy and often seize liter-
ally tons of documents for both the royal and his own policy archives.
38
Colbert sought to become a scholar of state learning: not simply a bu-
reaucrat but an expert. With the help of his librarian tienne Baluze
(16301718), he created reference systems, as well as series of extracts
and glossaries designed to connect catalog headings to collections of ex-
cerpts and summaries of documents. In some cases, excerpts of refer-
enced documents were strung together in thematic narratives, and cross-
referenced with call numbers, but also with search codes, which
cross-referenced related documents. In hindsight, these book catalogs
paired with glossaries and textual extracts look like primitive, though ef-
fective, computing techniques or Google search engines.
39
Church
scholars had long used glossaries and reference systems, but Colbert used
them for daily, practical political use. Thus Colberts practices consti-
tuted a scholarly, systematized approach to administering the state. In his
history of Louis XIV, Ernst Lavisse describes how Colbert used his col-
lection to govern:
For each subject, he composed a portfolio, a dossier as we say today.
Here he classed his data by species. In relation to an ocean ship ac-
cident, he listed all preceding accidents, and, he said: I then immedi-
ately wrote them down. In the same fashion, he listed all the abuses,
all the faults that he observed, examining causes, determining reme-
dies. Then, for all order of questions, he looked for historical an-
tecedents, to understand their raison dtre and the force of resistance
to one thing or another, that offended or bothered him. Thus in-
formed, he set himself to think with reection, to continually
think, to think well and meditate, with application, and pene-
tration. These words are his, and he repeated them often. As soon as
he saw matters clearly, he took to his pen and paper.
40
Colberts per-
sonal archive and the collections he acquired for the Royal Library
continue to comprise the very heart of the manuscript collection of the
modern Bibliothque Nationale, as well as numerous other state
archives.
41
Colbert was not the man who knew everything.
42
But he could
nd someone to give him answers and provide reports on a wide range
of topics, drawing on his massive state library and on archives, as well as
on networks of scholars and agents. As the founder of the learned, sci-
entic, artistic, and technical academies, as well as of Cassinis Royal
Observatory in Paris, Colbert the government minister asked many of
the same questions about research posed by scientists and scholars such as
Galileo, Robert Cotton, Francis Bacon, Paolo Sarpi, Jacques-Auguste de
Thou, and Athanasius Kircher. With the help of Christian Huygens, the
Dutch mathematician and clockmaker, he sponsored research projects
that led to the creation of the pendulum clock, and the team of Cassini,
Picard, and La Hire created a machine to establish longitude.
43
Colbert
conceived of these state research projects. He followed and directed
their progress, organized research groups, found funding for them, and
pushed them to fruition. Whether such projects would have happened
in France without Colberts patronage is impossible to surmise. In cer-
tain cases, such as that of the colonies, Colberts and perhaps Louiss lack
of curiosity held them back. Whatever limitations Colberts system had,
his ministerial heirs would not share his global vision of knowledge and
his personal involvement in these manifold administrative, bibliophilic,
literary, and scientic endeavors.
44
In this light, it is striking that there is no intellectual biography of
Colbert. Indeed, aside from studies of the English statesman and inven-
tor of experimental method, Francis Bacon (15611626), there are few
intellectual biographies or histories of government and administrative
gures.
45
Yet politicians and state administrators were, and still are, the
very ones who could, and can, hinder or drive learned endeavor. In the
case of government ministers, the task of intellectual biography is daunt-
ing. Whereas scholars create dened bodies of work, a minister like Col-
bert, working with teams of secretaries, scribes, scholars and agents, pro-
duced entire archives worth of material. Unlike ofcial scholarly works,
much of this state writingferreted away in personal ministerial collec-
tionswas not meant to be studied or at least to be seen in the context
of scholarship. It does not constitute a clear corpus. Indeed, Colbert
wrote few formal works dening his actions as minister and as an infor-
mation handler.
In his groundbreaking study of Philip II of Spains state paperwork,
Geoffrey Parker was one of the rst scholars of politics to study the rela-
tionship of high state policy to archival information-handling practices.
46
Parker had his eye on politics and Philips grand strategy; he stopped
short of situating Philip within a larger context of learned culture. In
spite of Parkers work, there has been very little attention paid to the
convergence between traditional learning and nancial and administra-
tive state culture, or what is called in German Staatenkunde.
47
The great nineteenth-century French archivist Arthur de Boislisle
(18351908), looking for a word to characterize learning at the service of
state administration, called it rudition dtat, or state erudition. English
does not have a term for state erudition or learning. Michel Foucault
called this genre of knowledge le savoir de ltat, or state knowledge.
Trying to connect formal learning with the state, some historians of sci-
ence have compared the little tools of knowledge used by scholars,
scientists, and administrators alike.
48
And yet aside from works by James
E. King, Kevin Sharpe, R. J. W. Evans, and Blandine Barret-Kriegel,
historians of scholarship and knowledge have not generally examined
the nature of early modern state knowledge culture.
49
Thus a biography
of Colbert opens the door to a new history of knowledge and politics.
50
Knowledge, Secrecy, and Government
There are reasons that intellectual and cultural historians have not stud-
ied the intellectual history of the state. Following the work of the Ger-
man sociologists Reinhard Koselleck and Jrgen Habermas, historians of
information have predominantly studied the concept of the public
sphere of information and opinion.
51
Studies of the public sphere focus
on journalism, clandestine literature, and printing; as well as sites of so-
ciability, such as academies and the Republic of Letters, public and pri-
vate communication networks, art markets, salons, learned societies,
Masonic lodges, societies, coffeehouses, and lending libraries. These so-
cial and cultural phenomena are often used as illustrations of a civic,
bourgeois opposition and counterbalance to arbitrary, secretive absolute
monarchy and its modes of censorship during the eighteenth century.
52
An enormous corpus of scholarship on the public sphere has emerged.
Stphane Van Damme has identied as least 12,112 articles concerning
the public sphere in the eighteenth century alone.
53
In spite of the
plethora of works on the public sphere, few scholars have examined the
relationship between the public sphere and the state.
54
Indeed, in the
schema focused on the public sphere, the state has been reduced to an al-
most impotent actor, trying and failing to turn the inexorable, teleolog-
ical tide of public information, opinion, and political liberty.
55
And yet the history of information is more complex than a tension
between the public sphere, bourgeois private secrecy, and absolutist
states. Civil society not only had secret elements, but it was also highly
inuenced by the state, which often sought to enlighten and politically
repress at the same time.
56
Institutions such as salons and the Republic of
Letters are now seen as less inuential motors of civil society than previ-
ously thought. Salons often worked as motors of aristocratic class domi-
nation over more humble social groups like the scholars of the Repub-
lic of Letters.
57
The state also played a more important role in
inuencing the public sphere than historians have recognized. Enlight-
ened despots such as Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany (1761
90) abolished capital punishment and torture, sponsored the world of
learning and salons, and gave lessons in science to the general populace
of Florence, while also strictly policing learning and public life.
58
Pub-
lic life and learning could foster, but did not necessarily mean political
freedom.
Furthermore, the Republic of Letters itself was neither a truly public
entity, nor was it always polite and run by clear rules.
59
It was a world of
esoteric knowledge, with its own codes of conduct, learned languages,
and elite networks, and of course, strong ties to various states and noble
patronage networks.
60
Thus to understand the Republic of Letters and
the emergence of a civil society in France, and indeed, in Austria, En-
gland, the German and Italian states, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, and oth-
ers, the role of the state must now be taken into account. In the case of
France, the world of learning set the foundations for civil society yet,
paradoxically, provided the cultural building blocks for the French abso-
lutist monarchy. And the absolutist monarchy in turn built and con-
trolled many institutions of civil society.
Colbert is a key to untangling this paradoxical process of civilization.
What his case reveals is the extent to which the public sphere not only
competed with the secret state sphere of learning and information circu-
lation; it was sometimes the product of it, as learned state agents used
classied document troves to create public propaganda. Secrecy existed
in private, among citizens, but it also existed within the state and its
large, inuential bureaucracy.
61
The state kept semipublic libraries,
closed collections, massive archives, and information networks while
also trying to control the public world of knowledge and opinion.
Therefore, to understand the history of information, the public, and the
state, it is necessary to study the history of state secrecy.
In an article entitled, Removing Knowledge, Peter Galison has ar-
gued that the modern classied universe of information is much
larger than the unclassied one.
62
Galison claims that open societies
paradoxically create vast realms of classied state documents, and this se-
cret sphere of information is bigger in sheer volume than the public
world of information. Thus open societies do not have completely open
archives, nor are their governments completely open. In nineteenth-
century republican France, manipulated state paperwork played a central
role in false accusations of treason against the Jewish army ofcer Alfred
Dreyfus. The Dreyfus Affair spectacularly illustrated that state secrecy
would be a key problem for democratic government. In 1955, Edward
Shils called the tension between democratic society and state security ap-
paratuses the torment of secrecy.
63
Today, high-level lawsuits brought
by Congress against the ofce of the president and vice president of the
United States, and numerous arguments within the branches of Ameri-
can government, in the press, and in academe about the extent of exec-
utive state secrecy, attest to the continuing centrality of the secret state
sphere even in an age of mass public information and the Internet.
64
Prominent historians, such as Robert Dallek, have recently testied be-
fore Congress, and the American Historical Association has brought a
lawsuit against the executive branch, both claiming that contrary to the
Freedom of Information Act (1966), the Presidential Records Act (1978)
has become the Presidential Secrecy Act, expressing the concern that
concealing state records skews historical understanding and public de-
bate, a point denied by the executive branch.
65
Whether good or bad,
the fact is that only 10 percent of the records from Ronald Reagans
presidency have been released, and Bill Clintons presidential archives
remain in great part inaccessible.
66
Open state information is not a given
of democratic government. Indeed, to be effective, government must
rely on a certain degree of secrecy. The question remains, how much?
England only voted a Freedom of Information Act in 2000, and in
France, presidential documents were not collected systematically by the
national archives until 1974 and are sealed for sixty years.
67
Even in the
age of the Internet, the rise of a complex public sphere driven by multi-
ple forms of media and communication has not resolved the challenges
posed by state secrecy. Major American policies stumble as internal secret
bureaus such as the CIA and FBI fail to communicate internally and ex-
ternally, or collect bad intelligence.
68
If anything, the relationship be-
tween public and private has become more complex, and the stakes of the
states intelligence management and information handling ever greater.
Colberts story is thus one of an unprecedented entrepreneur and in-
novator of state intelligence and information handling, who harnessed
many of the techniques of scholars, churchmen, and merchants and sys-
tematically applied them to government. Colbert was an accountant, a
merchant and industrial manager, a policeman, and a master librarian.
He trained with Jesuits, lawyers, merchant nanciers, accountants, mili-
tary outtters, religious scholars, and state administrators. He closely ex-
amined the bureaucratic and legal workings of the church, conversed
with architects, mathematicians, and humanist and ecclesiastical scholars.
At the same time, he was un homme de conance: in practice, Louis XIVs
personal valet, guarding royal family secrets and even raising Louiss bas-
tard children in his own home.
The case of Colberts information system shows the extent to which
a public sphere and Republic of Letters coexisted in a symbiotic and
competitive relationship with the growing sphere of state information
and knowledge. It also shows the growing role of experts and how the
state played a central and innovative, as well as repressive, role in the
growth of modern information culture.
69
A well-informed state could
wield great power, but with this power came dangers and limitations.
Most of all, it shows that open modern societies, with their governments
integrated with state and nancial intelligence and research systems, have
lessons to learn from Colberts absolutist project.
c ha p t e r 2
Colberts Cosmos
the expert and the rise of the modern state
T
he ancien rgime was just that: a government born of myriad an-
cient and often disparate traditions, knotted together like ivy so
old it is impossible to discern the original root. The French gov-
ernment had no manual or single written constitution. It was the sum of
layers of legal sediment that manifested itself in the stacks of feudal char-
ters found in churches and monasteries, royal and parliamentary charter-
houses, les of diplomatic correspondence, and the charter room of each
feudal manor. The French monarchy had grown from the deep soil of
feudalism, the ancient constitutions of Germanic kingship, the organiza-
tion of the Catholic Church, and administrative traditions from north-
ern Italy and Spain.
Louis XIV and Colbert set out to transform the ancient monarchy of
France, and to do so, they shook these traditions. As radical as their quest
for political absolutism was, it was not the revolutionary break from tra-
dition of 1789, when the giddy apostles of the modern age ended feu-
dalism and its authority, founded in the parchment records of chivalric
vassalage. Louis and Colbert instead not only maintained the feudal con-
stitutions that they altered, but looked to other preexisting traditions to
drive their absolutist reforms. Thus before examining Colberts state in-
formation and intelligence system, we must rst become familiar with
his cosmos and the building blocks of his cultural universe. Max Weber
13
pointed out that state paperwork engendered the need for bureaucracy,
which he dened as the exercise of control on the basis of knowledge,
and impersonal government through the rule of ofce.
1
In reality, the
emergence of administrative government did not work in this simple
schema. If we are to understand Colberts role in the rise of bureaucratic
government and the evolution between feudalism and centralized ad-
ministration, we must rst take a voyage through the traditions of gov-
ernment, expertise and the administration of state information. To cen-
tralize a government, one rst had to identify and centralize its archives.
From the Middle Ages onward, power was about the mastery of paper-
work.
Scribes and Rulers: Archives and the
Rise of the Medieval State
Archives have always been synonymous with administrative govern-
ment. From antiquity through the Middle Ages, archival specialists in
the form of ecclesiastical scholars, lawyers, and merchants managed de-
centralized banks of information and records essential to state-building.
These included formal libraries, archives containing legal and historical
records, and nancial, census, tax and proto-industrial information. In
many cases, those who managed the information vital to states were not
one-dimensional bureaucrats, but rather elites, part of the great hierar-
chical chain of medieval government, and their power was often linked
to a corporative body such as the church or a court of law. Thus state pa-
perwork and archives were part of a complex relationship of states to
multiple traditions of learning and information collection and manage-
ment. And yet the interests of the scholars and bureaucrats who managed
state archives did not always match those of their nominal rulers.
As the Roman Empire crumbled and its rubble became the founda-
tion for the Catholic Church, the church took over what had been state
administration, becoming the center of knowledge and record-keeping
in the West. During the Carolingian Renaissance (circa 790) that fol-
lowed the chaos of the Frankish invasions and violent Merovingian rule,
Charlemagne founded the Aachen palace scriptorium and monasteries,
sometimes connected to libraries, which became storehouses of the rem-
nants of ancient knowledge, preserving classical and theological works
and ofcial capitularies, that is, imperial legislative and administrative
acts. State and church archives were inseparable, and information circu-
lated between monastic archives and other centers of early medieval
learning in Fulda and Northumbria. In spite of the central role of the
church, Charlemagne nonetheless asked ecclesiastical scholars such as
Alcuin to draw on capitularies and canon law to negotiate questions of
authority with the papacy. This tradition of legal negotiation and
polemic through legal documents continued, forming the basis of late
eleventh-century investiture crises that pitted secular kings against the
authority of the pope.
2
Here was the Weberian germ. As church archives grew, so did the
skilled staff trained to manage them. The church and its network of
monasteries collected the knowledge of both the ancients and the fathers
of the church in sites such as Fulda and Cluny.
3
The bases of monastic li-
brary archives such as Fulda, scriptoria were multifunctional sites of in-
formation collection in which knowledge was preserved (and often
altered), and then stored.
4
Attached to palaces, cathedrals, and monaster-
ies, they were writing and information-gathering centers, libraries, and
nancial archives. However, the copyists who reproduced texts were
neither philologists nor linguistic historians. Medieval archives preserved
information, yet at the same time they altered it by producing inaccurate
texts and proliferating forgeries.
Learning from the ecclesiastical government and from the tradition of
feudal land contracts, secular rulers also began to collect documents that
concerned their interests. The Doomsday Book (1086) most dramatically
represents this legal, feudal tradition of recording lists of property rights,
legal privileges, obligations, and ecclesiastical rights. Kings often re-
quired records of duties and dues from the vassals and bishops, and of
course the monarchies kept copies of treaties. M. T. Clanchy has out-
lined what he calls the proliferation of documents in medieval En-
gland: charters and chirographs, certicates, letters, writs, nancial ac-
counts, nancial surveys and rental contracts, legal records, yearbooks,
chronicles, cartularies (feudal and ecclesiastical deeds), registers (legal or
administrative, often held by courts and parliaments), learned and liter-
ary works.
5
With ever more regularity in the fourteenth and fteenth
centuries, the English monarchy, like its French, Spanish, and central
European counterparts, kept watch over records that concerned its in-
terests. While the feudal monarchies kept records of lands, privileges,
and dues, they were less apt to keep large archives than were church in-
stitutions. State documents were kept not only in chancelleries, but also
in legal and parliamentary charterhouses, where they were more open to
consultation by lawyers.
6
Records had long been kept of conciliar and
synodic meetings. Beginning in the twelfth century, with revival of Ro-
Colberts Cosmos 15
man law, Inquisitorial records sat alongside taxation documents, parish
records of births, deaths, and marriages, legal archives and libraries, and
the theological collections of the scriptorium.
7
Humanists and Bureaucrats: The Renaissance of Paperwork
Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, the documentary cultures
of canon law, administrative and diplomatic ofces of the church, and,
increasingly, urban governments slowly evolved into complex adminis-
trative and legalistic statecraft that would form the underpinnings of
humanist governmental culture. All administrative minutes as well as
nancial, legal, and diplomatic documents were kept in the central
chancellery archives of central and northern Italian cities. Inspired not
only by commerce and internal administration, but also by relations with
the church, chancery, diplomatic, legal, and state records were stored in
the halls of civic administration: Signorias, podests, chancelleries, senate
houses, or doges palaces located in the central squares of cities such as
Florence, Milan, Sienna, Genoa, and Venice. Cities across Europe had
kept central archival banks since the Middle Ages.
8
In these Italian civic
centers during the Quattrocento, a historical expertise emerged out of a
convergence of bureaucratic, diplomatic, and ecclesiastic archival man-
agement with the epistolary arts and philological Latincreating new
cultural links between governing and historical, scholarly knowledge.
9
The rebirth of Romethe humanist, classical Renaissancebegan
in great part in the Vatican, and in the chancelleries and diplomatic corps
of northern Italy during the Middle Ages.
10
The proliferation of ofcial
forms of documentation in medieval and early Renaissance Europe had
produced a world of learned bureaucrats, Francesco Petrarch (130474)
foremost among them.
11
They were diplomats, scribes, record keepers,
and secretaries who had to know Latin prose, religious literature, poetry,
legal procedure, clerking, and accounting.
12
Not bureaucrats in a mod-
ern sense, many of these learned clerks, secretaries, and ambassadors
would become the pioneers of philology and the classical Renaissance.
The Renaissance was neither simply the ideal of the classical rebirth of
Rome, nor a political ideology. Latin philologythe collation and es-
tablishment of denitive, accurate versions of biblical, legal, and classical
textswas also about information collection and management beyond
the scholastic learned traditions and the early scholarship of canon law.
13
For the great diplomat, classical humanist pioneer, and book hunter
Poggio Bracciolini (13801459), this meant nding ancient texts, copy-
ing them, collating them for errors and inconsistencies, creating script,
nding copyists, and then creating authoritative editions, collections, and
libraries.
14
Figures like Poggio were not simply interested in ancient phi-
losophy and canon law. They were also interested in the forms of writing
and paperwork. They pioneered the use of Roman script copied from
stone engravings, and also copied ancient Latin style for their own ofcial
correspondence. Rome was also the European center for diplomatic
training, which entailed learning the structures of ofcial letter-writing,
reports, and ciphers, and managing documents and communication net-
works. Much of this culture was developed by humanists who created a
Renaissance Latin philological culture within the diplomatic corps.
15
Thus humanist philology and bibliophilia were tightly linked with the
medievalist paperwork and information culture of the chancelleries.
16
With the growth of northern Italian civic culture between the late
Middle Ages and the Quattrocento, erudite bureaucratic expertise be-
came ever more fundamental.
17
Notable among early humanist secre-
taries were the Simonetta brothers, Giovanni (d. 1491) and Cicco
(141080), who served the Sforza dukes of Milan, in particular, Duke
Ludovico il Moro (14801500).
18
Trusted to manage the diplomatic
Consiglio Segreto of Milan, they helped to formulate policy and admin-
ister the Sforza state. This consisted of managing the paperwork of the
state: overseeing copyists, ordering secretarial assistants and scribes to
copy and dispatch secret diplomatic correspondence, making and break-
ing ciphers, and keeping accurate records, les (or lza), and well-or-
dered diplomatic and legal archives in order to use them as tools of ne-
gotiation and propaganda.
19
The secretary, writes Gary Ianziti, was
the assembler of his masters right to wield power, levy taxes, grant efs,
raise armies, wage war, form alliances.
20
Even more, these chancellors,
diplomats, and secretaries used state documents to write histories and de-
veloped the Renaissance sense of the past, that revived secular con-
sciousness, as well as an interest in the scholarly verication of biblical,
patristic, and papal authority.
21
It was this tradition that produced the
most famous of Florentine chancellors, Niccol Machiavelli (1459
1527), who, like Coluccio Salutati and Francesco Guicciardini, managed
state documents and used them to write his History of Florence, The Dis-
courses, and The Prince.
22
Guicciardini and Machiavelli showed that his-
torical scholarship was not only the basic act of political prudence; it was
also that of state administration.
23
Thus the early humanism of Salutati,
Poggio, Guicciardini, Bartolomeo Scala, and Machiavelli was based not
only on the mastery of classical Latin, but equally on the management of
Colberts Cosmos 17
historical, legal, administrative, and diplomatic paperwork. Renaissance
learning was also Renaissance state administration.
Merchants and Scholars: The Learning of Finance
The church and civil government were not the only centers of informa-
tion and archival innovation during the Renaissance. The rise of the
Medici family illustrates the close links between international banking,
civic administration, learned humanism, and bibliophilia. Cosimo de
Medici (13891464) not only controlled the chancellery; he made the
patronage of humanist art, literature, philology, and book collecting into
a tool of political prestige and politics by personifying the humanist ideal
of the scholar-statesman.
24
This mix was the particular culture of Italian
government. Cosimos own great library was a representation of his
knowledge and authority. Along with his personal fascination with
learning and bibliophilia, Cosimo used the tools of banking to maintain
political power. Like Vatican diplomats, Medici bankers maintained a
wide European network. They maintained nancial as well as semi-
diplomatic paperwork, and were leading book collectors.
25
Medici
power thus emerged from several traditions: international banking; the
papacy and diplomacy; the administrative tradition of Salutati; the his-
torical humanism of Guicciardini; and of course, from civic artistic and
artisanal life in Florence.
From the late Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, humanism, in-
ternational trade and banking, and civic administration developed to-
gether. From Florence, Venice, and Genoa, to Paris, Lyon, Seville,
Castille, Flanders, Holland, England, and the German cities, merchant
houses grew, and with them grew a rich culture of accounting and
record-keeping.
26
While few outside Italy and the Holland had the op-
portunity to build governments, merchants also kept legal archives, bills
of exchange, and the various forms of paperwork necessary for doing
business.
27
To aid in the management of international trade, merchants
created books of ars mercatoriaguides to merchant work, travel, cur-
rency, shipping, roads, and international forms of legal and merchant pa-
perwork.
28
They also kept nancial archives necessary in double-entry
bookkeeping. Like church ofcials, they carried with them numerous
formularies, but also their inventory, stock and capital archives, note-
books, journals, account books, registers, agendas, and ledgers.
29
As mer-
chants evolved into civic leaders, they brought this culture of nance
and record-keeping with them into the public administration of cities
and with it began building early apparatuses of central government as
they managed public debt, kept records private declarations of wealth
and property, and collected taxes.
30
By the sixteenth century, the Fuggers of Augsburg emerged as the
foremost banking family in Europe, and their merchant house, a great
center of book and information collection. To manage their interna-
tional operations, the Fugger family created an information and news
bureau and archive, housed alongside its humanist library in their house
on the Maximilianstrae in Augsburg.
31
The Fuggers received daily
newsletters, learned works, and technical reports from their trading em-
pire across the globe. The Fuggers also had a massive accounting ofce.
As bankers, they needed to be able to respond to volatile nancial and
trade markets. Like the Medici, they had their branches all over Europe.
And as they invested in Spanish imperial enterprises, they sent along
scholars and naturalists with the banking missions. As great humanist pa-
trons, but also as traders in an age of discovery, their business ventures
were also knowledge missions. When Anton Fuggers son Jakob traveled
to Lisbon in 1563, he was accompanied by the great Dutch humanist
Carolus Clusius, who bought books and looked for natural specimens as
trophies, and even possible investment opportunities for the Fugger
business. Rare books, manuscripts, plants, shells and other objects found
their way back to the libraries, archives, and museums of the Fugger
Haus in Augsburg. This brought prestige and satised Jacob Fuggers
humanist curiosity, but it also brought nancial advantages, as the Fug-
gers got the rst reports of plants and goods from around the worldes-
sential commercial information with which they could make decisions
about major investments.
32
Innovation and Decline in the Early Information States:
Spain, Venice, and Rome
The Fuggers were sophisticated in their information collection and cen-
tralization, but they could not match the sheer volume of information
collected by their masters in Spain. City states and merchant houses
could innovate in nance, government, and record-keeping, but they
could not maintain the scale of centralized information acquisition of a
major nation-state. By the sixteenth century, only the church, northern
Italian states such as Venice, Florence, and Milan, and Philip IIs Spain
had come close to creating large-scale, semicentralized and systematized
information states. Under Philip II (152798), imperial Spain, the pri-
Colberts Cosmos 19
mary client of the Fuggers and the rst grand-scale model of a central-
ized state, had gorged itself on administrative paperwork under the prin-
ciple that Philip, el rey papelero, or the paperwork king, could, in se-
cret, handle, read, and sign every document of a planet kingdom.
33
Philip II was the rst hands-on bureaucrat king of a massive empire
and certainly the forerunner of his Bourbon heirs in France. His infor-
mation system was so vast, so intricate, and in some cases so efcient,
that even the Venetian ambassador sent his relazioni back to Venice via
Spanish royal messenger posts. Yet this Planet King, on whose empire
the sun never set, was not a traveler, but rather inhabited his own virtual
world, enclosed in the halls of his monastery palace, the Escorial, which
he lled with mountains of dispatches and reports. To house his paper
empire, he created massive archives, most notably in the walled castle of
Simancas, as well as in a rapidly expanding imperial trade and industry
archive in Seville, the Casa de Contratacon.
34
The Escorial was a cav-
ernous center of power, at once a monastery and library, from which the
king worked at his desk, trying to read and respond to every report writ-
ten from his international network of agents.
35
It was a weeks ride away
from Simancas. In the end, Philips information system was as cumber-
some as the empire it tried to manage. He was the king of a composite
monarchy, comprising semiautonomous states and regions over which
he did not always exercise direct control.
36
Even more, his dominion
was so large that it sometimes took seven years for him to respond to
correspondence from such far-ung posts as the Philippines.
37
Studies of
Spanish administration show the frustration engendered by one mans
control of too many minutiae.
38
Philip managed to keep general control
over his system, but there were many issues and projects to which he
could not give his attention.
He issued his immense program of relaciones topogrcas, nancial, sta-
tistical, institutional and cultural surveys, but local ofcials often did not
answer them correctly or quickly. And he himself read the responses, of-
ten keeping them secret from his government once they had made the
long journey back to his ofce in the Escorial.
39
He once claimed to
have 100,000 documents on his desk that he needed to process.
40
As Ge-
offrey Parker illustrates, without a managerial system of delegation, and
without a personal interest in cataloging systems, Philip was over-
whelmed by the innite strands of his imperial worldwide web.
41
His
innovative information system was hampered by his penchant for se-
crecy and his obsessive personal centralization. At the same time, Philip
did not directly manage the state archives. Although he did have anti-
quarian scholars, such as Ambrosio de Morales, write historical reports
and relaciones, and the polymath Benito Arias Montano worked as his
learned librarian and diplomat during the Dutch Revolt, Philip II did
not effectively install a team in the Escorial for the processing of state in-
formation for his use.
42
The oldest of the centralized secular states, the republic of Venice,
had set the standard for modern state archives with its library of records
at San Marco, containing senatorial minutes and ambassadorial dis-
patches, and whose efciency was admired by all of Europe. By the six-
teenth century, Venice had long been the merchandise entrept be-
tween East and West, and the information exchange and book-printing
center of Europe.
43
The Venetian republic kept strict historical, diplo-
matic, and political archives in the Biblioteca San Marco.
44
It developed
an international network of spies and political information gatherers and
a system of ambassadorial reports called relazioni, which, like newsletters,
came in from wherever the Venetians sent ambassadors or spies.
45
The
Biblioteca San Marco contained a mix of legal, historical, and adminis-
trative archives. Venices state archive was a propaganda weapon in the
battle over papal authority during the Interdict crisis of 1606, when the
cleric, legal scholar, and scientist Paolo Sarpi, representing the republic
as a de facto information minister, published historical documents from
the republics archives to bolster Venices case against Rome in public
international opinion.
46
It was an extraordinary moment, for it showed
how a state archive could be organized and used for political and ad-
ministrative ends when a scholar was a leading state minister. Sarpi har-
nessed the archives not only to extract useful documentary propaganda,
but also to write his History of the Council of Trent (1619), which attacked
the political motivations of the church.
47
Needless to say, Rome, guided
by pope Paul V, responded in kind, sponsoring Cardinal Sforza Pallavi-
cino to use church archives against Venice in this virulent and ultimately
pyrrhic battle over the Interdict.
48
Philip IIs debacle of the Spanish Armada (1588), and the consequent
decline of Iberia, paralleled the period of Venices decline into the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century. Remarkably, while the political for-
tunes of Italy and Spain sunk, the Vatican became a center of bureau-
cratic and state innovation.
49
The Catholic Church had long used its
legal archives not only for canon law, but also in the battle over concil-
iar rights and doctrine. The church was assailed from all sides during the
Reformation, and its defenders and its critics mounted an information
arms race. For example, English Henrician reformers of the 1540s, such
Colberts Cosmos 21
as John Bale and Matthew Parker, used antiquarian archives to formulate
historical claims over the independence of the English church.
50
The
German Protestant Mathias Flaciuss archival research team made heav-
ily documented attacks on church rights with its massive anti-Catholic
historical work The Magdeburg Centuries (155974).
51
The Vatican librar-
ian and historian Cardinal Caesar Baronius (15381607) responded in
kind, fending off Protestant claims with his own archivally based Annales
ecclesiastici (15881607).
52
Baronius and those involved with the histori-
cal battle over church rights worked from an ancient tradition of source-
based defenses that had begun in late antiquity with ecclesiastical philo-
logical scholars such as Origen (184254 CE), and emerged again during
the Renaissance in works by scholars and antiquarians such as the Bene-
dictine Johannes Trithemius (14621516).
53
International law and rela-
tions grew out of ecclesiastical archives.
54
To defend its old rights, the church needed to modernize its ancient
archives. Between the papacies of Paul V and Urban VIII (160544), the
church was the leading center of state information gathering, organizing,
and handling.
55
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the
churchs state information system and governmental structure was in
many ways the most centralized and systematized in the world.
56
A
Borghese and a canon lawyer, Paul V responded to Sarpi by creating a
centralized and secret Archivio Segreto at the heart of the Vatican, in
1609 commissioning Michele Lonigo da Este to create the rst central
catalog of the Vatican collections, making data organization innovations
one year before the Venetians made a rst catalog of their own secret
archives. These were necessary reforms in the wake of the legal and pro-
paganda battles of the Venetian Interdict, but also of the claims made by
French scholars about Gallican monarchical rights over church lands and
the appointment of bishops.
After Pauls death in 1621, Gregory XV, a Jesuit, founded the Sacra
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, the central information organ of the
church, regulating all questions pertaining to foreign missions.
57
Urban
VIII, a learned Barbarini with a bibliophile nephew, set out not only to
create the greatest humanist library in the world in the walls of the Vat-
ican; he also specically led a charge in the collection of eastern manu-
scripts, the stuff of ancient learning and the ammunition for ideological
wars inside and outside the church.
58
Jesuit-trained in the Collegio Ro-
mano (an information center in its own right), Urban VIII continued
Paul Vs reform of the Vatican library and archives, but also reformed the
internal workings of the state information system and the Secretariat of
Briefs. More consciously than Paul, he linked formal learning with prac-
tical administration.
59
On his death in 1644, the Vaticanthe seat of the
Index librorum prohibitorum, the Inquisition, and the Archivio Segreto
was also the greatest existing collection of information, books, manu-
scripts, and antiquities. It was the nerve center of the world empire of
the church with its information missionaries, the Jesuits, masters of pious
reading and information-handling techniques, who meticulously com-
posed empirical relations that they sent back to their headquarters in
Rome.
60
Indeed, the Jesuit Order had formed in 1540 not only to
counter the teachings of Protestants and to evangelize, but also to train
Catholic leadership and bureaucracy in both technical skills and
morals.
61
Jesuit learned culture in the sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries was situated between piety, techniques of power, and knowl-
edge management, and trained generations of the Catholic elite to read
and write, master Latin, take notes, write formularies, and make com-
monplace books.
62
Books such as Francesco Sacchinis De Ratione libros
cum profectu legendi libellus, deque vitanda moribus noxia lectione, oratio Fran-
cisci Sacchini (Sammieli: F. Du Bois, 1615), or, according to its French ti-
tle, How to Read Fruitfully, showed students the techniques of reading,
information collection, formulation, categorization, handling, and man-
agement. As Ann Blair has shown, it was not only naturalist philoso-
phers, but often ecclesiastical scholars who honed the techniques of early
modern archiving and information management.
63
Polyhistors, encyclo-
pedists, and naturalists such as Conrad Gesner (151665) used lexicons,
indexes, and reading aids to write books that not only compounded
knowledge, but also helped readers master large amounts of information
through reading, note-taking and commonplace techniques, and by de-
signing ling and drawer systemsscrinium literarum, or literary le
cheststo hold notes and data.
64
More often than not, this information management technology was
invented or used by members of the church. At the very moment that
the church was losing its grip on earthly political power, it had achieved
a symbolic dominion over the world and the disciplines of knowledge in
its meticulously locked cabinets, vast libraries, and guarded secret corri-
dors. Embodied by the grandiose encyclopedic project of Athanasius
Kircher, Rome emerged as the museum of the past and the present, the
temporal embodiment of all the knowledge in the world. The papacy
had great archives, but how centralized and accessible they all were, and
to what extent archives, such as that of the Jesuits, were proactively used
by the papacy has not yet been conclusively established.
65
And although
Colberts Cosmos 23
Rome was still a center of learning, the execution of Giordano Bruno
(1600) and trials and punishments of Galileo (1633) there showed that it
would not long dominate splintered Christendom, and a world of
knowledge increasingly focused on the natural sciences; practical, em-
pirical learning; and merchant empires.
Information Exchange
In spite of the different size and relative centralization of states such as
Rome, Venice, and Spain, they were all in decline by the mid-seven-
teenth century. Indeed, it was Holland that grew not into the premier
economic power of this period and became the worlds most important
information exchange. Economic historians have placed Holland, and in
particular, Amsterdam, at the center of the world economic system.
66
With the Dutch stock exchange and the East India Company as its mo-
tors, reports to merchant and imperial trading houses owed in from
across the world, assessing political climates, trading routes, the price
uctuations of commodities, and works of scholarship.
67
Amsterdam and
The Hague were at the center of a local civic information web. Both
ofcial and unofcial information owed in from all of Holland as well
as its neighbors in England, France, Germany, and the Baltic states. Am-
sterdam was not just the center of civic administration and business in
Holland. It also ruled world trade by warehousing, which meant that
much of the worlds merchandiseeven that of its close neighbors
was carried by Dutch ships and passed rst through Holland before be-
ing resold or processed.
68
Information owed in this massive, global
market as merchants traded in goods, and also in information. Hollands
wide-ranging trading operations produced masses of correspondence as
merchants sent form letters back to their main branches listing political
information, trade routes, and the prices of commodities.
69
Dutch con-
suls from around its world trading empire sent reports from Dutch whale
oil factories in the Arctic, the West Indies, Europe, Brazil, Surinam,
Manhattan, and Arden.
The Dutch printing industry exploded as information owed into
Holland. With its religious tolerance and freer censorship policies, Am-
sterdam supplanted Venice as the world printing capital.
70
While mer-
chant and political information owed into Amsterdam and The Hague,
printers started producing mass runs of pamphlets and books disseminat-
ing this informationfrom exchange rates to secret court intrigues. As
opposed to centralized states such as Spain and Venice, the Dutch state
was fragmented and basically federated.
71
This had ramications in in-
formation ow and archiving. The Dutch state did not have tight con-
trol over state information. Many Dutch archives were in the hands of
the Spanish, who were their nominal lords.
72
At the same time, the sheer
volume of information passing through Holland added to its inuence
and its potential to threaten the interests of other countries. In short,
Holland had a public sphere and it affected the rest of Europe. The
Dutch state had a very effective system of international diplomatic re-
porting, yet it was not particularly secretive as a result of a relatively open
government culture.
73
Information collected by embassies quickly found
its way into the Amsterdam information exchange. The same happened
with its colonial trade companies, the East India Company and the Di-
rectorate of Levant Trade. The reports from their own communication
networks quickly made their way to the stock exchange and print shops.
Thus both its central position and porousness made Amsterdam a diplo-
matic capital, for if a government wanted to know what was going on,
it did not simply rely on its own diplomatic intelligence. Foreign states
also sent special ambassadors to Holland to collect information in the
open marketplaces of the Dutch nancial and information exchange.
74
Antiquarians and the Information State
While monarchs had long employed lawyers, diplomats, theologians,
and historical chroniclers, Renaissance government saw the emergence
of the antiquarian scholar as a major participant in Western governmen-
tal culture. Rather than bureaucrats simply being scholars as they were
in Italy, a tradition emerged in which rulers sought scholarsmedieval
legists and classical humanistsnot only as ornaments to their courts and
aids in learning, but also to work as freelance state researchers and ex-
perts who used antiquarian skills to nd legal and historical documenta-
tion to legitimate state undertakings.
The Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II (15521612) cre-
ated a remarkable environment of scholarly activity around his throne in
Prague. Humanists from Holland, Italy, Germany, and France ocked to
his court, which became a center of literary, historical, medical, and nat-
ural humanism.
75
While scholars such as the Hungarian Jnos Zsmboky
(Sambucus) and the Italian Octavio Strada wrote antiquarian histories
defending Rudolphs claims, the emperor never created an ofce of his-
torical research for political purposes.
76
Many state archives were local,
held in various imperial seats across its semifederated, provincial em-
Colberts Cosmos 25
pire.
77
The Hapsburg Empire had always been an odd mix in terms of
information culture. It had a massive humanist imperial library, but its
state archives were kept in national capitals such as Prague, Brussels, or
Budapest. This was the heritage of Charles Vs pan-European dynastic
web. Italian scholars and Belgians would, therefore, often have to track
down the origins of Hapsburg rights that spanned from Belgium, Hol-
land, the Franche-Comt, Spain, Bavaria, and Italy, to Austria, Bo-
hemia, and Galicia.
In a world of competing feudal and ecclesiastical rights, historical cul-
tureboth ancient and medieval documentary antiquarianismbecame
a pillar of legitimizing authority. From religious to secular and colonial
governments, states sought scholars not only to nd or produce histori-
cal documentation proving their rights, or their interpretation of the
Scriptures; they also sought historians who would help them understand
the political, religious, and natural history of their domains.
78
Scholars
could become ministers or major administrators, such as Ambrosio de
Morales, who was Philip IIs royal chronicler, a church administrator,
and also the author of ecclesiastical, antiquarian relaiones of Spain.
79
With its mixed constitution, the English monarchs had archives
and scholars, but also worked with allies in Parliament. In terms of state
information culture, England stood somewhere between monarchical
Spain and the freer, decentralized Holland. Neither the English monar-
chy nor Parliament had a monopoly on information. There were vari-
ous government secretarial ofces, depots, stores, and libraries, but not a
central archive.
80
The English crown certainly maintained troves of se-
cret information from the cabinet, from Privy Counsels, and from spy-
ing networks and diplomatic correspondence.
81
However, the ability of
the crown to collect massive and all-encompassing stores of state infor-
mation was limited by the constitution of mixed government. Both the
crown and Parliament had their secret domains within the state, as Par-
liament sought to keep its discussions secret from the king and the pub-
lic.
82
Both branches of government competed to nd and keep political
secrets.
Parliament in turn not only had archives, which could be consulted
by opposing forces, but also relied on legally trained members who
placed considerable store by careful record-keeping. A case in point is
the lawyer, parliamentarian, and organizer of the Virginia colonies, Sir
Edwin Sandys (15611629), who led the move to create a daily journal
of proceedings in the House of Commons and to have it checked by a
special committee.
83
If Sandys worked in the legal tradition of state ser-
vice, Sir Robert Cotton (15861631) is also a revealing example of how
antiquarian scholars served the English state. Cotton was a leading
scholar and ancient and medieval manuscript collector.
84
He was a free-
lance state scholar and also a state expert.
85
He was the great English cor-
respondent of the French and Dutch Republics of Letters, in which in-
formation and rare documents were circulated. Yet Cotton was not just
a scholar; like his correspondents in France, such as the Dupuy brothers,
Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc, and Jacques Auguste de Thou, or Grotius in
Holland, Cotton also served the state in various bureaucratic modes.
86
He was a state administrator, and he used his collections to solve state
problems and write reports. As a legal ofcer, he wrote reports at the di-
rect request of members of Parliament. In the end, he never worked ex-
clusively for the crown. When he died, his collection of manuscripts and
books, seen as essential to government, was preserved as a parliamentary
archive. Mixed government meant mixed interests. In a world of me-
dieval constitutions, scholars could work for the state without necessar-
ily serving the crown itself.
The French Information Entente:
The Republic of Letters and the Royal Library
It is here that we cross the threshold into Colberts world. More than in
England and Holland, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the
French state played an increasingly central role in the sponsorship and
organization of antiquarianism. Under Colberts institutional steward-
ship, Louis XIV would continue what centralizers such as Henry IV and
Richelieu had begun. Yet the early seventeenth-century monarchy re-
lied on outsiders to manage its archives and information. It did not yet
have an internal bureaucracy to the extent of the church.
One reason sixteenth and early seventeenth-century monarchs
sought to hire scholars to serve the state was the old tradition of Galli-
canism, a continuation of the conciliar conicts of the Middle Ages and
a cultural element of the Reformation. Gallican legal historians had long
claimed French royal precedence over the powers of the papacy and
worked in earnest against the legal edice of ultramontane church pow-
ers. In simple terms, this meant matching document with document in a
historical propaganda war, and in legal and diplomatic wrangling, most
of which was done not by clerics, who were sometimes lukewarm to
secular claims, but more often by protonationalist, Gallican magistrates.
87
From the mid-sixteenth to the beginning of the seventeenth century,
Colberts Cosmos 27
the Gallican movement had coalesced around a group of legal scholars,
librarians, prelates, and historians such as Ren Choppin, Pierre de
Marca, Gilles Le Maistre, Charles Dumoulin, Thodore Godefroy,
Pierre Pithou, and the Dupuy brothers. The most notable work to
emerge from this tradition was Pithous Les libertez de lglise gallicane (2
vols., Paris, 1639), later reedited by the Dupuy brothers, based on their
rich archival research and document collection and their work as royal
librarians. They were independent scholars, members of the parliamen-
tary magistracy and the Republic of Letters who, by an ancient tradition
of service to the crown worked to defend the monarchy with their legal
and historical expertise and used their great document collections and
learned networks to defend Gallican and royal rights.
88
Cotton, Grotius, and Heinsius drew their inspiration from the
French Gallican scholars, who formed a remarkable corps of state schol-
ars around the French crown and Parlement.
89
Far beyond Cotton and
Heinsiuss freelance state service, French antiquarians ofcially built the
Royal Library, managed propaganda and diplomacy, and laid the foun-
dations of a sophisticated and relatively open state information culture.
They created a more systematized form of state erudition and scholarly
political service. With an ancient monarchy, numerous parlements, great
centers of church culture, and a massive feudal framework, France had a
long and complex tradition of legal scholarship that acted as an inspira-
tion to the Republic of Letters at large. While France did not have a
clear-cut mixed constitution like England, the crown and Parlement
worked together in a politique arrangement left over from the Wars of
Religion.
90
With the advent of the seventeenth century, however, the
Parlement was increasingly unable to denitively maintain its indepen-
dence vis--vis the absolutist ambitions of the monarchy.
91
Thus, in this
massive European entity of twenty million subjects, an entente emerged
in which parliamentarian legal scholars converged around the absolutist
crown and served it as state scholars, librarians, archivists, historians, and
diplomats.
Although Medici queens had brought with them some Italian gov-
ernmental traditions, in particular nancial advisors and book-collecting
traditions, sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France lacked the
central administrative entities found in Italy and Spain. France had nei-
ther a Biblioteca San Marco, a Simancas, a Casa de Contratacin, nor an
Archivio Segreto. Government information was dispersed in various de-
pots: the Trsor des Chartes, the Chambre des Comptes, the archives of
the Conseil du Roi, parliamentary registers, privately held ministerial
archives, local feudal documents and patents, and monastic ecclesiastical
beneces were all scattered throughout the kingdom.
92
State nancial
information remained in the hands of ministers such as Henry IVs state
intendant, Sully, who, following administrative tradition, kept the -
nance records from his ministrythe Papiers Sullywhich became
the basis for his heirs work on state nance, Oeconomies royales (1638).
93
State Information and the Ancient Constitution
Owing to their role in the ancient constitution of France, most legal
documents and state archives were kept by parliamentarians or by eccle-
siastics. The crown did not have a large internal archival bureaucracy.
Royal secretaries had existed since the Middle Ages, evolving from the
more personalized ofces of the kings clerks, or the kings no-
taries.
94
Medieval French kings developed a relatively complex bureau-
cracy around their courts (curia regia).
95
Saint-Louis and Philip the Fair
employed secretaries, clercs du secret, who handled private royal papers
and correspondence.
96
By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the
ofces of the secretary of state emerged, and the functions of the secre-
taries expanded. They were still responsible for handling state secrets:
sealing documents and guaranteeing secret correspondence.
97
They kept
Richelieu in contact with various parts of the government and helped
him in the decision-making process.
98
The secretaries of states job had been to work for the chancellor to
write all royal edicts and pronouncements and issue charters, while also
keeping secret and diplomatic correspondences. They had the rights
over various seals and stamps.
99
They managed the kings papers in the
chancery, but they were not scholars per se. Independent nobles still
dominated state administration and kept the paperwork from their min-
istries. Even under Richelieu, France did not produce a state bureau-
cracy in the Weberian sense: a large, internal cadre entirely devoted to
state service, whose administrative papers belonged to the state and not
to the individual ofceholder.
100
The great ministers of the early seven-
teenth centurySully, Richelieu, de Brienne, and Mazarinall kept
personal possession of their ministerial archives, as did their families after
their death, until the ministries of Colbert and Louvois partially brought
them back into the permanent state archives. This hampered the cen-
tralization of administrative government in the northern Italian or Span-
ish style.
Indeed, for all its absolutist rhetoric, the administration of the six-
Colberts Cosmos 29
teenth- and early seventeenth-century French monarchy was remark-
ably diffuse and personal, considering the monarchy claimed absolute
prerogative. Culture had not yet caught up to ideology. The Parlement
of Paris was supposed to uphold absolute royal legislation, but not to leg-
islate. It could inform, criticize, ratify, and even reject royal law, yet all
the while it was subject to the kings ultimate authority. With a relatively
weak monarchy, the Parlement was able to use its right of remonstrance
for negotiating purposes, such as in the case of the Edict of Amboise
(1563), which restored some rights to Protestants. Parliament also at-
tempted to expand its own rights during the minority of Charles IX, as
well as the rights of Protestants.
101
To the benet of the monarchy, a bridge formed between it and the
Parlement in the realm of state information management. The monar-
chy depended on semi-independent legal scholars who worked for the
crown, keeping royal registers, while also organizing the royal charter-
house and publishing historical propaganda. While royal secretaries han-
dled secret daily correspondence, the royal archivesthe Trsor des
Charteswere managed by magistrate archivists such as Jean Du Tillet,
a parliamentary secretary (grefer).
102
From Guillaume Buds organiza-
tion of Franois Is library in 1520 to the administration of the Dupuy
brothers from 1635 to 1656, a venerable line of Gallican scholarslegal
defenders of the monarchys rights over the French churchserved the
crown as librarians, ofcial historians, and propagandists.
103
Inspired by
the mutual interests of civil peace, French nationalism, and Gallicanism,
scholars such as de Thou served both power and the ethics of scholar-
ship; or as Donald Kelley puts it, they balanced delity to truth with
civic humanism.
104
Jean Du Tillet, Jacques-Auguste de Thou, Pierre
Pithou, Nicolas Rigault, the Dupuy brothers, Thodore Godefroy, and
the ubiquitous Bignons were all lawyers, or were closely aligned with
the milieu of the Robe, the Harlay, Seguier, and de Thou families. They
were famed for their libraries, as well as their role in learned societies and
the elite Republic of Letters, connected by the epistolary network of
Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc.
105
In thus serving the crown, these parliamen-
tarians set aside many of the traditional constitutional claims to counter
royal power to help the monarchy manage its library, archives, and in-
formation apparatus with the goal of stabilizing a state wracked by reli-
gious and civil war.
The rst to catalog the royal charterhouse was the secretary of the
Parlement of Paris, Jean Du Tillet the elder (?1570). During the same
period, Jean Bodin (152096) acted as the theoretician of the parliamen-
tarian entente with absolutism, insisting on a strong, well-informed
monarchy served by legal scholars such as himself.
106
By the reign of
Henry IV (15891610), the tradition strengthened, with leading scholars
from prominent families managing the royal libraries and archives. A
president of the Parlement, famed scholar and book collector Jacques-
Auguste de Thou (15531617) used his documentary skills as a diplomat
and a legist for the crown. From 1593 to 1656, he and his family served
as Gardes de la Librarie royale.
107
He personies the entente, for he was
relatively independent vis--vis royal power: a person of great prestige,
a leader of the Putean Academy, a central hub for the international Re-
public of Letters, an internationally renowned scholar, and one of Eu-
ropes leading book and manuscript collectors.
108
Although a servant of
the state, and not above politics, de Thou was a wealthy, inuential pub-
lic gure in his own right and a parliamentarian.
With de Thou, the Dupuy brothers Pierre (15821651) and Jacques
(15911656), created the academythe Cabinet Dupuy, or Putean
Academywhich operated from de Thous library as the French central
point of the Republic of Letters and erudite scholarly life.
109
Though
connected to the crown, the academy was relatively independent, form-
ing a news and information bank, and producing daily nouvelles, or
newsletters for its members.
110
Sanctioned by the state, yet independent
within the strictures of the Republic of Letters, this academy was the
precursor to ofcial scientic academies. The Acadmie Franaise had to
report to, and work under the supervision of, crown ministers. The
Putean academy, on the other hand, was relatively independent, it did,
when requested, serve the interests of the crown and even foreign pow-
ers, such as the papacy, the Dutch, and the English. It also aided German
and Italian scholars and scholarly bureaucrats.
While running their academy, Pierre Dupuyformerly the archivist
of the Parlement of Parisand his brother Jacques also managed the
Royal Library, building the collection through their network of contacts
in the Republic of Letters and the Parlement of Paris. Thus there was a
formal link between the learned institutions of the Republic of Letters
and those of the crown. They assembled works on French royal prece-
dence and Gallican rights, collaborating with a number of French jurists
who worked for the Royal Library such as Pierre Pithou and Thodore
Godefroy (15801649).
111
The Dupuys even bequeathed their own mas-
sive collection to the Royal Library.
112
They echoed sixteenth-century
legists such as Du Cange who claimed that in the ancient constitution,
the law courts, or parlements, represented the interests of the crown: cu-
Colberts Cosmos 31
ria representat regem.
113
Pierre Dupuy cited this precedent in 1639 in his
Trait des preminences du Parlement de Paris. Yet there was a deep contra-
diction in the relationship between the monarchy and these scholars,
members of a Parlement that contentiously claimed the right to revise,
ratify, or even reject royal laws.
114
Under Richelieu, the crown had taken steps to wrest the control of
ofcial information and news management away from the Parlement.
While Cardinal Richelieu did have a sophisticated policy for harnessing
arts and letters and using scholars as propagandists, he never created a
central, secret state archive, under his control, to be used to produce
works of policy and propaganda. Through the founding of the Aca-
dmie Franaise in 1634, he sponsored historians to write propagandistic
works to bolster claims of absolutist prerogative.
115
He outsourced infor-
mation collection and propaganda to Thophraste Renaudots
(15861653) Bureau dAdresse (1629), which acted as the base for his
Gazette (1631), a protonewspaper comprised of relations, or eyewit-
ness reports, which supported the positions of the crown. This was an ir-
ritation to the Parlement of Paris, which, according to constitutional
practice, considered the circulation of news in the capital as one of its
prerogatives.
116
Richelieu understood the power of propaganda. In response to the
urry of antigovernment pamphlets, he sponsored a campaign of pub-
lishing responses, news reports, and literary, political, and historical
works that bolstered the policies of the crown.
117
While many scholars
worked for Richelieu, the cardinal himself did not personally oversee
the actual historical research that was at the basis of legal negotiation and
propaganda.
118
Richelieu neither enacted a serious campaign of censor-
ship and literary oppression, as Colbert later did, nor worked to create a
large secret archive so that he could micromanage propaganda, in spite
of his penchant for secrecy. Indeed, while many of Richelieus propa-
gandists were part of his clientele network, key legal and Gallican schol-
arship still often came from the ranks of semi-independent parliamentar-
ian scholars.
Gallicanism aligned the interests of the parlements with the increas-
ingly absolutist monarchy. There occurred between these competing
though complimentary powers an entente in the sphere of information
management. Such was the nature of feudalism and the separation of
powers of the ancient constitution in the budding absolutist state. Legal,
ecclesiastical, and feudal document management was one of the primary
functions of the parlements, the primary service provided to the crown
by Gallican scholars. Figures such as Jean Du Tillet and the Dupuy
brothers not only kept royal registers, they used them as sources for de-
fense in national and international disputes over precedence, tax rights,
and dominion.
119
Remarkably, the crown allowed elements of foreign
policy, propaganda, and legal policies to be managed by independent
scholars from the ranks of the magistracya corps that often resisted and
rebelled against royal authority. While the Parlement worked with the
monarchy during crises such as the Wars of Religion, it did not work for
the monarchy completely subservient as a branch.
Even as these scholars worked for the crown, they still insisted on
their own freedoms, and therein lay a potential conict. How could in-
dependent members of the Republic of Letters and the parlements serve
an increasingly authoritarian crown? There was a deep contradiction in
the relationship between the monarchy and these scholars, members of
the Robe, who worked for the crown but sympathized with the parlia-
mentary claim of the right to revise, ratify, or even reject royal laws, and
who were arbiters of both public and secret spheres of information.
120
In
the end, these traditional scholars were not fully suited to serve as chief
state information masters in an age when power lay increasingly in trade
and empire. With the noble and parliamentarian rebellion of the Fronde
(164853), the constitutional and information entente collapsed.
121
The
control of state archives by legal scholars had become incompatible with
the interests of the rising absolutist state.
122
After Mazarin crushed the
Fronde, he and Louis XIV moved to subject the parlements to royal au-
thority, and Colbert was the man in charge of what was effectively a
coup dtat. Disarming the parlements meant depriving them not only of
political authority, but also of the very legal and political information
through which they wielded and dened it. For this, a new kind of in-
formation master was needed.
Colberts Cosmos 33
c ha p t e r 3
The Accountant and the Coups dtat
I
n another time and place, the Colberts might have been patricians
in the mold of the Medicis.
1
Jean-Baptiste Colbert came from a
merchant banking family from Reims, the great cathedral and
cloth town, and capital of the Champagne region. Seventeenth-century
France, however, was not Renaissance Italy, and bourgeois patricians
did not become the princes of their cities. In a culture dominated by
wealthy nobles, and increasingly by a centralized monarchy, the primary
avenue of social ascension for an ambitious nancier or merchant was
through service to a great aristocrat, or, inevitably after the failed noble
rebellion of the Fronde, to the crown.
2
Colberts father began his career
not as a simple cloth merchant, as the clich goes, but as a ngociant: an
international wholesale merchant and nancier. Part of the international
world of Reimois and Lyonnais nance and trade, the Colberts were
connected to the inuential Franco-Italian banking family, the Particelli,
into which Colberts sister married.
3
Colbert himself trained to be a ngociant. He attended the Jesuit
school in Reims. Taking the pretheological cycles of the curriculum,
Colbert did not receive a full classical education, but rather the rudi-
ments necessary for international trade. Aside from grammar, humani-
ties, and rhetoric, Jesuit pedagogy focused on skills useful for a merchant:
mathematics, reading comprehension, note-taking, ling, and the for-
mal organization of ones reading and lecture notes into notebooks.
4
With the rise of geography in the Jesuit curriculum, Colbert was also ex-
34
posed to the new Jesuit focus in practical and natural science, as well as
in the writing of natural description and reportsall skills useful for a
budding merchant trader or banker.
5
After the Jesuits, he followed a typical itinerary for a member of a
high merchant family. In his midteens, Colbert apprenticed in the Lyon
ofce of family associates, the Italian banking family, Mascranni, where
he not only learned international banking, but also some Italian.
6
He
then went on to take a clerkship at the Parisian accounting house, l-
tude Chappelain, and at the law rm of Biterne, where he learned
nancial law.
7
Work in merchant houses and accounting rms provided specic
sorts of training. First, an apprentice would learn the ars mercatoria, or
mechanics of running a rm. These methods had not changed drastically
since the Middle Ages, though the use of double-entry book accounting
had become more prevalent and was the basis of nancial and mercan-
tile management.
8
In order to manage a trading house, the merchant
would need constantly to inventory both stock and all exchanges. This
meant diligent record-keeping at all levels. As for actual trading itself, it
required a mastery not only of merchandisefrom cloth, metals, plants,
and spice to slavesbut also of its evaluation and measurement. Mer-
chants carried with them reference books, but many personally made
notebooks that contained currency exchanges; customs forms and rules;
the translation of basic nancial terms in major European languages; a
schedule of tides, sunsets, and sunrises; merchandise descriptions; and
maps, navigation information, and city descriptions.
9
As shall become
clear, Colbert was particularly skilled in paperwork handling, the laws
and procedures of exchange and trade, and administrative archiving.
Colberts initial training opened the way to his purchase of a position
in 1639 under the great builder of Richelieus army, Sublet de Noyers,
in the Ministry of the Army.
10
This was his rst position in royal admin-
istration, and it was as a commissary (commissaire ordinaire des guerres) that
he traveled across France, writing administrative reports and managing
regimental nance.
11
Working under the next army minister, Michel Le
Tellier, a distant cousin, between 1643 and 1648, his job was to collect
information on troop numbers and supplies.
12
Decades earlier, this might
have been the end of the story: Colbert would have remained a wealthy
bourgeois nancier, or simply a bureaucrat. But he arrived on the scene
at a propitious moment. In 1650, Le Tellier posted Colbert as his inten-
dant to Cardinal Mazarin during a military stage of the Fronde. This
meant Colbert was Le Telliers administrative assistant in Mazarins en-
The Accountant and the Coups dtat 35
tourage and army. His stated job was to decipher Le Telliers daily cor-
respondence, read it to the cardinal, and then take his responses.
13
Monseigneur, this morning I showed Mgr the Cardinal the two arti-
cles in code from your memo yesterday. On the second, His Eminence
ordered me to write you. . . . For the surplus of orders that it has
pleased you to send me by your letters and memos from yesterday, His
Eminence has given me until this evening or tomorrow morning [to
respond]. I will hurry as much as I can to resolve everything, and to let
you know [the responses] as soon as I can.
14
Colbert was not just responsible for decodingwhich he probably
learned on the jobwriting, and communicating; he also collected var-
ious correspondence and documents. He would often make copies, le
them and then present them as organized packets to Le Tellier or
Mazarin.
15
In the role of an administrative secretary, Colbert was Le Tel-
liers eyes and ears, an archiver and ler. But more than that, he also
maintained an intraministerial secret news and intelligence bureau. He
was to inform Le Tellier in coded letters of the events concerning
Mazarins court and army. His letters to Le Tellier were accompanied by
formal news reports, which he called mmoires or relations, detailed de-
scriptions of battles or important political meetings. He would summa-
rize other correspondence sent to Mazarin by various important per-
sons.
16
In many cases, he would analyze and clarify both reports and
events that took place around him, to explain them in detail.
17
In spite of Colberts proximity to power and his skill at accounting
and managing information, his position was technically still quite mod-
est. Indeed, Colbert complained to Le Tellier in 1650 about his salary,
which was supposed to be 3,000 livres, of which only 1,700 livres were
actually paid.
18
This was a decent sum for those who had outside in-
come, such as Louis XIVs gentlemen of the chamber, that is, dukes and
counts who earned between 2,000 and 3,500 livres, but who had vast
personal fortunes. Colberts salary was more than that of a simple secre-
tary, but it was equal to that of the court dancing master, and much
lower than that of the court mathematician, who made 4,500.
19
Col-
berts ambitions were ministerial, and for that, he needed more money.
He made a shrewd marriage to Marie Charron, daughter of a member of
the kings council, from a large family of wealthy military contractors. It
brought with it a dowry of 100,000 livres tournois.
20
While he com-
plained to his masters that he had no money, Colbert nonetheless ad-
mitted to his in-laws that he had amassed 50,000 livres himself.
21
Through his management of Mazarins funds, he had secretly, and in
some cases illegally, begun investing in agricultural schemes, tax farming,
and monetary speculation.
22
Not only a collector of books and manu-
scripts, Colbert was to prove very good at collecting money.
The meeting of Colbert and Mazarin brought together two comple-
mentary spirits. Mazarin had amassed a colossal fortune, functionally
larger than that of the crown, but he did not have the expertise to man-
age it. Colbert, on the other hand, had spent his entire youth training to
manage large fortunes, but he did not have one. Instead, he was now
getting ever closer to the largest fortune in France. The cardinals cellars
were lled with treasures, a massive collection of artworks, antiquities,
and jewels.
23
Even more, Mazarins wealth was contained in enormous
and unorganized piles of feudal contracts and deeds to various sorts of
landholdings, industries, and dubious nancial schemes.
24
Mazarin stated
frankly that he had no idea how much wealth he actually had, or how
much he could raise to fund his armies. In any case, as the Fronde drew
on, Mazarin needed ever more funds. Thus he needed a good accoun-
tant not only to put his nances in order, but also to raise money quickly
for the war effort.
Colberts persistence was boundless and he began the hard job of in-
gratiating himself to the cardinal and rendering his services indispensable
to the de facto ruler of France. As Mazarins nancial needs became
more pressing in 1650, Le Tellier recommended his skilled intendant as
the permanent manager of Mazarins household. Colbert began to sit in
Mazarins archives, pouring over the mounds of paperwork and feudal
deeds; nding untapped revenue and unpaid debts; managing industrial
projects, and illicit sources of income, along with his massive ecclesiasti-
cal landholdings.
25
During the years 165053, the detailed correspon-
dence between the two men reveals the extent to which Colbert man-
aged Mazarins affairs. In a report on the cardinals nances, dated
September 31, 1651, Colbert informs his master that he has indeed re-
ceived all the papers and that he is working to terminate the difcul-
ties in bringing order to the cardinals nances.
26
In 1652, working with
the queens treasurer, Jacques Tubeuf, president of the Chambre des
Comptes, Colbert was still trying to obtain all of Mazarins papers and
bring to term the cardinals various business ventures.
I must work one of these days with Monsieur Tubeuf to nish the ac-
counts that he must give to Your Eminency. According to my calcula-
tions that I have made with the documents that I have collected, which
are quite trustworthy, I have found that your debt has been reduced to
four hundred thousand pounds and the business in Auvergne and
Longuedoc included, he [Tubeuf] is basically in agreement, the latter
for two hundred thousand pounds, and that Your Eminency is owed
one hundred thirty nine thousand ve hundred and eighty three
pounds, as well as and above the thirty-six thousand pounds that Your
Eminency has already received and a promise from Mssrs the [farmers
general] of the gabelles of twenty thousand pounds that I will take out
and we must nd a way to have them paid promptly; I beg you to be-
lieve that I have not made any notable errors. [Marginal note]: It will
be necessary that the Cardinal has a search made of all the papers and
memoirs of Mr. Tubeuf; the only difculty in clearing them up con-
cerns an error of twenty thousand pounds for the rent of your houses,
an error that is to the advantage of the Cardinal.
27
More than just handling masses of papers, Colbert made contacts and
worked with all the gures involved in the Mazarins nancial dealings,
such as the queen regent, Ann of Austria, the wealthy Tubeuf, the duke
de Guise, the cardinals Roman agent Elpidio Benedetti, the cardinals
household and military agents Euzenat, Bartet, and de La Vieuville, as
well as the his librarian and archivist, Gabriel Naud.
28
He also had to
run industrial projects and negotiate with those to whom the Mazarin
owed money, and vice versa.
29
He even guarded his valuable jewels. At
every step, using strong-arm tactics when necessary, he extracted wealth
from the cardinals holdings:
I have the pearls in my hands, more or less in the condition which I
described to you. Monsieur Mnardeau did not ask for any interest on
his money, and Monsieur Tubeuf did not want to nish the business
that he had started before on the eighteenth, which comes out to 4,128
pounds 17 sols, and the principal 62,220, bringing everything to 66,348
pounds 17 sols. . . . This is going to require patience. I have sent a man
expressly to the Limousin to force Tabouret to pay; I hope to get
something out of this, because of the way I handled the affair.
30
Although he had initially found Colbert vulgar and presumptuous,
Mazarin now wrote Colbert complimentary letters.
31
Within a year,
he had become indispensable. Even more, Colberts work bore fruit.
In 1658, after the Fronde, Mazarin had 8 million livres in cash. By the
time of the cardinals death in 1661, Colbert had turned this sum into
35 million, a great part of which would be Mazarins legacy to Louis
XIV.
32
As much as Colbert succeeded in building and managing Mazarins
fortune in the 1650s, he nonetheless remained a household servant. As
the favorites accountant, he was close to the center of the new royal
state, but he was not yet a part of it.
33
If he were to realize his ambitions,
which were often the subtext of his imploring letters to Mazarin, he
would need to rise above his household servant status. The opportunity
would soon present itself. Remarkably, the road from accountant to
statesman led through Mazarins library.
The Fall of the Humanist
In 1649, Cardinal Mazarin faced a crisis. As rst minister, Mazarins au-
thority was challenged by nobles and the cardinals during the Fronde.
The cardinal, however, had other problems besides simply war and
money. He was assailed by a barrage of negative political pamphlets
the Mazarinadeswhich both ridiculed him and questioned his and the
crowns legal prerogatives.
34
Losing the propaganda war, Mazarin had to
respond to these dangerous attacks.
To take on the parlements, which fueled the constant ow of pam-
phlets, Mazarin turned to his librarian, the internationally renowned hu-
manist Gabriel Naud (16001653), to formulate a propaganda response.
Naud was the sort of man the Italian cardinal would trust. Naud
claimed expertise in the late humanist, libertine Machiavellian art of pru-
dence, or reason of state. Nauds Considrations politiques sur les coups d-
tat (1639) drew on passages from the Roman historian Tacitus and the
Dutch humanist Justus Lipsiuss Politica, with the express intention of
teaching the art of statecraft through political secrecy and dissimula-
tion.
35
He was thus a proponent of neostoicism and an idea to which
Cardinal Richelieu and much of Europes educated elite subscribed.
Strong states were built with the political wisdom afforded by reason of
state, or the art of mastering political expediency through prudence
based on experience and the knowledge of historical precedent.
36
Educated in Italy, where he had studied medicine and worked as li-
brarian to the Cardinal Bagni, Naud had written a tract against political
pamphlets, Le Marfore (1620); a famous work on library management and
theory, Advice on Establishing a Library (1627); and a list of books neces-
sary for the knowledge of politics, his Bibliographie politique (1642).
Naud was doubtless an expert on reason of state, but how good was he
at applying his methods of statecraft in the arena of real politics? Indeed,
was the old culture of reason of state up to the task presented by the
crises of the Fronde?
As the head of Mazarins library, the nest in France, Naud had be-
come the states top information expert, and established himself as the
heir to the long line of legal scholars who worked for the crown as li-
brarians, archivists, and historical and legal propagandists.
37
But with the
advent of the Fronde, Naud found himself ghting the Parlement,
which had once supplied librarians, scholars, and propagandists to the
monarchy and formed the backbone of the Republic of Letters. How
could he now serve the interests of scholarship and the Republic of Let-
ters, while remaining loyal to the crown? The old entente between legal
humanists and the crown, the very cement of the French Republic of
Letters, was collapsing.
A self-styled expert in secrecy, Naud recommended Mazarin spon-
sor a publishing campaign against the Frondeurs. He published his own
long-winded response to the pamphlets, Le Jugement de tout ce qui a est
imprim contre le Cardinal de Mazarin (Paris: anon., 1650), but still the ow
of Mazarinades did not abate.
38
In a letter to Mazarin, dated July 15,
1651, Naud complained that the cardinal had let his enemies occupy
the sphere of public discourse and opinion.
39
He begged him to respond
by writing public responses, and to muster his literary friends to work to
detromper le peuple.
40
Most of all, he suggested that publishing veri-
table documents from the cardinals own archives would prove the Car-
dinals good intentions to the public. Ten days after Naud wrote his
letter, the cardinal directed him to consult with Colbert to obtain the
necessary papers.
41
Perhaps because he himself had come from a family of low-level
nanciers, Naud did not like Colbert, and resented having to deal with
him, perhaps because his social origins were even lower.
42
This paragon
of the Republic of Letters and the universities, librarian to princes, and
friend to the pope, mocked Colberts apparent bourgeois vulgarity,
making fun of his merchants collar, calling him Berticol.
43
Colbert
came from the tradition of family business, loyalty to ones patron, dou-
ble-entry book accounting, warehouse inspections, backrooms, and
lockboxes.
44
This was no noble man of letters. Indeed, he hardly knew
Latin, the lingua franca of humanists. When Naud met Colbert in 1651,
the latter was deep in Mazarins accounts, looking for new sources of in-
come for this embattled minister now at war.
45
Yet at one level, Naud
and Colbert did have something in common: they both served the state
as information masters. The humanist managed Mazarins semipublic li-
brary with its books, manuscripts, and political pamphlet collections,
while the accountant managed the cardinals private archive, that of his
nancial papers.
From the beginning, Colbert expressed doubts about Nauds idea of
publishing secret documents:
I will furnish to Mr. Naud all that he demands. However, on this sub-
ject, I am obliged to tell you that not all of your friends and servants
believe that anything should appear in public, it being absolutely nec-
essary for you to let be the humor of our nation. Which is of the great-
est inconsistency in its hates and its friendships, and when the object of
which is absent, it does not excite itself. The disorders and the civil
wars in which we are falling will indubitably play into your hands; and
if you continue your behavior in the same manner as in the past, we
have some real hope. . . . It is true that one must always prepare papers,
which can be taken from the general state of your accounts, which is a
convincing piece; but again, one must neither stir things up, nor pub-
lish anything before the hatreds of the public are dampened.
46
Naud, in turn, insisted that the cardinal ignore Colberts advice. Col-
bert was forced to give in, rendering a trove of secret nancial docu-
ments.
47
Although initially rebuffed, Colbert continued whispering his philos-
ophy of state secrecy into the cardinals ear.
48
He also treacherously
claimed to the cardinal that Naud was stealing from him.
49
In this
conict, Naud would nd himself the loser. Civil war had changed not
only the state, but also the world of learning. The rebellion of the
Fronde was waged on the battleeld of books and libraries as the Par-
lement took over Paris, and attacked the institutions controlled by
Mazarin. Naud watched helplessly, clutching a few last books, as the
magnicent library he had created for his master was dismantled and
gleefully auctioned off by members of the Parlement of Paris. After this
traumatic loss, Naud went on to lose the cardinals condence and his
job. Although he hoped to get his position back, Naud died like
Descartes and Grotius, en route back from Sweden, where he too had
answered the siren call of the ever-curious Queen Christina.
50
He was
the last ofcial court humanist in France, and his failure marked the end
of the entente between the semi-independent scholars and the crown.
The self-styled master of secret state maneuvers had been beaten handily
at his own game.
51
Naud the great scholar failed, while Colbert the ac-
countant rose to power.
Thus it was that in 1653, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the son of a failed
nancier with no scholarly training, became head of the French Royal
Library. In a matter of months, Colbert bought back much of Mazarins
library restoring it to its past glory. In a report to Mazarin, Colbert noted
not only the nancial aspects of rebuilding the collection, but also his
methods in putting pressure on those who had bought the cardinals
books at a low price. They will give up their books without difculty,
mused Colbert ominously, but they will pay dearly for it.
52
Colbert
liked books, and with them, a keen taste for repressing the very world
that produced them.
Colbert outlined his strategies in dealing with collectors and book
dealers. Colbert knew how the world of the book worked, with its hid-
ing places, false bookkeeping, and inaccurate catalogs. He knew the
principal book dealers and had a sense of where the missing books had
gone.
53
From the registers of the sale, Colbert also knew which parlia-
mentarians had obtained the most books. Police were duly sent to the
houses of the parliamentarians Pithou, Peteau, and Portail to make an
exact search of their libraries and other places in their houses for all the
books that were in Your Eminences library . . . to take all that is recog-
nized to have been part of the library of Your Eminence.
54
The Pithou
family had once been a pillar of the world of royal scholarship, but they
took sides against the crown during the Fronde. Now their family library
was ransacked by Colberts men.
Colbert had shown that he not only knew the world of books and
learning, he also knew how to put it under the boot of royal power.
Mazarin was convinced that this was the man to run not only his library,
but that of the king as well. In 1654, Colberts brother became guardian
of the Royal Library, under Colberts control. It was a remarkable oc-
currence; for it was the rst time a nonscholar and a man of such low so-
cial rank had risen to such a prestigious post. But it was more than just
prestige that appealed to Colbert. As we shall see, he would use his new
central position in the world of learning as a basis for political power that
lay in the old legal, nancial, and diplomatic documents that sat on
shelves of archives.
55
Colbert controlled Mazarins nances and library,
as well as the Royal Library, and was essentially the information minis-
ter of the administration. Now his multiple talents would come into play
as Mazarin and Louis XIV moved to grab power and build a new royal
state.
The Mechanics of an Information Coup: The Crushing of
Fouquet and the Muzzling of the Parlement
As early as 1654, at the head of the states censorship and information ap-
paratus, Colbert began a campaign to take control of vital political in-
formation held by the parlements.
56
When in 1656, the Parlement of
Paris argued that the king did not have the authority to use vocations to
overturn lawsuits, Colbert lamented to Mazarin that the Parlement con-
trolled the legal archives with which to make such arguments, and was
thus a threat to royal power:
A number of counselors have already sought in their registers examples
and reasons which can serve their interests. . . . I have thought that per-
haps Your Eminence would agree if I did my own research on what
has been said on this matter, from the same legal documents used by
the Parlement of Paris, which the kings have never really kept, and
which they use to justify their enterprises, and never provide remedies
to help with the projects of kings, and thus keep them unknown. I
would be happy if my little research into the archives could be agree-
able to Your Eminence. . . . I could on numerous occasions render this
service.
57
The cardinal replied to Colbert that he was puzzled that no one had
ever kept a register of what kings have done to repress the enterprises
of the Parlement of Paris . . . as well as the clergy, and directed Colbert
to go the archives and nd the documents to rebut the Parlement.
58
Colbert acted immediately, writing a secret, internal report: Consid-
rations sur lArrest du Parlement de Paris, du 18 aoust 1656, concernant
les vocations, in which, with the aid of an assistant, probably Joseph-
Nicolas Foucault, he provided a series of archival documents proving the
kings right to overturn decisions of Parlement.
59
This legalistic, histori-
cal text on the history of vocations is based on archival materials starting
from the time of Franois I.
As Colbert moved against the parlements, he showed himself to be a
key player in the establishment of royal power after the Fronde. Louis
XIV wanted to take power from the parlements, and with his knowl-
edge of paperwork, law and government, Colbert was to be the archi-
tect of this policy. Mazarin saw Colbert as an indispensable asset, both
nancially and politically. In his last will and testament, made on his
deathbed, Mazarin recommended Colbert to the young monarch. Now
in personal control of government, Louis XIV would not take a prime
minister. But as shall become clear, Colbert helped Louis conceptualize
the mechanics of his new state. In 1661, as the king and his minister
worked to form their rst government, Colbert wrote to Louis on how
to organize and manage the Royal Council. The rst lines of this secret
memo to Louis give a clear sense of the driving principle behind Col-
berts idea of government:
You must require all to make individual pledges of loyalty and secrecy.
The King must declare that he wants secrecy rigorously observed; . . .
and that he will absolutely expel anyone at all who would be capable
of this weakness.
60
Louis evidently agreed with Colberts advice, for he allowed Colbert to
draft his rst speech to be read at the opening of the Council of Fi-
nances. Louis read the words of Colbert to his new cabinet of ministers:
The rst thing I desire from you is secrecy; and as I consider it impor-
tant and necessary for the sound management of my affairs, I am at ease
telling you that if I learn that someone has dared tell anyone anything
at all that has happened here, I will nd out the origin of this leak, and
I will expel from my council him who has been capable of this weak-
ness. . . . Once I have taken the resolution to give an order, it must be
executed and supported with resoluteness, sincerity, and secrecy.
61
Secrecy meant not only the discretion of ministers and secretaries; it also
meant keeping state information within royal control. To do this, Louis
and Colbert had to disarm potential noble factions, and undermine the
power of the Parlement.
Fouquet: Information Casualty
Essential to this plan was the overthrow of Mazarins and Louis XIVs
early superintendent of nances, Nicolas Fouquet. By all accounts, he
was brilliant, dashing, greedy, and paranoid. Madame de Sevign, li-
belists, and modern historians alike have painted Fouquet as the victim
of Colberts ambition, and of Louis XIVs dictatorial tendencies.
62
But
Fouquet was presumptuous. He made the infamous mistakes of assum-
ing that Louis XIV wanted and needed a prime minister, and thinking
that he would ll that role. In August 1661, at the moment Louis had
taken personal rule after the death of Mazarin, he threw an ostentatious
party at his chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Louis was humiliated by his
ministers sophisticated opulence and patronage of high society and cul-
ture. Vaux was grander than any abode Louis possessed. Like all inten-
dants of nance before him, Fouquet pilfered money from royal funds;
this was an understood advantage of the position.
63
Not only did Fou-
quet steal, however; he managed royal funds badly, and he made the er-
ror of using them to outshine the king, whose personal nances were
still shaky after the Fronde.
64
Had Fouquet only spent his money on cul-
ture and parties, perhaps Louis might not have been so bent on destroy-
ing him. But Fouquet also used massive sums to maintain a small army
and to fortify his Island of Belle-Isle off the southern coast of Brittany,
which protected the mouth of the Loire River and thus was the key to
controlling western France. With the help of his cousin, Colbert de Ter-
ron, Colbert had placed a spy dressed as a sherman off the coast of Fou-
quets island, who provided a detailed map of the island, as well as a re-
port that detailed fteen hundred laborers, two hundred garrisoned
soldiers, four hundred canon, and munitions for six thousand men.
65
Even more, du Terron reported that Fouquet had made plans to take
over the Caribbean island of Martinique and to use his own coastal is-
land to receive all the goods produced there.
66
In short, Fouquet was
building a miniature kingdom and a small empire. With strong ties to
the Parlement, Fouquet possessed all the elements of a Frondeur, be-
coming an independent and wealthy noble, with an army and fort held
outside of royal authority.
In September 1661, Louis and Colbert moved to arrest Fouquet and
exile his family and friends. Colbert wrote several detailed plans for the
arrest.
67
Colberts main interest was executing the coup with secrecy, so
that no documents could be removed. All of Fouquets ofces would be
sealed, and state lawyers would invest the premises and conscate all pa-
pers. Colberts memo reads:
Do everything to observe secrecy, so that all news comes from the
King, to take all the necessary precautions. For this effect, send three or
four loyal musketeers on the two roads to stop all ordinary or extraor-
dinary couriers from passing without orders from the King, counter-
signed by Monsieur Le Tellier. At the same time as the arrest, also ar-
rest all the [Fouquets] assistants and put seals on overything, while also
blocking all visits.
68
Colbert insisted that maitres des requtes be present not only to seal docu-
ments, but to rush them back to his own ofce:
It is necessary to assign to this task a matre des requtes to seal all the cas-
settes and to put them in a safe place; likewise, he should do an exact
research of all the papers that are found in the house and seize them.
Order another ofcer to arrest all the assistants and make sure that no
papers are transported. If there are two matres des requtes, we could
send one with the commissary to seal the papers. With all these orders
executed, it is necessary to work to speed up the couriers.
69
Unprepared and outmaneuvered, Fouquet was stunned by the coup.
He made no moves to destroy his personal archives, which could be
used either to defend or to indict him. Fouquets brother, the abb Fou-
quet, considered destroying the archive by burning down Fouquets
chateau at Saint-Mand, but this, it was thought, would bring further
retribution from Louis XIV.
70
As the captain of the kings musketeers,
Charles dArtagnan led the arrest of Fouquet and the following search of
his house. Directing the operation was Colbert. Fouquets friends no-
ticed a disturbing thing: Colbert was meticulously collecting Fouquets
papers. The conseiller dtat de la Fosse wrote to Chancellier Seguier that
he was concerned that Colbert, Fouquets obvious enemy, was collect-
ing papers to use politically.
71
There was reason to worry. Fouquet had
been trying to win over Louiss friends, family, and mistresses with gifts
and bribes. As a letter from one of the queens ladies in waiting to Fou-
quet surfaced, Colbert began to smell the scent of ammunition to use
against his foe. De la Fosse writes, I am pained and I tremble as I write
you this, and I believe we must take this letter very seriously, that M.
Poncet has separated to show to M. Colbert.
72
The letter, he warned,
had to be destroyed before it reached the king.
This was, however, impossible. Colbert and his agents were now in
Fouquets library and archives, with the letter in their possession. Poncet
and his commissaries ransacked Fouquets ofce. Behind his armoire,
they found a massive, bound folio notebook, the Cassette of Fouquet.
This compilation of manuscripts revealed Fouquets plans, and Colbert
intended to use them as evidence and as propaganda against him.
73
With the Cassette, Colbert had the key to Fouquets system. It con-
tained Fouquets correspondence with various ladies who served as
lovers and informants, as well as information pertaining to payments,
gifts, and bribes.
74
It also listed all of Fouquets agents and spies, many in
the royal court and administration, and revealed his nancial dealings, as
well as his plans and nances for building his fortress in Belle-Isle.
Among his other papers were plans for a civil war in the case that Louis
XIV evicted him from powerthe Plan de Saint Mandalong with
a number of testimonials of loyalty from various gures, such as the par-
liamentarian Maridor, in case of such an event.
75
Colbert had hoped that these documents would help indict Fouquet
and impose a death sentence. Even more, Colbert had expected that the
revelation of this secret cache of plans and purloined letters would sway
public opinion in favor of the crown. However, with the irregularities
of the trial, reluctant judges, and the suspicions of the Parlement of Paris
and public, convincing the public was harder than expected.
76
In 1663,
Colberts powerful uncle, the judge Pussort, shocked the magistracy by
leading an extraordinary proceeding, which was, in spite of the legit-
imately damning documents, an ominous and procedurally illegal show
trial.
77
Colbert asked the president of the Parlement, Malesherbes de
Lamoignon, to decide Fouquets fate before the termination of proceed-
ings, to which the indignate magistrate replied with an epigram: Un
juge ne dit son avis quune fois et sur les eurs de lys.
78
Colbert was rightfully perceived by the public as acting in secret,
pulling the strings of the trial behind the scenes, giving new meaning to
his family crests symbol, the couleuvre, a climbing snake.
79
Echoing the
disgust of public sentiment, Lamoignon noted the ferocity of the Col-
bert family to his friend, Mme de Sevign.
80
Even if the trial did not
convince the public of Fouquets guilt, it made clear the intention of the
crown to act above the law. It also revealed something essential about
Colbert: he thought about power in terms of information. Colbert
rightly saw the keys to power in Fouquets Cassette, which revealed his
network, his nances, and all his plans. Colbert tried to inuence public
opinion by leaking the incriminating documents, but his actions more or
less backred.
81
In spite of protests and public opinion, in what was truly
a coup de thtre, Louis and Colbert got their man. They imprisoned
Fouquet in solitary connement for the rest of his short, miserable life,
and perhaps more importantly, showed to all that the crown had full au-
thority over powerful nobles, legal procedure, and the Parlement itself.
Legislating Secrecy
In the 1660s, Louis and Colbert continued their assault, acting to neu-
tralize the Parlements information arsenal by copying its archives of reg-
isters of legal codes.
82
As the site where laws were registered, the Par-
lement controlled part of the states archive of state legal and nancial
information. Colbert saw the Parlements documentary arcana juris, or
secret knowledge of legal affairs, as potential arcana imperii, or state se-
crets, outside the grasp of the monarchy. The idea that the Parlement
held secret knowledge was unacceptable to Louiss totalizing concept of
royal power. The ancient constitution of France had to be undermined.
In a memo dated October 1, 1665, unambiguously entitled, Means for
putting the Parlement in the state where it should naturally be, and to
take away once and for all the maxims with which this Company has un-
dertaken to trouble the State, by taking over its administration,
83
Col-
bert recommends making a declaration to ban them from ever having
access and knowledge of State documents.
84
He then attempted to re-
move vital administrative and legal documents from parliamentary
hands, by rewriting the legal code himself. In a 1664 Mmoire to
Louis XIV on judicial reforms, he notes that secrecy is necessary in
these grand plans, to avoid obstacles, gain glory, overcome opposition,
and bring the project to perfection without anyone realizing it is hap-
pening.
85
These are not the words of reform, but of a constitutional
coup dtat, and a frontal assault to control the political public sphere and
classify legal information.
86
Here drawn out were the steps to the path to
power.
In 1667, Colbert and his uncle Pussort set about secretly codifying
the legal system, which has quite rightly been seen by historians as one
of the great achievements, though unnished, of Colberts centralizing
project.
87
It stamped out legal corruption and centralized procedure, but
at the same time, it placed strict limits on the parlements rights of re-
monstrance against royal legislation.
88
It was also a continuation of the
antiparliamentary assault of 1663. In a series of notebooks, Le Procs Ver-
bal de lOrdonnance de 1667, Colberts loyal agent, Nicolas Foucault, tran-
scribed the extraordinary proceedings of their rewriting of the legal
code, essentially a disputation between the Colberts and Lamoignon,
ever resisting their plans, whom the king had allowed to participate in
the Colbertian conclave. On one side, the Colberts tried to institute
closed interrogations, remove the testimony of witnesses, and pare down
procedure and unduly long trials, while on the other, Lamoignon
protested against closed trials and lack of legal procedure.
89
Lamoigons efforts were to no avail, and Colbert managed to have his
way. He began to institute his new legal code with the goal of rendering
the Parlement a simple stamp for royal legislation. It represented a suc-
cess for institutional absolutism, and sealed the rupture between the old
information masters and the crown. Colbert had shown that controlling
information was an essential element in undermining the ancient feudal
constitution of France and the establishment of Louis XIVs more ag-
gressive form of royal absolutism. Yet his project was not just about re-
moving or controlling existing knowledge. Colbert now sought to make
this innovative though sinister culture of political information-handling
the basis of a new royal statecraft.
c ha p t e r 4
Royal Accountability
louis xiv and the golden notebooks
I
n 1663, Colbert gained the ofcial title of controller of nances. In
this period of peace between 1662 and 1671 Colbert reformed
nancial administration, increasing state revenue by more than
one-third and managing to keep decits slightly above revenue.
1
He be-
gan improving revenue through the royal Chambre de Justice, tax re-
forms, and nancial reorganization of the kingdom. Fouquet had been
imprisoned, and the parlements humbled. With income owing in,
Louis could focus on pleasure, culture, building, and his absolutist, ad-
ministrative reforms. His powers consolidated in his superministry, Col-
bert set out on his own projects, building his personal library along with
that of the king, and founding his royal academies. With a great part of
the resources of France under his control, Colbert was one of the most
powerful gures in the world. He organized the building of Versailles, as
well as Frances industrial, colonial, and architectural projects.
2
It was a
period of achievement for both Louis and Colbert, who worked in con-
cert.
3
Louis gave broad policy goals; Colbert would work out their me-
chanics and then Louis would go over the administrative and political
blueprints. It was an opportunity for the young king to learn from his
skilled accountant and minister. It was also the moment in which Louis
and Colbert worked to transform the culture of statecraft, making
archival and managerial cultures from accounting central to kingship.
50
Colbert was Louiss most important condant and the keeper of his
secrets. Indeed, he helped Louis write two major sections of the M-
moires for the Instruction of the Dauphin (1665). Louis entrusted his minis-
ter with raising Mlle de Blois and the count de Vermandoishis bastard
children by Louise de La Vallirein his own house, caring for them
when they were sick.
4
In 1667, when Louise ed to a convent in jeal-
ousy and fear over Louiss infatuation with Mme de Montespan, Colbert
was the go-between, sent to bring her back to Versailles. Colbert also
looked after the royal family, and mediated between Louis and his ex-
travagant brother, Philippe dOrlans.
5
He was careful to take care of
personal business for Louis, just as he had done for Mazarin. Thus he be-
came indispensable at all levels. Colbert literally kept an agenda that set
the kings days.
6
A nonchalant note from Louis to Colbert in 1661 il-
lustrates how his services combined the ofcial and the personal:
As I believe there is nothing pressing today, I will not do any work.
Bring the papers we were to discuss this evening to tomorrows
council of nance, so I can nish up what needs to be done before
Mass.
The Queen doesnt want the ruby box; she has nothing that ts
it.
If anything urgent comes up, let me know.
LOUIS
7
In his Mmoires for the Instruction of the Dauphin, Louis stated that he
would rule without a prime minister.
8
Yet Colberts status partially con-
tradicts this claim, as does the fact that he helped write the Mmoires.
Louis noted to the Dauphin that his undertakings had been so grand that
he had not been able to do everything himself. I was personally often
relieved in this work by Colbert, whom I entrusted with examining
things that required too much discussion and into which I would not
have had time to go.
9
Colbert did not make nal policy, and he had to
share power with the foreign minister, Hugues de Lionne, and the min-
ister of war, Le Tellier. He was, nonetheless, the leading minister during
the rst two decadesarguably the most gloriousof Louiss reign.
Louis made policy decisions, but he did so with Colberts advice. How
could he do otherwise? It was Colbert who received all the reports of
the intendants and managed much of the workings of the state. Louis
could not master nancial and other complex policy without a guide
through the labyrinth of his medieval administration and the new insti-
Royal Accountability 51
tutions created by his forebears. Thus Colbert emerged as Louiss teacher
in the workings of nance and government. Colbert created, in essence,
what was an ongoing course in administration and information handling
for Louis that continued until his death in 1683.
Breaking with French royal tradition, Louis XIV did not hire court
humanists as advisors, as Henry IV and Richelieu did. Instead, scholars
were simple servants in his library, working under Colbert. Louis pre-
ferred that his personal accountant serve as his learned advisor in most
branches of statecraft. Colbert not only controlled the Royal Library and
culture complex; as Louiss information master, he also took over the
role of chief royal counsel and teacher in nonspiritual affairs. In addition
to the sections he contributed to the Instructions for the Dauphin, he wrote
numerous other pedagogical guides for Louiss heir.
10
This had formerly
been traditional activity for humanists such as Guillaume Bud. Louis
asked Colbert for reports and instructions on questions necessary to the
management of the state. What emerged was a unique training course in
government administration that reected Colberts system of informa-
tion gathering. Colberts program was a departure from the ancient tra-
dition of royal pedagogy. If Cardinal Richelieu had preached political
science in his Political Testament (1624), Colberts approach represented
the rise of a new technical type of governmental expertise.
What Kings Need to Know to Rule
Old Italian mercantile, administrative culture had fostered humanism,
and it was steeped in an ethic of technical expertise. Humanist engineers
mastered the learning of the ancients to literally rebuild Rome, and mer-
chants and artisans developed double-entry bookkeeping, managed city
government, sponsored erudite projects, and also wrote their own histo-
ries and memoirs using their commercial registries and archives as
sources of memory.
11
At the same time, as humanist traditions evolved,
they had less and less mercantile content. What had been a merchant and
bureaucratic-inspired tradition of learning became increasingly literary
and scientic as humanist philologists translated ancient texts and copied
their content. Humanist political theory became grounded in ancient
history and legal scholarship. Yet at the very moment that Tacitist hu-
manists claimed that statecraft could be learned through classical ethics
and history, it became increasingly clear that these forms of political
learning were not sufcient for managing a large, industrial, colonial,
and militarized state.
In his Political Testament, Richelieu wrote his own work of Machi-
avellian, Tacitist maxims, paired them with essays on Christian morality,
and made references to medical culture.
12
Richelieu the Catholic prelate
practiced reason of state: he mastered secrecy, built his administration,
and even made secret treaties with Protestants against Rome and Spain.
13
To survive in the world of religious strife and the horrors of the Thirty
Years War, civic politics, as Justus Lipsius had said, was an ethic unto it-
self, and reason of state and the learning of history were thus seen as
methods for survival. This was the culmination of Counter-Reform
princely prudence, steeped in Jesuit moral casuistry and historical max-
ims necessary in the fallen world of shattered Christendom in which one
sought the difcult balancing act of crushing ones enemies, while at the
time, as the Spanish Jesuit Balthasar Gracin recommended, remaining
saintly.
14
As sophisticated as late humanist political culture was, it did not en-
compass all forms of practical learning. Erasmus had insisted that kings
become scholars, and Henry IVs doctors recommended they be system-
atic empiricists; however, these humanists did not ask their kings to be-
come experts in the minutiae of state administration and nance.
15
This
was left to ministers like Sully and Richelieu. Sully pioneered many of
the budgetary, statistical, industrial, and military reforms later taken up
by Colbert, and, although there is no evidence he ever learned double-
entry bookkeeping, he kept state account books.
16
Yet he never taught
his craft to Henry IV. Richelieu took an active role in nancial man-
agement and taxation through his superintendents of nance, but he
never attended a meeting of the Counsel of Finances. He admitted to his
superintendent of nances, Claude de Bullion, that he had no knowl-
edge of nances [but] sought the advice of those to whom the King has
given their direction.
17
Machiavellians and Tacitists such as Bodin,
Botero, and Richelieu recognized that money was the sinews of
power. At the same time, they did not seek to study the artisanal and
mercantile traditions of early humanism that had ourished in the banks
and workshops of Florence.
18
Double-Entry Bookkeeping, Archiving,
and the Political Economy of Statecraft
In the 1590s, the Dutch mathematician and engineer Simon Stevin
(15481620) became both tutor and advisor to Prince Maurice of Nas-
sau. The author of works on mathematics, physics, nautical mechanics,
language, and music, Stevin represents a branch of humanism different
from that of literary philologists and lawyers like Erasmus, the late hu-
manist political historian Lipsius, and Jacques-Auguste de Thou.
19
Grotius, whose father was a friend of Stevin, was said to have admired
both his theories and his nautical inventions, so crucial for the existence
of a nation that survived below sea level, and from seaborne trade.
20
Stevin would go on to be state engineer, superintendent of nances, and
chief of the all-important Dutch waterworks. As a scholar, Stevin de-
scended from Florentine mathematicians, inventors, and engineers in the
tradition of Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, and Leonardo da Vinci.
While he wrote works on formal learned subjects such as language and
mathematics, he mostly focused on engineering and practical learning.
This was reected in his work on mathematics, which, following old
Italian tradition, considered accounting and double-entry bookkeeping
a branch of the mathematical sciences.
Stevin tutored Prince Maurice in the art of double-entry bookkeep-
ing and kept a journal of his interactions with the prince. The idea of a
prince learning accounting was an anathema in a world of Christian,
chivalric, and courtly princes. It is impossible to imagine the Neopla-
tonist, elitist Castiglione recommending that a courtier, or his friend the
emperor Charles V, learn the minutiae of keeping account and receipt
books.
21
It would be hard to keep ones sprezzatura while toiling over
balance sheets. Yet Stevin taught Prince Maurice exactly these skills. He
explained to him credits, debits, capital, and entry keeping. The prince
noted how difcult it was to understand.
22
The basic principle of double-entry bookkeeping is the verication
of two calculations made in relation to the sum of capital. Credits are a
plus value to the capital, while any purchase is both an addition of goods,
but also a debit to capital used to pay for them. Comparing the credits
and debits and coming up with the same sum for nal capital holdings
ensures proper management of the general account of capital. Prince
Maurice was an apt pupil, for he understood that the most complex con-
cept within double-entry bookkeeping centered on capital and its dou-
ble relationship to credits and debits: The entries stand in my ledger as
debits and credits. Which of these two stand to my advantage and which
to my disadvantage?
23
Stevin had based his own writings and pedagogical program on the
founding work on accounting, the famous Tuscan Franciscan mathe-
matician Luca Paciolis Summa de Arithmetica (Venice, 1494), in which is
found the treatise The Particulars of Accounting and Their Record-
ing. Immortalized in a portrait by Jacopo deBarbarbi (1495) now in
Naples, a possible translator of Piero della Francescas writings on per-
spective, and a collaborator of Leonardo, Pacioli (1445c. 1517) was cer-
tainly not the rst to understand double-entry bookkeeping. There is
evidence that a branch of the Medici family under Averardo di
Francesco di Bicci used double-entry bookkeeping at their bank branch
in the 1390s.
24
However, Pacioli was the rst to explain the mechanics
of accounting in a printed book, which would become the basis of liter-
ature on accounting therewith. One reason Maurice of Nassau found
the concept of capitalor household or business inventorycomplex
was because inventorying and capital assessment entailed a massive
archival undertaking. To understand his accounts, a king would have to
understand his records, and this took a certain level of archival skill to
keep track of capital.
Paciolis treatise focuses primarily on accounting the forms of record-
keeping necessary to management of inventorying. Double-entry book-
keeping is based on the keeping of three primary books:
Immediately after the Inventory, you need three books to make the
work proper and easy. One is called Memorandum (Mmoriale), the
second Journal (Giornale), and the third Ledger (Quaderno).
25
The memorandum book is a scrap book, or blotter.
26
In this book, all
transactions are kept in real time, as they happen, and original records are
led. Paccioli insists that this record-keeping is the basis for accounting.
Indeed, it was the foundation of the ars mercatoria. Everything must be
recorded: hours and dates, as well as measurements and types of cur-
rency. The memorandum could be huge, and a business would have nu-
merous ones for different parts of the business: household expenses, ac-
quisitions, sales, and different branches of the business. Indeed, for a
large business, memoranda could number into the dozens per month.
The memoranda would have to be summarized and transferred to the
journal.
27
Once all three books are lled out, they must be taken to civil
ofcials to be veried. The clerk who veries should make a written
record of verication and mark it in the account books.
28
Thus the merchant had to be skilled in handling numbers, books, in-
ventories, and archives.
In this Journal, which is your private book, you may fully state all that
you own in personal or real property, always making reference to the
inventory papers which you or others may have written and which are
kept in the same box, or chest, or lza, or mazzo, or pouch, as is cus-
tomary and as is usually done with letters and other instruments of
writing.
29
To record all inventory was a massive undertaking: houses, lands, stores,
commercial inventory, cash, receipts, and promissory notes. The inven-
tory for one large house alone could entail numerous record books.
30
To
handle this information, the merchant needed to master the discursive
and indexing tools necessary for writing, summarizing, and making ac-
counts accessible for easy reference. In the chapter entitled Summary of
the Rules and Ways for Keeping a Ledger, Pacioli lists all the rules for
writing and keeping records necessary to create a ledger book.
31
He de-
scribes abbreviations, shorthand markings, and other note-taking tools
necessary for navigating large rolls of accounts.
32
Paciolis book had a wide impact throughout Europe, inspiring ac-
counting books called Merchants Mirrors by John Mellis, Richard
Dafforne, Jan Ympyn, and Stevin.
33
With the rise of bookkeeping came
merchant writing: travel reports and narratives, family and urban histo-
ries, as well as genres of ars mercatoria handbooks, which could be printed
or personal manuscript notebooks listing rates of exchange, the schedule
of tides, and legal paperwork for trade in various nations. Standard mer-
chant training entailed complex archival and note-keeping skills. In his
manuscript ars mercatoria notebook, Robert Williams, a seventeenth-
century English merchant, recommended traveling with a trunk full of
twenty-one different forms of notebooks and account books. His man-
uscript Notes Concerning Trade 16321654 contains A Catalogue of
ye Bookes necessary for ye punctuall Marchant to Keepe Acco[un]ts
for a long merchant voyage:
1. A Cash-booke 2. A Write or Acquittance Booke 3. a booke for
charges Merchandize 4. a Coppie booke of Letters 5. a Remembrance
or Note Booke 6. a ffreight booke 7. a booke of Inv[en]toires sent 8. a
booke of Inv[en]toires received 9. a Coppie-booke of Acco[un]ts sent
10. a Coppie booke of acco[un]ts rec[eive]d 11. a bill of lading booke
12. a booke of orders given & rece[ieve]d 13. a Cates-booke for house-
hold exp[enc]es 14. a Wast or day booke 15. a Journall 16. a Lidger 17.
a Quadaranecra [quadernccio, a rough workbook] of Goods rec[eive]d
& cons[igne]d 18. a Custome-house booke 19. a booke of Cargoes of
ships arrived & dep[ar[ted 20. a Month booke 21. a booke et Coppie
in partitos.
34
This was in essence a traveling business archive inspired by the Italian
tradition, revealing Williamss formal knowledge of accounting tradi-
tion, by now standardized throughout trading nations by the circulation
of Paciolis work. Note-taking, bookkeeping, and archiving were com-
mon for traveling merchants as well for any merchant or naval ship.
35
At
this time, being a successful merchant meant being a nancier, an
archival manager, and a record-keeper, as well as something of a natu-
ralist who observed and collected. Stevin was able to make the Dutch
state use double-entry bookkeeping. It is said that he made the same rec-
ommendation to Sully, who did not take his advice.
36
In the 1650s, Jean
Roland Mallet kept single-entry bookkeeping, simply comparing rev-
enue and expenditure.
37
But there is no evidence of royal involvement
in bookkeeping. Indeed, Jacques Savarys Le Parfait Ngociant ou Instruction
gnrale pour ce qui regarde le commerce (1679), commissioned by Colbert,
discusses double-entry bookkeeping and the handling and archiving of
commercial paperwork, but only in the context of private business, not
for state administrators (see g. 4). In France, the ars mercatoria would take
longer to enter into royal culture.
In 1615, Antoine de Montchrtien dedicated his Treatise on Political
Economy (1615) to the regent, Marie de Medici, and her son, Louis XIII.
Addressing the monarchs, he begged the Queen Mother to teach her
son the technical side of manufacturing, as well as about merchandise
and new natural products from the colonies. The king would need to
understand shipbuilding, metalworking, manufacturing, and even how
to run a forge.
38
He would also have naturalist knowledge about sandal-
wood, materia medica, tobacco, and rhubarb.
39
Montchrtien cited med-
ical theory, and called for the kind of knowledge from the marketplace
associated with Petrus Ramus, traveling medical humanists such as Gar-
cia da Orta, Jesuits travel writers, and the older artisanal humanism of
Brunelleschi, Alberti, and da Vinci.
40
Late humanism, both Erasmian
and Tacitist, relied on rhetoric, history, and law. Montchrtien was de-
manding additions to the royal curriculum that included the basic ele-
ments of the ars mercatoria. He insisted that the king acquire a working
knowledge of nance. He would have to study indendants reports, un-
derstand the tax codes, and try to reform corruption. Doing this entailed
an understanding of how nances worked and the making of a true
revenue account, the keeping of a royal ledger.
41
In spite of the economic works of Bodin, Laffemas, and Montchr-
tien, and in spite of Marie de Medicis personal connections with bank-
ing families, she did not heed Montchrtiens advice. Financial and in-
dustrial training never entered into Louis XIIIs pedagogical program,
designed by the humanist doctor Jean Hrouard.
42
Louis XIII would
never have studied account books. He might have looked at the pictures
in Conrad Gessners Historia animalium, but as Hrouard complained, the
young prince did not really read the traditional humanist books he rec-
ommended to him.
43
Equally, while industrious and reforming ministers
such as Sully and Richelieu were deeply inuenced by the mercantilist
and absolutist ideas of Bodin and Montchrtien, there is little evidence
that these ministers sought to understand the mundane workings of ac-
counting.
44
Royal Accountability
Due to the tumult of the Fronde during the rst decade of his life, Louis
XIVs formal education was neglected.
45
In 1650, Mazarin and Anne of
Austria nally found an odd set of tutors for the young king.
46
His pri-
mary teacher was the skeptical philosopher Franois de La Mothe Le
Vayer (15881672). La Mothe Le Vayer was an heir to Montaigne and
Pierre Charronindeed, he owned a part of Montaignes library. By the
1630s, he had already written essays on skepticism and pyrrhonism,
questioning the Cartesian system and the very possibility of knowledge
itself.
47
Along with Naud, he was a pioneer of the radical skepticism
that would open the doors for gures like Spinoza.
48
He would go on to
write The Lack of Certitude There is in Historical Works (1668), and later di-
alogues on skepticism.
From a parliamentary family, Le Vayer created for Louis a series of
pedagogical works concerning sciences necessary for statecraft: Gogra-
phie, Rhtorique, Morale, Economique, Politique, Logique, and Physique du
prince (165158). These royal manuals of pedagogy stand out as examples
of the sort of late humanism of libertines like Gabriel Naud. They are
historical and ethical, with ample references to classical sources, yet are
dry and offer little practical advice. His essays on nance and economy
discuss the historical and ethical role of the prince in taxing fairly. Con-
sidering the rise not only of political economy but also of Cartesianism,
it is remarkable that Louis received formal training neither in nance nor
in mathematics.
His other tutor was the churchman Hardouin de Prxe, the abb
of Beaumont, who taught the young king statecraft some Latin and Ital-
ian. In his catechisms and Institutio principis ad Ludovicum XIV (Paris: A.
Vitr, 1647), Prxe set out the pious Latin maxims that Louis would
copy by hand in a notebook now at the Bibliothque Nationale de
France.
49
In the rst lines, Louis exhorted that the rst duty of a Chris-
tian prince is to serve God, and I wish to render honor to priests.
Whatever the libertine La Mothe Le Vayer thought of this, he did not
say. Although he never played a political role, Le Vayer continued pub-
lishing skeptical works and was given a good pension by Louis.
Along with a thin bookish education and the pious exercises of his
religious preceptors, Louis learned Spanish piety, etiquette, and elabo-
rate Spanish court ceremonial from his mother, Anne of Austria, daugh-
ter of Philip III and granddaughter of Philip II of Spain. Added to this,
Cardinal Mazarin gave his young godson Louis another sort of educa-
tion. He allowed him to sit in on council meetings, including those of
nance.
50
Louis learned the workings of the state and its multifarious in-
stitutions. To sit in council was to receive reports, discuss war and taxa-
tion, and to learn how to digest the paperwork that owed to the sum-
mit of the state.
51
The cardinal would test the young king, asking him to
make decisions based on the reports received in council.
52
While his hu-
manist education was poor, his formation as a prince was extensive.
Louis thus learned the mtier of being king, and he gained a taste for it.
When Louis took power in 1661, he had been well trained by Mazarin
in ruling by a state council of ministers. There is ample evidence in the
Instructions that Louis had read Machiavelli and Justus Lipsius. He had
learned the basic lessons of reason of state.
53
At the same time, he knew
his own deciencies in his knowledge of the workings of the govern-
ment and its most detailed aspect: its nancial apparatus.
Like his pupil, Mazarin had no formal training in accounting. This is
why he hired Colbert as his personal accountant. It was as a young man
that Louis met Colbert, his stepfathers accountant. On his deathbed,
Mazarin not only left Louis as his legacy most of the thirty million
pounds Colbert helped him acquire; he also quite literally left him Col-
bert.
54
In his will, of which Colbert and Fouquet were executors,
Mazarin simply states, I ask the king to hire him [Colbert], for he is
trustworthy.
55
In the Instructions of 1665, Louis XIV boasted to his heir that success-
ful kingship lay in being
informed of everything, listening to the lowliest of my subjects, always
knowing the number and character of my troops and the condition of
my strongholds, constantly issuing orders for all their needs, dealing di-
rectly with foreign envoys, receiving and reading dispatches, drafting
some of the replies personally and giving the substance of the others to
my secretaries, regulating the collections and the expenditures of my
state, having those whom I place in important positions report directly
to me, maintaining greater secrecy in my affairs than any of my prede-
cessors, distributing graces as I choose, and keeping my servants, unless
I am mistakenalthough showered with graces for themselves and
their familiesin modesty far removed from the loftiness and from the
power of prime ministers.
56
Although Louis clearly set out the problem of managing his large-scale
administrative state, the Instructions hardly give the technical knowledge
needed to manage the state administration. Indeed, Louiss own early
education did not prepare him to take on this new government. How
then did Louis conceive of and manage a large-scale administrative state?
Louis exhorted his son never to trust a prime minister, except in
questions of nance, where kings need experts. I took the precaution
of assigning Colbert . . . with the title of Intendant, a man in whom I had
the highest condence, because I knew that he was very dedicated, in-
telligent, and honest; and I have entrusted him then with keeping the
register of funds that I have described to you. Along with sections of
the Instructions for the Dauphin, Colbert also wrote manuscript instruc-
tions for Louiss heir that contain information pertaining to nances.
57
In
them, he discusses the need to master nance through the handling of
account books and the disposition of registers.
58
Colbert recommended to the young prince that he note by hand all
the accounts in the state nancial registers of funds at the beginning of
each year, and also the registry of spending from the past year. He should
go over and sign with his hand all the roles of Savings, all the account-
ing reports, and all the status claims that have been veried.
59
He
should never stop doing this work, for it is so delicate, warns Colbert,
that it can be left to no other. In short, Colbert felt it necessary that, to
be king, the young prince learn the basics of accounting and inventory
management.
What Colbert wrote to the Dauphin in 1665, he had already taught
Louis in 1661. The registers mentioned by both Louis and Colbert
were not just traditional account books. Instead, they represented an ex-
traordinary step in the counsel of kings. If Louis claimed that he knew all
things about his kingdom at all timesaccounts, troop numbers, diplo-
matic informationit was because twice a day for more than two hours,
he went over dispatches and reports.
60
His chief reporter was Colbert,
who presented his summaries to the king more than twice a week, but
most importantly, on Friday, when he presented an overview of all the
information he had received.
61
From their correspondence, it is clear that Louis asked Colbert not
only to take care of his personal and extraordinary business; he also asked
Colbert specic questions about how the state worked. It was stagger-
ingly arcanea feudal web of laws and taxes. Colbert was the master of
the internal report, of the dossier. Colberts henchmen set about writing
explanations of how the state worked: the history of law, tax relations
with the church, and how Louis could gain power over the par-
lements.
62
At Louiss request, in 1666, Colbert wrote a historical and le-
gal history of how the crown nanced and outtted its household
troops. Colbert quoted not only ancient texts in this historical report,
but also legal documents from the time of Franois I and Henry IV.
63
The same is the case in his Mmoire sur le rglement des taxes pour la
dcharge de la Chambre de Justice (166162).
64
Finance and taxes were
historical and legal questions that were illuminated not only by current
data, but also by historical research into the archives of the kingdom.
In 1663, Colbert began writing a history of royal nance entitled
Mmoires sur les affaires de nances de France pour servir lhis-
toire.
65
There is only one copy of this text, written in Colberts hand.
Unnished, it is Colberts longest and most detailed single work, and it
functioned at several levels.
66
It was meant to inform Louis of nancial
precedent of past kings. Its detail of royal accounts suggests it was meant
for Louis alone. A biased pedagogical text, it both explains to the king
how to manage his nances, and celebrates royal achievement, opposing
it to the crimes of Fouquet, while, with studied understatement, point-
ing out the modest, hard work of Colbert himself.
The text explains the functions of the intendants; how much kings
such as Henry IV taxed; and how much revenue they earned.
67
Colbert
begins his essay by noting that royal nances had constantly been mis-
managed, to the point where past kings were only conrming nancial
policy that had been done by their ministers.
68
He went over past errors
and pernicious maxims that had driven royal nances into bank-
ruptcy.
69
He also discusses institutional history, such as the role of Par-
lement, the indendants, and the Chambre de Justice.
70
Colberts system
of intendants and agents permitted him to write this history. He had at
his disposal up-to-date gures on royal nances, taxes, manufacturing,
and seaborne trade.
71
Thus Colbert could inform the king while also fur-
thering his own interests. He produced gures from royal accounts dur-
ing the time of Fouquet to illustrate the fallen ministers errors and dis-
sipation.
72
He discussed the methods of handling nance, explaining to
the king the best way to manage his accounts through a Council of Fi-
nances, with Colbert at its head.
73
Colberts history of royal nance exposes the inuence of the culture
of accounting and how Colbert presented and taught it to Louis, the rst
French king to learn the mechanics of accounting. In a long passage that
comes from Pacioli, the minister describes the practices of the accoun-
tant king he has trained:
Then, His Majesty will have delivered the reports of the state of
nances, including the [tax] farms as well as the general receipts, in
which there will be found an innity of considerable examples that the
corruption of past centuries has established, and which consumed a
great part of the most evident revenues of the king.
Beginning with the rst council, His Majesty had ordered that an
exact register be kept of the entire receipts of expenditure of the State
for each year; and as this had not been done by the preceding admin-
istration, and as those books that had been kept before were extremely
confused, it was impossible to keep them in a way that was clear and
intelligible. But as His Majesty had them [the registers] presented to
him every eight days, and as he gave his orders to reform them so that
he could perceive any error they contained, he managed, in ve or six
months time, to make them so clear and so sure as to what was put in
them, that this method covered any possibility of theft or dissipation,
not only during his reign, but as long as these orders will be given.
The rst [of these registers] is called the Journal, in which are writ-
ten all the orders that are signed day by day, and, in the margin, the
funds from which they have been allocated. The rst council after the
end of the month, His Majesty has this register brought to him, and has
all the recent expenditures of which it contains records, and has the ac-
counting of funds done in his presence and signed with his hand.
The second is the Register of funds, in which is recorded, by sepa-
rate chapters, all the funds, that is to say all the receipts of the State,
which are written on the back (verso) of the page; and on the front
(recto) the entire conrmation, which is to say the payments made to the
Savings fund or the expenditures that are allocated from these funds.
And, from time to time, at the opening of this register, His Majesty
veries the funds and conrmation, which he calculates and signs with
his own hand.
The third is the Register of expenditures, in which is recorded all
the expenditures of the State; and in the margins, are the funds from
which they have been allocated. And from time to time, at the open-
ing of this register, His Majesty veries the nature of expenditures,
such as extraordinary ones made for war, royal houses (buildings and
others), sees all the funds from which they have been taken, and has
them calculated in his presence, and signs them with his hand.
These three registers each contain that which the others contain,
and can be easily veried one by the other.
In the Journal that contains expenditures, the allocation is in the
margins and [also] the page where the article of expenditure and the al-
location have been written in the two registers of funds and expendi-
tures, which are classied.
The same thing [happens] in the Register of funds, that is to say the
record of expenditures that have been allocated and that have the ref-
erence number of the register-journal and [of the register] the expen-
ditures which have been mentioned. The same [is true] for the Regis-
ter of expenditures; so that all three of these registers serve to control
each other and so that there can be no fault in one that cannot be
justied by another.
By this clear and easy method, His Majesty has placed in himself all
his own security, and has reduced his reliance on those who have the
honor to serve him in this function.
74
There is evidence that Louis took a strong interest in state accounts
at the instigation of his accountant minister. In 1661, Louis wrote to his
mother, I have already begun to taste the pleasures to be found in
working on nances myself, having, in the little attention I have given
it, noted important matters that I could hardly make out at all, but no
one should doubt that I will continue.
75
Louis and Colbert corre-
sponded constantly on questions of nance, with Colbert sending the
king requests to be authorized.
76
Colbert would leave half the page of his
letters to the king empty so that he could respond on them. Louis re-
mained interested in nancial minutiae into the 1670s, such as when he
wrote in response to a letter from Colbert complimenting the king on
forcing the provinces to pay extraordinary taxes, It is very agreeable to
hear you speak of my nances in the way you do.
77
Colbert and Louis
discussed gures and specics. Louis veried and signed, but it is clear
that in the end, he deferred to Colbert. In matters of nance, Louis
mostly responded to Colbert in the margins of his letters, It is for you
to judge what is best.
78
Though at times Louis gave direct orders, his
correspondence with Colbert shows that he mostly left the details of
nance to his minister.
79
In spite of the fact that true double-entry bookkeeping was not done
at an ofcial level, the verications of the tats de la Dpense et Re-
cette du Trsor (166281) show that a sophisticated form of state ac-
counting emerged during the ministry of Colbert. Louis, Colbert, and
other ministers of the Council of FinancesSguier, Villeroy, DAligre,
and de Svesigned off on the tallied account books. If these nal ac-
counts were tallied in the presence of the king and his council, the more
complex preliminary bookkeeping and verication was clearly done by
Colbert for Louis. In any case, Colbert set up the books so that they
would be easy to verify. These account books thus represent an ideal of
kingly nancial information handling that Colbert used not only to sell
his talents, but also to exhort Louis to become a roi comptable, which, to
a certain extent, Louis did.
The Price of Monarchy: Louis XIVs Golden Notebooks
Colberts balancing act of reforming administration, informing himself
and the king while also cementing his own power, was based on his
giving the king the sense, real or not, that Colbert was helping him
master the dossiers of state. Colbert had to collect information, but he
then had to nd a way to present it to the king. If Colbert kept state
account books and one hundred, thematic administrative scrapbook
folios, it was not simply to master information, but also to show to
Louis that he could do his job of recording data, tallying it, and mak-
ing nal reports.
80
Louis sometimes wanted to see Colberts various
compendia, but more often, he wanted the nal report. As a good ac-
countant, Colbert kept vast inventories, scrapbooks, journals, and
ledgers for each tax farmer, region, different tax, and different royal ex-
penditure. He maintained ledgers of state accounts, but he did not sim-
ply have Louis verify them. What Colbert does not mention in his his-
tory of nance is that he also created a new pedagogical and practical
tool never before used in the history of royal counsel. Colbert created
for Louis pocket notebooks, which contained state ledgers and expla-
nations of how accounts worked.
81
Colbert made and kept the ac-
counts and he presented them to Louis in an easy-to-use, pocket form.
These notebooks are the most dramatic manifestation of how Colberts
handling of information turned into reports and pedagogical, adminis-
trative tools for Louis XIV.
The Bibliothque Nationale has thirty notebooks under the headings
Carnets de Louis XIV.
82
During or after each scal year, one or two
were made for Louis, summing up various accounts and giving the nal
budget tally for the year. They are bound in red maroquin, with gold ti-
tles, and held closed by two gold pop clasps. They measure one hundred
by seventy ve millimeters (four by three inches), and were made to be
kept in Louiss pocket for easy reference. In the rst edition from 1661
the manuscript writing is standard, on paper. However, it is clear that
these simple ledgers were distasteful to Louiss sense of personal
grandeur. If Louis were going to carry account ledgers on him, he was
going to do so in a manner betting the Sun King. Colbert appears to
have sought the aid of Nicolas Jarry and his workshop in creating new
vellum notebooks with illuminations (see gs. 5 and 6). Starting in 1669,
the notebooks contain richly adorned illuminated frontispieces. One
1670 notebook has eur-de-lys on the spine of the binding. By the late
1670s, even after Jarrys death in 1674, the notebooks are illuminated,
and even simple accounts are written out in gold and colored paint and
decorated with owers reminiscent of Jarrys 1641 masterpiece, the
Guirlande de Julie. Thus Colbert created ledgers t for the Sun King,
themselves treasures, which Louis kept in his pocket and probably con-
sulted during meetings with counselors and secretaries, as well as while
going through state dispatches and intendant reports.
It was through Colberts abridgements of nance and reports on
state matters that Louis had found his method of delegating the manage-
ment of government and state information. Like his predecessors, Col-
bert kept account books, summaries from the Chambre des Comptes,
comprising revenue and expenditure books as well as inventory registers
of the kings wealth and holdings.
83
He also kept scrapbook-style books
like those described by Pacioli. Colberts folio scrapbook cataloged un-
der the title Recueil de Finance de Colbert is lled with brouillons, or
scraps of various information: revenues, receipts, texts of feudal tax law,
the revenue of overseas companies, loan and expenditure receipts, all ap-
parently thrown together in real time.
84
As described by Lister, most of
the major account books were located in the same library complex as
Colberts more formal collections. Colberts information collection
played directly into his creation of account books for the king. Only
Colberts collection was larger and more complex, as were his nancial
and industrial enterprises. Bigger business and bigger government meant
more money, thus more information.
The notebooks were called different names, though they all meant
the same thing: Abrgs, or Agendas de Finance, as Colbert called
them, or registers, to use Louiss term. They only listed expenditures
and earnings, and they also detailed and compared the income from each
tax-farmer.
85
They gave nal single-entry tallies of spending as com-
pared with cash on hand.
86
They gave comparisons, such as tax-farmer
income between 1661 and 1665, so Louis could see change over time.
For example, the Abrg of 1680 compares revenue between 1661 and
1680.
87
They would list all the revenue, and all the names of the local ac-
countants who produced accounts in a given provincial capital or pays
dtat. Some of the agendas contain inventories of purchases, such as the
State of Acquisitions from the Abrg of 1671 (fol. 26r.). Many of the
data tables of Paciolis accounting schemas formed the basis of Colberts
pocket reference books.
While humanist kings made commonplace books of Tacitist and Li-
vian maxims in their pockets, Louis kept in his pocket Colberts ledgers
with their golden, illuminated calligraphy. What is signicant here to the
history of knowledge and royal pedagogy is that the notebook and
archiving culture of accounting moved ever closer to the central prac-
tices of royal statecraft. Louis mixed his traditional, late humanist educa-
tion with the practical and legal knowledge that Colbert and his house
scholars, intendants, and agents provided him. Humanist education was
clearly useful, but it was not enough to run a state effectively. Diderot
was not yet born. However, it was here, in the administrative project of
Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert that emerged the idea that practical
knowledge from the shop-room oor, and nancial expertise, were as
useful as classical learning, and that, indeed, they could be used together.
c ha p t e r 5
The Rule of the Informers
S
cholars of the early modern state such as Ernest Lavisse and Em-
manuel Le Roy Ladurie have long painted Colbert as the inven-
tor of a modern type of government in which one minister cen-
trally managed various branches of government.
1
Colbert could order
that a massive factory be built in a swamp, and it happened. He could
micromanage religious life in Canada and sponsor scientic projects in
Paris, while overseeing garden sculpture at Versailles. To do this, Col-
bert needed to be well informed. He thus worked to create a corps of
bureaucratic informers: the state intendants.
To rein in the power of the parlements and reform the legal system,
Colbert began bolstering the ofce of the intendant, an ofce born from
ancient feudal nancial administration. The intendants were offspring of
feudal nancial and legal administration, as well as merchant traditions.
They applied royal law, managed the nancing of troops, and regulated
taxes. They traveled, took notes, kept account books, and sent reports
back to the central ofce. In the middle ages, centralizing monarchs such
as Philippe-Auguste (11651233) continued the administrative traditions
of the English in establishing inventories through inquisitiones, or en-
qutes, which sought, much like the Doomsday Book, to register feudal
and ecclesiastical rights and property, while establishing royal authority
and regulating abuses.
2
In the sixteenth century, the French parlements provided lawyers,
67
matres des requtes, from the Cour des Aides, part of the provincial ad-
ministration of the royal treasury, who would receive commissions as in-
spectors to oversee taxation, such as the implementation of the taille, and
to pay troops and oversee military funding.
3
In essence, they were venal
missi domini, or traveling royal representatives, who purchased their po-
sition and whose principal function was to oversee taxes and to stamp
out abuses. As such, they were despised by local powers. Richelieu ex-
panded the function of the intendants, rst to be permanent state repre-
sentatives, but also to evolve from inspectors to statistic gatherers and
record keepers. In 1634, he issued the reforms of Efat, which estab-
lished the permanent role of intendants to write enqutes. These ques-
tionnaires were in the same administrative spirit as Philip IIs relaciones
topogrcas of the mid-1500s. Intendants wrote reports on population
size; architectural, industrial, and natural resources; political and religious
institutions; and the number and status of their ofcers.
4
The intendants
also acted as representatives of royal justice and as such came into
conict with the jurisdiction of the Parisian and provincial parlements.
During the Fronde, with the power of the crown weakened, the Par-
lement of Paris looked to regain its prerogatives and abolished the ofce
of intendant on July 4, 1648.
5
With the return of Mazarin and his assistant Colbert in 1653, the in-
tendancy was effectively reestablished, giving the matres des requtes
state tax lawyersnew ofces of intendancy to reestablish royal power
and crush the Frondeurs.
6
As Colberts control over the nancial ad-
ministration grew, the intendants came under his jurisdiction. Indeed,
they would quickly become not only his principal administrative tool,
but also an essential element in his attempts to create a state information
system.
7
Although the intendants were not formal or recognized schol-
ars, Colbert intended them to be information masters in their own right.
Daniel Dessert has meticulously traced what he calls the Colbert
lobby, a web of familial, social, and professional connections that al-
lowed Colbert to rise to power, and to hold it.
8
Colbert maintained an
extensive network of nanciers and nancial agents who informed him,
helped him in business ventures, and helped him undermine enemies
such as Fouquet. As Colberts power grew, he assigned his loyal friends
and contacts to major posts in justice, tax collecting, and administration.
Indicative of this pattern is his choice of intendants, who often came
from his family, or his old network of associates.
9
These trained, loyal representatives formed a corps of information
collectors and informants answerable to Colbert. In terms of major ques-
tions, such as taxation, the legal reforms took power away from the Par-
lement and placed it with the intendants. They worked to apply his ad-
ministrative codes, which centralized legal practice and stamped out
costly local corruption. Colberts reforms also required new ofcial pa-
perwork, much of it written or managed by intendants. Local ofcials
were to send registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths to the census-
taking intendants, much of it in duplicate.
10
Many of these reforms ren-
dered the royal legal process more secretive.
11
In September 1663, Colbert wrote the Instruction pour les matres
des requtes, commissaires dpartis dans les provinces, a text that was in
fact a formulary in which he outlined the information that commissaries,
matres des requtes, and intentants would have to collect for the great
enqute begun the following year.
12
They would rst have to collect
maps and information about their various regions.
13
They were then to
take notes, collect documents, and write reports on four main topics of
ecclesiastical, military, legal, and nancial government. They had to re-
search bishops rights and beneces; military government, the state and
nancing of troops; justice and local law enforcement; nances, includ-
ing detailed reports on taxes such as the taille and gabelle; and royal rev-
enue and debts owed to the crown in general. They wrote reports on
crown lands and the general geographical and natural state and wealth of
each province, and on commerce and manufacturing; the state of
the navy, army, roads, canals, forage areas; and nally, on counterfeit
money. These statistical reports and geographical studies predated
William Pettys great project of Political Arithmetic (1690). Colbert as-
signed the intendants to reform the nobility by conrming their titles
and regulating their activities and abuses. This required collecting all pa-
perwork having to do with their feudal rights and genealogical claims.
Colbert wrote regular memos to the commissaries and intendants, and to
each, he wrote particular orders concerning how they were to regulate
law, taxes, industry, and culture.
14
They were also ordered to regulate
and control the parlements. Colbert noted that the king himself asked
that they carefully examine each sovereign company, in general and
in detail, and those who compose them.
15
From Scholar and Scientist to State Informer
Colbert and his intendants relied on humanist traditions that mixed nat-
ural observation and state management, thus blurring the lines between
scholarship and state expertise. One of the most potent tools of learning
The Rule of the Informers 69
across the professional and ideological spectrum of early modern Europe
was the mix of travel, observation, and description. Indeed, this tripar-
tite practice, which Brian Ogilvie calls the science of describing,
would form one of the central elements of natural learning and serve as
the foundation of modern science.
16
Colbert would turn the cultures of
traveling and describing into an arm of informing and state intelligence
collection that would be the driving force of his method of government.
From the time of the Italian Renaissance in the 1400s, and with the
rst discoveries in the New World in 1492, European scholars, diplo-
mats, explorers, and missionaries had taken basic statistics and written
natural and national descriptions. Situated between traditions of learning
and politics, the art of writing travel descriptions was central to the de-
velopment of early humanism and the Republic of Letters.
17
Diplomats
wrote empirical observations of the states they visited, and collected in-
formation and intelligence. Inspired by the Venetian diplomatic re-
lazioni, or relations, ambassadors would describe the political life of the
courts they visited, as well as military, economic, and geographical situ-
ations.
18
Jesuits were known for writing descriptions of their tripsof
people, plants, places, buildings, and government.
19
Artists began paint-
ing not just allegories but also realistic studies of nature and life.
20
Build-
ing on the technical literature and travel reporting of the Middle Ages,
humanist scholars developed the ars apodemica (the art of knowledgeable
travel), and the prudentia peregrinandi (the prudent voyage) from the pere-
grinatio academica. What had begun as tours of the visiting various uni-
versities turned into a formal method of learning from travel and obser-
vation.
21
Encyclopedic scholars like the Swiss Theodore Zwinger (153388)
and Hugo Blotius (15751608), a Dutchman living in Vienna, recom-
mended travel as a form of learning for personal and religious develop-
ment. Indeed, the ideal traveler was to keep several notebooks: one to
write everything notable as the traveler saw it and another to organize
these notes into useful commonplaces or facts.
22
In his method of travel,
the Methodus apodemica in eorum gratiam qui cum fructu in quocunque tandem
vitae genere peregrinari (1577), Zwinger mixed moral development with
geographical description, providing information on geography, history,
antiquarian knowledge, and the comparative history and description of
great cities.
23
Others, such as Sebastian Mnster, mixed geography with
proto-political economy and ethnography and developed a method for
writing local or national surveys in his ongoing work, the Cosmographia
(1544). Learned travelers, such as Montaigne, now wrote journals of
their travels. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, travel
literature became ever more technical. In his Six Books of the Republic
(1576), the great humanist and legal polymath Jean Bodin (153096) dis-
cussed political and legal theory alongside geographic, climatic, natural,
statistical, and monetary information.
24
Making reference to ancient ge-
ography and medical scholarship, Bodin considered it necessary for
rulers to make surveys of their peoples as well as their natural and indus-
trial wealth.
25
The growing interest in geography, politics, and political economy,
as well as in the natural sciences, produced the genre of chorography. It
was a genre, writes Barbara Shapiro, that
combined history, geography, topography, natural history, antiquities,
and genealogy with socioeconomic, political, and cultural description
of a particular region. Typically, it followed a preexisting pattern of
topics that included soil, climate, agricultural products, manufactures,
rarities, monuments, architecture, and remains of antiquity and thus
tended to focus on things available to the eye both of human and
natural origin.
26
Chorographs proliferated in the seventeenth century. General works,
such as Pierre dAvitys Les estats, empires, et principautz du monde (1614),
discussed geography, ethnography, and economic information. In the
realm of education, there was an explosion of geographical manuals dis-
tributed by the Jesuits.
27
Technical and naturalist travel logs focused on
local and foreign description and data collection. Universities, libraries,
and Kunstkammern, or cabinets of wonders, became sites of recording
and collecting information and objectsoften exotic or antiquefrom
travel. Great kings such as Philip II of Spain, the Holy Roman emperors
in Prague and Vienna, and merchants such as the Fuggers, kept human-
ist staff, libraries, gardens, and Kunstkammern as sites of prestige, to illus-
trate their mastery over the historical, religious, and natural world.
28
Aside from the Jesuits, ambassadorial corps, and spies, however, no state
had ever formed a centralized, internal corps of professional state ob-
servers whose writings would have concrete results.
29
Mapping Power
To create a functional state information system, Colbert could not rely
on outside informants. It was necessary to build an internal cadre of
agents whose job was to collect information related to government and
report it only to him. Rather than rely on external informers, he ordered
intendants, inspectors, and geographers to collect systematically natural,
economic, and cultural data while traveling through their provinces. In-
deed, it became a primary element of their ofcial functions. Scholars
worked for Colbert, who integrated them into his administration. To his
cartographer, the chevalier de Pne, Colbert wrote,
After having made observations of the entire length of the Seine River
up to Le Havre, His Majesty wants him to continue the same recon-
naissance until Trport, his intention being to have, from la Hogue to
Trport, very exact maps of all the sinuosity of the banks and all the
openings of rivers, with precise remarks and measurements of all the
places, without telling anyone of the ndings; of all the protected bays,
high- and low-water marks of the tide, dunes, cliffs, estuary openings,
and inlets, and all the possible places where enemies might be able to
attack if they are strong enough to make a landing; with specic de-
signs of each place where they would be able to it, and plans and copies
of all the works that could be made [concerning them].
30
Colbert micromanaged the work of cartographers; integrating it into the
larger project of the intendants was to transform the state into a giant
collector of economic, historical, legal, natural, political, and religious
data. Rather than simply training bureaucrats, or simply collecting data,
Colbert was integrating different traditions of learning into the internal
system of the state apparatus.
The originality of Colberts reestablishment of the ofces of inten-
dancy was that he insisted that they use many of the same empirical prac-
tices as scholars. He transformed their function from provincial tax-
collectors, into professional observers, statistic-takers, and, as Anette
Smedley-Weill calls them, informers.
31
The intendants were trained
observers whom Colbert told to take notes only on what they had seen
with their own eyes, and not rely on the accounts of others.
32
Philip II
of Spain sent his formularies, the relaciones, to untrained local ofcials.
They thus often went unanswered, or were unclear. Even if his provin-
cial administrators, the Corregidores, collected information for the rela-
ciones, they were not trained specically to be observers and enforcers of
centralized royal power.
33
Colberts innovation was to expand the duties
of the intendants, making them primary agents and managers in his state
data-gathering project, giving them many functions of learned and curi-
ous merchants and scholars.
As it was for Philip II, the result of Colberts program of professional
observers and report-writers was a massive bank of information that the
crown could use not only for reform and state-building, but also for
strengthening its own power in the long struggle against the indepen-
dent power of traditional nobles and the parlements. With Colberts
project of intendants enqutes and reports, his ministry became a secret
central ofce for collecting such information at the summit of the
French state. The intendants also collected legal, historical, and eco-
nomic information, which had once been the purview of the par-
lements, and as we have seen, was used to demand extraordinary taxa-
tion and verify rights.
34
Colbert received detailed information on population numbers; the
extent of holdings of church lands, as well as church buildings and
schools; militias, troop numbers, and their cost; lists of local seigneurial
rights, titles, courts, and feudal seats of justice. Finally, he received mas-
sive lists of crown landholdings, debts, industries, companies, the pro-
duction numbers for specic mills, and the enormous amount of infor-
mation concerning various taxes. Detail even extended to counting the
number of cows in a given locale, or the types and number of fruits and
trees.
35
From his maritime intendants, Colbert de Terron and Arnoul, as
well as resident informants such as Courtin in Stolkholm, he received
merchandise lists, port records, and even shipping schedules.
36
One of Colberts main interests was the port of Rochefort.
37
It was
his pet project at the center of building the royal navy and colonies.
Rochefort was a massive information undertaking to which he assigned
his trusted cousin, the intendant Colbert de Terron. Rochefort was a gi-
ant industrial encyclopedia where all the information was recorded on
how to build and manage a fort and industrial city. This included de-
tailed building plans and managerial instructions for various factories,
shipyards, housing, a chateau, and formal gardens.
38
A map from 1688
shows an entire planned grid city within walls, its massive factories span-
ning miles down the Charente River.
39
While it is arguable whether the
industrial project to compete with the Dutch and English navies em-
bodied by Rochefort was successful or not, the scale of Colberts project
is impressive even today.
As intendant, Terrons job was daunting. First, he had to master all
state regulations and administrative laws. Then he had to organize all the
paperwork for industrial productiongiant inventories, from factories
and shipbuilding, to the paperwork for the maintenance of sailing ships.
A steady stream of dispatches went to Colbert.
40
Agents would collect
records from churches, industries, local record-keepers, and ships logs.
Many of these reports accompanied ships and merchandise back and
forth between port depots, such as Rochefort. At this point, one of Col-
berts close agents would intervene and write a summary report of infor-
mation, and collate it with records by the scribes of the port. This report
would then be sent to Colbert, who would often rewrite it, send it back,
or integrate it into a bigger le or report that he would use, whittle
down into an account or an inventory, or perhaps eventually show the
king. Finally, all reports were led with a call number system. Those that
he thought he would use regularly appear to have been placed in his per-
sonal policy archive, as I shall show in chapter 7. As with all his admin-
istrative correspondence, Colbert, like the king, would respond in the
margins of dispatches with reactions, or simply bon.
In the summer of 1671, he sent out form letters to the intendants of
the Royal Marine ports of Rochefort, Toulon, and Brest, and to his
brother, Colbert de Croissy, now ambassador in London. He asked all to
inspect boatsFrench and Englishto understand construction tech-
niques, so that the king could understand the costs of shipbuilding.
In order to give him this information, it is necessary to examine how
much wood enters into the construction of ships of each class, formu-
late the price according to that of the ordinary cost, do the same with
iron and all the materials that go into the construction; examine nally
the number of days of all the workers and their price; and nally make
the calculation from all this as to what is the cost of the construction of
the hull of the ship. Then do the same with all the rigging, apparatuses,
masts, ornaments, artillery and generally of all that which makes up a
ship and places it in a state of readiness for the sea.
41
In his Mmoire sur le rglement faire pour la police gnrale des
arsenaux de marine, from October 1670, Colbert outlined not only all
the aspects of industrial production and knowledge necessary for a port,
but also the necessary information collection and management.
42
He lists
all the aspects that will have to be measured and recorded: merchandise,
wood, arms, ammunition, magazines, constructions, all industry in-
volved in making the port, and then the products made by the port, such
as iron, rope, sales, anchors, cannon, and so forth. Beyond simple in-
spections, Colbert established a system of information collection and
record-keeping within his ports and industrial projects. In particular,
naval intendants such as de Terron and Arnoul employed large num-
bersoften twenty per portof magazine writers, or scribes of naval
inventory.
Here was Colberts system in action. The intendants managed naval
ports through internal foremen ofcers, and masters of inventory, the
garde-magazin, or the guardian of the magazine. The job of the garde-mag-
azin was to take inventories of all the magazines of the port. The 1670
ofcial papers of commission of the sieur Tanguy Ellez, a garde-magasin,
describe him as being responsible for knowing everything in the port
and managing the information gathering and archiving of the port.
43
To
fulll his functions, the guardian had an internal system of scribes:
The garde-magasin is assigned the care of all the general and particular
magazines, and to have writers [crivains] under him who are charged
by him [to keep records of] all the particular magazines of each vessel,
as well as the powder magazines, those of rope, the forges, the sails, the
barrels and generally all that he cannot do himself. And the writers,
who will be necessary to him for all these functions, must keep books
that relate to his large daybook kept in double-entry.
44
Thus the writers, or crivains, were scribes, accountants, and inspectors
of the magazines of the port.
45
They kept registers of all the merchan-
dise necessary to construct a boat, as well as the roles, or books of em-
ployees, their place in factories, their functions, production, and wages.
46
There were around twenty writers in a port, and eight ready to work
on board ships.
47
The chain of information led to ships, where roles of sailors were
kept in books, and an inventory of the ships goods was kept by the
ships commissary, who was responsible for reviewing and recording in-
ventory.
48
As de Terron reported to Colbert, these record keepers were
assigned to ships to manage them as small companies:
The establishment of writers strongly contributes to keeping the cap-
tains in order, and to ensure the outcomes of their intentions, you must
please on all occasions that present themselves, let the captains know
that the establishment of the writers is agreeable to the King and that
His Majesty wants them to be able to carry out their duties to their full
extent, and with complete liberty.
49
Thus Colbert oversaw the complete chain of information, from his own
long lists of rules and guidebooks and technical plans, to the direction of
the intendants, inventory collectors, scribes, accountants, mapmakers,
and archivists.
50
This then led to Colberts virtual management of sites
such as Rochefort through correspondence with his intendant, who
would summarize and make packets of all the internal paperwork of the
port in regular dispatches that took three days to reach Paris, Saint-Ger-
main, or Versailles. They would then be annotated by Colbert, summa-
rized or presented to the king, then be put into archival registers, or de-
stroyed.
51
Colberts information system was not simply about learning; it
also was a powerful, concrete tool of industrial production and political
power.
The Mastery of State Information: Techniques and Pitfalls
The writing of massive enqutes required numerous skills. Intendants
would have to know geography, history, law, and the paperwork in-
volved with the administration of royal authority and taxation, as well as
ecclesiastical versus royal rights and the feudal labyrinth of genealogical
archives. They were also supposed to verify old maps themselves. The
information they sent back to Colbert would be shared with Sanson and
Cassini, who were leading an innovative national mapmaking survey.
52
The work of the intendants thus intertwined with the work of Colberts
scientic academy and archives.
As surveyors of the kingdom, intendants were required to have a fa-
miliarity with industry, nance, and trade and to work alongside Col-
berts industrial inspectors, who had many of the same functions.
53
Colbert wrote to his agent, the inuential Inspector General of Manu-
factures, Francesco (or Franois) Bellinzani, that during his visits to fac-
tories in Meaux and La Fert-sous-Jouarre, he should observe if the
company was useful, well run, and better than those in Flanders.
54
Bellinzani would have to verify the number of different kinds of arti-
sans, the number of male and female workers, and if the factories were
following new state rules.
55
Like a naturalist or explorer, Colbert uses the
terms observe and examine. His agent would have to compare intelli-
gence with local royal ofcials to try to make these cloth factories work
at a higher standard than Dutch competitors, as well as organize an en-
tire distribution network.
56
At the same time, this inspector would have
to do other more sinister tasks for Colbert: he was asked to discreetly
mark down the number of Protestants working in each factory: Ob-
serve at the same time, secretly, if Catholics and Huguenots are allowed
to work without differentiation in this factory.
57
Colbert sent his questionnaires with trained observers and informa-
tion collectors, such as Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, who had helped Col-
bert understand the arcane mechanics of state administration. In the case
of Colberts brother, Charles Colbert de Croissy (162996), between
1653 and 1663, Colbert meticulously trained him to write enqutes, and
thus to prepare him for future state administration.
58
Croissy was In-
tendant en pays et arme de Provence et de Catalogne, and Conseiller
au Parlement de Metz in 1656. He would go on to have numerous
hands-on administrative positions: commissary, maitre des requtes, and
intendant of provinces such Lorraine et Metz Touraine (1663), Anjou et
Maine (1663), Amiens et Soissons, and Flanders. In 1668 he began his
diplomatic work, which led to him becoming ambassador to Berlin,
Rome, and London and nally foreign minister following the disgrace
of Pomponne in 1679.
Following the outlines of Colberts Instructions, in 1665 Croissy
wrote one of many enqutes, or mmoires, about Bretagne. In it he de-
scribed geography, the state of ecclesiastical power, and the state of the
nobility, and he was to stop at all important houses in the province,
examining justice, nances, fortications, and forests.
59
Even more
detailed were his mmoires on Alsace Lorraine, which he compiled with
the help of assistants.
60
Colbert trained his family for high state ofce
through travel and practice in collecting information and writing state
reports and formularies.
The intendants were supposed to be expert in triaging information.
This way, Colbert helped the master of Versailles avoid Philip IIs infor-
mation overload. Intendants were not supposed to make important deci-
sions themselves, but rather to decide what was important and inform
Colbert and Louis.
61
Colbert could not personally handle all the raw ma-
terials they collected to do their research. He ordered the intendants to
summarize and to guarantee the quality and regularity of the information
owing toward the center. When verifying noble rights in local charter-
houses, parlements, and treasuries, intendants were to go over all the le-
gal historical documents and make a manageable packet out of them,
which was to be sent back to Colbert. The enqutes and other ofcial
correspondence had to be well written, for not only did Colbert need to
go through them quickly and easily, he sometimes showed them to Louis
XIV, who would respond himself, or more often through Colbert.
62
Al-
though Louis would insist on seeing reports himself, intendants were the
ones who collected what information they could, and Colbert rewrote,
polished, and summarized the reports before sending them to the king.
63
Even Colberts closest friends and most skilled agents were not ex-
empt from his stinging critiques, for indeed, Colbert had to answer for
the quality of their work to Louis. He constantly demanded that his
cousin, Charles Colbert de Terron (161884), send him reports more
quickly.
64
And he berated him for sending faulty merchandise account
calculations, which he himself had to verify.
65
Colbert admitted that this
failure by a member of his own family had touched him in the
strongest possible way. Think of your part in all this, as I think of my
own, he admonished de Terron.
66
He passed on Louiss criticisms of an
enqute written by the ever loyal Foucault in 1682:
I have communicated to the King the memoir you sent me concern-
ing the tour of your administrative county; but as you do not describe
it electoral borough by electoral borough, it is in fact a generalized m-
moire. His Majesty is not satised, his intention being that you take
your time to visit each borough of your county, and that you explain
to him in detail the state in which you nd it according to the points
contained in my dispatches.
67
Colberts orders were curt: nish all your accounting, nish the maps,
and take care that it is [all] very exact.
68
Colbert told Foucault that he
would write him back in detail when he received a proper enqute.
Louiss dissatisfaction did not mean that Foucault lost his job or fell out
of favor; he would go on to have a long and successful career in royal
service. Louis and Colbert coldly and simply tried to control the quality
of the information they received.
To the inspector Moulinet, Colbert dryly complained, You must
make sure to write in large letters, or to have your dispatches transcribed,
because I am having a lot of trouble reading them.
69
Colbert chafed at
bad paperwork and did not hesitate to reprimand work he saw as shoddy.
Thus, when masses of disorganized, unreadable documents or reports
landed on his desk, he was furious. It should be noted that Colberts clos-
est collaborators, Foucault and Baluze, had remarkably clear handwriting,
while Colbert himself scrawled his orders in illegible shorthand.
There were more pitfalls. Colberts system of professional informers
often foundered on the mediocrity of his agents, many drafted through
loyal family networks and nepotism. A frequent victim of Colberts im-
patience was the incompetent son of his trusted intendant of galleys,
Arnoul, known as Arnoul ls, Naval Intendant.
70
Colberts regular
complaints to the young intendant reveal his desire for clarity, punctual-
ity, and regular news reports. Colbert tells Arnoul that he is stunned that
he has not reported basic news of ship and personnel arrivals, and that
Arnoul must make weekly reports.
71
Later that same summer, he berates
Arnoul for exaggerations and expresses the kings displeasure with his in-
competence.
72
I always nd, whenever I have time truly to examine
what you do, that your lack of exactitude throws us into great embar-
rassment.
73
Like Louis, Colbert cross-checked reports to nd errors.
Colbert warned Arnoul that he was verifying his reports himself.
74
De-
termining that he was sending bad information on a regular basis from
Rochefort, Colbert reprimanded the young Arnoul:
You yourself must see that rather than speaking clearly in your letters
and telling the real state of things, you have caused the King to repri-
mand a high ofcer who did not deserve it; and, as I have already given
you an innity of warnings on this subject, make sure that this is the
last one; reread your dispatches and learn to explain yourself so clearly
and so truthfully that I am not forced to search for the truth by com-
paring your letters to others.
75
He not only insisted that intendants reports be detailed, but at the
same time that they be summarized to save him time. He insisted to
Rouill, intendant at Aix, that his letters be broken down into three sep-
arate subject headings concerning each topic he was supposed to exam-
ine.
76
Colbert complained to de Marle, the intendant of Riom, that he
had not properly triaged his reports, and thus had caused unnecessary ex-
tra work:
But I beg you, once and for all, to avoid forcing me to write you such
long letters to teach you the full extent of your job and your responsi-
bilities, because assuredly, the quantity of work that I have makes it re-
ally impossible for me to take the trouble to write such long letters.
77
Colberts managerial style was concise and to the point. The intendants
were powerful and often learned. However they worked not for the
sake of learning, but in strict service to the state, and Colbert dealt with
them as such. Thus Colbert tried to make the intendants reports easy to
manage as they owed to his central archive and, in many cases, on to
Louis XIV.
Learning, Paperwork, and the Culture of Political Power
Intendants were not simply administrators. They often climbed the ad-
ministrative ladder from the ranks of the merchant class, rst training as
tax lawyers, or matres de requtes, becoming administrative masters of
legal paperwork. They could work in tandem with, or in opposition to,
local parlements. Some intendants, such as Foucault and the former
matre des requtes La Reynie, knew both canon and civil law and thus
could deal with heresy, sedition, taxes, industry, and Parlement, all at the
same time. Their collecting of information was meant to help assert
royal authority over nobles and parlements. Indeed, the intendants were
both informers and informants.
Early in his ministry, Colbert gave the intendants a special task. They
were to write a personality prole of each member of Parlement in their
respective circumscriptions. The political ambitions of absolutist policy
are evident in these les. The Secret Notes on the Personnel of all the
Parlements and Courts of the Kingdom is essentially an archive of les
to be used to put pressure on magistrates.
78
The most detailed and the
most important of these les is the dossier concerning the Parlement of
Paris. Each parliamentarian was characterized in terms of personality,
political docility, and fortune. Colbert was apparently trying to further
his own ambitions, for the report on Lamoignon, his antagonist in the
trial of Fouquet, was little more than a smear:
LAMOIGNON, through the affectation of great morality and great in-
tegrity, hides a great ambition, and for it, he cultivates wide-ranging li-
aisons with all the dvots of all possible scheming parties and cabals.
79
Clearly trying to weaken Lamoignons hand, the report claims that he is
a part of the various intrigues that irritated Louis early in his reign. The
report lists Lamoignons contacts and friends and notes that he has ac-
quired his wealth honestly. In the case of de Longueil, the report notes
that he is openly ambitious and has little conscience, likes to gamble
and has friends who use him for their own interests.
80
Here, in its early
form, beyond traditional spy reports, could be perceived the germs of
modern totalitarian government growing into webs of informants and
le-systems.
Weaknesses were always noted, as they could be of use in pressuring
or manipulating magistrates.
DOUJAT, makes a good show on the outside, but is fundamentally
nothing; weak, timid, he is a slave to the court and self-interested;
Monsieur de Maupeou, his son-in-law, has great power over him;
Herbinot, a high bailiff, governs him.
81
Those who were perceived to serve the interests of the crown, such as
Catinat, were characterized as men of honor, very capable, without ul-
terior motives, etc.
82
These sinister les on every parliamentarian could
lead to major policy. In his report, the intendant Pellot at Montauban
considered the Cour des Aides there so corrupt and incompetent that
Colbert purged it.
83
Louis XIV never truly succeeded in wielding ab-
solute power, relying on local elites in the provinces to wield power.
84
Yet the king now had the political advantage and Colbert was using the
intendants to press royal authority over the parlements.
Although there were severe limits on the crowns ability to collect
taxes, the commissaries and intendants were often successful at demand-
ing funds from localities. Colbert wrote to his brother, commissary in
Brittany, to make the local estates, or representatives, accept the impo-
sitions that the crown was demanding and pay their taxes.
85
Colbert
later told his brother that the king was surprised that the estates had
agreed to give the king a free gift, but that it would be a bonne af-
faire for them in the long run.
86
However, forest foraging and transport
rights still needed to be negotiated. There were refusals, subterfuges, and
uprisings, as in Provence, where the bishops used pastoral meetings to
organize resistance with the deputies of the estates and parliamentarians
against the intendants attempt to impose a 500,000-pound annual gift to
the crown.
87
This was fairly typical and nothing new, though Louiss de-
mands for large gifts and extraordinary donations became ever more
frequent as the crown needed more funds. They inspired popular re-
volts, such as in Bordeaux in 1675, when a rebellion occurred against the
intendant dAguesseau and the Parlement, which had to agreed to his tax
measures.
88
Colbert had to count on intendants like Foucault to put
down such uprisings and to use violence if necessary.
89
He also needed
the cooperation of the parlements when he could get it, and noted that,
when possible, care should be taken not to alienate the magistrates. In
1672, Colbert told the intendant of Rouen, de Creil, neither to overstep
openly the jurisdiction of the Parlement nor to show his motives.
90
This
was a delicate game of power.
It was not just taxation that caused political strife. The collection of
noble genealogical information caused discontent, even unrest.
91
Col-
berts program of information collection was absolutism in action, dig-
ging into the once private nancial les of nobles and thus curtailing
their ancient liberties. It was a powerful tool of control, and Louiss re-
venge for the noble treason of the Fronde. He was not just trying to co-
opt nobles into a court system that made them into atterers rather than
independent warriors and potential rebels. He was also using Colberts
prowess at organizing administrative research campaigns and archives,
thus harnessing massive amounts of paperwork to destabilize the nobles
by making their authority predicated on royal verication. Such med-
dling from the crown, and from a minister of questionable ancestry, in-
furiated the nobility, but also divided it, as high nobles were exempt
from such humiliating controls.
92
The intendant De Marle caused a furor
by demanding too many genealogical documents from local nobles and
Colbert was forced to back off.
93
In accordance with the reform of the legal code, Colbert was look-
ing to verify the legal justications of nobility, and their tax-exempt sta-
tus.
94
In 1666, Colbert wrote a long memo to the intendants concerning
the usurpation of noble titles and privileges.
95
Continuing the veri-
cations that embodied the Grands Jours dAuvergne, Colbert explains
how to do archival research to verify titles.
96
Each noble claiming ex-
emption was to produce documented titles, which were to be cross-
checked in parish archives as well as in the Cour des Aides. Once the re-
search done, the intendant was to make
an abridged inventory, containing the quality of each act and its con-
tents, with the date, and the quality and names of those who are men-
tioned. This inventory should be made of separate notebooks that
should be organized by call numbers according to bailiwicks, and at the
head of each should be put: Such and such, of such and such bailiwick, has
appeared on the given day, and declares himself of such and such a house, and
carrying such and such arms, recognizes such and such branches of his own fam-
ily, and has produced the following documentation of titles . . . And to pro-
ceed with the inventory of documents, one must begin by the one that
justies the liation of the party in question, so as to verify it by de-
grees, to the oldest document. If one does not have the liberty of mak-
ing this inventory in the eld, one should keep the title documents to
work with them leisurely, and one will give the party a date to come
and retrieve them, after having heard the pronouncements and signing
the inventory. It would be good to make copies of all these inven-
tories, organized by bailiwicks and to send them to [the Royal Li-
brary] signed Monsieur the Intendant, to put them in order and to
make genealogies in which will be attached reports made from other
acts that will serve to justify their quality in the form stated above, and
it will be written at the top of each inventory: Such and such resident in
such and such city, as above.
97
Colbert ordered the intendants to make a documentary, genealogical
le on each noble. Even more, he wanted to create a central archive on
all nobles to be held within the Royal Library:
Once all this has been put in order, we will make very interesting com-
pilations for the Royal Library in which one will see all the nobles of
the kingdom, their arms and true genealogies, adding the research
made by all interested parties.
98
In response to the disgruntlement such machinations inspired among the
nobility, however, Colbert was forced to tread more lightly. In 1670,
Colbert cautioned the intendants not to make charges without rst do-
ing research, and conrming it with the king.
99
Although he angered
too many notables and was forced to abandon the full implementation of
his reform in 1679, Colbert complained that there were as many false
nobles as real ones, and his central genealogical archive continued to
grow.
100
With the help of the dHozier family of royal genealogists, Col-
berts assistants began the task of centralizing genealogical data within
the Royal Library. Many of these reports, along with enqutes and Col-
berts enormous administrative correspondence, found their way into
the library complex, described by Lister, that Colbert had started build-
ing in 1666.
At every step of his rise to power, Colbert had focused on the col-
lection and organization of formal information: archives, les, and re-
ports. What he needed, however, was a system to harness all this infor-
mation for daily government. The closest thing he enunciated to a
blueprint for how to manage his information system would be the train-
ing course in administration he designed for his son.
c ha p t e r 6
Managing the System
colbert trains his son for the great intendancy
I
n 1670, Colbert sent his eighteen-year-old son, the marquis de
Seignelay, to the port of Rochefort. There, alone with his fathers
cousin, Colbert de Terron, the intendant of the port, Seignelay
was to complete an apprenticeship in administering a naval port. Like an
intendant, he possessed a set of written orders from his father: work from
dawn till dusk; spend three hours early in the morning reading all naval
codebooks, rules, and treatises. Having acquired the general knowl-
edge found in these books, he was to descend into the particulars of
the construction and maintenance of ships.
1
He was to make a survey plan of the arsenal, visit and make a list
of all the ships, sketch different parts of ships and munitions, write the
names of all the ofcers and their responsibilities, and take down the
measurements of each ship (see g. 7). He was to visit the munitions
magazine and look at all the inventories in the presence of the manager.
Finally, he was to write his own inventory and make a list of all mer-
chandise. He had to do the same with each workshop: the rope factory,
the drying rooms, the foundries, and the shops of sail-making, caulking,
carpentry, barrel-making, gun powder, and so forth.
2
Colbert ordered
his son to learn hydrography, navigation, piloting, the drawing up of
maritime routes, and the reading of ocean maps. Showing his empirical
bent, Colbert ordered his son to observe, examine, and see. In a
84
response dated August 8, Seignelay assures his father that he has indeed
seen all, and that he has begun to transform his notes and his inventories
into an article that he will be able to keep in his pocket as a guide
to naval affairs and administration.
3
Colberts son thus collected infor-
mation, took notes, and boiled them down into personal manuals, or
memoirs, as Colbert called them.
The trip to Rochefort was rough on Seignelay, who fell ill. The cli-
mate of the salt marsh, the long hours, and the difcult work conditions
apparently contributed to the fever of the young apprentice. This was
typical training for most professional administrative families, but Seigne-
lay was not the son of a typical minister. Though Seignelay recovered,
Colbert expressed concern that the Rochefort apprenticeship was possi-
bly too much for a young man accustomed to Parisian life.
4
It was cer-
tainly an unusual event in Seignelays privileged existence. We are left
with the striking image of the son and heir of Louis XIVs great minis-
terone of the most powerful men in the world, at the summit of his
inuenceSeignelay, future husband to a cousin of the king, already in
possession of a great fortune, far from the glories of the court, now sick,
covered in dust, struggling to take notes and write reports in a store-
house (see g. 3). This is a stark contrast to the common image of power
and privilege in the grand court society presided over by Louis XIV,
with its prudent, powdered, and politically impotent courtiers.
5
Colbert
was training his son to take his place, and for this, the younger man
would have to dirty his hands on the workshop oor of Rochefort.
The complexity of this culture is evident in the paintings of Colberts
son. Colbert was always represented in black, but his son wore the bright
ribbons of an aristocrat.
6
In the best-known portrait of Seignelay, by
Marc Nattier the Elder (1673), he is depicted dressed as a Louis-quatorz-
ian courtier, at a writing desk, quill in hand, writing ofcial dispatches.
If ministers and high ofcials had long trained their progeny to follow in
their professional path, Seignelay was an extreme case. He was a notable
personage at court, an administrator, and an information master in train-
ing. The goal of this tough training was not simply to place him in a high
government position, but rather in that of Colbert.
Much as he trained his brother, and even the great engineer Vauban,
Colbert closely oversaw Seignalays education, in effect creating a
decade-long course to prepare his succession as the great intendant of the
state.
7
To become the kings foremost minister, Seignelay would have to
learn to be the kingdoms chief informer. In dozens of letters, Colbert
outlined his vision of the skills needed to govern, and of the very essence
Managing the System 85
of government itself. What emerges from this father-son correspondence
is a blueprint of how to create, use, and control a state information sys-
tem. Colbert imagined his governmental creation as a virtual machine.
He saw the state as sets of lists and documents collected by his agents,
which would form a practical tool for the governing of the kingdom of
France and its new colonial empire. It will become clear that when he
thought of political action, he thought in terms of the mechanics of state
paperwork and his information system.
The Merchants Book
In June 1679, Jacques Savary dedicated his book Le parfait ngociant, ou
Instruction gnrale pour ce qui regarde le commerce to Colbert, who had com-
missioned it. The frontispiece shows a man sitting in front of a desk, in
the middle of a maritime port, with an account book in front of him, a
quill in one hand, taking a piece of paper from the hand of another man.
Under the image is the title, The Perfect Negociant. The merchant
world offered many technical tools to the Colbert family, and the Savary
frontispiece gives some impression of the world Seignelay inhabited in
Rochefort.
Savary made his fortune serving the king under Fouquet, and then he
denitively quit all nancial management to write an ofcial Mer-
chants Code in 1670 under Colberts orders. The code was to be basis
of his book. The Parfait Ngociant is a compilation of documents, which
show how to function as a merchant. It contains copies of formularies,
registers, rules and regulations, banking notes, currency exchange, and
lending papers.
Savary also outlined the proper education for a business career. He
recommended above all that the ngociant know how to write well.
8
From the age of seventeen years old, children would have to do the fol-
lowing professional exercises for this profession; that is to say, to write
well, have a good knowledge of Arithmetic, and to keep Books, in dou-
ble and simple.
9
Furthermore, the young merchant would have to learn
how to travel and do business in foreign countries.
10
Thus he would
need to write clearly and vividly, in many cases about his travels, which
were related to investment and trade.
As Savary described, medieval and early modern merchants traveled
to make contacts and establish relationships, if not of loyalty, at least of
trust, as well as to discover foreign products, goods, technologies, and
the working of states and economies. They kept notes in special-made
and often manuscript notebooks that contained agenda-like sections for
foreign weights and measures, currencies, daylight times, and the regu-
larity of tides.
11
In doing business, a merchant would have to carry his
account books with him. If one followed the recommendations of
Savary, then much of a merchant voyage would be taken up by various
forms of paperwork: describing foreign merchandise, keeping account
books, lling out bills of exchange, and noting weights and currency
rates.
As the apparent heir to Colbert, Seignelays educational needs would
be complex. Like princes of the royal blood, and even Molire before
him, Seignelay attended the Jesuit Collge de Clermont (later Louis-le-
Grand). He did a thesis in natural and military mathematics.
12
As his
sons personal preceptor, Colbert chose the Jesuit rhetorician, the pre
Bouhours, who, after having been tutor to the children of the duke de
Longueville, had become chaplain to the Dunkirk garrison. Colbert
chose Bouhours neither for his poetic prowess, nor for his erudition, but
rather due to his expertise in geographical description.
13
The Jesuit had
written a description of the port of Dunkirk, precisely the sort of text
Colbert would send his son to write in Rochefort. Thus at the Collge
de Clermont, Seignelay would come in contact not only with the tradi-
tional humanist curriculum of the ratio studiorum, but also with the new
Jesuit focus on the description of nature, navigation, and geography.
14
Jesuits were known for writing descriptions of their trips, relations of
people, plants, places, buildings, and government.
15
If his trip to Rochefort had concerned naval and industrial informa-
tion, Seignelays following trips mixed merchant, ambassadorial, and
learned, antiquarian traditions of traveling.
16
In 1671, Colbert sent his
son to visit Italy. He wanted Seignelay to examine governmental struc-
ture, shipbuilding, art, and architecture and to write a relationthe
same as a mmoireof his trip. The young Colbert was to meet the pope,
visit the palaces, observe neoclassical architecture and art, learn the con-
stitutions of the old city-states, and visit Venices Arsenale. In a set of in-
structions to his son, Colbert outlined his expectations for the trip:
Seignelay was to observe and write a relation much in the style of an en-
qute. In each place, Seignelay was to
look at, principally, the city, its situation, its military forces, the num-
ber of its peoples, the greatness of the state, the number and size of
cities, towns, and villages, the quantity of the peoples that compose the
whole; the form of State government, and if it is aristocratic, he will
inform himself of the names and the status of noble families that have
taken or will take part in governing the Republic; their different func-
tions; their general and particular councils; who represents the State, in
whom the sovereign power lies and who resolves peace and war, who
makes laws; etc.: the number and names of all who have the right to
enter [into government deliberations?]; and in what manner proposi-
tions are made; the suffrages collected and the results taken and pro-
nounced; the particular councils for the militia, the admiralty, justice,
for the city and for the rest of the State; the laws and the customs un-
der which they live; in what consist the militias meant to guard the
main square; idem for the maritime forces.
Visit the public works, maritime and on ground, all the palaces,
public houses, and generally all that is remarkable in the said city and
in all the State.
17
At one level the marquis de Seignelay, son of the rst minister of the
king of France, traveled in the style of a young prince, meeting heads of
state and witnessing the workings of government and power; at another,
he traveled as learned gentleman, or antiquarian, capable of reading an-
cient inscriptions and describing rare plants, beautiful paintings, and Re-
naissance doorways; and at third level, Seignelays trip was the training
mission of an industrial merchant, who carried his books with him, writ-
ing down names and inventories and inspecting factories.
18
Yet whereas
authors such as the antiquarian Ezechial Spanheim, author of a famous
1690 relation on court life at Versailles, sought a certain notoriety from
their published relations, Seignelays goal was to keep his knowledge and
expertise secret for his father and his familys benet.
Managing a Paperwork Palace
Colbert kept an almost daily correspondence with his son, the driving
theme of which was writing style and descriptive technique. Indeed, the
exchange of letters between father and son resembles more that of a
teacher and student, for Colbert covered his sons letters with correc-
tions and criticisms. At the end of the year 1671, Colbert dictated a new
set of instructions that Seignelay dutifully wrote down. It was the nine-
teen-year-olds rst royal assignment, as designed especially by his father.
Looking over his sons shoulder, Colbert corrected the dictation, mak-
ing marks on the page, and even writing criticisms in the margins of his
sons manuscript. For Colbert, governing was about writing clearly and
organizing writing into easy-to-use notebooks. The evolving humanist
culture of the commonplace notebook and the Jesuit schools, along with
mercantile book keeping, now became the basis of governmental peda-
gogy.
19
Colberts Instructions to my son for following me in my charge as
minister (1671), is the closest thing we have to a blueprint of Colberts
vision of how to govern. In his memoirs, Louis XIV remarked that he
learned to govern by sitting in on Mazarins councils. Seignelay too
would be exposed to Royal Council meetings at a young age. But as we
have seen, his apprenticeship was technically more hands-on, and more
oriented toward the functions of intendancy. Along with his princely
education at the Collge de Clermont, there was much about his educa-
tion that resembled that of a ngociant, or an intendant. Colbert insisted
that his son travel across France and Europe, but also required that he
spend many hours behind his desk, learning the textual practices that
controlled the machinery of the state. If Seignelay were to follow Col-
bert as superintendent of nances and industry, he would have to master
his own information network, and to do this, he would have to learn
how to handle the paperwork machine invented by his father.
The memoirs, registers, lists, les, and agendas that Col-
bert ordered his son to write were not just memorization exercises.
These lists of ofcers, cities, nobles, laws, rights, ports, and ships were to
be kept on hand, and carried in the pocket for practical use. The French
government, with its arcane and often unwritten rules, was complicated.
There were neither guides nor maps to the functioning of the royal
household. Thus the notes taken by Seignelay and put in Colberts reg-
ister books were to be guide maps of the internal workings of Louiss
kingdom and government.
In 1670, Colbert commissioned a series of manuscript books from
trusted jurists for the education of his son. These bound folios, found in
the manuscript collection of the Bibliothque Nationale, are entitled
Mmoire sur les Ordonnances en general de Mr. Colbert, and appear
to date from 1670.
20
On the binding is written Manuscrit Originel du
Cour des Hautes tudes du Fils de Colbert. The rst of three volumes
contains legal texts concerning Gallican rights. The third volume con-
tains a section entitled Trait des tats that contains the lists of royal
custom taken in great part from compilations by Jean Du Tillet and
Thodore Godefroy. Most fascinating is an anonymous chapter called
Du Conseil du roy, which is a description of how this institution
works, outlining the function of each member.
With the expectation of inheriting his fathers positions, Seignelay
would have to defend the rights of the monarchy and guarantee the
smooth functioning of governmental ofces. For this, he would need to
learn the minutiae of arcane state institutions, and learn the specic pa-
perwork needed for each governmental function. Volume 4 contains a
chapter by Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, called Il y a diffrence entre Loix,
Ordonnances, et Edits. Foucaults text is a glossary of every type of
government paperwork. It resembles Savarys compilation for business-
men; however, this manuscript was for Seignelays eyes only. Foucaults
treatise explains how to write and properly sign documents. It lists types
of documents, ofcial seals, and the documentary practices and respon-
sibilities of each ofcer. Next to the section on seals, in the margin, Fou-
cault writes an exercise for the young marquis:
Assignment for Monseigneur. Write a succinct memoir of all the dif-
ferent forms of chancellery letters, their forms and the essential clauses
of their distinctions from which all the different names and letters
which are sent under each form. For example. Patent letters. . . . Dec-
larations, commissions, . . . arrests.
21
Each exercise concerned a specic type of ofcial document. With this
training manual, Seignelay became an expert in paperwork. Seignelay
would understand every sort of document that made up the machinery
of state. This facilitated Seignelays ability not only to understand how
the state worked and to manage it, but to serve the king effectively and
inform him.
Volume 4 of the Ordonnances also contains a study of the Cham-
bre des Comptes, the nancial archival administration of the kingdom,
which was a documentation center for accounting orders and receipts.
Once again, it is a workbook that explains each sort of ofcial docu-
ment.
What is a Comptant: It is a receipt in Parchment, signed by the
Kings hand, of the End of the Month accounts which have recently
been paid to him by the Savings Treasury and of which no mention is
made of the Cause of expenditure.
22
Seignelay memorized the names and styles of documents and copied
them as practice. He wrote lists, inventories, and reports. His father cor-
rected this work, making him rewrite.
Seignelay could not afford an error in his own paperwork, for the
nished productthe boiled-down extracts and reportswould, in
many cases, go before the king.
23
Colbert reminded his son that every
Friday morning, each ofcial report would have to be nished and pol-
ished, for that was when Louis took the time to read his ministers re-
ports and dossiers. The information that Colbert collected was a virtual
representation of the kingdom. It was the embodiment of his familys
competency and usefulness of the services they offered. Therefore, the
nal preparation of documents for the king was a complicated process.
Colbert writes,
As soon as I have seen all the dispatches, if they have arrived on time,
I will send them to my son for him to see them, and promptly and ex-
actly take extracts, which will be written on the back of each letter and
returned at the same time to my table; I will write a word with my
hand on each article of the extract, containing the response that should
be made immediately; my son should write responses with his own
hand, and then show them to me so that I can correct them, and when
everything is ready, on Friday we shall bring to the King all the letters,
we will read him the extracts, and at the same time the responses; if His
Majesty orders any changes, it will be done; otherwise, the responses
will be cleaned up, signed, and sent out. And so, in observing these or-
ders with exactitude, without ever departing from them, it is certain
that my son will put himself in a state to acquire esteem in the Kings
opinion.
24
Here was a solution to information overload, and the presumptive road-
map for Colberts family legacy within the state. Seignelay learned each
link in the chain of information: the choice of subject, the collection, the
writing, the organization, and the presentation to the king. Even more,
he would have to oversee archival management and the general func-
tioning of the state paperwork machine, assisting his father in his massive
task.
Thanks to his fathers political and social ascent, Seignelay was one of
the richest men in the kingdom, with a famous art collection, a privi-
leged place in Versailles, and the respect of even Saint-Simon, yet his life
often resembled that of a beleaguered Dickensian clerk. His fathers let-
ters are lled with scathing critical tirades, sometimes lasting for pages,
such as this virulent passage: One sees rather clearly that you never
write minutes of your dispatches, which is, between us, something ab-
solutely shameful, and which denotes a negligence and a default of ap-
plication that cannot be excused, or even expressed.
25
Here is the raw
grit with which Colbert mercilessly trained his son, destroyed enemies
such as Fouquet, held off the Le Tellier family as long as he could, and
tried to concentrate power for himself and his family.
In 1671, Seignelay wrote an exercise aptly titled Memoir on that
which I propose to do every week to execute the orders of my father
and to make me more capable of relieving his worries, in which he
concedes his shortcomings and assures his father he will apply himself to
the management of his paperwork:
I will make myself copy down the records Tuesday; after dinner, I will
le them after having read them, and I will write on the side the min-
utes written by my father.
Above all, I will not fail, when I have to send ofcial correspon-
dence, of whatever nature it might be, to search in the register books
of my father that which has been done in a similar occasion, and I will
give myself the time to read and examine the said registers, in order to
form my style by that of my father.
I will visit every night my table and my papers, and I will expedite,
before going to bed, that which I can, or I will put aside and send later,
before marking, in my agenda that I will keep exactly on my table, the
affairs that I will have sent out [to my correspondents], so as to be able
to hold them accountable if they take too long in responding.
I will write all my current affairs in the aforementioned agenda, and
I will cross them out when each ofcial letter has been sent.
. . .
In making my principal points, I will write them all with my own
hand, and I will make notes on the side of the points that I must ad-
dress in my letter, and I will attempt to follow the style of my father,
in order to save him the trouble, where possible, of having to correct
and redo these letters, even entirely, which happens quite often.
Saturday morning will be spent examining and signing ordinary
letters, to be sent to the Friday council, and working on current affairs.
Saturday after dinner, I will not fail to examine the agenda, and
look in the register of nances to see if there are any new funds that
have been omitted from the register of orders given to the treasurer; if
I have omitted none, during the week, I should record those that have
been given; and I will apply myself to be so exact in the keeping of the
said agenda, that I will not need to have recourse to the treasurer to
know what funds he has in his hands.
26
One did not have to be Protestant to have a serious work ethic.
While contemporaries admired Seignelay as a hard worker, Colbert
was never satised. Indeed, it appears that Seignelay lacked his fathers
obsession with organization and ling. In 1676, after almost a decade of
training, Colbert was furious to nd his sons desk in disorder. Had all
his lessons been in vain?
You must still take care to look after your papers, particularly the
important ones, which you should keep under lock and key, such as
all the treaties and memoirs I asked you to do, and which I still do
every day, for you, and which I now nd rolled in a desk, in the
worst state of lth, in spite of the fact that they contain the
quintessence of the spirit of the most accomplished people in the
kingdom;
Your portfolios;
The Decrees, by call numbers and dates;
All the treatises, the books, the instructions and all that concerns
the fundaments and the maxims taken, that you should know
perfectly.
Take care that all your memoirs and letters are well organized by
reference numbers.
That none escape your attention, that there are none that you
miss, that you examine, and that you give orders on that which they
contain. . . . That neither any paper passes through your hands, nor
letter, without seeing and examining them and giving your
resolution, and without asking about what you do not perfectly
understand.
27
Was Seignelays messy desk a sublimated lial rebellion? In 1674, in the
margins to his Instructions, Colbert had expressly reminded his son,
You must put call numbers on all your sheets, divide these maxims by
date and by chapter, and only make a precise extract.
28
Observation and
note-taking were not enough. Seignelay needed the skills of an accoun-
tant and archivist to handle the register books made from notes and re-
ports, and only by these means, assured his father, would he never have
to worry about information overload. Thus, as chief intendant, Seigne-
lay would have to master the information arcana of the state, data col-
lection through industrial management and accounting, as well as
archiving. It was this nal task that Colbert considered essential, for
keeping a well-organized administrative archive and library were the ba-
sis of Colberts managerial method. Through the reports of his son, in-
tendants, and agents, Colbert was in the process of creating a new sort of
state library the likes of which Naud had never imagined, as well as a
new ideal of royal government.
c ha p t e r 7
From Universal Library to State Encyclopedia
colberts house of solomon
I
n 1666 Colbert found a new home for the itinerant and neglected
Royal Library. A block from his house on the rue Vivienne, Col-
bert bought the Htel Beautru.
1
It was here that he settled the
Royal Library.
2
In the Plan Turgot of 1739, Colberts house on the cor-
ner of the rue de Richelieu and the eponymous rue Colbert is clearly
visible.
3
He regularly sent archivists to retrieve books and manuscripts
from the kings library.
4
In reality, he completely controlled the Royal
Library. Louis, whose library it was supposed to be, would make only
one symbolic visit there in 1681.
5
The creation of this dual library was an act of great signicance. Col-
bert physically brought the library under his control and connected it to
his own. What this meant was that the Royal Library was neither an ex-
tension of the Republic of Letters, nor of a wider, semipublic world of
learning, as it had been. It was now a part of Colberts administration.
Where famed scholars had once managed the royal collection, Colbert
now not only oversaw new acquisitions, but tightly controlled the hir-
ing of personnel for both libraries, placing his brother, the abb Nicolas
Colbert (162876), later archbishop of Luon (1661), at the head of the
Royal Library upon Jacques Dupuys death in 1656.
6
Once in control of the state library complex, Colbert set out to cre-
94
ate a collection designed for the needs of politics and state administra-
tion. Not only would his library contain the formal works of learning
outlined in Nauds Advice on Establishing a Library, but also like Philip II
of Spain, Colbert kept the papers of the colonial administration: naviga-
tional papers, maps, trade routes, and treaties.
7
Intendants reports, sur-
veys, and account books came back to Colberts central archive to be
veried and led.
8
But whereas Philip took no interest in nancial mat-
ters, Colbert, the merchant nancier, also kept price lists of nails, winch
designs, hand-drawn pictures of rope types, ships cargo logs, and arsenal
inventories. This is how Colbert managed not just learning, but also the
military and industrial sector of the state from his library. Colbert single-
handedly directed the building of the Ludovician Louvre and Versailles,
and he therefore kept sketchbooks of arches, doorways, fountains, ceil-
ing molding, architecture models, and garden perspectives.
9
He also kept
a vast archive of state account books, mentioned by Martin Lister, called
tats de nances, or tats de la recepte et despense.
10
In this grand-scale li-
brary complex, Colbert had brought the charterhouse, the humanist le-
gal library, and the state administrative archive together with the ac-
counting ofce.
11
It had a call-number system and was easily accessible
to the librarians and to Colbert. While independent, Colberts library
could draw on the wealth and even the funding of the Royal Library. A
documentary collection based on the interests of administering the state,
it had many of the practical characteristics that fascinated philosophes
and physiocrats, and would later characterize Chambers and Diderots
great encyclopedic projects.
From the biblioteca selecta to the House of Solomon
Paragons of the Republic of Letters such as Peiresc and de Thou saw
their libraries and their research as extensions of themselves, manifesta-
tions of personal virtue. Theirs were biblioteca selecta: carefully chosen
treasures, which represented the scholarly, individual virtuosity of their
owner to a public of friends and trusted scholars.
12
The idea that a well-
chosen library was a mark of the learned, well-bred honnte homme was
the basis for private collecting for scholars, political gures, and dilet-
tantes alike.
13
When Hugo Blotius began building the Austrian Imperial
Library (15751608), he not only envisioned it as an extension of the
public world of learning; he also looked to create a formal, universal li-
brary beyond the lines designed by Conrad Gesner in his Biblioteca uni-
versalis (1545), which attempted to list and categorize all extant books.
From Universal Library to State Encyclopedia 95
For Blotius, this meant formal works of learning from various disci-
plines, along with uncataloged state papers, news reports, and gazettes.
14
Even more, Blotius had hoped to create an encyclopedic museum on
knowledge, politics, the arts, and sciences. In a letter from 1575, Blotius
outlined his revolutionary project of mixing formal and informal, tech-
nical knowledge:
At the end of December I nally decided to write a booklet which will
contain an idea I have dreamt about for some years, that is to establish
a library and a museum of the human being. If the Emperor, as I hope,
will support my project and if I live another twenty years, then I will
be able to afrm that I was the creator of the most important worlds
institutions, which will nally outstrip the Vatican, the Florentine or
the French libraries. And this because I am not going just to establish a
universal library, which will contain all kinds of booksin Jewish,
Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, German, English, Croatian,
Muscovite, Bohemian, Turkish and in all the languages I can nd
but also a Universal Museum, which will contain portraits of emper-
ors, nobles, musicians, poets, men of learning, namely portraits of us as
we will be in the future. I will gather the clothes of all the populations
of the world, the measures and weights, the ancient and modern coins,
weapons, means of transport, ships, buildings, instruments used by all
the populations, in every period of the history (wood, iron or papers
tools).
15
While he succeeded in creating one of the largest and best-cataloged
collections in Europe, Blotius never realized his own ideal and make his
library more than a storehouse of formal, selected information.
16
The
Austrian library was a center for learning about politics, yet it was not
the all-encompassing archive of ethnography, administration, and indus-
try that he had originally envisioned.
Rather, the model of the biblioteca selecta remained the model of a po-
litical library. While the Swedish chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (1583
1654) created a personal library, he did not connect it to the Swedish
state policy archives. Like Cardinal Richelieu (15851642), Oxenstierna
kept a limited number of great books of formal learning from which he
extracted commonplace books of political maxims.
17
Both conscious of
a hierarchy of knowledge, Oxenstierna and Richelieu neither sought
massive, universal collections, nor united their great books with the pa-
perwork of the state.
This was Colberts great innovation. In creating his state information
system, Colbert sought to do something that no administrator of a large-
scale state had attempted: he built his interdisciplinary library and state
information archive together, from the ground up, in response to his
policy needs. Obviously, a biblioteca selectaeven a political onewould
not do for Colbert. Built from a merchants hunger for monopoly and
practical knowledge, his universal library would go beyond existing con-
cepts of formal knowledge. It went beyond Blotiuss encyclopedic uni-
versal library, resembling more a state research institute of the kind dis-
cussed by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis (1627).
The former English chancellor and inventor of the experimental
method, Francis Bacon had suggested that the sort of information col-
lected by scholars, scientists, bureaucrats, and industrialists could be for-
malized within the state itself. Bacon envisioned the state as a center of
research and collection, which constantly acquired new information by
discovery and experiment. Like Thomas Hobbes, Bacon believed that
the monarch should rule over knowledge. What Bacon envisioned was
not simply formal, university learning or a library, but rather a state-con-
trolled depot of information of all sorts, constantly renewed, and poten-
tially secret, which gave the state the monopoly on the information of
politics, trade, and science.
It was a physical theory of worldly sovereignty that he spelled out in
his utopian vision of a state based on knowledge and trade in his New At-
lantis. He called this depot of state learning Solomons House, and
Solomon was James I of England:
You shall understand (my dear friends) that amongst the excellent acts
of that king [of the New Atlantis], one above all hath the preeminence.
It was the erection and institution of an Order or Society, which we
call Solomons House; the noblest foundation (as we think) that ever
was upon the earth; and the lantern of this kingdom.
18
Bacons House of Solomon was a research institution dedicated to the
collection of various sorts of knowledge for the well-being of the state,
collected from all over the world. The king ordered that
Every twelve years there should be set forth out of this kingdom two
ships, appointed to several voyages; That in either of these ships there
should be a mission of three of the Fellows or Brethren of Salomons
House; whose errand was only to give us knowledge of the affairs and
state of those countries to which they were designed, and especially of
the sciences, arts, manufactures, and inventions of all the world; and
withal to bring unto us books, instruments, and patterns in every
kind.
19
Solomons House was a college: a center for the compilation of infor-
mation, historical and scientic inquiry, natural experiments, and the
creation of miraculous cures, but also for the invention of industrial
products such as weapons, new sorts of clothing material, paper, glass,
and food.
20
The Brethren of Solomons House were technical experts in
each eld, who could travel, and collect information, but also manage
information and create new knowledge.
21
Anthony Grafton has called
this the rst model of a research institute of arts and sciences.
22
It would
be a great store of wisdom and creative capacity to join humanity and
policy together, bringing great prosperity to Atlantis.
23
There was a de-
cidedly mercantile character to this project, created by a king, main-
tained by the state, and dedicated to learning, but also to industry. It
would also serve the production of arms and munitions, which were one
of the primary scientic and industrial interests of states at this period of
new military growth. Thus Bacon envisioned an encyclopedic policy,
scientic, industrial military research institute.
By the mid-seventeenth century, no state in Europe had followed
Bacons model, though Florence, Spain, and the Vatican, in disparate
ways, almost did. Spain was in decline and the Vatican was less and less
interested in the New Science that Galileo had shown could be so
threatening to religious orthodoxy. In spite of the advances made by
Mersenne, or by the Jesuits, the Vatican never connected formal re-
search labs with its library complex into a single institute-like entity. In
England, scholars began meeting to discuss Bacons scientic ideas in a
society formed in the 1640s that evolved into the Royal Society of 1660,
privately founded by prestigious scientists as a Colledge for the Pro-
moting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning, and sup-
ported by a royal charter in 1663. As remarkably successful as this soci-
ety wasit created the basis of modern scienceit did not match the
scope of Solomons House. The English state was neither capable of, nor
willing to, create a centalized state-controlled learned, scientic, indus-
trial complex. Nor did it create a true House of Solomona central data
bank and research institute on all things for the use of the state. This
would be Colberts ambition.
24
The Library as Research Institute: From the Republic of
Letters to the State Academies
Colberts public patronage of the arts and letters is well known. He
inuenced the Republic of Letters with the creation of French state
academies and research centers. In 1663, Colbert named his own librar-
ian, the mathematician Pierre de Carcavy (16001684), royal librarian,
consolidating the link between his collection and the Royal Library.
25
This was a departure from tradition, since Carcavy, while a book collec-
tor and a former counselor to the Parlement of Lyon, was the son of an
Italian banker and not issued from the old world of Gallican historians.
Still, as a friend of leading scientists and mathematicians such as
Descartes, Pascal, Fermat, and Huygens, Carcavy was a useful liaison be-
tween the library, the Republic of Letters, and the world of the natural
sciences.
26
Carcavy was not an independent librarian, as, for example,
Leibniz would become several decades later, when he became head of
the Wolfenbttel Library and oversaw its reorganization and rebuild-
ing.
27
Colbert was the builder of the library, and Carcavys job was to
follow Colberts orders to run the tandem collections as a machine of
public administration.
Colbert also hired famous international scholars, and scientists such as
the astronomer and geographer Giovanni Domenico Cassini. He was in-
terested in the sciences and their application to his plans. Cassini ran the
Royal Observatory that Colbert founded in 1666, and helped collect not
only astronomical, geographical, and other scientic data, but also infor-
mation that could be used for mapmaking and hydrography, elds es-
sential to Colberts maritime projects.
28
Colbert hired the Dutch math-
ematician, physicist, astronomer, and clockmaker Christian Huygens
(162995), who developed the pendulum clock and a table of cumula-
tive equality based on measuring the suns passage by the running of the
clock. Huygenss table was not only a mathematical work of paramount
importance; it could also be used as a navigation device to gure longi-
tude, and thus had important mercantile ramications.
29
Colbert corre-
sponded with Huygens and even appeared to understand his work, per-
sonally annotating some of Huygenss data on gunpowder, force, and
vacuums, and asking the scientist pointed questions.
30
He asked the
French ambassador to Rome to personally look into a telescope there
and describe what he saw.
31
With Carcavy, Huygens, and Cassini, Colbert had brought to France
major scientic gures both to run his library and observatory and to
lead the Royal Academy of Sciences, founded with the library in 1666 as
a major research center for natural sciences, astronomy, mathematics,
and mapmaking.
32
The same year, Colbert founded the Royal Gar-
densa site of botanical and natural learning as well as public experi-
mentsunder the aegis of the Academy of Sciences.
33
Colbert founded
other academies, such as the Petite Acadmie, or Acadmie Royale des
Inscriptions et Mdailles (1663), which would later become the Aca-
dmie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, a center for antiquarian scholar-
ship. He controlled the Academies of Beaux-Arts, Painting and Sculp-
ture and the Acadmie Franaise, and was the patron of numerous
provincial academies. He founded the royal academies of music and
dance; and he founded the Royal Academy of Architecture (1671) as he
personally took over the royal projects of building the Louvre and Ver-
sailles. To harness Italian artisanal and artistic expertise, Colbert corre-
sponded with Bernini and founded the French Academy in Rome
(1666). Indeed, with the help of Bernini and through a detailed corre-
spondence in which plans and descriptions were exchanged, Colbert and
the great baroque architect began the project to build the Louvre in
1668.
34
Colberts assiduousness did not always guarantee success, and
culturally, he was a neophyte, as his failure to build Berninis plans for
Louvre illustrate.
35
His project was to bring the world of learning under the control of
the French state, and his library complex was central to this aim. Begin-
ning in the sixteenth century, the French academies had been the center
of late humanist learning and the Republic of Letters.
36
The founding of
the Acadmie Franaise (1634) represented Richelieus attempt to make
humanist eloquence serve the interests of the state in a systematic way.
Colberts project was a massive expansion of Richelieus own imitation
of Italian, papal, and Spanish cultural patronage. It was an unparalleled,
mercantilist state academic program, which brought scholarship, science,
and the arts under the control of the state. Integrated with the expansion
of his library, it changed the relationship of the state to learning, science,
and culture. In 1663, with the fears of the Fronde still in mind, Colbert
banned non-state-sanctioned academiesan unthinkable act in the days
of Peiresc and Dupuy.
Colbert tried to inuence and ultimately control the public market of
ideas and scholarly work. Beyond academies, Colbert helped found the
Journal des Savants in 1665, with the help of his loyal scholars Denis de
Sallo and the abb Jean Le Gallois. Its goal was to occupy the sphere of
public scholarly discussion and advertise the discoveries and work of his
academies and learned allies: That which goes on in the Republic of
Letters.
37
The public dimension of Colberts project operated at several
levels, producing work, publishing academic ndings, but also regulat-
ing the world of learning through reviews. It would inspire independent
major journals of the Republic of Letters, the Acta Eruditorum (1682) and
Pierre Bayles counterjournal, the Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres
(1684), which discussed science, but criticized politics rather than work-
ing as a branch of propaganda.
38
Colbert sought to control the Republic of Letters in France and
wherever he could, not just by hiring the best scholars, but also by giv-
ing pensions to foreign scholars, such as German erudite Herman Con-
ring.
39
The poet and academician Jean Chapelain (15951674) became
Colberts agent, searching for scholars, both French and foreign, willing
to take Colberts money in return for royal service, and possibly propa-
ganda.
40
Chapelain proposed that Conring write panegyrical history for
the king.
41
Even more, Colbert had hoped that Conring would scour
German archives to nd legal and historical documents that could be
used as state propaganda to bolster French dynastic claims against the
Hapsburgs.
42
Colbert did not hesitate to get involved personally with the
recruitment of foreign scholars. He corresponded with the Polish-
Lithuanian Protestant astronomer Johannes Hevelius (161187), telling
him that he would receive a cash gift from Louis XIV on the merit of his
work alone. This was unprecedented international nancial enticement
to serve and honor the patronage of the French crown.
43
The Universal State Archive
Colberts librarian, Baluze, outlined the concept of Colberts new col-
lection in his Histoire des capitulaires des Rois Franois (1677), essentially a
history of royal archival administration. In this work, Baluze claims that
a complete sampling of the archives makes his royal legal science more
sound.
44
Closely tied to Mabillon and the Benedictine scholars of St.
Germain, Baluze insisted on a new approach to archiving, seeking the
mass management of diplomatica.
45
Colbert and his librarian understood
the ramications of having, or claiming to have, the most complete doc-
ument bank in Europe, which could be used in questions of interna-
tional law, precedence, ecclesiastical rights, and theology.
46
Colbert
sought to build up the Royal Librarys book collection and manuscript
archives, to bring it to the level of the Wolfenbttel Library, or the Im-
perial Library in Vienna, both of which contained more than 100,000
books and manuscripts.
47
He went about building his collections in a
new way. Book and manuscript collection was a gentlemanly practice,
based on the commerce of ancient manuscripts between learned and
powerful people through letter-writing and trading. Once the currency
of the Republic of Letters, the trade and interest in manuscripts and
books had driven humanist relationships since the days of Poggio Brac-
ciolini and Niccol Niccoli in Quattrocento Florence.
48
For Peiresc and
his circle, the search for rare historical manuscripts was the action that
dened their learned friendships, but also brought them patronage and
income. It was a semipublic exchange of knowledge and information.
Colbert sometimes looked at his manuscripts with the personal warmth
of a bibliophile; but mostly he perceived them in the cold light of rea-
son of state. They were means to an end: chips on the bargaining tables
of international relations and internal power grabs, and the currency of
his own power. And for the most part, they were to remain secret. Here
was a major tension in the internal logic of the Republic of Letters,
which was somehow supposed to serve disinterested learning and poli-
tics at the same time.
Colbert had no time for the formalities of the Republic of Letters,
such as openness and the ethics of information exchange. His collecting
techniques both disregarded the integrity of individual collections and
were devoid of ethics in acquisition. Indeed, he offered to buy the
Wolfenbttel Library outright, but the Brunswicks cannily refused this
offer.
49
He bought other entire collections for the Royal Library, 10,000
books at a time. In 1668, Colbert essentially robbed the Bibliothque
Mazarine, proposing an exchange of books in which Colbert sent his
book agents, two royal printers, Frdric Lonard and Sebastien Marbre
Cramoisy, to choose the choicest books and manuscripts possible. In
particular, Colbert coveted a number of Oriental manuscripts and pre-
cious books once owned by Peiresc, Naud, and Du Tillet.
50
The ex-
change amounted to a theft from Nauds library, which Colbert him-
self had reconstituted after the Fronde.
51
In 1667, with no little irony,
Colbert sent the new royal librarian, the mathematician Pierre Carcavy,
to purchase a large chunk of Fouquets impressive manuscript collection
(his library in the Chateau de Saint-Mand numbered more than 30,000
printed books and 1,050 manuscripts). It was the trophy of a kill. The
royal printer Frdric Lonard helped to direct the Fouquet auction, and
Colberts scholarly agent, Denis II Godefroy, annotated a copy of the
Fouquet catalog.
52
Carcavy later acquired Trichet du Fresnes large col-
lection of Italian manuscripts for well under their fair value.
53
Although
in 1669, Colbert missed the chance to buy de Thous library, now
30,000 books strong, he obtained for the king and for himself a string of
prominent humanist collections. He directed the purchases of the library
of the humanist doctor and rhetorician Jacques Mentel, whose 10,000-
book collection specialized in works on eloquence, a number of which
were inherited from Gabriel Naud, as well as the medieval manuscripts
of Alexandre Petau.
54
He managed to acquire Gaston dOrlanss mag-
nicent collection with its rare botanical prints.
Colbert sought not only books, but also policy archives that shed
light on the workings of government. Colberts interest in the archives
of Henri-Auguste de Lommie (15941666), count de Brienne, known
as the Collection Brienne, illustrates the political aspect of how he
viewed archives. Briennes father, Antoine de Lomnie, a counselor of
state under Henry IV and Louis XIII, had sent Pierre Dupuy into the
Trsor des Chartes and to other major legal and administrative archives
where he was to make a choice of useful documents to be copied for the
collection, resulting in a massive collection of 358 folio volumes of com-
piled documents on mostly contemporary state history. The collection
was envisioned as a pedagogical tool for his son, Henri-Auguste: Jay
donn mon lz tous les livres manuscriptz et papiers contenus en ce
prsent inventaire, par un contract de donation du XIXe jour de lanne
1627.
55
The mastery of diplomacy entailed being a ne connoisseur of diplo-
matic and political records.
56
However, the papers were seen as so im-
portant to the state that Richelieu forced the younger Brienne to sell
them back to him in 1638 for 36,000 pounds.
57
When the Parlement of
Paris sold off Mazarins collection in 1652, under the helpless watch of
Naud, the Brienne papers were not dispersed because they belonged to
the king, and, to his great pleasure, Mazarin recuperated the documents
at the end of the Fronde, in yet another bibliophilic revenge.
58
Fouquet
had made his own copy of the papers, but under Colbert, the papers and
Fouquets copy nally ended up in the Royal Library. The Brienne Col-
lection was seen to be so valuable that the archduke of Brunswick man-
aged to obtain a full copy for his library at Wolfenbttel, as did the king
of Prussia. Above all, Colbert was careful to make his own copy, along
with several copies of the collections catalog.
59
By Colberts death in 1683, the royal collection had tripled in size, con-
taining around 36,000 printed books and 10,500 manuscripts.
60
Colberts
personal collection, some of it pilfered from the Royal Library, or pur-
chased with state funds, numbered around 23,000 printed books and 5,100
manuscripts, not including his administrative correspondence and ar-
chives.
61
Colbert was able to do something that humanist encyclopedists
such as Kircher could not dream of: to quickly build a practical library of
tens of thousands of books and manuscripts in just a few years, and digest
the great French bibliophile tradition into the vast entrails of the state.
Power in the Archives
Colbert not only collected more than others; he also used the power of
the state to collect in ways that scholars could not.
62
For scholars like
Peiresc, book collecting entailed a strict ethos of learning and honesty.
For others, learning was competitive business, and collecting could be ad-
dictive. For example, Sir Henry Wotton simply stole the books he
wanted while visiting Vienna.
63
Colbert had little of Peirescs old ethic of
learning. He purchased, seized, or copied what he needed. In 1665, Col-
bert sent Jean de Doat to the Languedoc region nominally to copy, but
in reality to collect systematically, every pertinent feudal or ecclesiastical
document he could nd.
64
With Carcavy directing Colberts orders,
Doat and his assistants copied, bought, cajoled, and sometimes took
books, making doubles of the documents of many of the ancient south-
ern archives of monasteries, cities, and parlements. They shipped these
documents back to Paris by the ton, by which, in some cases, as Lopold
Delisle notes, many rare works were saved from destruction or provincial
oblivion.
65
Colberts initial approach was aggressive, and Doat was fre-
quently barred access to archives, such as at the abbey de Gimont, where
a monk refused to use his key to open the door.
66
Local nobles, rightfully
fearful of encroachments on their privileges, rioted, and Doats secretary
was murdered in the street outside his window in Carcassonne.
67
The fact that Colbert assigned great importance to these acquisitions,
giving them the status of an affair of state, illustrates the crowns sense of
absolutist prerogative. Colberts archival interests were related to con-
crete political goals.
68
Doats mission partly pertained to Louiss sover-
eignty over the Pyrenees. Colbert ordered him to nd documents con-
cerning the royal domain and ecclesiastical beneces in what amounted
to potentially huge sums of income for Louis XIV.
69
During wars with
German states and Spain, Colbert employed Denis II Godefroy and
Baluze to nd documents that backed Louiss dynastic claims.
70
For Peiresc, nothing had been more central to his own antiquarian
project than the quest for Eastern, or Oriental manuscripts. They were
particularly rare, and often the fruit of archeological and ethnographic
missions to the East, in which scholars traveled in camel trains and
rummaged through the ancient rolls of the shelves of Orthodox and
Coptic churches, mosques, and synagogues.
71
He was proud of his abil-
ity to procure them through his web of contacts in the ambassadorial
corps.
72
It was the ability to travel to the East and return with marvels
and treasures of learning that had made the names of the Flemish anti-
quarian, diplomat, and Austrian imperial librarian, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecque (152292), and Athanasius Kircher. If the quest for Eastern
manuscripts was elemental to humanists, it was the same for state li-
brarians. Before Peiresc, Jacques-Auguste de Thou had used his con-
tacts to obtain them for the Royal Library.
73
This trend continued, and
there were always contacts between scholars in the East and the Royal
and Mazarine libraries.
Colbert received reports on the riches, laws, and political structures
of India and Asia in 1668 from Franois Barnier, naturalist and doctor to
the Moghul emperor.
74
With not only a large web of contacts, Colbert
also had more power and money than past collectors. Most of all, he
coveted ecclesiastical documents from the East.
75
He asked Baluze to use
his contacts to search for ecclesiastical documentation on sanctication
to regulate the observation of saints days, on heresy, and on Louis XIVs
conict with the papacy over the appointment of bishops, and for doc-
uments pertinent to arguments over Protestantism and Jansenism.
76
Col-
bert always asked French ambassadors to the East to procure him rare
manuscripts, and he used his knowledge of diplomatic reports as well as
his power to pressure or pay churchmen to give up rare manuscripts:
You know the curiosity that I have for good manuscripts to enrich my
library, and I am very persuaded, by the friendship that you have for
me, that, during all the time you will be at Constantinople, you will
take care to search for them and send them to me; let me know, now
and then, what you spend for this, so that I can have you repaid.
Furthermore, I am happy to inform you that the sieur Sauvan,
Consul on Cyprus, has written me that the archbishop of Cyprus, who
is presently at Constantinople, had quite beautiful manuscripts that one
might be able to acquire from him. See if I am right about this and if
you can turn this into something, at the same time, without making
any commitments.
77
In the 1660s, Colbert commissioned the great linguist Charles du
Cange (161088) and Jean-Baptiste Cotelier (162986), the cataloger of
Greek manuscripts in the Royal Library and future professor of Greek at
the Collge Royal, to create a state formulary, not unlike those for the
intendants, to systematize the research, assessment, and purchasing of
Greek manuscripts. In what is a perfect example of the bureaucratization
of scholarship, it explains how to spot fakes, and how to date manu-
scripts by looking at writing and the presence of Latin in the text.
78
This
analytical guide recommends rejecting nonecclesiastical works if they do
not have marks of antiquity, and that copies of the Old Testament
were rare, and thus better to procure than New Testaments. Above all it
warns, You must not let escape any historical book, or any book on
civil or ecclesiastical law, that is to say the canons.
79
Working with his trusted agent, Arnoul pre, the intendant of galleys
in Marseille, Colbert outtted and helped organize the Jesuit Orientalist
antiquarian Johann Michael Wanslebens four-year expedition (1671
75) to Egypt, the Greek islands, and Constantinople.
80
Arnoul would
also collect the manuscripts on their arrival and send them to Colbert.
81
Wansleben was not simply required to nd rare manuscripts. He was also
to make an intendant-style enqute of his journey, noting political and
religious structures, geography, architecture, wealth and trade, outlined
in an antiquarian version of Colberts Instructions to the Intendants,
entitled, Instructions pour M. Vanslbe sen allant au Levant, dated
March 7, 1671.
82
He was to nd rare books and manuscripts, by slipping
into churches and mosques, while also collecting naturalist information:
He should look for all things that can be used in the composition of the
natural history of each country, such as animals of all species, minerals
and marcasites, particularly those which have extraordinary qualities,
such as mineral fountains and other waters, plants, fruits, that grow in
the countryside as well as in gardens, observing those which grow
more easily in one country than another.
83
Colbert asked Wansleben to bring back specimens and any other curios-
ity.
84
When reading Wanslebens descriptions, it is understandable why
Colbert took the time to respond to Wansleben personally on numerous
occasions: the German did his job well, and described his trip in good
administrative detail, while nding masses of rare documents. Colbert
was condent about the information Wansleben collected.
Colbert sponsored a long string of missions and agents in the East.
85
The leader of missions in the 1670s, the pre Besson wrote a Design for
an illustrious Library composed on ancient Oriental manuscripts in
1673 that Colbert read and annotated.
86
Besson had been chosen to lead
the royal expedition after wisely giving Colbert seventy long Hebrew
and Arab manuscripts as a gift.
87
His Design for a Library outlined the
reasons for such an Eastern manuscript collection. Besson noted its use-
fulness in acquiring ancient and religious knowledge. In the spirit of
Counter-Reform humanism, he noted his methodology would serve
scholarship and philology and help correct textual errors and decipher
the Bible. Most of all, it could be used as a tool of religious authority:
I have written these reections, in spite of nding them hardly useful
to accomplish a design, the execution of which will contribute much
to the honor of the Gallican Church, to conrm namely against the
heretical sects the Catholic truths of the Eucharist, concerning the
priesthood, the sacrice of the Mass, the Reality and the Transubstan-
tiation, prayers for the dead, purgatory, the visible head of the Church
and the primacy of the Roman Church, and similar points that the
eastern Church has in a thousand places in her ancient manuscripts.
88
As it had been from the time of the Renaissance, antiquarianism re-
mained at the center of questions about political authority. However,
with his research teams, massive archive, and policy of secrecy, Colbert
had made something new: a centralized system of information for inter-
national relations and political legitimacy.
A State Information Archive: Colberts Policy Portfolios
Considering the size of Colberts library, it is impossible to know what
he did and did not read. What is possible to discern, however, is what
information he thought was essential for government. Colbert collected
legal, political, and economic information on the major states of Europe.
From shipbuilding, canon-making, and trade in Venice, Holland, and
England, to the constitutions of Poland and the wealth and landholding
of Spanish peers, Colbert tried to teach himself the workings of Europe.
He collected documents on diplomacy, trade, and treaty making. Col-
bert called his document compilations portfolios, or registers,
which contained on average seven hundred folio pages.
89
Each portfolio
comprises numerous texts, some copies, some originals, of documents
Colbert deemed useful. They are cataloged in the modern Bibliothque
Nationale as the Mlanges Colbert and the Cinq-Cents Colbert,
part of which were sold to the crown by Colberts grandson, the third
marquis of Seignelay. The rest were conscated during the Revolution
under what appears to be some duress, in retribution for Colberts per-
ceived thefts from the Royal Library.
90
The Mlanges Colbert contain not only Colberts extensive corre-
spondence, organized chronologically, and his medieval document col-
lection, but also one hundred portfolios that were compiled specically
to suit daily administrative needs, which Colbert referred to as the reg-
istres concernant mes affaires.
91
On the back of each document, Baluze
and sometimes Colbert himself wrote its title, in some cases adding,
Extremely Important, bon, or other notes.
92
Colbert and Baluze
added to each compilation regularly, keeping them up to date, and
adding useful texts.
93
In part, this collection looked like a vastly expanded version of par-
liamentary archives and the old ministerial libraries, such as that of ear-
lier ministers, Sully and Brienne, or of great parliamentarians such as
Harlay, de Mesme, and Mol.
94
It contained standard charters and
treaties of law, government, and foreign affairs. Colbert had extensive
collections of medieval charters;
95
les on French royal and parliamen-
tary history and rights;
96
foreign affairs;
97
and church matters.
98
The li-
brary also contained portfolios with secret histories, reports, and docu-
ment compilations, such as those by Baluze and Bourzeis on current
affairs, negotiations over royal marriages, lists of secret code keys, and a
collection of different forms of royal panegyrical poems.
99
Along with typical royal and legal documents, Colbert shelved doc-
uments of state administration: administrative formulariesthe en-
qutesdesigned by Colbert, and carried out by his agents, as well as the
administrative reports he commissioned, such as one written by the abb
de Bourzeis on legal reforms, to which Colbert attached his own
notes.
100
He also kept les concerning the parlements, provincial rights,
and the assemblies of the clergy and estates. He furthermore collected
the papers of former ministers, like Sully.
101
Part of Colberts totalizing
ambition was his collection of library catalogs, of his own library and any
other he could obtain. If he couldnt own a collection, he wanted to
know what was in it for reference and collation.
102
State Information in the Public Sphere
Like Naud, Colbert saw the natural sciences as an open-ended source
of useful information, constantly expanded by the discoveries brought
by experiment.
103
But he went further than Naud, connecting the
learned library, the administrative, nancial, and industrial archive, to
the library of the natural sciences. New information was discovered by
experiment, and thus Colbert founded the Acadmie Royale des Sci-
ences on site in 1666, to have their experiments and archives in the
Royal Library.
104
The Petite Acadmie, later the antiquarian Acadmie
des Belles Lettres et Inscriptions, met across the street, in Colberts li-
brary, or in his Chateau at Sceaux.
105
Colbert kept les of mathematical
treatises,
106
as well as the astronomical data from the observatory that
Colbert founded and hired Cassini to run. This was part of a more gen-
eral program of favoring subjects with practical and nancial interest to
the state and centralizing them in his archive.
107
While many of Colberts archives were used in the secret of internal
ministerial and familial deliberations, other document collections and re-
search projects were destined for publication, in an attempt to have the
French state occupy the public sphere of learning. There was thus a sym-
biotic tension between the secret sphere of state information collection,
and the world of learning, diplomacy, and propaganda. The practical,
naturalistic, and industrial focus of Colberts collection and research pro-
gram was reected in his sponsorship of public scholarship. Colbert con-
trolled the Royal Press at the Louvre, and through it, he printed and
published works that reected the interests of his own projects, acade-
mies, and libraries. The Royal Press no longer published political his-
tory, or even philological, classical humanist scholarship, but rather pan-
egyric works and works on the natural sciences and industry, and royal
propaganda.
108
This reected Colberts interest in the natural and tech-
nical sciences, and possibly a distaste for the traditional humanism of
scholars such as Naud. From 1640 to 1661, the Royal Press at the Lou-
vre published traditional late humanist worksscholarly editions of clas-
sical authors, such as Terence and Suetonius, and of eastern and mostly
Byzantine manuscripts, and antiquarian medievalism, such as works by
Jean Chifet (1646). It also reedited standard religious texts, such as
psalm books and St. Franois de Saless Instruction la vie dvote (1641).
Led by Sublet de Noyers, it published the works by Richelieu on reli-
gion (1642), and Philip de Comminess histories of the reigns of Louis
XI and Charles VIII (1649).
In 1666, at the moment Colbert took over and began in earnest his
cultural program, a striking change took place. The old works of classi-
cal philology and scholarship disappeared. The Royal Press now favored
in-house, naturalist scholars and engineers from the Royal Academy,
such as Claude Perrault, whose works included Mmoires pour servir
lhistoire des animaux (1676) and Observations sur les eaux minrales de
plusieurs provinces de France (1675). Also published were Denis Dodarts
Mmoires pour servir lhistoire des plantes (1679) along with works by
Cassini and Picard.
It was not only works of science that replaced the old literary hu-
manism. The press became a site of Louis and Colberts theatrical pro-
paganda. In 1679, along with Richers description of his travels, the press
published Andr Flibiens Les plaisirs de lisle enchante, describing Louis
XIV most splendid party at Versailles. Indeed, more than 50 percent of
the books appearing during the 1670s concerned Versailles, the kings
collection of artworks, or parties. What had once been a top humanist
press was now a mouthpiece for the state. During Colberts tenure, no
literary works appeared, and only historical works that served direct po-
litical interests were published. In 1677, along with Le labyrinthe de Ver-
sailles the press published Colberts dits, dclarations, rglemens et ordon-
nances du roi Louis XIV sur le fait de la marine. When works of scholarship
appeared, they were directly related to political questions, such as Louiss
claims to dynastic rights, in Lecointes serial historical project, the An-
nales francorum.
Outside the connes of the Royal Press, Colbert sponsored both di-
rectly and tacitly the publishing of works that resembled the practical
chapters that would ll Diderots Encyclopdie, many of them by inten-
dants and commissaries: F. Dassis LArchitecture navale, contenant la
manire de construire les navires, galres et chaloupes et la dnition de plusieurs
autres espces de vaisseaux (1677); Franois Blondels Trait de lart de jeter
les bombes (1683); Jacques Savarys Parfait Ngociant (1670); Philippe Bar-
rmes Les comptes faits ou Le Tarif Gnral de touttes monnoyes (Avignon,
1762); also Les Tarifs et comptes faits du grand commerce o lon y fait les
changes dAngleterre, dHollande, de Flandre, dAllemagne etc. (Paris: chez
lauteur, 1670).
109
In essence, Colbert was helping to create works to ll ideal libraries
on the topics he felt most useful for the state, in terms of propaganda and
public knowledge. It is hard to measure the effects of this program.
What is clear though is that, from this point on, in order to govern, a
new curriculum was necessary. Those who wanted to govern would
have to know what Colbert knew.
If one wanted simply to understand the state, it was clear that it was
necessary to be expert in multiple elds: medievalist legal scholarship, li-
brary sciences, the natural sciences, administrative and industrial infor-
mation management, navigation, architecture, rhetoric, and shipbuild-
ing. This new naturalist vision of state knowledge is outlined in a memo
written to Colbert by his uncle Pussort in 1663:
The Latin colleges have created procurers, clerks (grefers), sergeants
and clerks for the palace of justice, priests and monks. If we could con-
vert some of these places into colleges of commerce, of marine map-
making, piloting, hydrography, etc., the kingdom would be in no time
as knowledgeable in naval affairs and in long-range voyages, in com-
merce and liberal arts, as it already is in chicane [legal harangues and long
trials].
110
Colbert followed through, opening hydrography schools and fostering
natural sciences and mercantile studies.
111
Colberts library, and its mirror in a new state curriculum, would
change the nature of library collections. The biblioteca selecta of the honnte
homme or of the gentleman scholar still existed. But the collections of pro-
fessionals increasingly reected the technical functions of the state. Col-
berts brother Charles de Croissys library reects the evolution toward
technical, practical libraries for state administrators. Croissys personal li-
brary was a direct product of his technical training and positions in state
administration and diplomacy. Of the books it contained, 30 percent
were on law and political science, and customs books; 50 percent were on
history, mostly that of France, with a distinct focus on Middle Eastern
history, which possibly reected an antiquarian bent.
112
Only 10 percent
concerned classics and religion. Croissys library was a biblioteca selecta, but
one for state administration. Administrators such as Vauban created tech-
nical and political libraries for themselves and their children as tools of
their state functions.
113
These were personal erudite appendages of the
larger state archives created by Colbert and other ministers.
Using the Archive for Politics
The collection of documents and management of the library were di-
rectly linked to external political concerns. Colberts policy archive was
used in daily government and kept up to date. Colbert insisted that
Baluze be certain of what was in the library at all times, and that all pa-
pers and maps be well led, ready for quick consultation.
114
He warned
Baluze never to lend his books, or let anyone in the library without his
express orders.
115
In 1672, he asked Baluze to nd him a le of
French-English trade treaties with his own notes:
In my library there must be a portfolio in which are found the treaties
made between our kings and England, with diverse memoirs written
in my hand on these treaties and on commerce. I beg Monsieur Baluze
to nd me this portfolio and to send it to me; in the case that he does
not nd it, he must nonetheless send me all the treaties concerning En-
gland.
116
Papers in Colberts thematic portfolios, such as the one dedicated to
English treaties, would be used to write policy papers.
117
As Colbert had
made clear to Baluze, these were policy dossiers and had to be both se-
cret and in order for ready consultation. The dossier contained historical
documents, past treaties, ofcial studies, such as a report on the balance
of trade between France and England, as well as ofcial correspondence
and internal memos.
118
On the back of a memo outlining the project of
a new trade treaty with England, Colbert wrote, To Monsieur Baluze,
to guard with the greatest of care.
119
Colberts Projet du trait de com-
merce entre la France et lAngleterre, October 9, 1669, contained an
exchange of annotated commentary between Colbert and his brother, de
Croissy, ambassador to London.
120
I will closely examine the project for a commerce treaty that you have
sent me, and I will then let you know my sentiments concerning each
of the articles that compose it. . . . It would please me to see the re-
marks that you have made about the treaty project in relation to the
advice you have taken from the most skilled French negotiants who
are in England; and with the manuscripts and mmoires that I sent you
before, you will learn how to carry out the discussions of the articles of
this treaty.
121
Once he worked out the project and veried it with the archival dossier,
Colbert wrote a report to Louis on the trade treaty, along with the of-
fers made by the English, which Louis XIV in turn could read with Col-
berts report, and then copiously annotate, correct, and corroborate.
122
A
summary of his work with de Croissy, the report to the king contained
information from Colberts English trade portfolio. Following royal
conrmation of the project and the parameters of trade negotiation, a
string of negotiations with the English followed with demands, re-
sponses, and the nal treaty, copies of which would become part of the
portfolio.
123
Thus Colberts manuscript collections allowed him to per-
sonally lead major negotiations with England, rather than relying on
outside scholars and diplomats, while also enhancing the capacity of the
French state to deal with its northern neighbor.
Seeing Like an Archive:
Colberts Collection and the Colonies
While Colberts library and research facilities produced knowledge and
appeared to be practical, they also created constraints on Colberts gov-
ernment. One of the most revealing elements of Colberts policy archive
are the les concerning colonial enterprises.
124
Colberts interest in
France, Italy, Holland, England, and the East far outweighed his curios-
ity in the New World, for while he certainly kept his large colonial ad-
ministrative correspondence, he did not integrate it into his archival sys-
tem for daily government. This undermined his ability to effectively
manage his Canadian policy. Colberts lack of interest in information
from the New World seems striking for a man after whom the Missis-
sippi was named the Colbert, and the Ohio River, the Seignelay.
Why would one so interested in information ignore many aspects of the
riches of his colonial empire? Indeed, the French colonies were small,
yet Colbert invested not only great administrative effort in them: he also
invested his own money. Colbert could not comprehend a world with-
out ancient laws and charters. He saw the world in terms of traditional
paperwork, and in his eyes, America had none.
125
In 1669, Colbert wrote a set of orders to his agent leaving to Canada,
the sieur Gaudais. Once at his destination, Gaudais was to write a de-
scriptive relation, providing statistical, industrial, political, and social in-
formation.
126
In the style of administrative formularies, such as Philip II
of Spains relaciones topogrcas, he asked Gaudais to collect geographic
details, the length and effects of the seasons, the perceived possibilities
for agriculture, the number of inhabitants, the amounts of industrial pro-
duction and trade, lists of charters that had been established, and what
food was fed to children.
127
Gaudais was charged with making a plan for
deforestation and the maintenance of the colonies.
128
Even more, Col-
bert asked Gaudais to devise a plan to protect inhabitants from the Iro-
quois, who have had no trouble in cutting their throats.
129
Aside from this last gory detail, Colberts orders to Gaudais look
much like his other administrative orders to intendants in France. They
were dry and technical. Remarkably, Gaudais received no instructions to
consult local experts or collect local artifacts and treasures. Where Philip
II sent out his formularies to be lled in by locals with varying results,
Colbert trained his information collectors to produce standardized re-
ports.
130
This worked quite well in France; but the strict framing of in-
formation collection in the colonies limited what Colbert learned about
the lands he was trying to develop for trade. Colberts primary job was
to inform Louis XIV and to carry out his orders. Neither Louis nor his
minister saw local, eyewitness knowledge of the Americas as an essential
tool for administration, and this, in turn, limited Colberts administrative
effectiveness in the colonies.
131
In examining his correspondence with colonial administrators such as
de Baas, governor and lieutenant general of the French West Indies; Jean
Talon, intendant of Canada; and the directors of his colonial companies,
it becomes clear that, although it was limited, Colbert did have a colo-
nial policy.
132
Certainly in Canada, he had trouble carrying it out,
though he was able to achieve industrial feats in the sugar and slavery de-
pot of the West Indies. But Colbert neither really invested himself in the
project nor built a sufcient administrative apparatus to manage such a
complex project. This appears to be due in part to a lack of curiosity
about the colonies themselves. Thus it was not simply mercantilism, or
problems with royal government, that undermined his colonial efforts. It
was a problem of perception.
Throughout Colberts colonial correspondence, his lack of curiosity
in local knowledge is marked. Colbert received reports from the West
Indies, maps and navigational calculations, and even a minimalist en-
qute from Souchu de Rennefort that discussed local inhabitants and
customs. He also received reports from the governor-general of Canada,
but he never corresponded with La Salle, or kept a working le with his
agents observations of the New World. These reports amounted to less
information than he received from the port of Rochefort.
133
Why is it that Colbert, famed for his curiosity, expressed minimal in-
terest in knowing his colonies? The Portuguese, Spanish, English,
Dutch, French Jesuits, German merchants, and other explorers had
made an industry of local, rsthand reports and expertise. Curiosity and
the ars apodemica were rmly linked with the interest in the marvels of
the New World.
134
In the mid-sixteenth century, the Portuguese relied
heavily on explorers accounts and Arab and Indian contacts to organize
their geographic charts and colonial enterprises. In the sixteenth century,
Juan de Ovando created information collection projects for New Spain,
and Fernandez de Oviedo wrote a natural and ethnographic history of
the Spanish colonies with a particular curiosity for local knowledge.
135
During the 1680s, Robert Boyle, head of the English East India Com-
pany, made active use of rsthand naturalist and ethnographic accounts
of the East.
136
In the French context, there was no lack of local information about
Canada. The Jesuits sent numerous eyewitness reports back to France.
137
They were an essential tool of administration. Why then didnt Colbert
use local knowledge as an administrative tool in the Americas, as he did
in France and the East? For Colbert, it was not a question of making the
New World conform to the authority and history found in ancient texts,
as Juan de Seplveda had done. The New World did not inspire the
same level of interest as did France, Asia, or the Levant. There was no
attempt to make connections between the Bible, Rome, and new peo-
ples, or, indeed, to look for Montaignes noble savage. Once his royal
colonial charters were established, Colbert did not treat the New World
as new or separate from Europe. If all authority emanated from ancient
Frankish kingship, Rome, the church, and monarchies, then there was
no original authority in the New World. Indeed, authority could only
be established once charters were established, seigneuries founded,
and legal codes brought into force. The paperwork generated by placing
the New World in the context of European and French authority made
it real. Thus there was a truly virtual character to this New World that
could not exist until it was enshrined in French legal paperwork. Colbert
spoke of the New World as connected to England, Holland, Spain,
France, and their colonial holdings and concessions. In his eyes, legally,
this is what they were. Colbert never describes the colonies as part of the
Atlantic or constituting a world unto itself. Rather, these territories
came to life in documents of authority and sources of wealth inserted
into the ancient constitutions of Europe.
In his study of Australian and aboriginal treaties, the bibliographer
Donald McKenzie showed that Australian aboriginals had neither a con-
cept of property nor of textual authority.
138
When they signed treaties
giving away their land, there was no cultural context in which this oral,
physical tradition could comprehend what was a textual act dening the
possession of property. The treaties, argue McKenzie, had to be held
null and void. For Colbert, we must turn this model around. For him,
oral, aboriginal knowledge could have no authority and no connection
to his traditions of authority unless bestowed by legal and diplomatic
measures by Europeans. If Colbert viewed the New World as devoid of
intrinsic authorityauthority based on dominion over land, law, and
holy writ spelled out in ofcial chartershow then did this affect his
colonial policy? In all of Colberts colonial correspondence, there are no
detailed questions about local knowledge.
139
Colberts working les on the colonies pertain mostly to European
questions of treaties and rights.
140
Colberts biggest le on the colonies is
the Recueil des relations et mmoires sur lEspagne (16061666), les
Indes Orientales (16281669), lAmrique (16241669), les Antilles
(16681671).
141
This large portfolio of 639 pages contains texts on
Spanish dynastic rights; texts and treaties concerning international rela-
tions between France, Spain, England, and Portugal; works concerning
the founding of businesses and factories in the colonies; as well as several
different eyewitness accounts by Spaniards of the Antilles, the River
Plata, and the Peruvian Amazon. It has two memoirs by French gover-
nors in the Antilles. Finally, the compilation contains translations of two
English relations: one by Thomas Modifort, governor of Jamaica, and
another a manuscript translation of George Gardiners Description of the
New World, or Islands and continents of America, as they were in the year 1649
(London, 1651).
Colbert also assembled three portfolios on international trade, with
Girard Malyness Lex mercatoria (1622);
142
charters accorded by the king
of England to English merchant companies in Holland and Turkey; and
a collection of Chartes des privilges aux Compagnies de Navigation
par les rois dAngleterre en anglais (15551670);
143
as well as a collec-
tion of the royal English charters of the American and West Indian
colonies.
144
Finally, he kept collections concerning French trade treaties
with England and Holland, and documents about the navy, including
two original captains journals.
145
Colbert valued certain rsthand ac-
counts, especially those made by people who worked for him. He val-
ued trade route reports and maritime maps, and owned manuscript maps
made by ship captains. For example, he kept a hand-drawn map of In-
dia Oriental by the Portuguese explorer Damiao Vieira (c. 1668).
146
Yet
in his personal portfolios, there are few manuscript maps of his colonies,
and no accounts of marvels, wonders, or treasures. Colbert did write to
the director of the West India Company asking him to always send me
all that you nd in these islands that is rare and extraordinary in plants,
animals, wood, and other things.
147
Yet this was not systematic. There
are few rsthand accounts of natural or cultural information, compared
to his administrative reports. In all his letters to Jean Talon and the in-
tendant Bas, there is no mention made of trying to nd artifacts or to ac-
tively acquire series of histories or accounts of local peoples and tradi-
tions. Baluze, an ecclesiastical medievalist, ran his library. Thus in
discussions about the library and the collection of information, no men-
tion is ever made of new peoples or new lands.
Colbert left most details of administration in the hands of his colonial
companies and governors. If his colonial governors had local contacts
and sources of information, they did not discuss them with Colbert. His
training of those who were supposed to manage the colonies was based
primarily on the mastery of French law and administration. While Col-
bert hired ship captains for their expertise and intendants such as
Bellinzani for their knowledge of nance and industry, his choice of
colonial managers was not based on their rsthand knowledge of the ter-
rain. To prepare directors of his colonial companies, he told them to ex-
amine the papers of the companies to nd out what had happened in
previous colonial administration.
148
He did not require them to read ge-
ographical or natural histories. Colonial agents had to master the knowl-
edge of production, merchandise, and shipping.
149
They were to study
complaints and uprisings; but neither knowledge of indigenous peoples
nor rsthand accounts from nongovernmental agents were required. In
his quest to create a legal framework in the colonies, Colbert ordered his
agents to establish traditional noble patents, and urban, monastic, and
guild charters. He wanted to create the paperwork and legal documen-
tation missing from this new worldfrom religious and feudal charters
to the Code Noirso that he could perceive his colonies in the papers
in his hands.
In a letter to the Jesuit-educated Jean Talon (162594), intendant of
Canada in 1671, Colbert writes that he has received the portfolio of
administrative reports and correspondence and that he and the king have
gone over them. Their sole interest is the establishment of commerce.
Colbert responds that he wants to know more about the business of the
colony: its inhabitants and products; the conrmation of titles of nobil-
ity; the transport of prostitutes to raise population; new livestock, defor-
estation, and agriculture; and the conversion of native populations.
150
In
spite of his interest in the establishment of Catholic institutions, Colbert
showed none of the interest in historical learning that is present in his
administrative correspondence with agents in Europe and the Orient.
For each of his European projects, Colbert created parallel scholarly
studies. The New World did not have the formal antiquarian informa-
tion of the old. And yet, as Jeffersons great collection of Americana and
Native American maps showed one hundred years later, there was a host
of local information that Colbert could have collected for his project of
imperial domination. Innovative though he was, Colbert was set in his
formal ways. There was little or nothing he saw worthy for his library
from the colonies, besides European-made maps, natural histories, and
the new European paperwork his agents designed for the colonies. It was
the enterprising Talon who read, approved, and outtted the Jesuit ex-
plorer La Salles expedition down to western North America, which
would claim the Mississippi as the Colbert in 1682.
151
Talon had local
knowledge and read La Salles reports, but there is no evidence that Col-
bert was interested in what, with hindsight, seems essential.
When one considers the amount of correspondence Colbert had with
Wansleben, the antiquarian, as opposed to the discoverer of the Missis-
sippi, it exposes the dramatic limitations of how Colbert conceived the
New World and its importance. Unlike Thomas Jefferson, the local,
ethnographic collector, or the Jesuits, Colbert only wanted intendant re-
ports about French things in Americapopulation, products, and
cities.
152
In spite of his Jesuit education, he had no sense of ethnography.
He appears to have resisted the realities of the empire he tried so hard to
build. Despite all protestations from his agents in Canada, he applied his
mercantilist policies, forcing French traders to limit their business to the
French colonies only, in essence boycotting the English so that they
would not receive French goods and gold. This was a fatal policy, for
there were only around 2,000 French colonialists and around 150,000 in-
habitants in the Thirteen Colonies.
153
In spite of Colberts repeated at-
tempts to ship prostitutes to Canada, the colonys population dwindled
with its inbred economy. European mercantilist regulation did not work
in the dynamic, dangerous, and freer world of North America, though it
did produce results in the Caribbeans slave-fueled sugar factories.
Colbert was Louiss lens to the kingdom and empire. He saw the
world through paperwork, and paperwork was either ancient, from the
East, holding the authority of the church and antiquity; or it was eccle-
siastical, medieval and feudal. In collecting paperwork, curiosity played
a central role. Colbert had a mercantilist hunger for information that
aided him in his grandest achievements. In this sense, mercantilism was
an effective tool. Yet the essential desire for information was missing
from his colonial policy. This perhaps helps explain why Colbert created
an extraordinary enterprise, but one that was fundamentally awed.
154
For Colbert, there was no Atlantic world, only the weak reection of
ancient Europe, its laws and its hierarchy of power and knowledge, all of
which was seated in paperwork and archives.
155
In the end, as with
Philip II, paperwork took a certain toll on Colbert. While he used his
archives to build and create state ventures with great success in many
elds, his archives both reected and limited his vision of the world. It
was not simply French government and mercantilism that kept Colbert
from fully engaging with his colonial project. Colonial policy was also
was rooted in a particular vision of what constituted the proper knowl-
edge for government. Colberts paperwork system was effective when
used in certain realms. No doubt the system had glitches, blind spots,
and unintended consequences. However, when Colbert did not use his
information system, and when he did not apply his curiosity to state ad-
ministration, he was certainly less effective in his government.
c ha p t e r 8
Jean-Baptiste Colberts Republic of Letters
the state control of knowledge
T
he fact that Colbert mixed the worlds of state administration and
scholarship so closely makes it hard to dene exactly what he
created. Were his intendants and agents bureaucrats in a modern
sense? Or were they subservient versions of the humanist secretaries that
had lled the ranks of papal and Italian administrations since the late
Middle Ages? What becomes clear is that Colbert was creating a new
sort of agent loyal only to the state. He actively trained information
managers who could nd, copy, catalog, and bring him documentation
as he needed it for his day-to-day affairs. In other agents, he sought
scholars to teach him how better to handle the historical materials he
used for government. They were masters of that little understood phe-
nomenon of learning: the internal government report.
By the late 1660s, he had created a cadre of in-house, state scholars
who worked only for him. Colbert preferred above all churchmen for
their expertise in medieval charters and, perhaps, for their discretion.
Whereas Rudolph II of Bohemia had surrounded himself with scholars
and librarians who had semi-independent literary careers based on pa-
tronage, Colbert preferred those with institutional loyalty. Colbert did
not want his scholars looking for patrons; he wanted them as permanent
employees of his administration. He found the skills of the Benedictines
particularly appealing. These churchmen were expert textual handlers
120
who saw it as their responsibility to organize ecclesiastical archives. In
particular, Colbert sought out the services of the famous archivist and li-
brarian, Don Jean Mabillon (16321707), who had developed a method-
ology of Diplomatics, a critical approach to authenticating documents
and exposing spurious ones.
1
Working with a number of lay scholars in
his Socit de Saint Germain, Mabillons dedication to conscientious
methods of critical philology worried some in the church because of his
rationalizing approach toward authoritative church documents. Yet Ma-
billons fame and inuence only grew. Mabillons skills of ecclesiastical
erudition had a profound effect on Colberts approach to learned ad-
ministration. Mabillons masterwork of documentary analysis, De re
diplomatica (1681), not only won him Colberts admiration, numerous
state pensions, and support for the monastery; the following year, Col-
bert sent Mabillon to Burgundy to search for documents relative to royal
rights.
2
In 1683, Colbert sent Mabillon through Switzerland and Ger-
many to look for documents relative to the rights of the Gallican church,
which were central to fortifying Louiss power and claims over ecclesi-
astical beneces.
Mabillon trained a number of highly accomplished document gath-
erers and critics, experts in ancient languages, among them Baluze and
Robert Cotelier.
3
One of the nest bibliophiles and archivists of his
time, the former secretary to Archbishop Pierre de Marca, the Jesuit-
trained tienne Baluze helped manage both the Colbertine and Royal
libraries, as his massive personal collection of manuscripts copied from
both libraries illustrates.
4
Baluze ran the day-to-day workings of the li-
brary. He managed its nances, acquisitions, and staff, down to the
purchasing of reams of paper (the greatest expenditure besides books,
used for copying, the main process of manuscript acquisition), as well
as brooms, maps, locks, coal, rags, rugs, cabinets, armoires, maps,
globes, curtains, and most importantly, repairs on the clock, for Col-
bert, trained as an accountant, liked all his employees in both his and
the kings library to clock their hours.
5
It is hard to imagine the old
royal librarians punching in and out on a work clock; but Colbert liked
efciency.
Baluze stood midway in the evolutionary chain between scholar and
expert bureaucrat. Colbert hired him not only because his erudition was
internationally renowned, but also, as Colbert mentions himself in his
correspondence, because of the skills he had honed with the Jesuits and
Mabillon. Baluze was a quick copyist with good handwriting, a master
cataloger, and a capable handler of account books.
6
And clearly, he was
Jean-Baptiste Colberts Republic of Letters 121
trustworthy. He answered to Colberts ethic of scholarship and his logic
of bureaucracy and state secrecy.
7
The library and the administrators
who worked for it constituted a quasi-bureaucracy of letters, and Col-
berts orders were its modus operandi.
Baluzes main responsibility was to manage historical documentation
for Colberts daily political uses.
8
Like the Fuggers before him, Colbert
insisted his collection be up-to-date. Baluze was to acquire all new pub-
lications and archival discoveries, in particular in relation to topics of im-
mediate concern, such as Jansenism.
9
The librarys organizational and re-
trieval system was facilitated by large cataloging projects, organized by
Baluze and Nicolas Clment in the Royal Library. Colbert mostly oper-
ated through Baluzes personal familiarity with the collections, and his
own collection of textual extracts that Baluze used to handle vast num-
bers of documents, often copied from outside Colberts collection.
10
Baluze authored numerous internal reports: secret histories and reading
and archival guides to help Colbert not only master historical and legal
policy questions, but also handle his own archives.
11
Baluze went be-
yond scholars such as Mabillon who worked outside the state adminis-
tration, and refused direct payment for his work for Colbert.
12
Baluze
was not an independent gure of learning, but rather a state scholar on a
salary, and Colbert employed others like him.
An early member of the Acadmie Franaise and former secretary to
Richelieu, the abb Aimable de Bourzeis (16061672) was another Col-
bertian state scholar trusted to handle secret papers of state relative to
Louis XIVs claims to the inheritance of the Spanish Netherlands. He,
too, produced secret internal histories and legal reports for Colbert, such
as his giant le on the inheritance rights of Louis XIVs Spanish wife,
Marie-Thrse, relative to the Dutch War. The le is lled with secret
historical reports, useful documents, and the fruits of a wide scholarly
correspondence concerning the crowns claims over Spanish Nether-
lands.
13
Bourzeiss secret le for Colbert also contained information that
remained secret: reports by ambassadors, legal memos, and minutes of
strategy discussions, such as Designs that his Majesty has to take parts of
these countries, over which he has rights, as well as collections of legal
evidence and arguments backing the French royal case.
14
Bourzeis in-
formed Colbert about legal questions, Spanish responses, and general
strategy. Parts of this le were eventually unied into a work of public
propaganda. While delicate internal memos and diplomatic reports re-
mained secret, Bourzeiss Traitt des droits de la Reyne tres-chrestienne sur
divers Estats de la monarchie dEspagne is a discussion of legal documents
Colbert saw t to publish on the Royal Press at the Louvre in 1667, to
backing the French crowns claim.
The Foucault Files: Power, Information, and Archeology
The emblematic gure of Colberts information system was neither a
churchman, nor a librarian, although he had essential training in ecclesi-
astical scholarship. Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (16431721) was an erudite
maitre des requtes and ofcial whose career spanned and oven outlasted
Louis XIVs reign.
15
Foucault began his career as Colberts secretary,
compiling a legal and administrative manual for Colberts son, a glossary
of state paperwork and of the archives that allowed him to learn the me-
chanics of state administration. He helped in the trial against Fouquet
and led the acquisition campaign for both libraries, nally rising to the
powerful post of intendant of Montauban, where he implemented re-
pressive measures against Protestants.
16
As Baluze evolved from scholar
to bureaucrat, Foucault grew from lowly tax collector, to grand state in-
tendant, writer of enqutes, and noted erudite and antiquarian, founder
of the Acadmie des Belles Lettres de Caen. By the end of his life dur-
ing the regency of the duke dOrlans, Foucault was a celebrated anti-
quarian and archaeologist. Foucault straddled both the strong-arm poli-
tics of Louiss regime and the world of erudition.
Foucaults father, Joseph Foucault (1612?), was a secretary of the
Chambre des Comptes, and a protg of Colbert. He went on to be a
clerk in the Parlement of Paris and wrote the ofcial report of the pro-
ceedings of Fouquets arrest.
17
Nicolas-Joseph was educated by the Je-
suits. He was rst in his class (empereur) several times and won the rst
prize in prose at the Collge de Clermont, where Colberts sons would
later attend school.
18
Foucault studied philosophy and obtained the de-
gree of matre des arts. In 1662, he studied theology for a year, was
conrmed, received the tonsure, and was going to receive a position in
the clergy. However, his father and Colbert decided that he should
study law, and in 1664, he received a degree in canon and civil law at
Orlans. Colbert named him secretary in 1665. He now had the pre-
requisite skills to become one of the leading gures in Colberts admin-
istration. He was trained in classical studies, ecclesiastical history, and
canon and civil law.
19
Colbert had plans for his skilled protg. Foucault entered royal ad-
ministration with a venal commission as a procurer general of genealog-
ical research. His rst job was thus to work as a support to Colberts
project of pressuring the nobility to prove their nancial rights. In 1674,
he became a matre des requtes, the road to being an intendant. In
1678, Colbert found a new use for his talents. He made Foucault part of
Baluze and Doats manuscript gathering operation. Working with
Baluze, Foucault went to the abbey of Moissac and noted that Doat had
missed many documents relevant to asserting royal, secular power over
the church. With the help of the abb de Fouillac, Foucault went
through the manuscripts and had Fouillac make a catalog for Baluze.
20
Concerning their discoveries, Foucault wrote to Baluze,
Monsieur, I did not want to respond to the last letter that you took the
trouble to write me, as I was not yet able to send you the catalog of
manuscripts that are in the abbey de Moissac. To examine them, I re-
lied on the aid of Monsier Fouillac, canon of Cahors, who spent seven
days just to go over a part of them, the archives of this monastery be-
ing in such a great confusion and the majority of its papers rotten or
eaten by rats. Monsieur le prsident Doat quickly looked over them,
and there is a large number of books and cartularies that he did not see.
It will be possible to gure out what is in this abbey with the help of
the above mentioned sieur Fouillac, who is very able in these matters,
and under whose eyes nothing will escape that merits to be noticed.
But as he will lose his revenue as canon during the time he will do this
research and although he has offered to work for free, it would be,
Monsieur, necessary to give a royal commission to the chapterhouse of
Cahors for him while he works on this search. It would be a way to
gain a total knowledge of that which is of interest in the churches of
this province, and you would be, Monsieur, informed on all that you
desire to know. Monsieur the Bishop of Cahors is in Paris for a lawsuit
he is making against the University, and I am persuaded that he will
not refuse you the manuscript of Radulphe, archbishop of Bruges,
which you have made clear you need.
21
Here Foucault explains that he has found a learned priest without an in-
come who will essentially raid the archives and write a catalog so that
Baluze and Colbert can assess which documents needed to be copied.
No member of the abbey of Moissac was willing to do so. Foucault also
points out that the bishop of Cahors was having legal problems, and if
Colbert helped him, he might be able to use this pressure to obtain a rare
manuscript.
Nicolas-Joseph Foucault is not considered an erudite author, al-
though his works are varied and substantial. He wrote major parts of the
Ordonnances (c. 1670), or legal and administrative lessons for Colberts
son Seignelay; he was Colberts and Lamoignons scribe during the legal
reforms, writing the Le Procs Verbal de lOrdonnance de 1667, the internal
minutes of Colberts legal reforms. He wrote the ofcial description of
the arrest of Fouquet.
22
He wrote a secret, internal history of the func-
tions of the royal secretaries, also for Seignelay, to once again describe the
workings of state administration.
23
He prepared drafts of his own inten-
dants enqute on Caen for the Mmoires sur les Gnralits collected to in-
struct Louis XIVs grandson and erstwhile heir, the duke de Bourgogne,
in 1698.
24
He wrote numerous enqutes, letters to Colbert, as well as a
set of Mmoires, not published until the nineteenth century. He also
worked as a scholar, writing numerous speeches for both the Acadmie
des Belles-Lettres de Caen, and the Acadmie Royale des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres, which made him an honorary member in 1701.
25
During
this same period, Foucault and the famed antiquarian and Orientalist
translator of One Thousand and One Nights, Antoine Galland, sent a re-
lation of their ndings from their archeological dig of the ancient cities
of Alauna and Viducassiens to the Acadmie des Inscriptions.
26
Montfaucon eulogized Foucault in the preface to his founding work
of antiqurianism, Lantiquit explique et reprsente en gures (171924).
He considered Foucault to be one of the greatest archaeologists of the
age, whose position as an intendant gave him advantages that he applied
toward learning:
Monsieur Foucault, Counselor of State, has furnished me with more
antique pieces than any other. The charge of intendant, which he ex-
ercised in several provinces, gave him the means to discover [many
pieces] that would have been destroyed had they fallen in other hands.
As he has marvelous taste, he has created one of the most beautiful [an-
tiquities] cabinets in the kingdom, and perhaps all of Europe. Always
attentive to please learned people, he keeps those who work on antiq-
uity informed, and, like another Peiresc, he has offered them with
pleasure, all that he has collected for public utility.
27
Montfaucons comparison of Foucault to Peiresc shows how much had
changed since the beginning of the seventeenth century. Foucault was
learned, and shared his ndings with the world of the Republic of Let-
ters, but only in his retirement. In the days working for Colbert, Foucault
did not share information among public scholars. In fact, he was known
for seizing books, and for the coerced conversions of Protestant nobles.
28
Indeed, Foucault could be seen as the antithesis of Peiresc, for he was
erudite, but he used his learning to advance his administrative career and
enforce Louis XIVs aggressive absolutist policy. In the affair of the r-
gale, in which the bishop of Pamiers refused to obey royal orders, and
which we shall examine in more detail in chapter 9, Foucault seized
documents, sequestered charterhouses, and produced numerous reports
and document packets that he sent back to Baluze and Colbert.
29
He
searched the papers of the renegade priest, Pre dAubarde, the vicar
general of Pamiers, and found a secret journal about the rgale, and found
names of churchmen involved in the ecclesiastical rebellion.
30
He
worked with the loyal archbishop of Toulouse, who looked over papers
for him and veried the names of conspirators. The very same year,
1680, Foucault also sent Colbert substantial administrative reports con-
cerning politics, legal reform, church affairs, and tax collection in Mon-
tauban, as well as making a map of the area.
31
In all cases, he used his
scholarly expertise to assert absolutist royal authority.
Colbert asked Foucault to mix his duties as intendant with his schol-
arly service. He was also a hands-on governor and administrator. In the
same letter in which he asks Foucault to inform yourself always on all
that concerns commerce, manufacturing, and the feeding of livestock,
he also asks him to continue his state scholarly activity: In the differ-
ent visits that you have made all over your districts, you would give me
pleasure if you would look in the churches, cathedrals, and in the prin-
cipal abbeys to see if there are considerable [collections] of manuscripts,
and, in this case, to look for the means to have them without using the
heavy hand of authority, but rather with sweetness and by purchasing
them.
32
Clearly Colbert had learned lessons from the problems encountered
by his aggressive document hunters, although he never hesitated to ap-
ply state pressure to acquire his desired papers. He regularly asked inten-
dants, commissaries, ambassadors, and agents to nd him materials for his
library and archives. To the intendant Tubeuf he wrote,
I have heard that the Messieurs [the monks] of the chapter of Saint-Ga-
tien were thinking of sending me some of their manuscripts to put in
my library. Please tell them for me, when you see them, that I would
be much obliged by this present, as I take great pleasure in collecting
manuscripts that might serve as the basis for literary projects that I have
undertaken on [Louis XIVs] reign.
I also ask that you let me know what you have done to get a copy
of the manuscript entitled: Gesta Aldrici, which belongs to the chapter
of the cathedral of Le Mans; and in the case that you have been able to
acquire it, you will please sent it to me as quickly as possible.
33
There were numerous cases of intendants making contact with religious
institutions, and asking for manuscripts, rare works, and verications.
34
Colbert also asked the ambassador to London to scour the London book
markets, looking for new editions for his personal collection.
35
Colbert drafted gures of international humanism for his sometimes
public, sometimes secret information hub.
36
The academician Jean
Chapelain (15951674) became Colberts agent, searching for scholars
willing to take Colberts money in return for royal propaganda. A man
who once kept a correspondence with other members of the Republic
of Letters for his own interests now used his address book for Colbert.
Chapelain wrote Conring, asking him to work for the French crown by
assembling historical documents that could be used as French propa-
ganda.
37
He did the same with Heinsius, whom he attered by listing
other great scholars, such as J. G. Vossius and Huygens, who had ac-
cepted royal service.
38
Chapelain attered Vossius by telling him that
Louis XIV himself had taken a personal interest in his works.
39
Chapelain also proposed his own services in developing a form of pane-
gyrical history for the king of a sort that would not reveal political secrets
to the kings enemies.
40
The object here was blatant propaganda.
Chapelain explained that he understood Colberts project of keeping
documented political history secret:
History should serve only to conserve the splendor of the Kings en-
terprises and to detail his miracles. At the same time, history is like a
fruit that is not good out of season. For if it does not analyze the mo-
tives of the things it explains, and if it is not accompanied by prudent
commentaries, then it is nothing but a pure, undignied relation. . . .
However, this sort of history should not be used during the reign of
the Prince who is the subject of the history, for if one were to write
this history, it would render public the secrets of the Princes Cabinet;
it would warn his enemies, nullify his policy, and betray those who
work with him in secret and in the shadow of a profound silence.
Therefore, I think that we should produce a history in a manner that
the work is kept hidden until no inconvenient remarks can be used
against his Majesty and his allies.
41
Colberts agent understood that his job was not to write serious docu-
mented history. The royal archives were to remain closed.
When Denis II Godefroy, Colberts agent in the stacks of the Cham-
bre des Comptes at Lillean archive essential for documents pertaining
to Louiss claims to the Netherlandsasked Colbert if he could write a
history with the documents he was collecting under Colberts orders,
Colbert told him that he paid him to keep his medieval documents for
the state, not to publish them.
42
He told the disappointed Godefroy to
stick to his secret, archival task.
43
When one of the assistants in the Royal Library, Antoine Varillas, re-
vealed to Colbert that he was using the documents of the royal collection
to write a Secret History of the House of MediciI leave off where Machi-
avelli began, he imprudently boastedColbert was horried, and red
him and evicted him from his lodgings at the library.
44
When Colberts
brother protested that Varillas had nowhere to go, Colbert retorted that
he had found Varillas insupportably ugly (une mine plus dsavan-
tageuse qui se puisse voir), and that he didnt care.
45
He showed the same
businesslike impatience with the old Royal historiographer, Franois-Eu-
des de Mzray.
46
When the latter published a passage in his history that
was in contradiction with Colberts claims of royal tax prerogatives, Col-
bert red him as well, ignoring the entreaties of a long-serving old man
with a family to support.
47
These scholars misunderstood their role, which
was closer to that of Foucault, the intellectual policeman.
With the Foundation of the Petite Acadmie, later the Acadmie
Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Colbert organized a historical
research team for political propaganda.
48
The team, which included
Chapelain, Franois Charpentier, Claude Perrault, the Prsident de
Prigny, and later, Paul Pellison-Fontanier, had begun by helping for-
mulate Louiss Instructions for the Dauphin, and had corrected works of
propaganda. The team wrote Latin inscriptions for public buildings and
medals, and took part in writing collective works of propagandistic his-
tory.
49
The most illustrious of this group was Charles Perrault, the great
author of fairy tales, who acted as permanent secretary for the Petite
Acadmie. Perrault writes in his Mmoires that he had Charpentier write
down the work of the group in a small notebook (cahier), which would
be sent to Colbert, who would write his comments on it, much as he did
with the reports of his son and the intendants.
50
Colbert had tested Per-
rault for the position of secretary by having him write a description of a
naval siege. Perraults job was then to record Louis XIVs utterances into
a register, so that sententiae and great phrases of the king could later be
quoted. Colbert also dictated the entire story of the fall of Fouquet,
which Perrault diligently wrote down in the register.
51
However, there were problems with Colberts historical research
team. Perrault notes that the team worked not from primary historical
documents, but rather from ofcial gazettes and public sources.
52
After
Charpentier approached Colbert, asking for secret memoranda with
which to write his histories, the minister rebuffed him, not wanting to
open the royal archives. Charpentier resigned. When Pellison began
writing his history of the War of Devolution, he also asked for direct
access to Louis XIV and state archives. He got access to the king, but
apparently not to state papers. They were two separate things. Louis
did not reveal secrets, but his papers did. Colbert wanted Pellison for
the same reasons he hired Chapelain: to write panegyric, not to do re-
vealing research.
53
Thus, Pellison was commissioned to write about
Louiss Dutch Wars, and followed Louis on his military campaign,
writing observations and a purely descriptive history that could be used
as propaganda.
One scholar who pleased Colbert was Benjamin Priolo, a former spy
and adventurer who had worked for Mazarin, and who, in 1661, pro-
posed to write a history of the ministry of Mazarin in the style of Taci-
tus or Livy in exchange for payment.
54
He even asked Colbert for doc-
uments for his history, and Pierre Bayle claimed that Colbert had given
him access to information concerning rival ministers.
55
Whether or not
Colbert actually gave Priolo sensitive documents to bolster his claims,
Priolos history clumsily attacked Colberts rivals and praised Mazarin.
Describing Mazarins last will and testament, Priolo noted, At this time
especially he recommended by particular Character Jean Baptiste Col-
bert, in whom as he possessed many qualities, so especially his faithful-
ness and his industry, and with his most piercing Judgement, sincerity
unknown to the most of men.
56
Priolo noted that Colbert could never
be deceived, nor deceive anyone, and he lamented that his book was
both ridiculed and disdained. Colbert may not have liked base attery,
but he did like political loyalty, and Priolo received payments and kept
his pension.
If he supported propaganda and suppressed critical histories, Colbert
also stied and controlled the publication of genuine historical docu-
ments if they did not serve the strict role of propaganda. In 1666, the
parliamentarian Guillaume Ribier complained of the rising tide of state
secrecy and government control over state documents, in which more
and more historical documents were deemed secret intelligence.
57
It
was dangerous for historians, Ribier noted, to publish historical docu-
ments with political signicance,
58
where one discovers the secrets of the Court of a Prince, the mysteries
of the Cabinet, the power and authority of the Favorites, the jealousies
and competitions of the Grands etc. . . . Even now it is considered an
attack against the well-being of the state, & the Honor of Princes and
their Ministers, to give the means to Strangers and Enemies of the State
to use our documents (adresses) & to know our most secret intelli-
gence.
59
Secrecy and censorship had always existed in government affairs. It was
now clearer than ever that this secrecy was extending in new ways into
the world of learning. This did not just mean keeping secret archives and
manipulating the public world of learning; it also meant creating a vast
censorship campaign. It was precisely the sort of policy that was missing
during the Fronde. Colbert, in contrast, used his state agents to identify
and repress information deemed threatening to Louiss royal power mo-
nopoly.
Policing the Republic of Letters:
Nicolas de La Reynie and Information Crackdown
As a minister who made his career during the days of the Fronde, libels,
clandestine street literature, and printing were of primary concern to
Colbert. Here was another aspect of the world of information and of the
Republic of Letters that he wanted to control. Throughout his ministry,
Colbert wrote to his Lieutenant general of police, the intendant Gabriel-
Nicolas de La Reynie (16251699), of the kings and his own concern
with libels.
60
Colbert saw libels as a direct threat to royal authority. He
wanted not only to punish printers of libelous tracts and banned books
with stays in the Bastille or in the galleys; he also sought to create a sys-
tem to tightly control printing throughout France. In 1661, at the be-
ginning of Louiss reign, Colbert sought to strengthen the states control
over the printing of books in France. There had long been a system of
royal permissions that printers needed to publish a given work, that
followed the approbation of the royal censor, called the approbation du
roy.
61
Colbert wanted to expand this by bringing print shops themselves
under state control.
In 1666, Colbert created the Council of Police and asked them to
come up with a system for controlling the book trade.
62
Working under
La Reynie, with the assistance of the erudite police commissary Nicolas
Delamare, the council designed a mercantilist plan to reduce the num-
ber of printers to only a sanctioned few. Colbert helped the council de-
sign a familiar system of controlled visits, much like those of intendants.
La Reynie and Delamare were not simple policemen, but rather presti-
gious, former matres de requtes, and La Reynie was technically an in-
tendant himself. The position of lieutenant general of police in Paris was
a newly created post, a high ofce that was tantamount to a ministry of
the interior, though focused on Paris. It brought La Reynie into daily
contact with Colbert and often Louis XIV.
The job of the police was to visit print shops and verify that they
were following regulations and only publishing sanctioned books. La
Reynie would list all material in each print shop to make sure the state
could account for each printing press.
63
He wanted lists of workers in the
printing industry, and lists of those who made and distributed movable
type. In 1667, Colbert closed thirteen of the seventy-nine existing print
shops in Paris for not complying with state regulation.
64
The decision
was taken to limit the number of royally sanctioned printers to thirty.
They would receive mercantilist monopolies and advantageous contracts
to publish royal materials, from books to legal codes, and ofcial an-
nouncements that were posted on walls. It was a lucrative business. In
order to maintain their privilege, printers would have to pass each book
through La Reynies censorship ofce to receive an ofcial stamp of ap-
proval. Failure to do so would incur corporal punishment.
65
While fa-
vored state-sanctioned printers prosperedFrdric Lonard became a
millionaire with his royal and church printing monopoliessmall inde-
pendent printers and bookbinders slowly went out of business. Colberts
state regulation succeeded in strangling the once great Parisian book in-
dustry. However, censorship is always a tricky game. Printing in nearby
Holland ourished even more, outside of Colberts control, and royal
printers, such as Frdric Lonard, often printed subversive works on
foreign presses, smuggling them back to Paris for prot.
66
Gabriel-Nicolas de La Reynie was not a Parisian by birth. Born in
Limoges in 1625, from an important parliamentary family, his grandfa-
ther was president of the Parlement of Burgundy and a member of the
Royal Council. He received a Jesuit education and went on to study
philosophy, theology, and canon and civil law. At the age of twenty-
one, he became a president of the Parlement of Bordeaux. During the
Fronde, he became intendant to the duke dpernon, and, although
wealthy himself, went on to manage the dpernon family fortune and
household in Paris.
67
In 1661, having had the support of Mazarin, La
Reynie was able to purchase the important position of matres des re-
qutes for the considerable sum of 320,000 pounds. With good political
connections, he was on the path to an intendancy.
From a distinguished legal family, La Reynie was cultivated. His mar-
riage contract reveals the valuable contents of his library of 1,537 vol-
umes in the early 1660s.
68
His library was lled with works of literature
and eloquence, theology, history, canon and civil law, philosophy and
the natural sciences, as well as a considerable collection of eighty-one
volumes of prints. Here was the perfect agent for Colbert: cultivated,
professional, with legal and ecclesiastical expertise, and loyal to the
crown. La Reynie was not only a well-educated and rich lawyer; he also
chose the right side in the Fronde. Best of all, he aimed to serve.
As a test of his skills, Colbert had him write several reports on trade
and tax farms, and also asked him to manage a system of informers and
to report their ndings.
69
La Reynie passed the tests, and soon after, Col-
bert had him write a report supporting royal authority over ecclesiastical
courts.
70
In 1667, Colbert appointed La Reynie the rst lieutenant gen-
eral of police in Paris, in a move to take policing away from the Par-
lement of Paris, transferring this power to the crown, and to Colberts
ministry.
71
La Reynies responsibilities were multiple. He was to police Paris and
guarantee security in the city. He was to manage the city itselffrom
lighting and reghting to signs, water distribution, and ood manage-
ment. He was to handle vagabonds, hospitals, prisons, abandoned chil-
dren, and prostitutes, as well as oversee health and the management of
the medical profession, hygiene, and epidemics in the capital. He also
managed commerce in the city and regulated the guilds, from butchers
to wig-makers. Finally, he was to police moeurs: roughly put, morals,
which also meant ideas, learning, and printing.
72
He was essentially the
mayor of Paris and manager of all that went on in this capital of the Re-
public of Letters.
Colbert had asked La Reynie if it would be possible to completely
ban the importation of foreign books and pamphlets. The astute and
ever realistic La Reynie pointed out the difculties in controlling clan-
destine and foreign literature. In 1664 he wrote Colbert that
high and low ofcers of customs make everything confused, by the li-
cense they take to give to booksellers, before they have been visited
rst by the Collge Royal, by the syndics of the printing trade, the
books they receive in boxes in their ofces [from outside France]. . . .
It is useless to constrain the kings subjects to obedience, if foreigners
are free to ll the kingdom with scandalous doctrines. It is in this way
that kings and governments have been slandered in the past.
73
La Reynie tried various methods of searching incoming packages from
Holland, and even though he was slowing down illicit trafc, he knew
that banned books were still making it through.
74
The bookseller Ribou
was caught with a reading room with a stock of banned, seditious reli-
gious works on Protestantism and Jansenism, and was sent to the galleys.
On his return, he was caught selling more banned books, and this time
Delamare wrote La Reynie that he would threaten him with a life sen-
tence in the galleys if he were caught again.
75
Censorship had once been the purview of the university, but during
the reign of Franois I, the crown took over censorship from the church,
as well as the Parlement, which delivered the approbations to publish le-
gal texts. Colbert and La Reynie now tried to use their control over the
book trade to stie the wave of antigovernment pamphlets, placards, and
factums, printed descriptions of trials and legal proceedings, as well as
seditious songs.
76
After nearly twenty years in power, La Reynie com-
plained to his old friend, tienne Baluze:
I do not understand how it is possible that there are still people insolent
and stubborn enough to compose and sing in public such extravagant
things. We have imprisoned many of these miserable people, seized all
their papers, and have also threatened all these small printers.
77
La Reynie had the authority to censor and repress, but it was not enough
to control sedition completely. Nonetheless, the state played a larger role
than ever both inuencing and repressing the public world of knowl-
edge, learning, and politics.
Policing Radical Enlightenment
La Reynie was not simply worried about popular culture and pamphlets.
He was also concerned about the world of formal learning, and Baluze
helped him in his quest to repress philosophical, political, and most of
all, religious sedition.
78
Almost half of the books seized by the police in
seventeenth-century Paris concerned theology and canon law.
79
During
this period, which some would later call the Radical Enlightenment,
Colbert and the king saw a major threat in the undermining of royal au-
thority through Protestantism, Jansenism, papal authority, and atheism.
80
In 1672, La Reynie sent a report to Baluze concerning the anonymous
book Le Tombeau des Controverses ou le Royal Accord de la Paix avec la Pit
(Amsterdam: J. Lucas, 1672):
The author of this treatise claims that the king wants to unite the two
religions, that it is in his interest to tolerate one single [religion], and
that he has the authority to do so. He makes reference to several im-
portant examples, from which he draws extraordinarily strong conclu-
sions, that it would be dangerous to authorize and that it is perhaps not
prudent to condemn, as they express certain truths, which are impor-
tant to the king and the kingdom.
81
Note La Reynies subtle reading of the Tombeau de Controverses. He re-
marks that since the book favors bringing Catholicism and Protes-
tantism together, it might be used to the advantage of the monarchy,
and, in spite of being published in Holland, might be well received by
Rome.
82
However, in his following letter to Colbert, La Reynie explains that
he has done a closer reading of the book. He now realizes that the book
means not to show the path to reunited Catholicism and Protestantism,
but rather is a critique of Catholicism. The owner of the bookshop
where the book has been found must be brought to trial.
83
La Reynie had his nger on the pulse of intellectual life. He was es-
pecially concerned about the circulation in France of Richard Simons
Histoire critique du Vieux Testament (Rotterdam: Ranier Leers, 1685).
After a raid on the bookshop of Billaine where the book was found, La
Reynie recognized the danger of this key book that examined the Old
Testament according to veriable, historical criteria, bringing the
Scriptures into the realm of historical verication. If the Scriptures
were not immutable, but rather open to historical and rational inter-
pretation, this undermined the fundaments of religion, and divine right
monarchy. La Reynie took immediate action, tracing the itinerary of
the book; seizing it; and making sure copies were procured for the
Royal Library:
How many copies of this book have been printed? Does he have a
royal privilege? Find out. Seize all the copies, see if copies have been
sold to other bookstores. Which ones? How many? Find out who is
the author of this work. Keep three bound copies if possible. Put the
seized works in sealed packages. Destroy the pages currently being
printed.
84
During his search of the shop of the book dealer, the widow Savreux,
on June 6, 1673, La Reynie found an inventory of all the books the shop
had printed or sold.
85
In order to gure out which of the large number
of ecclesiastical, historical, and philosophical works on their list were
forbidden, La Reynie sent the catalog to Baluze, asking for his analysis.
While I have not found Baluzes response, this letter reveals that Col-
berts state scholars and police worked in concert.
Colbert himself wrote La Reynie, asking him to obtain and read
books that he suspected were seditious. He asked him to obtain a copy
of an Italian history of Mazarins ministry in order to decide if it should
obtain a privilege to be printed. He asked La Reynie
to mark the passages that seem important so that after showing them to
His Majesty, he can take the action he judges most advantageous for
him; but if they are not yet printed, you can delay the printing until
our return to Paris.
86
La Reynie duly obtained and annotated the book in question, pointed
out passages that could be considered critical, and sent them to Colbert.
Colbert then went over these annotations and presented them to the
king, who made a nal decision about whether the book should be pub-
lished.
Louis XVs famous philosophe censor (later the ill-fated defender of
Louis XVI), Lamoignon de Malesherbes (172194), did not repress sub-
versive authors. He is famous for reading the authors of the Enlighten-
ment, and using his powers as royal censor instead to protect them.
87
His
predecessor La Reynie also knew his authors, but he did not want to
protect them. He served the crown without question. It was not just
works on religion that worried La Reynie and Colbert. Well-docu-
mented, historical works and even translations of classical authors were
of major concern. La Reynie was well read enough not only to be fa-
miliar with most historical and political authors, such as Paolo Sarpi; he
also recognized editorial tricks, such as when Amelot de La Houssaye
translated passages by Tacitus to disguise his own proto-republican phi-
losophy.
88
A sophisticated reader, La Reynie was also realistic about his
own powers, and he knew that if authors such as Amelot were prose-
cuted too much, they would ee to Holland, and would be much more
dangerous there.
It was in Holland that authors such as Pierre Bayle began using schol-
arly journalism to attack religious and political authority. La Reynie had
long been aware that the bourgeoning world of clandestine journalism
was a threat to the attempted royal monopoly on news and the Repub-
lic of Letters. He worried that rogue newspapers and gazettes would
threaten the monopolies of the Renaudot family, and Denis de Sallos
Journal des Savants.
89
The descendant of Thophraste Renaudot, Jacques
Renaudot, who still owned the state monopoly to publish the Gazette de
France, complained that many printers were opening reading rooms in
direct competition to the Bureau dAdresse, and in them, they were cir-
culating nonsanctioned books, journals, and news sheets.
90
La Reynie
worked to protect state-supported news sources, as well as Colberts aca-
demic journals. La Reynie managed to repress a number of clandestine
Parisian journals and gazettes that were particularly seditious.
91
But the
competition from Holland was getting ever more threatening.
I received this afternoon the letter you did me the honor of writing me
along with the letter from the comte dAvaux. This letter conrms that
the judgment concerning the man named Bayle was just in all its con-
siderations. His Lettre sur les Comtes, Critique du Calvinisme, and
the Nouvelles de la Rpublique des Lettres testify to his skill, but the
nesse and delicacy of these same works do not render them less sus-
pect and, even though the author was forced to restrain himself in his
Journal to have them received in France, he was nonetheless unable to
hide his ill will and design so well that Monseigneur the Chancellor
was not able to perceive it and its printing was stopped on his orders.
Finally, Monsieur, if this man has more esprit and discretion than oth-
ers, this makes him all the more dangerous, as does the place where he
lives in the Hague, the esteem he enjoys from the Prince of Orange,
and the fact that his father and brother are ministers of the so-called re-
formed religion in France, must render his actions suspect.
92
La Reynie worked tirelessly, but he had a sense of the philosophical and
scholarly threat that was posed by the growing implantation of a rela-
tively freer Republic of Letters in Holland. For the moment, however,
Colberts team of learned police had the upper hand.
By the 1680s, Colbert deputized his son, Seignelay, to work with La
Reynie on policing the world of learning.
93
He clearly saw this as neces-
sary training for his heir. His team of scholarly police continued work
even after the death of Colbert in 1683. La Reynie and Baluze would
work together during the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685),
when Seignelay was in charge of religious affairs, supported by his fa-
thers loyal information agents, as well as Nicolas-Joseph Foucault.
94
Internal Communications
La Reynie was not just Colberts information man in the sense that he
managed intelligence and information in France; he and Colbert also
had an advanced communication system of their own. The police
archives of the ancien rgime were kept in the Bastille.
95
On July 14,
1789, when the Bastille was raided, many of these archives were burned
or thrown out into the street. What is left of La Reynies correspon-
dence is found scattered throughout the Parisian libraries and archives,
and other archives throughout the world.
96
A large corpus of correspon-
dence between Colbert and La Reynie is found in the special collections
at the University of Pennsylvania, which were acquired from a German
provenance. It contains seventy-nine unpublished letters, mostly by
Colbert to La Reynie, and reveals the workings of Colberts police
state.
97
Certainly not a complete set, for responses and letters are clearly
missing, the set is rich enough to show how Colbert communicated
with La Reynie on a daily basis, sometimes even twice a day.
98
The cor-
respondence reveals how La Reynie worked with Colbert and Seignelay
not simply to police and regulate the guilds of Paris, but also to act as a
censor and policeman of the world of letters. The king also entered into
discussions now and then, as Colbert sought to micromanage the all-im-
portant Paris, in which French intellectual life and political power were
relatively centralized.
99
Letters ew back and forth on economic questions, policing, and
diplomatic and philosophical questions, usually within the same day.
During the spring and summer of 1675, letters 720 show daily commu-
nication between the minister and his police chief. Some of these letters
are small, handwritten by Colbert, containing no more than a scrawled
paragraphhe was writing quicklyand were folded to a size of 3.5 by
1.5 inches (89 mm 38 mm) (see g. 8). These small orders, memos, or
dispatches could be held in the cuff of a jacket (see g. 9). They contain
simple orders, such as letter 19, on August 7, 1675, in which Colbert asks
La Reynie to bring papers to be stored at the Bastille. An undated letter
from 1675 orders the annulment of the publishing privilege of the pre
du Certre: Reformed Jacobite [monk] for the book that he composed
a short time ago on the history of the Antilles islands of America, which
I forbade him to do.
100
Colbert could not have his colonies converting
to Protestantism.
Other letters, often written by Colberts secretaries, then annotated
by him in the margins, are larger, folded to 4.5 by 2 inches (11 cm 5
cm). They are usually more formal and saved as unofcial lettres de ca-
chet, such as those written on on December 6, 1675, in which Colbert
conrmed the embastillement of the printer Rou and the annulment of
his publishing privilege. In a letter dated June 22, 1678, we see how the
king would communicate to Colbert his displeasure with an author
probably brought to his attention by Colbert or the kings confessor, the
pre Lachaiseand then Colbert would send the order directly to La
Reynie: Order to put the named Jaillot in the Bastille, the King wants
you to act so as to surprise the man, so that when you get him, it is pos-
sible to seize all his papers.
101
La Reynie would create packs of docu-
ments for Colbert, in this case not only subversive writings, but seized
ofcial government minutes, copies of which a group of clandestine
book dealers had been selling:
I opened the seals that had been put on the papers of the writers who
were arrested last Friday night, and there was found, particularly in
those papers of the named Thubeuf and Pigeon, a very large number
of manuscript pieces, and in general all that has been written without
exception during the past few years of the most infamous and slander-
ous nature. It would be difcult to decide at present if they are the au-
thors or not, or of some of these writings; but as there is skill and learn-
ing and among their manuscripts there are certain that appear to be
original copies, and as in addition, the criminals admit to having sold
several copies, the suspicions against them do not appear to be base-
less.
102
Colbert thus read for himself the conscated materials, formulating his
own readings and comparing notes with La Reynie. The king and Col-
bert were clearly aware of the detailed methods of censorship and polic-
ing. On the twenty-eighth, a following order was sent telling La Reynie
to nd papers that proved Jaillot was printing libels. The personal in-
volvement of Colbert in the policing of intellectual life is evident in the
letter of August 29, 1678, in which he asks La Reynie for a list of all Paris
printers who know Greek or Latin. He orders La Reynie that no further
printing apprentices will have the right to be trained in languages with-
out his being informed rst. As the cases of the Bible critic Richard Si-
mon, or of Amelot de La Houssaye showed, scholars, translators, copy-
ists, and print-shop correctors could be dangerous agents of subversion.
The information chain could lead from Grub Street to La Reynie,
Colbert, and all the way to Louis XIV himself.
It is important that I inform His Majesty of all the reasons and of all the
documents that you can bring in order to halt, by a decree, the disor-
ders that these privileges have caused up till now for the police. As
there were only ve or six arrests based on specic facts joined to your
reports, you will take the time to examine if there are not any other
documents that you might add to those you have already given me,
and if you have any more reasons to add to those already contained in
your report.
103
In the end, the job of censorship never stopped. La Reynie complained
about sedition until the end of his career. And yet Colberts thought po-
lice were, to a certain extent, effective.
104
La Reynie shut down the cir-
culation of much of the libelous pamphletry that circulated in Paris, and
was even successful in muzzling authors such as Amelot de La Houssaye,
who either had to hide their intentions or ee to Amsterdam. More than
stopping Parisian subversive printing, Colbert changed the French Re-
public of Letters, damaging its traditions. Part of the world of scholarship
and philosophy moved to Holland, where Pierre Bayle would lead the
clarion call of Radical Enlightenment. Those who stayed, and had their
freedoms curtailed, no longer felt the nationalist and monarchist loyalties
that had driven Peiresc and de Thou. Colbert still had his world of bu-
reaucrat scholars, but this splintered the relationship between scholarship
and the state in France. Some accepted the choice posed by Colbert and
worked for the state. Other members of the Republic of Letters refused,
and found themselves adversaries of the monarchy.
105
By the 1670s, Colberts machine for collecting, producing, manag-
ing, and policing information was in place. He had his archives, his
agents, and his librarians and information managers. He could now ef-
fectively use his information in the arena of high policy.
c ha p t e r 9
The Information State in Play
archives, erudition, and the affair of the
I
n 1679, Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, now the intendant of Mon-
tauban, went to the town of Pamiers, in the County of Foix on the
edge of the Pyrenees in France, to censor the local bishop,
Franois-tienne Caulet, who had refused to recognize the royal rgale.
1
In 1673, Louis XIV had made his declaration of the right of rgale the
culmination of the long Gallican movement against the powers of the
papacy. In it, Louis declared that he had the right to collect revenues
from vacant bishoprics, and that only he, and not the pope, had the right
to name bishops:
The right of Rgale has been judged inalienable, imprescriptable, and
owed to us in all the archbishoprics and bishoprics of our kingdom,
lands, and regions bound to us; and our intention being that our right
be universally recognized.
2
These prelates of the church would have to make an oath of delity to
the king.
3
Whether the clergy liked it or not, the king and his par-
lementswhich had voted the king the right of rgale in 1608had
temporal control over the French church.
From the time of Charlemagne and the later twelfth-century investi-
ture crises, there had been open disagreement about how much author-
140
ity secular rulers had over the church in their lands.
4
The question cen-
tered on papal claims of the right to grant imperium and royal authority;
claims of legal jurisdiction over the church in lands outside the Vatican
states; and the right to appoint bishops, who could collect tithes, which
represented huge revenues. When Philip the Fair (ruled 12851314)
challenged these jurisdictions in France, Boniface VIII responded with
the bull Unam Sanctum (1302), which claimed church authority over the
spiritual and secular swords.
5
This in turn inspired Marsilius of Paduas
foundational work on secular authority, Defensor pacis (1324), the rst
detailed legal defense of secular royal rights of imperium. In 1438,
Charles VIII made the Pragmatic Sanction of 1438, insisting that kings
inuence the nomination of bishops and collect beneces from vacant
ofces. One hundred years later, during the Reformation, the same is-
sues helped inspire the German princes to follow Luther (1525), and also
sparked Henry VIII to break England from the authority of Holy See
(1531). By the reign of Louis XIV (16431715), the papacy still wielded
legal and feudal rights, as well as great moral authority, but it could not
exert true political or military power. Only the bishops of Pamiers and
Alet resisted Louis XIVs claim to the right of rgale, and Pope Innocent
XI had few concrete means with which to defend these holdouts of an-
cient papal power.
The rgale was a point on which the crown and parlements worked
together. Bowing to royal pressure, the French clergy, during its assem-
blies, voted their fealty to the French monarch and his magistrates in
these earthly questions of the workings of the church. Even Bossuet
downplayed the rgale, calling it lgre dans son fond.
6
In spite of the
intervention of the activist pope Innocent XI, elected in 1676, the
French monarchy had managed a cold war with the papacy, quibbling
over rights, but avoiding schism.
Foucault was in Pamiers because in 1677 the formerly Jansenist
bishop Caulet had sent a letter to Louis asserting his own rights and pa-
pal authority over his bishopric. Drawing on a list of documentary legal
and historical justications, Caulet questioned Louiss understanding of
the canons of the church and the legality of the rgale.
7
Yet Caulet was
helpless to resist Foucault. In 1679, Innocent XI put Caulet under his
special protection, sent a number of briefs to Louis asserting his rights,
threatened excommunication, and waited for the French kings re-
sponse. The divinely anointed Louis disingenuously remarked that he
had no rights in spiritual matters, but where the temporal powers of his
crown were concerned, he was forced to assert his legal, Gallican rights.
8
The Information State in Play 141
Of course he would refuse the pope. But he needed to do so with the
appearance of respect and legality, providing unassailable documentation
so as to avoid open conict. This is where Colberts information agents
came into play. In the giant battle over the rgale, which had raged for
centuries, the crown now took the advantage using the information sys-
tem created by Colbert to assert central royal authority beyond what had
been possible before.
Colbert sent Foucault to the County of Foix, which since the time of
medieval Catharism had been a hotbed of resistance to religious and
royal authority.
9
With his well-honed methodical approach, Foucault
immediately sequestered the episcopal chapterhouse and all the papers
and correspondence of the bishop and his allies. He annulled their ad-
ministrative acts and took control of the dioceses nances, leaving the
bishop nearly starving.
10
The violent seizure of his bishopric apparently
took a physical toll on Caulet, who published a scathing libel entitled
Trait de la Rgale (Pamiers, 1680) and then died.
11
In September 1680,
Foucault returned to Pamiers, arrested the printer of the Trait, and ar-
rested clergy loyal to Caulet with lettres de cachet.
12
Foucault had red his public volleys and reafrmed royal authority.
Now he got down to what he was trained to do: the real work of de-
fending the crowns prerogatives against Rome. This meant sending all
the relevant paperwork and literature back to Paris so that Colbert could
formulate a legal framework to respond to the church.
13
The weight of
divine right rested on legal tradition and the dusty shelves of episcopal
and legal archives. In the end, imperium and the constitutional bases of
statehood were rooted not in the word of God, but in authentic legal
deeds, historical documents, and of course, military might. The question
of the rgale, therefore, required a legal information apparatus for col-
lecting authentic documents to negotiate with Innocents canon lawyers.
Tracing the paperwork trail and the archival apparatus designed by
Colbert and his agents, librarians and archivists reveals how Colbert used
his archives, information system, and trained agents as tools of political
power and government. The rgale was only one subject among many in
the state archives, yet it left a particularly rich trove of documents and
correspondence about archival management. Indeed, from the begin-
ning of Louiss administration, it was a primary source of concern for
Louis and his chief minister. The rgale illustrates the political importance
of manipulating documentary evidence for public polemics about polit-
ical authority. It reveals the interaction between Colbert and his ecclesi-
astical antiquarian archivists, who worked with the minister, matching
their expertise to his to build a state administrative apparatus.
14
This
mixture of administrative, nancial, and ecclesiastical learned culture de-
veloped into a state science of information-handling techniques neces-
sary for collecting, ling, and retrieving up-to-date information in a
massive state policy archive to be used for day-to-day political opera-
tions and rapid political response.
tienne Baluze and the Mechanics of Searching
for Information in a Policy Archive
It was precisely for his mastery of the documents pertaining to the rgale
that in 1666 Colbert hired tienne Baluze as his chief librarian. Baluze
had worked as the secretary of Bishop Pierre de Marca. A Gallican par
excellence, de Marca was from an old legal family, versed in ecclesiasti-
cal erudition. He was president of the Parlement of Pau, in the Protes-
tant Barn region on the Pyrenees, where he worked against the Re-
formed faith with such zeal that Richelieu appointed him royal
intendant of the region in 1631. Louis XIII and Richelieu had asked de
Marca, an expert in canon law, to defend Gallican claims. He became a
member of the Conseil dtat in 1639 and nally bishop of Couserans in
1641 and archbishop of Toulouse in 1652. In 1641, he published his
learned defense of regalian rights and an explanation of the relations be-
tween the church and the French state, the Concordia sacerdotii et imperii
seu de libertatibus ecclesiae gallicanae, which formed the basis of Louiss fu-
ture Gallican declarations.
De Marca was not only politically astute, rising through the ranks of
Parlement, the church, and royal hierarchy; he was also an avid collec-
tor of manuscripts, which he used to formulate his historical and eccle-
siastical treatises, a necessity in the litigious world of Counter-Reforma-
tion theological and legal sniping, as well as to negotiate episcopal
landholdings. De Marca hired Baluze to manage his papers and help him
compose his works. When de Marca died in 1662, Colbert hired Baluze
to bring the papers and his expertise to the service of Colberts bur-
geoning information apparatus in the new library complex.
15
Baluze had helped write de Marcas Concordia sacerdotii et imperii, do-
ing the archival labor for the great prelate, and managing his library and
papers.
16
It was this work that caught Colberts eye. The book bore
Baluzes erudite mark, and mustered detailed documentary evidence,
clear textual references, and citations of capitularies, charters, and eastern
and Hebrew manuscripts in defense of royal rights. This was precisely
the sort of legal and historical scholarship that Louis XIV needed to de-
fend his rights. When Baluze did it for de Marca, it was ecclesiastical an-
tiquarianism. When he used it to organize Colberts policy archive, it
became what Arthur de Boislisle called erudition dtat, or state eru-
dition: the methods and practices of antiquarian historical philology now
tailored for state administration.
17
Colbert needed Baluze to do for him what he had done for de Marca
on a much larger scale and in the context of practical government. He
needed Baluze to carry out document searches in the archives to assure
that French documentation of claims was superior to all others. He also
needed internal inventories and secret histories, glossaries, and reading
guides that would not only inform Colbert in his negotiations and re-
ports to the king, but which also allowed him to weed through the tons
of ecclesiastical diplomatica in his new archives.
18
Actively overseeing
Baluze and his research assistant, the abb Gallois, Colbert became rela-
tively skilled in ecclesiastical law and history, and wrote Louis XIVs
Dclaration pour la Rgale in 1673 with the aid of his assistants. In short,
Colbert was learning from these ecclesiastical scholars, transforming their
practices into tools that he could use for government.
Colbert organized his library into an up-to-date information and
propaganda machine.
19
Like the Fuggers, he insisted his collection be
up-to-date. The library was to acquire all new publications and archival
discoveries, in particular in relation to topics of immediate concern, such
as Jansenism.
20
Baluzes job was to be familiar enough with this library to
nd documents at short notice.
21
But there were glitches. Colbert became angry when documents he
needed were not readily available. And he railed at Baluze when books
were not on their place on the shelves.
22
Every three months, repri-
manded Colbert, you must give me a memoir of all the books that have
left my library.
23
He then asked Baluze to track every book and manu-
script that had left his library, even those lent to his brother, the ambas-
sador to England. Colbert even put a carriage at Baluzes disposal to ex-
pedite the project.
24
The demand that the collection be constantly intact was mixed with
the desire for totality. If Colbert was to create the most complete and
up-to-date information archive, it had to be usable, and total. Therefore
nothing could be missing and all references had to be immediately ac-
cessible. Colbert sent Baluze to nd relevant legal documents that per-
tained to specic religious and legal questions, such as in 1672, when
Colbert sent Baluze document hunting in two of the richest monastic
archives in Paris to nd materials for Foucault:
I beg Monsieur Baluze to research with care all the papal bulls and let-
ters of patent from the two congregations of Sainte-Genevive and
Saint-Maur, and put them in my library. I will send him those that I al-
ready have, so he can look for similar ones, and when he nds them,
he will give them to Monsieur Foucault.
25
Baluzes mission was different from past Gallican document collectors
working for the crown. Figures such as the Dupuy brothers had created
large collections. Colbert, however, did not want to farm out the ad-
ministration of state information to extraroyal institutions and scholars.
Indeed, to his bane, in the realm of nance, Colbert was obliged to rely
on external and unreliable tax-farmers.
26
In the realm of the state
archives, however, he could impose direct eld administration. He
wanted a total collection controlled and sealed by the state; and he
wanted the scholars to answer directly to his orders. If Colbert could not
possess papers, he asked Baluze to go nd the documents, copy, or cat-
alog them. In 1677, when Baluze published his study of medieval royal
capitularies, History of the Capitularies of the French Kings of the First and
Second Dynasties, he boasted about the new totality of the collection that
outstripped the efforts of earlier Gallican scholars, listing all the libraries
and archives he had visited to research, and explaining how he veried
and collated as many documents as he could.
27
He only complained that
the Austrians had not let him into the Imperial Library of Vienna, which
is not surprising considering their conicts with Louis and their obvious
awareness of Colberts archival project.
28
Baluze used this mastery of the archives to enter into a long histori-
cal argument, attacking the great defender of papal authority, the Vati-
can librarian and historian, Cardinal Caesar Baronius. Working for the
Catholic French king, Baluze now represented the antiquarian tradition
of ecclesiastical scholarship that had once been dominated by the great
Gallicans, such as Pierre Pithou and the Dupuy brothers. Using the
methods of medievalist philology, he attacked Baronius and justied the
claims of the rgale while insisting that the publication of laws was the
secular prerogative of princes.
29
He also clearly enunciated a point about
historical information, one that had become clear in the struggle around
the Magdeburg Centuries: capitularies, he maintained, were the legal
essence of imperium, the arms with which to win such disputes, and
therefore had to be preserved by kings in response to the archival mas-
tery of the papacy.
30
The legal and historical information arms race
sparked by the Reformation and Counter-Reform had now evolved
into the basis of modern state administration and a cornerstone of state
archival systems. This is precisely the reason Leibniz, on becoming head
librarian in Wolfenbttel, visited Baluze in 1690; to learn his methods of
ling, cataloging, and document retrieval.
31
Once Baluze found the necessary documents, he would rst verify
them, then either have copies made by the Benedictine scribes, or copy
them himself. He was a master scribe with mercifully impeccable hand-
writing, which Colbert, who read his thousands of extracts, copies, and
letters, must have appreciated (in a tting dialectic, Colbert wrote in il-
legible shorthand).
32
But more than that, Baluze had a method to collect
this information. If he was not allowed to make a full copy, or did not
have the time, he would make extracts of the useful sections.
33
The Order that we have always kept for the registers of the Trsor des
Chartes is that we mark in the margin of each register the pieces that we
consider worth being copied. In the past, when I followed the order that
Monsieur de Carcavy had established, I marked down the ennoble-
ments, the Marriage Contracts between the Great Lords, the Treaties of
Peace or alliances, the concessions and donations made by our kings to
the families of the popes, the privileges accorded to the foreign mer-
chants dealing in the kingdom, the privileges accorded to Churches,
provinces, cities, and to diverse professions, and nally the remission
where there was some considerable clause, and some legitimations of
bastards of which the names and the families were known. I still observe
the same order, but with more moderation, since the time Monseigneur
[Colbert] did me the Honor of explaining to me the subject.
34
Baluze the erudite and scholar followed Colberts orders. Colbert had
not only to direct the negotiations concerning the rgale, he also had to
report to Louis XIV. This meant that he had to be informed. This is why
he organized a massive, personal archive. Before he could understand
the rgale to manage state and foreign affairs, he rst needed to under-
stand and master his archive. As a librarian and a historian, Baluze was
not in a position to analyze documents in the secret context of state mat-
ters, although he too needed a huge personal archive to master these
questions. He had to collect, organize, and make these documents avail-
able for Colberts instant access, understanding, and use.
Fig. 2. Claude Lefebre,
daprs Marc Nattier, pre,
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, mar-
quis of Seignelay, minister-
secretary of state of the
navy, c. 1683. Colberts son,
Seignelay (165190), poses,
like his father before him,
with ofcial dispatches and
correspondence. While Col-
bert always kept to his rather
bourgeois costume in black,
Seignelay, who was married
to a cousin of Louis XIV,
dressed as a high aristocratic
courtier. The contrast of the
high noble posing with the
tools of professional activ-
ity is notable. (Courtesy of the
Muse de Versailles et de Trianon,
Runion des Muses Nationaux/
Art Resource, New York.)
Fig. 1. Jean-Baptiste Colbert by
Philippe de Champaigne, 1655.
At the beginning of his career
as the household intendant
of Cardinal Mazarin, Colbert
(161983) reveals a smile while
holding a folded letter in his
hand. The paper resembles the
folded correspondence found
in the manuscript collection of
the University of Pennsylvania
Library, and reproduced in g.
8. (By permission of the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art.)
[To view this image, refer to
the print version of this title.]


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Fig. 4. Jacques Savary, Le parfait ngociant, 2 vols. (Paris: Veuve Estienne & ls, 1749), vol. 1, p.
xxxv. The box on which the perfect merchant is writing might not be simply decorative.
It could very well be a merchant archive of receipts, bills of exchange, and account books.
The ideal activity of a perfect merchant appears to be handling paperwork and correspon-
dence. (Authors private collection.)

Fig. 6. Cahiers de Louis XIV,
MS Fr. 6782, fol. 8. This is the
rst page of the Project of State
Expenditures for the Year 1680,
from the Abreg des nances
du roy de lAnne 1680, which
lists sums for each project such
as The Kings Personal Funds,
Buildings, and Swiss Guards.
(Courtesy of the Bibliothque Natio-
nale de France.)
Fig. 5. Cahiers de Louis XIV,
MS Fr. 6782, fol. A: adorned title
page of the Abrg des nances
du roy de lAnne 1680. Col-
bert had these small notebooks
containing gures made for
Louis XIV by the nest callig-
raphers in France. (Courtesy of the
Bibliothque Nationale de France.)


Fig. 7. Mlanges Colbert 84, fol. 11v. Drawing by Colberts son, the marquis de Seignelay,
from his reports from the port of Rochefort in 1671. This drawing is accompanied by
further sketches of sails, winches, and anchors, as well as magazine accounts and lists of
ofcers. (Courtesy of the Bibliothque Nationale de France.)

Fig. 9. The same letter folded. It does
not contain a seal and appears to
have been sent by a personal courier.
All of Colberts working correspon-
dence with La Reynie was folded
into small squares for easy delivery
and possibly to be kept in the large
cuff of a seventeenth-century jacket.
(MS Coll 578, courtesy of Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, University of Pennsyl-
vania Library.)
Fig. 8. A letter dated June 13, 1677, from Colbert to Gabriel-Nicolas de La Reynie, the
lieutenant gnral du Chtelet, or chief of police of Paris. This letter concerns the regulation
of acadmies publiques de jeux, or gambling dens. This letter was part of the daily cor-
respondence sent by Colbert to La Reynie. (MS Coll 578, courtesy of Annenberg Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania Library.)


Fig. 10. MS Mlanges Colbert 3, fol. 5v. De la Rgale, written by tienne Baluze for
Colbert between 1681 and 1683, is a glossary of arguments concerning the French crowns
rights over certain ecclesiastical appointments and beneces. The letters in the margins refer
to textual, archival references related to each argument. Colbert used this text as a tool to
master his archives and apply them according to political need. (Courtesy of the Bibliothque
Nationale de France.)

Fig. 11. MS Collection Baluze 177, fol. 262r. This document, entitled Right of Rgale over
Monasteries, is a crib sheet in Colberts hand from 1675 with arguments for and against
(pour et contre) French royal authority. This document appears to have been used by Col-
bert for memorization or for quick reference. (Courtesy of the Bibliothque Nationale de France.)

Baluze performed a number of functions that permitted Colbert to
search his archive and understand its contents. First, Baluze cataloged; or
more precisely, he made registers, rudimentary lists of manuscripts, some
for Colberts medieval manuscript collection, and some for his own
archive.
35
If Colbert could not purchase a collection, he wanted a copy of
its catalog.
36
Indeed, he showed a great interest in catalogs. With his assis-
tant, the abb Gallois, Baluze also made catalogs of printed or secondary
works on the rgale. For example, Colbert requested a small bibliography
on all writers who had studied the question, and Gallois produced a refer-
ence sheet, which Colbert copied in his own hand, and kept in his work-
ing le on the rgale.
37
Colbert would come to Baluze and Gallois with
demands for them to search for specic materials. He asked the abb Gal-
lois for a series of documents pertaining to specic points about the rgale.
He wanted textual references pointing to the most clear and useful pas-
sages that he could go to directly for reference:
If there is any trace of the right of rgale that was established in England
before the conquest, cite the authors and the passages in which it is dis-
cussed. You must bring me all the memoirs I have written you with all
the responses. Above all, you must see if there are proofs of this right
[of rgale] in the rst and second dynasties [of kings]. You must nd
some examples of bishops and priests who have served the kings of the
two rst dynasties in their armies. . . . You must learn for which sub-
ject the parlement of Paris made remonstrances to King Louis XI for
the right of rgale. You must search in the rst book of Capitularies of
Louis le Debonnaire chapter LXXXIV. . . . Examine in the memoirs
of the clergy if, around the year 1644, the clergy did not ask the king
to make a declaration for the granting of dependent beneces of vacant
abbeys.
38
Colbert was specic in his orders. In one letter to Baluze, entitled
Points of Exemptions to Examine, he listed the kind of documents he
wanted, the precise questions he wanted answered by these documents,
and the places where Baluze should look for specic documents.
39
In re-
sponse, Baluze and Gallois often corresponded, helping each other nd
documents.
40
The Mechanics of a Political Information War Room
Baluze and Gallois created long registers of medieval documents for
Colbert, who looked at and even marked them. Certain texts were made
part of the working le Colbert kept at all times on the clergy, which
had to be kept up-to-date and in good working order.
41
Colbert insisted
that Baluze be certain of what was in the library at all times, and that all
papers and maps be well led, ready for quick consultation:
I return to you the memoir written in your hand. Let me know if the
copies of these titles have been sent to me or if it is only an extract of
an inventory of which I have no copy, so that I can ask for them from
Godefroy. Keep with care the piece that I sent you: you must put it in
the rst volume of manuscripts that you will have bound. On the list
of marriage contracts, you must keep a good [inventory] of all the con-
tracts that I have in my library, and in time research all those that I
dont have to obtain them. You must do the same thing for the testa-
ments.
42
In the end, Colbert saw he could generalize his requests and Baluze
could still cope with them, providing detailed documentary overviews
on generalized topics. Colbert asked Baluze to start writing topical sum-
maries of documents, based on bibliographical inventories:
I beg Monsieur Baluze to write me a succinct summary of all that con-
cerns the sanctication of the Saints. . . . By which authority the prin-
cipal Saints have been recognized; by universal consent; councils; or by
the authority of the popes. . . . What is necessary for this, and which
documents are concerned?
43
Following orders like this, Baluze set about writing a number of exten-
sive reading and archival guides that would allow Colbert to navigate the
documents on a given subject. Baluze wrote a number of histories on
questions pertaining to the rgale, such as the remarkable document en-
titled De la Rgale, in which, probably with the help of Gallois,
Baluze wrote a point-by-point description of the rgale and its histories
(see g. 10).
44
It contains a glossary of thematic headings such as Where
one sees the guard of vacant churches given in the rst instance to
kings.
45
In the margin next to this heading is the letter Z. Throughout
the text, wherever the subject of medieval kings arises, a Z is in the mar-
gins next to a series of references to documents as well as citations
( preuves), containing call numbers from Baluzes registers. This way,
Colbert could look up a topic, nd the relevant documents, while also
having the topic contextualized in a historical narrative that more or less
explained the documents. Another similar document is a short, heavily
footnoted historical work by Baluze entitled Mmoire sur les differens
entre la cour de Rome et la Cour de France.
46
This key document
clearly for Colberts eyes only, and never publishedis a play-by-play of
relations between the papacy and the crown during the contentious pe-
riod spanning 168081. In the style of legal scholarship, it is a guide and
summary of all relevant documents in chronological order. Baluze cre-
ated the same sort of document on the question of parliamentary docu-
ments, again written in the form of a succinct history, with full docu-
ment references in the margins.
47
Baluze also created a series of abridged reading notes from longer
Latin texts, so Colbert could read them quickly, with Baluze focusing on
the points requested by Colbert. Colberts personal le on the rgale con-
tained drafts of ofcial statements, with marginal reference notes, and
further historical treatises covered with marginal references to docu-
ments in the Colbert collection.
48
Baluze was Colberts reader: he would
read Latin works, such as Caulets Trait de La Rgale, or long treatises,
translate them into French, and cut them down to passages, describing
each chapter, numbering the chapters and often noting corresponding
documents, which could then be veried.
49
Baluze and Gallois worked together, nding references to put in the
margins of texts to make them useful for Colbert. In a letter from Baluze
to Gallois on August 2, 1675, Baluze explains to Gallois what they both
need to be looking for in the archives: the rights of bishops and abbots;
the rights of ecclesiastical visitation; and most of all, rights of royal ex-
emption. Baluze gives his own list of examples and ofcial acts and doc-
uments. In response, in the margins of the letter, Gallois gets immedi-
ately to work providing ample references illustrating royal rights.
50
These annotations helped him form his response, and he led it among
texts that were prepared for Colbert.
51
When in 1682 the Assembly of the Clergy produced their Declara-
tion Concerning Ecclesiastical Power, Baluze made a copy for Colbert
with French explanations of the Latin passages, which also contained
historical explanations and references to primary documents.
52
Baluze
translated many of the ofcial correspondences between the French
court and Rome, such as the popes nal conrmation of the clergys
Declaration.
53
Indeed, Colberts le on the rgale was rich with docu-
ments and reports prepared by Baluze. In one report, Baluze suggests
that Colbert increase the pay of the Sorbonne professors whose ultra-
montane sentiments were a form of revenge for low salaries.
54
Baluze
then provides a policelike list of loyal and disloyal professors with sum-
maries of their opinions. But mostly, this information management le
served as a key to the archives. It contains lists of reports on how to ll
vacant bishops seats, parliamentary decrees and documents, and reports
on Romes reactions.
Colbert was not simply dependent on his scholars for knowledge. He
learned from them and used them to master the dossier of the rgale,
which he did quite impressively for someone without formal training as
a scholar. Colbert had become an erudit dtat: a master of legal and his-
torical information and scholarship pertaining to the French state and
European constitutional matters. He would go on to write his own work
notes as well as detailed reports to Louis XIV on the rgale. These reports
would eventually be published as ofcial policy. In 1675, exactly the
date of much of the previously mentioned correspondence between
Colbert, Baluze, and Gallois, Colbert wrote a crib sheet on the rgale in
his own hand, entitled Droit de Rgale sur les Abbayes. The docu-
ment contains a list of points pour et contre the rgale (see g. 11).
Each point is paired with document references, so that if Colbert needed
to make a point, he had the argument and the proof handy. He might
have used this thematic and documentary guide when going over pa-
pers, writing reports and proclamations, or drawing up his reports for the
king.
In 1675, Colbert wrote the detailed Mmoire au roi sur le Rgale,
which was the fruit of the work he had done with his assistants that year.
This was basically a report to Louis XIV not only on the history of the
rgale, but also on the work Colbert and his team had done, as well as the
importance of archival collections in such work.
55
He provides to the
king a reading summary of all the opinions and documents supporting
the right of rgale, listing the opinion, the author, and document:
The king Philip de Valois, in the ordinance of 1334, principally bases
the rgale on this possession [the principle of long possession], and
Choppin follows in part his opinion.
56
He mentions documents that he requested from the abb Gallois, now
presented as ndings that would form the foundation of ofcial policy:
The eighth opinion unies all the others and leads us to believe that
the right [of rgale] comes from the sovereignty of guard, patronage,
and possession of a ef altogether. . . . There are a large number of
proofs of this in Gregory of Tours and in the compilation of formula-
ries of Marculphe. It is the opinion of Monsieur Dupin and of father
Sirmond in the preface of a Collection of ancient formularies concern-
ing elections. It says that Louis le Dbonnaire was the rst king who
restored to the Church the power to elect its pastors, and that the or-
dinance is found in the rst book of his Capitularies, chap. LXXXIV
[which should be read].
57
Colbert goes on to list the documentary and historical justications of
the rgale in great detail. He even notes that if His Majesty would like
more justications, they could be found in the archives of the Cham-
bre des Comptes.
58
This was certainly a hint that more funds would be
needed for more research. But here, boiled down in clear historical re-
ports were the ndings of Colberts research teams efforts from 167375
made for Louis XIV.
In the following years, until his death late in 1683, Colbert had many
occasions to use his knowledge of the rgale, and his quick and easy ac-
cess to nding justications.
59
With the help of the archbishop of
Rouen, Franois de Harlay de Champvallon III, Colbert negotiated
with the pope, and led the campaign to organize the Assembly of the
Clergy of 1682. With the help of the famed Bishop Bossuet and Champ-
vallons brother, Achilles de Harlay, the procurer general of the Par-
lement of Paris, he cajoled and threatened French prelates into adopting
the Four Articles of the Gallican Church, often using legal arguments and
references to documents.
60
He forced them to issue the 1682 Edict of R-
gale, which Colbert not only helped write, but also micromanaged
through its reception, obliging the recalcitrant faculty of the Sorbonne
to comply.
61
Thus Colbert showed that a central state apparatus could
formulate policy from within the state, not counting on outside scholars
and lawyers.
Bossuet himself noted that Colbert and his henchmen had all but
drawn up the Four Articles and that above all since [the ministry of]
Monsieur Colbert, there has been this policy of humiliating Rome, and
to impose [Frances rights] against her, and that all of the Council had
this attitude.
62
Colberts agent, the former parliamentarian legist and in-
tendant of Soissons, Roland Le Vayer de Boutigny, made a defense of
the Four Articles, Le Droit des souverains touchant ladministration de lglise
(1682) clearly written from Colberts archive with the aid of Baluze.
63
Le
Vayer was an expert in the documentation of taxation; using a plethora
of medieval documents, he made a strong case for royal rights.
64
Thus at
the moment when the crown needed to act, Colberts information ma-
chine began turning: informing the king, providing ammunition for
bullying and organizing the Assembly, and providing the tools for nego-
tiating at various levels, censoring, and drawing up policy and propa-
ganda. If events called for documents, Colbert and his research team
could quickly produce them. In the end, Colberts information machine
worked. He built his reference system from various sources and had his
librarians catalog them and render them accessible. He then could man-
age the system himself on the stage of politics, appearing knowledgeable,
and able to write policy in a legalistic and historical context. Through his
autodidactic system, Colbert had become an antiquarian of the state.
Colberts state information system had translated into political power
and prowess. But was it to last?
c ha p t e r 1 0
The System Falls Apart, but the
State Remains
J
ean-Baptiste Colbert fell ill on August 20, 1683, in great pain and
with a fever, and died September 6. While some rumored that a
partial disgrace had led to his illness, his autopsy revealed a giant
stone in his kidney, blocking his ureter.
1
No one expected him to dis-
appear from the scene so suddenly. Indeed, he himself had not made im-
mediate political plans for his own death, aside from placing his family
and friends in as many key positions as he could. If he had any long-term
view as to how his archive was to work in relation to the state, he did
not say. He clearly expected it to be used by his son and family.
As Colberts health worsened, Seignelay dutifully did the job his fa-
ther taught him, keeping Louis informed of his fathers state. On Sep-
tember 2, he sent a letter to the king concerning the seriousness of his
ministers condition. He promised to keep Louis XIV appraised of Col-
berts illness and imminent death.
2
While Louis was clearly upset to lose
an old friend and his closest political condant, he had become increas-
ingly irritated with this harbinger of bad news, and his all-too-clear in-
formation updates on the state of French politics, nance, and industry.
For almost a decade, Colbert had complained to Louis about his wars and
expenditures as they bankrupted the scal state Colbert had built through
his accounting and strong-arm tactics. Louis had grown tired of Colberts
nagging and the unbalanced gures in the notebooks in his pocket.
153
Louis did not choose to replace his chief informer. The notebooks
stopped. He broke up Colberts grand ministry centered in the Ministry
of Finances and the Royal Library. With this move, Louis undermined
the development of a true state apparatus to emerge beyond his personal
control. Ltat cest moi was quite literal and in stark opposition to the
Weberian ideal of the impersonal centralized state. Louis ultimately saw
a well-oiled state bureaucracy and central archive as a threat to his per-
sonal power monopoly. More than he wanted to be informed, Louis
wanted to have the sense that he was in control. By closing down Col-
berts central ofce within the state, and the information state that sup-
ported it, Louis could divide and rule his ministers.
After Colberts death, no minister under Louis XIV would again
have as much power and as much information. The limits of absolutist
government were, in part, the limits imposed by Louis himself. Indeed,
Louis XIV did not leave his heirs a centralized state, but a very messy set
of strong, competing ministries, with no single administrative core. By
breaking Colberts system, Louis hobbled the French state in the long
run. The endless failures of eighteenth-century French governments
were due not only to the secrecy and folly of royal at and terrible nan-
cial management, but also to Louiss splintering of the state apparatus. It
helps explain why with all its possibility, genius, and might, France
stalled and began to crumble, while small neighbors, and former client
states like Savoy, prospered and grew.
The Breakdown of Colberts Information System
As soon as Colbert died, Louis took the management of the Royal Li-
brary away from his family and agents, and gave it to their adversaries,
the Louvois family. In doing so, Louis XIV showed that he understood
how Colberts system worked and that he wanted it shut down. The
collapse of Colberts information system hampered the effective admin-
istration of the state, as the Colbert and Louvois clans tried to undermine
each others abilities to govern. Colbert and the Le Telliers had com-
peted during his lifetime, but the government more or less functioned.
Now interministerial conict hindered the workings of the government.
Colberts all-powerful post of controller general of nances did not go
to his son or to his nephew Nicolas Desmaretz, who both had access to
the family archive. Instead, it went to Claude Le Pelletier, a member of
the Le TellierLouvois family circle.
3
Against this counter-Colbertian
coup, the great ministers heirs now used the family archive as a defen-
sive weapon. Saint-Simon recounts that Desmaretz had received orders
from Colberts brother, douard Franois Colbert, count de Maulvrier
(163393), to keep family information out of the hands of the Louvois
lobby:
When they [the Louvois family and Le Pelletier] ask you in particular
for a clarication on the nature of a specic matter, the opinion of
Monsieur de Croissy and myself is that you respond to them with good
grace. But, concerning general information on royal nances, we think
you can dispense with them.
4
Le Pelletier in turn complained to Louis XIV that he was unable to un-
derstand the states nancial workings, for Colbert had kept them secret,
and the family was not forthcoming with information:
I realized that Monsieur Colbert had enclosed in his very self the di-
rection of nances, and that there was no one initiated in these affairs
or in a state to instruct me. . . . I had thought that the registers in which
your majesty wrote would surely teach me the precise state of the
Royal Treasury; but I found that the relations between the registers
and the Royal bank were not exact. And in the papers of Monsieur
Colbert, neither could I nd the instruction that I needed, nor would
anyone give me more papers or explanations.
5
Thus began an information arms race. On one side, Colberts son
Seignelay began a furious program of state enqutes, to collect adminis-
trative information to be stored in his ministry of the navy, as well as in
the foreign ministry run by Colbert de Croissy.
6
He continued to make
use of the collection: for example, the dossier on religious affairs contin-
ued to grow as he managed the legal aspects of Louis XIVs Revocation
of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, adding new documents to his fathers old,
but still useful, compilations.
7
Colberts brother, Colbert de Croissy,
worked as an intendant, and became minister of foreign affairs from 1680
to 1696.
8
A year before becoming foreign minister, under Colberts or-
ders, he began the rst systematic foreign affairs archive, the rst ofcial,
nonpersonal depot for diplomatic correspondence and historical
archives.
9
He personally showed his assistants how to write diplomatic
minutes and instructions, and in many cases rewrote their communiqus
before they were presented in the Royal Council. Above all, he oversaw
and organized all diplomatic correspondence.
10
It was said that he in-
sisted that all papers pass through his hands. Croissy used Colberts man-
The System Falls Apart, but the State Remains 155
agement system through techniques of information collection, record-
ing, and organization. In creating the rst systematic archive of diplo-
matic documents, Croissy was essentially reproducing on a smaller scale
what his older brother had done in the family and state archives and
Royal Library. While much of the new archive consisted of traditional
diplomatic documents, Croissy reformed it by keeping all minutes and
correspondence, as well as by obtaining the personal archives of minis-
ters and ambassadors.
Croissys son, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the marquis de Torcy, foreign
minister from 1696 to 1715, continued the Colbertist tradition, strength-
ening the diplomatic archives by creating an independent Dpot des
Archives at the Louvre in 1709, and moving to create a corps of pro-
fessional historians, administrative experts trained in the organizing and
analysis of historical documents.
11
These miniature Colberts were edu-
cated in a school funded within the ministry of foreign affairs, called the
Acadmie Politique. While the Acadmie Politique did not last, de
Torcys organization of the French diplomatic archives and its staff made
it one of the most important central sites of French government.
Most signicantly, Louis also removed the Ministry of Finance from
the Colbert family, breaking their hold on the central ofce of state ad-
ministration. The Ministry of Finance was not only the source of fund-
ing other ministerial projectsColbert would have had a hard time
funding his naval ministry without itbut it was also the seat of the in-
tendancy and largest information collection apparatus of the state. The
Colberts still had ministerial power, but not the central seat in govern-
ment. Without the complementary set of ministriesnance, the navy,
building, industry and cultureColberts encyclopedic state informa-
tion system could not continue. Seignelay could not effectively run the
navy without control of the purse strings of the state. Without nancial
records and reports and without the means to purchase and copy infor-
mation on a grand scale, he could not continue his fathers program of
being the best-informed man in the kingdom. The Colbert library now
only received documents from Seignelays ministries of the navy and re-
ligious affairs, as well as from Baluzes continuing scholarly activity
within what was now the Colbert family library.
Seignelays heirs would hold no government ofce, nor show any
real interest in the library they inherited. It was widely known that Col-
bert had purchased many of his books and manuscripts with royal funds,
or had just plainly stolen them from the royal collection he managed. In
1728, when Colberts grandson asked the crown for 600,000 pounds
for the collection, Louis XV simply responded by saying, Good.
300,000.
12
The second marquis Colbert de Seignelay grumbled, but af-
ter ve years of negotiation, handed over cartloads of manuscripts for
half of his asking price.
13
Louis XV was eager to retrieve the bibliophilic
riches he considered rightfully his. Yet the bulk of Colberts administra-
tive papers remained in the hands of the Colbert family. In an ultimate
irony, Colberts state papers sat untouched until the Revolution, when
during the fury of the Terror, most were conscated and brought to the
central storehouse of the Jacobin state, to become a pillar of the collec-
tion of the new Bibliothque Nationale, built on the foundations of the
Royal Library laid by Colbert.
14
With the death of Colbert, the Louvois family was now the leading
ministerial faction in Louiss splintered government. Franois Michel Le
Tellier de Louvois (164191) was the son of Colberts old patron and ri-
val, Michel Le Tellier. With Louiss clear blessing, Colbert and Louvois
had fought each other as the two rival clans within the French govern-
ment. Louis allowed Louvois to try to implicate Colbert in the Affaire of
the Poisons, which ended with the disgrace of Louiss mistress and Col-
berts friend and ally, Madame de Montespan, in 1682. With the rise of
Louiss war machine, Louvoiss military information system took on new
proportions. Louvois controlled the much coveted and ever more pow-
erful post of the secretary of state of war, and the French postal system.
15
With Colbert dead, the war ministry became the central administrative
ofce of the state. If Colbert had represented Louiss early ambitions,
Louvois, now chief among his ministers, represented his new ones. His
speed and ability at industrial management and the movement of infor-
mation and goods surpassed that of Colbert.
16
Even more, he moved not
the goods of industry, but rather those of war, which so thrilled Louis.
17
Louiss military advisor, the marquis of Chamlay, also became a major in-
formation manager, collecting intelligence, writing military reports and
propaganda, and organizing military campaigns, reforms, and diplomatic
missions.
18
The Louvois military machine created massive armies and
supply lines, but it did not always win wars or formulate successful pol-
icy, as Louvoiss active support and implementation of the Revocation of
the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and his military and humanitarian asco in
the Palatinate in 168889 so dramatically illustrate.
19
As de Croissy and de Torcy created the archives of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Louvois built new permanent state archives in the In-
valides in the 1680s. Le Pelletier continued Colberts work of taking
royal accounts and administrative paperwork away from parliamentary
control by creating a central archive of all feudal lands controlled by the
king. It became the Dpt gnral des Terriers de la couronne under
the Pontchartrain ministry in 1691, continuing the progression of per-
manent ministerial archives.
20
Indeed, Pontchartrain started his own net-
work and information system, though on a smaller scale than that of
Colbert.
21
While Louvois was a master administrator, he overlooked the
Royal Library and its trove of historical documents as potential tools of
government. He gave the direction of the library to his nine-year-old
son, the future abb de Louvois.
22
Librarians and agents such as Carcavy
and the Godefroys were unceremoniously red.
23
The abb de Louvois
would emerge as an erudite and able librarian, but without Colberts vi-
sion of constant expansion, few new acquisitions were made in the
decade after Colberts death.
24
Even more, he did not use his control of
the library as part of Louvoiss military program.
Colberts project had been predicated on a vision of encyclopedic,
universal knowledge of the state. Louvois was a master of the informa-
tion of war, and he saw his system through the lens of the military. He
did not use scholarship or the world of learning as primary, integrated
tools of government. He certainly paid for propaganda and sought sym-
pathetic scholars, but he did not seek to occupy, control, and use the
world of scholarship. His control of the Royal Library and his own min-
isterial information bank were not integral pieces in a larger information
system, but rather distinct bases of power and prestige.
25
The possible
danger of mixing learning and political power might have been evident
to Louvois, or perhaps he believed he could run his war machine with
his own system. Or perhaps he simply did not understand Colberts
grand project.
The ministerial archives that under Colbert had been relatively cen-
tralized were now dispersed among what Arthur de Boislisle called the
ministerial archival dpts.
26
Indeed, a massive nineteenth-century
archival project sought to catalog and centralize these disparate ministe-
rial archives of the ancien rgime.
27
In 1874, Boislisle, an undersecretary
of the Ministry of Finances, great bibliophile, and author of the found-
ing work on the French state archives, noted that
to follow the administrative history of a given province of the king-
dom, one had to, and indeed, one must still today successively address
ones self to the archives of War, those of the Navy, those of Foreign
Affairs, without even speaking of those of the ministries, who have no
curator, or representative, and of which the papers have been dispersed
with out rule or reason.
28
Boislisle had hoped to show the genius of Frances government, but
inadvertently revealed how decentralized the Bourbon archives actually
were. Although after Colberts death, Louis XIVs ministers were col-
lecting more information than before, the motive behind the collection
was clearly not the rational, centralized functioning of the state, but
rather a complex set of competing interests between various ministerial
lobbies, which had been, to varying degrees, the nature of European
state administration since the Middle Ages. In any case, while often
managed by experts, Louis XIVs state was not effectively centralized.
Public versus Secret Spheres: Financial Information, Trust,
and the Crisis of Civil Society
In 1698, a group of reformers around Fnelon, the duke de Chevreuse,
and the duke de Beauvilliersall connected to the Colbert lobby
implicitly recognized the monarchys difculty in making use of the
administrative information in the enqutes when they produced
the Tables de Chaulnes, a new, practical education for the son of
the Dauphin, Louiss grandson, the duke de Bourgogne.
29
It was a true
founding act of enlightened despotism. They commissioned a massive
series of state enqutes to teach the young prince administration and
the handling of state reports.
30
As pragmatic as this project was, it was
based simply on showing the presumptive heir a set of enqutes and le-
gal and historical documents. While it was a step to bring back the
inuence of Colberts state information system under the intendants, it
did not represent a signicant return to Colberts style of information-
driven government.
As limited as Fnelons project was in comparison to that of Colbert,
and as reformist as it was in its intentions, it nonetheless sparked the ire
of parliamentary critics, emboldened by their reinstated authority under
the regent, Philip dOrlans (ruled 171523). State secrecy and the dan-
gerous competition between ministerial information banks was the dri-
ving complaint of the count de Boulainvillierss Ltat de la France, writ-
ten in 1701, but only published after Louis XIVs death in 1727. A leader
of noble critics of absolute rule, Boulainvilliers pointed out that com-
peting ministers, with their troves of administrative enqutes, usurped
public power, and went against the interest of the state, and even of the
prince: The spirit of servitude is generally spread through these Writ-
ings [enqutes], he insisted. Passions have mystery and secrets; a legit-
imate Government has none.
31
Boulainvilliers describes a secret sphere
of state knowledge within the royal res publica, which threatened noble,
parliamentarian power, and even the authority of the prince.
32
In his Histoire de lancien governement de France (written 1701, published
Amsterdam, 1727), Boulainvilliers argued not only that the intendants
were unconstitutional, but that their secrecy and stranglehold on infor-
mation destroyed the ability of the state and nation to administer its
nances. Thus Boulainvilliers was a prophet of the concept of public state
accountability and an early critic of enlightened despotism. Who would
critique incompetent or dishonest administrators if only one minister and
the king read his reports? How could reform occur without an open dis-
cussion of state administrative and status reports? Good policy, he in-
sisted, was based on open discussion and assessments of state documents.
With moving passion, he called the mission of the intendants to secretly
gather the vital information of the state morally impossible.
33
Without
public supervision, they would only serve their own interests, and in-
deed, create an internal culture of incompetence. He insisted that the se-
cret, internal writings of servile ministers needed to be exposed to pub-
lic criticism and irony to show how absurd they could be.
34
State
secrecy destroyed both method and political science.
35
Even more, it
hampered the effective creation of a nancial credit market in France. If
the state kept its nances secret, how could investments be made in trust?
This mismanagement meant that the state itself had no credit system,
and this in turn hampered investment in state projects. The crisis of
French nancial trust was made worse by the terrible failure of John
Laws attempt to create a French royal Banque Gnrale with the au-
thority to issue unchecked paper currency based on a colonial invest-
ment pyramid swindle. As it came crashing down in 1720, so too did
French trust in government nance, and the project of a French national
bank diedindeed, the term bank was long distrusted in France after
thisthus hampering its industrial development. In 1781, during the
nancial torments that preceded the French Revolution, even Jacques
Neckerminister of nance and an admirer of Colberteffectively
conceded that the secret state knowledge system had undermined gov-
ernmental effectiveness and stunted economic growth. For the rst time
in history, he published a version of the French states nances. Lauding
the open, constitutional government of England, he suggested that
France follow its model and publish the states yearly budget:
But another cause of the great credit of England, is, and we do not
doubt it at all, the public notoriety to which is submitted the state of
its nances. Each year this report is presented to Parliament, it is then
printed; and all creditors thus regularly know the proportion main-
tained between revenues and expenditures; they are never troubled by
these suspicions, false fears, and maneuverings behind the scenes.
In France, we have made a constant mystery of the state of our
nances; or, if they have been discussed, it has been in the preamble to
edicts, and always at the moment that one sought to take loans; but
these words, though different, were too often the same, and therefore
necessarily lost their authority, and men of experience no longer be-
lieved in them, except with the guarantee . . . of the moral character of
the minister of nances.
36
Neckers eloquence, however, was in vain. Many accused him of not
only acting too late; they didnt believe his gures. As he himself had
pointed out, how could there be condence in a state that had operated
outside its constitution, by royal at and lettres de cachet, for more than
one hundred years?
State Information Crisis: Redux
As royal authority crumbled in the eighteenth century, the old constitu-
tional rivalry between the monarchy and the Parlement of Paris re-
emerged. And so did the old battle over the authority of state informa-
tion. Following Boulainvilliers and Le Laboureur, the parliamentarian
scholars of the mid-eighteenth century, Sainte-Palaye, Durey de
Meinires, and Louis-Sbastien Le Paige took up many of the com-
plaints of the Fronde. They would show that the old historical, legal
documents so coveted by the Dupuys and Colbert, but ignored later by
Louis XIVs later ministers and their heirs, were indeed essential tools of
governance, legitimacy, and propaganda, and that they proved the Par-
lements right to regulate the monarchy.
37
In the 1750s and 1760s, led by
Malesherbes de Lamoignonthe grandson of Colberts parliamentary
nemesis, future censor and defender of Louis XVIthe Parlement of
Paris waged a relentless information campaign against the monarchy,
inltrating Colberts old institutions and undermining absolutism with
the publication of medieval, feudal legal documents as ideological pro-
paganda.
38
The crown had no information policy, and parliamentary
ofcers such as Lamoignon were not co-opted by the state, but re-
mained free to use their scholarly and informational skills to attack its au-
thority. In one tragic irony after the next, the crown not only attempted
to ban the pro-Colbertist Encyclopdie; it lost its opportunity to harness
and focus encyclopedic knowledge, which Colbert had seen as essential
to his own modernizing state apparatus. In the end, without a trained
corps of medievalist archival agents, the crown was helpless in the face of
the parliamentarian onslaught of published historical remonstrances.
Royal authority was undermined by the proliferation of documents
plucked from the archives and used as propaganda to prove historical
parliamentary rights.
Whereas, from the Fronde onward, Colbert had worked for decades
to crush the Parlements ability to wage information war against the
crown, Louis XV found himself with no effective political archive and
no information masters to press his case. He would have to turn to the
parliamentarian scholar Jean-Jacob Moreau to re-create Colberts arsenal
of manuscripts. The French state had come full circle, back to the old in-
formation masters. But it was too late. Colberts secret sphere had crum-
bled, and the antiquarians, with all their might of historical legitimacy,
were now on the side of the Parlement. It was Colberts nightmare
come true.
Enlightened Despotism and Information Management
While Colberts absolutist government and information system failed in
France, this did not mean that it was an impossible dream. Across Eu-
rope in the eighteenth century, enlightened despots used Colberts
method of government by experts and the centralized administration
and collection of information by intendants. From Frederick the Greats
Prussia, Bourbon Spain, and Hapsburg Austria and Tuscany, to Portugal
under Pombal and Russia under Peter the Great and Catherine II, many
built comparable systems of mercantilism, centralization, and informa-
tion collection.
39
Even in the more open system of England, empire
would increasingly demand the central and encyclopedic sort of archives
developed by Colbert.
40
Colberts legacy was not necessarily mercantil-
ism, but rather his vision of learned administration.
Louis XIVs grandson, Philip V of Spain (ruled 17001746), brought
with him not only the system of the intendants, but also a French taste
for bibliophilia, and set in motion the creation of a new Spanish Royal
Library along French lines.
41
Similarly, in the decades following Col-
berts death, the kingdom of Savoy would create a permanent state li-
brary and archive apparatus that looked like a small-scale, ideal version
of what Colbert had tried to achieve. Although Savoy had kept well-or-
ganized, centralized state archives since the Middle Ages, its interactions
with the bellicose French inspired it to create a defensive state archival
system.
42
Under constant threat of annexation by France, Savoy not only
managed to build an effective scal and military apparatus to defend it-
self from Louis XIVs aggression; it also built on the scholarly adminis-
trative tradition and achieved something France never did.
43
By 1720
Victor Amadeus II had managed to take over parliamentary and legal
archives and bring them under the central control of the state in a mas-
sive Archivio di Stato in Turin that was housed in the same building as
the Royal Library, linked to the royal palace by a long hallway, and
managed by state scholars.
44
In this case, the bureaucratic tradition based
on a centralized information state aided the Francophone Savoyards in
their long conquest of the Italian peninsula.
The Information Master: A Despot of Letters
under the Shadow of Republics
More than anything, however, what remained of Colberts legacy was
not a permanent state information system or even tradition. Rather,
Colbertism should be dened as the idea that a large-scale state would
need to centralize and harness encyclopedic knowledge to govern effec-
tively, and that all knowledge, formal and practical, could be used to-
gether in one archival system to understand and master the material
world. At rst glance, this seems pioneering, and, to a certain extent, it
was. Modern states, both democratic and despotic, centralize informa-
tion, and hire internal teams of experts to sift through, manage, and use
information for government. Indeed, the questions Colbert asked about
information handlingin terms of collection, organization, and search-
ing for information within a systemwere visionary in their concept
and application. His mixing of formal and practical knowledge and data
predated the owering of the Enlightened encyclopedic tradition. In-
deed, Colbert can be roughly compared to Bill Gates in his prescient
harnessing of existing traditions of information culture for large-scale in-
dustrial projects. Colberts administrative and cultural model of learned
enlightened despotism is, in some ways, still applicable not just to gov-
ernments, but also to modern corporations, with their internal, secret re-
search and information collection programs.
Even more, institutions such as the intendancy, while still a site of state
secrecy until the Revolution, would, in the eighteenth century, produce
ambiguous gures such as Jacques Turgot (172781): a philosophe critic
of Colberts mercantilism, but also an advocate of state-imposed free
markets and the kind of economic observational administration cham-
pioned by Colbert. His loge de Gournay (1759), which inspired Adam
Smith, assailed the Colbertist model, complaining of these rules, in-
spectors, and ofces that stie trade and add pointless cost to mer-
chandise.
45
Yet Turgot had taken a tour of France with Vincent de
Gournay, examining the countryside in a style that Colbert would have
admired. In 1761 Turgot, a former matre des requtes, became the in-
tendant of Limoges, and designed state programs to spur industry.
Philosophically, he was against mercantilism, but culturally and practi-
cally he was an heir to Colbert: a state expert, gatherer of information,
and economic planner.
There were inherent contradictions in Colberts project. In creating
his information state from the world of learning and trying to fuse the
two, Colbert was a product of the mercantile world, state administra-
tion, and the culture of the Republic of Letters. As much as he tried to
make the state intellectually independent, he relied on exterior traditions
of learning and information handling. Many of the glories of learning as-
sociated with the French state were appropriated in from the Republic
of Letters. As the British Royal Society showed, learning could use state
legitimacy, but it neither needed state funding nor state control. Colbert
sought to crush the very world from which he drew his power and
which fascinated him to the point that he thought obsessively about
books and questions of state erudition. Had Colbert truly succeeded in
controlling the Republic of Letters more than he did, he might have
stied his own state projects. In any case, his policies of repression fed re-
publican Holland and constitutional England, which became the sites of
exile and of the radical Enlightenments that would challenge despotism
and provide and dynamic political countermodel.
Thus Colbert built parts of what would be the modern governmen-
tal tradition, but he misunderstood the nature of his own project. Learn-
ing and government were intertwined, but repression could have a dan-
gerous effects. A balance would have to be sought, and Colbert never
revealed that he considered this balance.
If the Republic of Letters set the model for early civil society
through its ethos of discussion across national and religious linesCol-
bert, as a major arbiter of the Republic of Letters, shows that the abso-
lutist state played a central role in inuencing the emergence of civil
society. This does complicate the telos of progress without taking away
from the value and importance of civil society. Indeed, it shows the
fragility of the balance between effective government, civil freedoms,
and repression. Colbert developed many institutions that furthered
learning and that worked to expand the world of learning and commu-
nication. At one level, they could be used for political repression. At an-
other, making the state a center of learning linked it to possibly inde-
pendent elements of civil society. Many of the institutions that Colbert
createdfrom his academies to the ofce of the state censorbecame
sites of antiabsolutism in the eighteenth century. Under Louis XV and
XVI, administrative archives expanded, but the secret royal sphere atro-
phied into the world of spying, failed nance, and despotic at. The
king stored his secret les in a casketlike secret armoire, which was spec-
tacularly opened during Louis XVIs trial in 1792 to reveal the moribund
politics of the former monarchy. In what is now a permanent wake of
French monarchy, it sits open to all viewers in the Muse Carnavalet in
Paris.
This archival trophy of the Revolution was not the great royal state
information and intelligence system Colbert had envisioned. Revolu-
tionaries discredited the king by exposing his armoire, but real royal
government was still in the ministerial archives that the Revolution ap-
propriated. The secret sphere of state power would rear its head again
during the police states of the Terror and Napoleon and nestle itself into
the administrative republics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It
was the world of state paperwork and the bordereaumilitary and indus-
trial intelligence, state correspondence, and secret evidencethat pro-
duced the Dreyfus Affair and, elsewhere in Europe, the world of secret
police and the Stasi. Crimes of state are not always dramatic, but often
take place in the mundane le rooms and archives of governments.
Yet, as mundane and as sinister as state paperwork can appear, a lack
of paperwork poses other threats. In October 1793, Saint-Just, the apos-
tle of the Terror, pointed out that true political terror took place opti-
mally under a total dictatorship with no paperwork. In his call for the
dictatorship of the Committee of Public Safety he made a plea for cur-
tailed bureaucracy and an unfettered executive power:
The ministry is a world of paper. I dont know how Rome and Egypt
governed without this resource; one thought a great deal and wrote lit-
tle. The sheer volume of the governments correspondence and orders
is a sign of its inertia; government is impossible with too many words.
Representatives of the people, generals, administrators, are surrounded
by ofces like former men of the palace; nothing is done, and expen-
diture is nonetheless enormous. Bureaucracy has replaced monar-
chism; the demon of writing makes war on us, and government
stops.
46
Any slowing of government by bureaucracy, he warned, will be pun-
ished as a crime against liberty. And so it was: with too much paper-
work government stops, or becomes a self-serving machine; and with-
out it, things fall apart and terror can take the place of institutions.
Conclusion
What conclusions can we then draw from this odd story of innovation,
originality, great achievement, and ultimate failure? Colbert shows the
extent and limits of the early modern governmental sphere of informa-
tion, both public and secret, and how they interacted. While the public
sphere grew, elements of Colberts secret sphere of institutional infor-
mation also ourished. They interacted and competed, creating a tense
symbiosis present to this very day. While some modern governments
claim to eschew Colberts mercantilist, centrally controlled form of eco-
nomics, they do not hesitate to maintain vast, centralized, encyclopedic,
powerfully digital, and sometimes dysfunctional information systems.
Even in an age of computers, cell phones, satellites, and massive public
and secret stores of informationaccurate and inaccurateindividuals
and states are capable of great feats. Yet they are often remarkably misin-
formed, and thus, in some realms, capable of greater achievements and
grander follies than those of Philip II and Louis XIV. The stage of poli-
tics and nance is now truly the globe.
Rulers and governments need central and secret archives for daily
government, and yet few willingly call for more secret archives or for
more red tape. And thus with the rise of the public sphere also comes
Colberts legacy, the remnants of the system he created, a monumental
realization of Machiavellian culture, a mercantile dark shadow of hu-
manism and the Enlightened world of knowledge. Modern society is still
left with the unresolved problem that even for the most open of democ-
racies, the culture of state secrecy is necessary and potent, but at the same
time, in its very essence, perverse and dangerous. How will we resolve
the conundrum that Colbert helped create for the modern state? In
1822, as political absolutism returned in Europe and some doubted the
American republic, James Madison described the tension between gov-
ernment and knowledge as a dramatic struggle:
A popular Government without popular information or the means of
acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to
be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowl-
edge gives.
47
In an age when society and economy are increasingly dependent on
computerized information technology and on giant governmental enti-
ties and global corporations and banks, this struggle seems ever more rel-
evant and dauntingly complex. It is not only a question of the public be-
ing well informed and aware of the workings of the state and nance. A
well-informed expert, curious and open government seems preferable to
the mysteries of the secret sphere.
Notes
chapter 1
1. Jrme Delatour, Le Cabinet des frres Dupuy, Sciences et Techniques en
Perspective 9 (2005): pp. 287328.
2. Martin Lister, A Journey to Paris in the Year 1698, ed. Raymon Phineas Stearns
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1967). For introductions to the history of travel
literature and learning see Peter Hulme and Tim Youngs, eds., The Cambridge Com-
panion to Travel Writing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), in particu-
lar chaps. 1 and 14. Also see Justin Stagl, Eine Geschichte der Neugier: Die Kunst des
Reisens 15501800 (Vienna: Bhlau Verlag, 1983), English translation: A History of
Curiosity: The Theory of Travel, 15501800 (Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic,
1988), pp. 190; and Barbara J. Shapiro, A Culture of Fact: England, 15501720
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000), pp. 6385.
3. Lister, Journey to Paris, pp. 213.
4. Ibid., p. 37. On the places and people visited by Lister see Alice Stroup, A
Company of Scientists: Botany, Patronage, and Community at the Seventeenth-Century
Parisian Royal Academy of Sciences (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Califor-
nia Press, 1990).
5. Denise Bloch, La Bibliothque de Colbert, in Histoire des bibliothques
franaises, ed. Claude Jolly, 4 vols. (Paris: Promodis, 1988), vol. 2, pp. 15679.
6. Charles de La Roncire and Paul-M. Bondois, eds., Catalogue des Manuscrits
de la Collection des Mlanges Colbert (Paris: ditions Ernest Leroux, 1920), introduc-
tion, p. xv.
7. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 128.
8. Ibid., pp. 10813. Lister was, however, disappointed when the librarian pro-
duced a magnicently bound copy of an early, incomplete copy of his history of
conch snails, the Synopsis Conchyliorum (1685). Lister promised to send the library an
169
up-to-date edition. Simone Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale des origines 1800
(Geneva: Droz, 1988), pp. 7475; Roger Hahn, The Anatomy of a Scientic Institution:
The Paris Academy of Sciences, 16661803 (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1971); John Milton Hirscheld, The Acadmie Royale des Sciences,
16661683 (New York: Arno Press, 1981), pp. 16869; Denise Bloch, La Colber-
tine, in Colbert 16191683 (Paris: Ministre de la Culture, 1983), pp. 40126; La
bibliothque de Colbert; Stewart Saunders, Public Administration and the Li-
brary of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Libraries and Culture 26 (1991): pp. 283300.
9. And it continued to grow after his death, though at a much diminished rate.
See Lopold Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliothque Nationale, 2 vols.
(Paris: Imprimerie Impriale, 1868), vol. 1, p. 440.
10. It is not easy for the modern historian to characterize Colberts practices or
how exactly he saw his library and archives, for he never wrote a treatise about them
in any analytical way. In his letters to his son and to his agents, he constantly insists
that they observe, examine, see, and then inform him through clear re-
ports and memoirs. Richelets Dictionary of 1685 denes the term intelligence,
among other things, as political wisdom: is said also of a great man, who through
his talents and his wits [lumires] is above all others (he was the intelligence of the
Council, of the State). This wisdom could be gained by secret Communications,
meaning spying, or simply being well informed. The term information derived from
the Latin term erudire, to enlighten or instruct, and from legal usage. Richelet also
dened it as meaning to learn about something, for example commerce, or the
court. Thus intelligence and information system seem the most accurate modern
terms we can use to describe the system Colbert built.
11. See Roncire and Bondois, Catalogue des Mlanges Colbert, les 1100. On
the importance of Colbert and the connection between practical industrial knowl-
edge and the natural sciences see Margaret C. Jacob, Scientic Culture and the Making
of the Industrial West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 4750, 16586.
12. The literature on the history of libraries, their ambitions, forms, and content
is extensive. For a synthetic overview, see Roger Chartier, Lordre des livres (Aix-en-
Provence: Alinea, 1992). On the history of knowledge, information, and govern-
ment see Peter Burke, A Social History of Knowledge from Gutenberg to Diderot (Cam-
bridge: Polity Press, 2000), pp. 11648.
13. On the persistence of methods for searching for information see Anthony
Grafton on the concepts of Google, Future Reading: Digitization and Its Discon-
tents, New Yorker, November 5, 2007, pp. 5055.
14. For critiques of Colbert and Colbertism, see Daniel Dessert, Colbert ou le
serpent venimeux (Paris: ditions Complexe, 2000). For more recent and less histori-
cally accurate criticisms of economic Colbertism, see The Economists editorials, De-
cember 1996: After Thomson: the long, slow death of Colbertism in France is be-
ing accompanied by worrying bouts of xenophobia and indecision; but it is dying
nonetheless, December 2006 and The State as Owner: Re-bonjour, Monsieur
Colbert, October 2008.
15. This is the thesis of James E. Kings Science and Rationalism in the Government
of Louis XIV, 16611683 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1949).
16. On the innovations of the absolutist state see Robert Descimon and Alain
170 notes to pages 23
Guery, Un tat des temps modernes? in Seuil Histoire de la France. La longue dure
de ltat, ed. Jacques LeGoff (Paris: ditions du Seuil, 2000), vol. 1, pp. 209503.
Also see James B. Collins, The State in Early Modern France (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1995).
17. Pierre Clment, Histoire de la vie et de ladministration de Colbert (Paris: Guil-
laumin, 1846), p. ix: Pour ceux qui connaissent le soin excessif avec lequel Colbert
conservait les documents relatifs son administration et lattention quil avait de
viser lui-mme en marge la copie de toutes ses lettres.
18. Madame de Svign, Lettres, ed. M. Monmerque, 14 vols. (Paris: Hachette,
1862), vol. 3, p. 331. Guy Patin called him the vir marmoreus, or the man of mar-
ble. Guizot cites this commonplace in his History of France, trans. Robert Black
(Boston: Aldine, 1886), vol. 4, p. 511. Author of a long portrait of Colbert, the abb
de Choisy noted his naturally sullen face and austere expression. Franois-Tim-
olon, labb de Choisy, Mmoires pour servir lhistoire de Louis XIV par feu M. labb
de Choisy de lAcadmie franaise suivis de Mmoires de labb de Choisy habill en femme,
ed. Georges Mongrdin (Paris: Mercure de France, 1966), p. 68. Choisy uses the
terms renfrogn and mine austre.
19. Gatien Coutilz de Sandras, La vie de Jean-Baptiste Colbert, ministre dtat sous
Louis XIV (Cologne, 1695).
20. zchiel Freiherr von Spanheim, Rlation de la cour de France en 1690, ed.
Charles Shefer (Paris: Libraries Renouard, 1882), p. 174.
21. Ibid., p. 175.
22. Adam Smith, Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2
vols. (London: W. Strahan, 1777), vol. 2, p. 533.
23. Robert Darnton, The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the
Encyclopdie, 17751800 (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
1979); Kathleen Hardesty, The Supplment to the Encyclopdie (The Hague: Nijhoff,
1977); Hardesty, LEncyclopdie mthodique et lorganisation des connaissances,
Recherches sur Diderot et sur lEncyclopdie 12 (1992): pp. 5969; Hardesty, The Yver-
don Encyclopdie, Studies in Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 315 (1994): pp.
85116; John Lough, Essays on the Encyclopdie of Diderot and dAlembert (London:
Oxford University Press, 1968); Raymond F. Birn, Pierre Rousseau and the
Philosophes of Bouillon, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 29 (Geneva:
Institut et Muse Voltaire, 1964).
24. Denis Diderot, ed., Encyclopdie ou Dictionnaire raisinn des sciences des arts et
mtiers, par une socit de gens de letters, 17 vols. (Neufchtel: Samuel Faulche, 1765).
See the articles Gloire, and Homme dtat.
25. Ibid., see the entry Bibliothque.
26. A. J. Grant, The Government of Louis XIV, in The Cambridge Modern
History, ed. Lord Acton, 13 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1934),
vol. 5, p. 15.
27. On the humanist encyclopedic tradition see Francis A. Yates, The Art of
Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966); Cesare Vasoli, Lenciclope-
dismo del Seicento (Naples: Bibliopolis, 1978); Fritz Machlup, Knowledge: The Branches
of Learning (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981). For an overview of
Italian Renaissance encyclopedic and naturalistic culture see Giuseppe Olmi, Lin-
Notes to Pages 36 171
ventario del mondo: Catalogazione della natura e luoghi del sapere nella prima et moderna
(Bologna: Il Mulino, 1992). On late-Renaissance encyclopedism see Ann Blair, The
Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1997); and her special issue of the Journal of the History of Ideas on the
concept of the Early Modern Information Overload, 64 (2003); Richard Ser-
jeantson, Introduction, in Meric Casaubon, Generall Learning, ed. Richard Ser-
jeantson (Cambridge: Renaissance Texts from Manuscript, 1999), pp. 180. Robert
Darnton has illustrated the decline of theology and the rise of practical knowledge
in the eighteenth-century Encyclopdie: Philosophers Trim the Tree of Knowledge:
The Epistemological Strategy of the Encyclopdie, in The Great Cat Massacre and
Other Episodes in French Cultural History (New York: Vintage, 1984), p. 198. Richard
Yeo also traces the rise of natural and practical knowledge in the eighteenth-century
encyclopedic movement, connecting earlier tradition and Enlightenment: Encyclo-
pedic Visions: Scientic Dictionaries and Enlightenment Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2001), p. 3, and his John Lockes New Method of Common-
placing: Managing Memory and Information, Eighteenth-Century Thought 2 (2004):
pp. 138. On the encyclopedism and the smaller scale data-bank aspect of the hu-
manist library, see William H. Sherman, John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing
in the English Renaissance (Amherat: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995), pp.
2952. On the uses and evolution of the library in France, see Jolly, Histoire des bib-
liothques franaises, vol. 2, in general; and Roger Chartier, Lectures et lecteurs dans la
France dAncien Rgime (Paris: Seuil, 1987), chap. 5.
28. Ernest Lavisse, Louis XIV. Histoire dun grand rgne (1908; rpt. Paris, 1989),
pp. 13132.
29. Ibid., p. 131.
30. Robert Bireley, The Counter-Reformation Prince: Anti-Machiavellism, or
Catholic Statecraft in Early Modern Europe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1980).
31. For an overview of the limits and successes of French absolutism as well as
the extensive historiography on the topic see Guy Rowlands, The Dynastic State and
the Army under Louis XIV: Royal Service and Private Interest, 16611701 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 131.
32. Pierre Clment, Avertissement, in Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Lettres, instruc-
tions et mmoires, ed. Pierre Clment, 7 vols. (Paris: Imprimerie Impriale, 186170),
vol. 1, p. ix.
33. Choisy, Mmoires, pp. 6869: Une application innie et un dsir insatiable
dapprendre lui tenaient lieu de science: plus il tait ignorant, plus il affectait de
paratre savant, citant quelquefois hors de propos des passages latins quil avait appris
par coeur, et que ses docteurs gages lui avaient expliqus. . . . Il prsentait au Roi,
tous les premiers jours de lan, un agenda o ses revenus taient marqus en dtail; et
chaque fois que le Roi signait des ordonnances, Colbert le faisait souvenir de les
marquer sur son agenda, an quil pt voir quand il lui plairait combien il lui restait
encore de fonds (au lieu que dans les temps passs il ne pouvait jamais savoir ce quil
avait).
34. Louis XIV, Mmoires for the Instruction of the Dauphin, trans. and ed. Paul
Sonnino (New York: Free Press, 1970), p. 34; Madame de Maintenon, Lettres (Paris:
Lopold Collin, 1806), p. 286.
35. Encyclopdie, Bibliothque: The Encyclopdie recognized Colberts foray
into the world of learning and antiquarianism: It was not only in Paris and in
neighboring countries that Monsieur Colbert ordered the purchase of books for the
King; he ordered the nest ancient manuscripts in Greek, Arab, Persian, and other
Oriental languages be sought in the Levant. He established correspondents in dif-
ferent courts of Europe by which this vigilant minister procured treasures of all
kinds for the Kings library.
36. On the relationship between Colberts library and the Bibliothque Royale
see Jean Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, 168788,
Bibliothque Nationale de France (hereafter BNF) MS Fr. 22571, fols. 43891; Bal-
ay, La Bibliothque Nationale, pp. 71145; and Denise Bloch, La bibliothque de
Colbert. The most nuanced study of Colberts library and its relationship to policy
is Saunders, Public Administration.
37. It should be noted that England and Holland never established large, cen-
tral, secret state archives. Whether or not this was benecial, gures such as Samuel
Pepys watched the growth of Colberts state archival apparatus with some envy. On
the English royal administration and the limits of centralization and secrecy, see
Jonathan M. Elukin, Keeping Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern English Gov-
ernment, in Das Geheimnis am Beginn der europischen Moderne, ed. Gisela Engel,
Brita Rang, Klaus Reichert, Heide Wunder, and Jonathan Elukin (Frankfurt am
Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2002), p. 126. Still the nest source on the topic is Pe-
ter Fraser, The Intelligence of the Secretaries of State and Their Monopoly of Licensed News,
16601668 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), p. 10.
38. On the centralization of administrative archives see Nico Randeraad, ed.,
Formation and Transfer of Municipal Administrative Knowledge, Yearbook of Eu-
ropean Administrative History 15 (2003), in particular, Wolfgang Weber, Herrschafts-
und Verwaltungswissen in oberdeutschen Reichsstdten der Frhen Neuzeit, pp.
129.
39. These reference documents are found in BNF MS Baluze 177. On ad-
vanced library catalogs connected to laboratories as a precursor to computing see
Alex Wright, The Web That Time Forgot, New York Times, June 17, 2008, pp.
F1, F4, on the Belgian Paul Otlets Mundaneum information catalog and net-
work.
40. Lavisse, Louis XIV, pp. 13132.
41. See Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 440.
42. Paula Findlen, Introduction. The Last Man Who Knew Everything . . . or
Did He? Athanasius Kircher, S. J. (160280) and His World, in Athanasius Kircher:
The Last Man Who Knew Everything, ed. Findlen (New York: Routledge, 2004),
p. 5.
43. Michael S. Mahoney, Christian Huygens: The Measurement of Time and
of Longitude at Sea, in Studies on Christian Huygens, ed. H. J. M. Bos (Lisse: Swets,
1980), pp. 23470.
44. Stroup, A Company of Scientists, p. 51.
45. On Bacons many facets see, for example, Markku Peltonen, ed., The Cam-
bridge Companion to Francis Bacon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
The most recent intellectual studies focus on learning and gures of learning. See
Anthony Grafton, Joseph Scaliger: A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship, 2 vols.
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983); Grafton, Cardanos Cosmos: The Worlds and Works
of a Renaissance Astrologer (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999); Grafton,
Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Renaissance (New York: Hill and Wang,
2000); Sherman, John Dee; Nancy Siraisi, The Clock and the Mirror: Girolamo Cardano
and Renaissance Medicine (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997); Blair,
The Theater of Nature; Casaubon, Generall Learning; Peter N. Miller, Peirescs Europe:
Learning and Virtue in the Seventeenth Century (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2000); most recently, J. G. A. Pocock has painted a detailed tableau of Gibbons
world, inuences, and uses of tradition in his ongoing study, Barbarism and Religion,
3 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 19992003). Also see Michael
Hunter, Archives of the Scientic Revolution: The Formation and Exchange of Ideas in Sev-
enteenth-Century Europe (Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 1998); and Jacob Soll, ed.,
The Uses of Historical Evidence in Early Modern Europe, special issue of the
Journal of the History of Ideas, 23 (2003). Also see Peter Burke, A Social History of
Knowledge Revisited, Modern Intellectual History 3 (2007): p. 524.
46. Geoffrey Parker, The Grand Strategy of Philip II (New Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press, 1998).
47. On the term Staatenkunde see Hans Erich Bdeker, On the Origins of the
Statistical Gaze: Modes of Perception, Forms of Knowledge, and Ways of Writing
in the Early Social Sciences, in Little Tools of Knowledge: Historical Essays on Academic
and Bureaucratic Practices, ed. Peter Becker and William Clark (Ann Arbor: Univer-
sity of Michigan Press, 2001), p. 172. Michel Foucault uses the term le savoir de l-
tat in Il faut dfendre la socit: Cours au Collge de France. 1976 (Paris: Hautes
tudes/Seuil/Gallimard, 1997), cours du 11 fvrier, p. 113.
48. Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller, eds., The Foucault Effect:
Studies in Governmentality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), pp. 9293.
On practices of governmental knowledge see Becker and Clark, Little Tools of
Knowledge, pp. 1924. For a reading of the preceding texts in the context of Swiss
cantonal records, see the pioneering work by Randolph Head, Knowing Like a
State: The Transformation of Political Knowledge in Swiss Archives, 14501770,
Journal of Modern History 75 (2003): pp. 74582.
49. King, Science and Rationalism; Kevin Sharpe, Sir Robert Cotton, 15861631:
History and Politics in Early Modern England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979),
pp. 38. R. J. W. Evans has studied Rudolf II as an intellectual patron, but not as a
state information manager, in Rudolf II and His World: A Study in Intellectual History,
15761612 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973); and see Blandine Barret-Kriegel, Les
historiens et la monarchie. Jean Mabillon, 4 vols. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France,
1988).
50. The history of research is now emerging in works such as William Clarks
Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2006).
51. For the paradigmatic concept of the public sphere, see Jrgen Habermas,
The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois
Society, trans. Thomas Burger and Frederick Lawrence (Cambridge: MIT Press,
1989), pp. 5156. On news, information, and public opinion in the sixteenth cen-
tury see Brendan Dooley, A Social History of Skepticism: Experience and Doubt in Early
Modern Culture (Baltimore: Johhs Hopkins University Press, 1999). For France in
particular see Jean-Pierre Vittu, Instruments of Political Information in France, in
The Politics of Information in Early Modern Europe, ed. Brendan Dooley and Sabrina A.
Baron (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 16077.
52. Habermas, Structural Transformation, pp. 5156. The bibliography on Haber-
mas and the public sphere is too large to list here. For a reading of Habermass the-
ory in the eighteenth-century French context see Roger Chartier, The Cultural Ori-
gins of the French Revolution (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1991), pp. 2037.
An early overview of the Habermasian paradigm can be found in Craig Calhoun,
ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992). For a recent
overview, see Stphane Van Damme, Farewell Habermas? Deux dcennies d-
tudes sur lespace public aux XVIIe et XVIIIe sicles, in Questions poses lespace
public, ed. Patrick Boucheron and Nicolas Offenstadt (Paris: Publications de la Sor-
bonne), forthcoming. The exception to this rule is in the eld of colonial history,
which has produced a number of signicant studies of state information systems.
Historians of later colonialism have studied the history of such systems, though
oddly, without examining their European origins. See C. A. Bayley, Empire and In-
formation: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 17801870 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); and Bernard S. Cohen, Colonialism and
Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1996), pp. 315.
53. Van Damme, Farewell Habermas? This subeld has its own recently
founded journal, Public Culture (Duke University Press). On the journal Public Cul-
ture see the Times Literary Supplement, November 3, 2006, pp. 2324. Richard Sen-
netts work parallels Habermass schema of the decline of the public sphere: The De-
cline of Public Man (New York: Vintage, 1978).
54. James van Horn Melton has recognized this dialectic, or symbiotic relation-
ship, referring to it as secrecy and its discontents, or opacity and transparency.
James van Horn Melton, The Rise of the Public in Enlightened Europe (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 4577. While it hardly rivals the interest in
the public sphere, there is a rich and old tradition of the study of secrecy in the study
of reason of state. See Louis Marin, La logique du secret, Traverses 3031 (1984):
pp. 6069; Robert A. Schneider, Disclosing Mysteries: The Contradictions of
Reason of State in Seventeenth-Century France, in Engel et al., Das Geheimnis am
Beginn der europischen Moderne, p. 176; and no discussion of learning in the early sev-
enteenth century can ignore the persistence of elitist Neoplatonic attitudes, and
their inuence on neo-Stoic philosophy. Also see Rosario Villari, Elogio della dis-
simulazione: La lotta politica nel seicento (Rome: Editori Laterza, 1987); A. Enzo Bal-
dini, ed., Aristotelismo politico e ragion di stato (Florence: Olschki Editore, 1995), in
particular the chapters by Enzo Baldini, Gianfranco Borelli, Vittorio Dini, and
Diego Quaglioni. On the paradoxical nature of reason of state, as an art of secrecy
and a method of unmasking see Anna Maria Battista, Morale prive et utilitarisme
Notes to Page 10 175
politique en France au XVIIe sicle, in Le pouvoir de la raison dtat, ed. Christian
Lazzari and Dominique Reyni (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1992), pp.
20814; Peter Burke, Tacitism, Scepticism, and Reason of State, in The Cambridge
History of Political Thought 14501700, ed, J. H. Burns and Mark Goldie (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 47998; Vittorio Dini, Il governo della pru-
denza: Virt dei privati e disciplina dei custodi (Milan: Franco Angeli Editore, 2000);
Marcel Gauchet, Ltat au miroir de la raison dtat: La France et la chrtienit, in
Raison et draison dtat: Thoriciens et thories de la raison dtat aux XVIe et XVIIe si-
cles, ed. Yves-Charles Zarka (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1994), pp.
19597; Christian Jouhaud, ed., Miroirs de la raison dtat, special issue of the
Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Historiques 20 (1998); Jean-Pierre Cavaill, Dis/simu-
lations. Jules-Csar Vanini, Franois La Mothe Le Vayer, Gabriel Naud, Louis Machon et
Toquato Accetto: Religion, morale et politique au XVIIe sicle (Paris: Honor Champion,
2002), pp. 23140; Schneider, Disclosing Mysteries, pp. 16264; Jacob Soll,
Healing the Body Politic: French Royal Doctors, History and the Birth of a Na-
tion 15601634, Renaissance Quarterly 55 (2002): pp. 125986; this is also the gen-
eral theme of Soll, Publishing The Prince: History, Reading, and the Birth of Political
Criticism (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005).
55. Hlne Merlin has shown that there is a deep ambiguity in the historical no-
tion of the word public, which often described the statethe res publicathat ide-
ally worked for communal good. Hlne Merlin, Public et littrature en France au
XVIIe sicle (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994), pp. 90105. For pan-European history
of public information, see Dooley and Baron, Politics of Information. For the context
of public information in France see Vittu, Instruments of Political Information.
Also see Dooleys study of public information in early modern Italy, A Social History
of Skepticism. Robert Darnton has made a pathbreaking study of both secret and
public information networks, Philosophy under the Cloak, in his The Forbidden
Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (New York: Norton, 1995), pp. 321. On the
public sphere see his An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eigh-
teenth-Century Paris, American Historical Review 1 (2000): pp. 135, which does not
examine the role played by secret state information in society, as he does in his early
work on the topic: A Police Inspector Sorts His Files: The Anatomy of the Re-
public of Letters, in Darnton, Great Cat Massacre, pp. 14589. James van Horn
Melton has claimed that this scholarly embrace of Habermass narrative of Enlight-
ened progress through the rise of a critical public stems from a late-twentieth-cen-
tury optimism about open society. Van Horn Melton, Rise of the Public, pp. 910.
56. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (San Diego: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1979).
57. For the most important critique of the idea that salons and the Republic of
Letters were connected and, therefore, a driving force of a proto-civil society, see
Antoine Lilti, Le Monde des salons. Sociabilit et mondanit Paris au XVIIIe sicle
(Paris: Fayard, 2005).
58. On Pietro Leopoldos program of enlightened reforms and political control
see Simone Contardi, La Casa di Salomone a Firenze: LImperiale e Reale museo di sica
e storia naturale 17751801 (Florence: Olschki, 2002); and Emmanuelle Chapron,
Bibliothques publiques et pratiques bibliophiliques au XVIII
e
sicle: La collection
176 notes to page 10
dincunables de la bibliothque Magliabechiana de Florence, Revue Franaise dHis-
toire du Livre 11821 (2004): pp. 31733.
59. On the limits of openness in the Republic of Letters see Noel Malcolm,
Private and Public Knowledge: Kircher, Esotericism, and the Republic of Letters,
in Findlen, Athanasius Kircher, p. 299. On secrecy, rules, and bad behavior in the
Republic of Letters see Marian Fssel, Gelehrtenkultur als symbolische Praxis. Rang,
Ritual und Konikt an der Universitt der Frhen Neuzeit (Darmstadt: Wis-
senschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2006); and Martin Mulsow, Die unanstndige
Gelehrtenrepublik. Wissen, Libertinage und Kommunikation in der Frhen Neuzeit
(Stuttgart: Metzler, 2007).
60. On the complexity of the Republic of Letters see Delatour, Le Cabinet des
frres Dupuy; Schneider, Disclosing Mysteries, p. 176; and Hans Bots and
Franoise Waquet, La Rpublique des letters (Paris: Belin, 1997). On the relationship
between political power and the world of learning, see Christian Jouhaud, Les pou-
voirs de la literature: Histoire dun paradoxe (Paris: Gallimard, 2000), chap. 3.
61. On private secrecy see Michael McKeon, Secret History of Domesticity: Pub-
lic, Private, and the Division of Knowledge (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
2005); and Margaret Jacob, Strangers Nowhere in the World: The Rise of Cosmopoli-
tanism in Early Modern Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006),
chap. 4.
62. Peter Galison, Removing Knowledge, Critical Inquiry 31 (2004): p. 1.
63. Edward Albert Shils, The Torment of Secrecy: The Background and Consequences
of American Security Policies (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1955).
64. On the Freedom of Information Act and its numerous exemptions, see the
useful website kept by the National Security Archive: http://www.gwu.edu/
~nsarchiv/nsa/foia.html. It contains the act and its amendments, as well as related
works. Britain enacted its own Freedom of Information Act in 2000. See
www.foi.gov.uk. On the secrecy policy of the Bush administration in relation to
war, see John C. Yoo, The Presidents Constitutional Authority to Conduct Mil-
itary Operations Against Terrorists and Nations Supporting Them, Memorandum
Opinion for the Deputy Counsel to the President, September 25, 2001: Constitu-
tional Structure. Our reading of the text is reinforced by analysis of the constitutional
structure. First, it is clear that the Constitution secures all federal executive power in
the President to ensure a unity in purpose and energy in action. Decision, activity,
secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterize the proceedings of one man in a
much more eminent degree than the proceedings of any greater number. The Fed-
eralist No. 70, at 392 (Alexander Hamilton). The centralization of authority in the
President alone is particularly crucial in matters of national defense, war, and foreign
policy, where a unitary executive can evaluate threats, consider policy choices, and
mobilize national resources with a speed and energy that is far superior to any other
branch. As Hamilton noted, Energy in the executive is a leading character in the
denition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community
against foreign attacks. Id. at 391. This is no less true in war. Of all the cares or con-
cerns of government, the direction of war most peculiarly demands those qualities
which distinguish the exercise of power by a single hand. Id. No. 74, at 415
(Alexander Hamilton). In relation to the secret formulation of U.S. energy policy
by Richard Cheney, the vice president, see the Government Accounting Ofce
Report to Congressional Requestors, Energy Task Force: Process Used to Develop Na-
tional Energy Policy, August 2003. On secrecy and the Bush administration and the
sustained interest of the U.S. press in this question see Mark Danner, The Secret Way
to War: The Downing Street Memo and the Iraq Wars Buried History (New York: New
York Review of Books, 2006); New York Times, op-ed, December 23, 2005, Mr.
Cheneys Imperial Presidency, and New York Times, op-ed, June 24, 2007, White
House of Mirrors.
65. This term was used by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and cited by Lee
White, Scholars Present Testimony to House Subcommittee on Presidential
Records, Perspectives 45 (2007): p. 11. In the same issue also see Barbara Weinstein,
Let the Sunshine In: Government Records and National Insecurities, Perspectives
45 (2007): pp. 36.
66. On secrecy in the Clinton Presidential Archives see Michael Isikoff, Pa-
pers? I Dont See Any Papers. He says hes pro-disclosure, but Bill has kept
Hillarys White House les under wraps, Newsweek, October 29, 2007.
67. Michel Duchein, La communication des archives contemporaines: Droit a
linformation ou droit au secret? Vingtime Sicle. Revue dhistoire 8 (1985): pp.
12325.
68. Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: A History of the CIA (New York: Anchor,
2008).
69. For the most informative overview of the culture and functioning of the
state in early modern France see the encyclopedic and authoritative overview by
Descimon and Guery, Un tat des temps modernes? For a view of the early mod-
ern state as small and generally dysfunctional, see John Brewer and Eckhart Hell-
muths thoughtful, Rethinking Leviathan: The Eighteenth-Century State in Britain and
Germany (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); and Hullmuths analysis in En-
lightenment and Government, in Martin Fitzpatrick, Peter Jones, Christa Knell-
wolf, and Iain McCalman, The Enlightenment World (London: Routledge, 2004), pp.
44254.
chapter 2
1. Burke, Social History of Knowledge, p. 24.
2. Francis Oakley, The Conciliar Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic
Church, 13001870 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), chap. 1.
3. Sidney L. Jackson, Libraries and Librarianship in the West: A Brief History
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), pp. 5299. Also see Jolly, Histoire des bibliothques
franaises, vol. 2, Les bibliothques mdivales du VIe sicle 1530; Sebastien Barret, La
mmoire et lcrit: LAbbaye de Cluny et ses archives (Mnster: Lit, 2004).
4. Mary A. Rouse and Richard H. Rouse, Authentic Witnesses: Approaches to
Medieval Texts and Manuscripts (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,
1991), pp. 40924; Jean Favier, Les Archives (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France,
1965), pp. 1218.
5. M. T. Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record: England, 10661307 (Cam-
bridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), pp. 287.
6. See Robert-Henri Bautiers chapter concerning Chancellerie et culture au
moyen age, in his Chartes, sceaux et chancelleries: tudes de diplomatique et de sigillo-
graphie mdivales, 2 vols. (Paris: cole des Chartes, 1990), vol. 1, pp. 4775.
7. Oakley, The Conciliar Tradition, pp. 1321; R. W. Southern, Western Society
and the Church in the Middle Ages (London: Penguin, 1970), pp. 98169; Emmanuel
Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, trans. Barbara Bray (New
York: Vintage, 1979), p. xvii.
8. Randolph Head has studied the long-term archival practices of the Swiss
cantons in Knowing Like a State.
9. Isabella Lazzarini, Materiali per una didattica delle scritture pubbliche di
cancelleria nellItalia del Quattrocento, Scrineum 2 (2004): pp. 177.
10. Gary Ianziti, A Humanist Historian and His Documents: Giovanni Si-
monetta, Secretary to the Sforzas, Renaissance Quarterly 4 (1981): pp. 491516.
11. Petrarch and Polizianos sense of the past went beyond that of medievalists
who had already begun to question textual authenticity. See Anthony Grafton, De-
fenders of the Text: The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science, 14501800 (Cam-
bridge: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 4275.
12. On humanism, history, archives, and civic consciousness in Florence see
Felix Gilbert, Machiavelli and Guicciardini (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1965); and Gary Ianziti, Humanistic Historiography under the Sforzas: Politics and Propa-
ganda in Fifteenth-Century Milan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988). For more general
detail see Marcello Simonetta, Rinascimento segreto: Il mondo del segretario da Petrarca a
Machiavelli (Milan: F. Angeli, 2004). For an extensive bibliography and analysis of
chancellery archives see Lazzarini, Materiali per una didattica.
13. On the transformation of canon law into humanist legal philology see
Jacques Cujas, Paratitia in libros IX. Codicis Iustiani repetit prlectionis (Paris: Jean Jost,
1541); and Tribonian, Iustiniani perpetvo avgvsti institutionum iuris ciuilis compositarum
per Tribonianum virum magnicum & exqustore sacri Palatij, & Theophilum & Dorotheum
viros illustres & antecessores Libri Quatuor (Lyon: Gulielmum Rouillium, 1571). For
the specicity of humanist scholarship as opposed to scholastic scholarship see L. D.
Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek
and Latin Litterature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); and Ian Maclean, Interpretation
and Meaning in the Renaissance: The Case of Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1992).
14. See in general Poggio Bracciolini, Two Renaissance Book Hunters: The Letters
of Poggius Bracciolini to Nicolaus de Niccolis, trans. and ed. Phyllis Walter and Gordan
Goodhart (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974).
15. For an overview of diplomatic and paperwork practices, see Lazzarini, Ma-
teriali per una didattica, pp. 1538. On diplomatic paperwork, see Garrett Mat-
tingly, Renaissance Diplomacy (London: Jonathan Cape, 1955), pp. 10811.
16. Anthony Grafton, Teacher, Text and Pupil in the Renaissance Class-
Room: A Case Study from a Parisian College, History of Universities 1 (1981): pp.
3770; Paul F. Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2001), pp. 199475. For studies of the pan-disciplinary
humanist practices of the commonplace see Ann Blair, Humanist Methods in Nat-
ural Philosophy: The Commonplace Book, Journal of the History of Ideas 53 (1992):
pp. 54151; Francis Goyet, Le sublime du lieu commun: Linvention rhtorique dans
lantiquit et la Renaissance (Paris: Honor Champion, 1996); Ann Moss, Printed
Commonplace Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1996); and Jan Waszink, Inventio in the Politica: Commonplace-Books and
the Shape of Political Theory, in Lipsius in Leiden: Studies in the Life and Works of a
Great Humanist, ed. K. Enenkel and C. Heesakkers (Voorthuizen: Florivallis, 1997),
pp. 14162. On the centrality of Erasmus to humanist learned culture see Lisa Jar-
dine, Erasmus, Man of Letters: The Construction of Charisma in Print (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1983).
17. Alison Brown, Bartolomeo Scala, 14301497, Chancellor of Florence: The Hu-
manist as Bureaucrat (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979).
18. Ianziti, A Humanist Historian, p. 500.
19. Ibid., pp. 49496; Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, p. 248.
20. Ianziti, A Humanist Historian, p. 501.
21. Peter Burke, The Renaissance Sense of the Past (New York: St. Martins Press,
1969).
22. Nicolai Rubenstein, The Beginning of Niccol Machiavellis Career in
the Florentine Chancery, Italian Studies 9 (1956): pp. 7291.
23. On the connection between historical political prudence and state adminis-
tration see the pioneering work on political antiquarianism by Sharpe, Sir Robert
Cotton, pp. 38.
24. Mark Jurdjevik, Civic Humanism and the Rise of the Medici, Renaissance
Quarterly 52 (1999): p. 1000.
25. On the innovative business practices as well as the pan-European web of the
Medici bank see in general Raymond de Roover, The Rise and Decline of the Medici
Bank, 13971494 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963); and de Roover,
Business, Banking, and Economic Thought in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed.
Julius Kirshner (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974), pp. 26074.
26. On the pan-European web of merchant banking in the sixteenth century
see Richard Ehrenberg, Capital and Finance in the Age of the Renaissance: A Study of
the Fuggers and Their Connections, trans. H. M. Lucas (Faireld, NJ: Augustus M. Kel-
ley, 1985).
27. Ibid., chap. 3.
28. On early modern merchant handbooks, both manuscript and printed, see
Jochen Hoock and Pierre Jeannin, eds., Ars Mercatoria: Handbcher und Traktate fr
den Gebrauch des Kaufmanns, 14701820 (Paderborn: Schningh, 1991). Also see de
Roover, Medici Bank, pp. 39119. On merchant culture see Daniel Roche and
Franco Angiolini, eds., Culture et formation ngociantes dans lEurope moderne (Paris:
ditions EHESS, 1995).
29. On double-entry bookkeeping see Lucas Paciolis treatise as well as other
technical works in John B. Geijsbeek, Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping (Denver:
J. B. Geijsbeek, 1914). I will discuss this topic in more detail in chapter 4.
30. Anthony Molho, The State and Public Finance: A Hypothesis Based on
the History of Late Medieval Florence, Journal of Modern History 67 suppl. (1995):
p. 112.
31. See Victor von Klarwill, ed., The Fugger News-Letters, trans. L. S. R. Byrne,
2 vols. (New York: G. P. Putnam and Sons, 1926). On the remarkable humanist
Fugger library and its network see Paul Lehmann, Eine Geschichte der alten Fuggerbib-
liotheken (Tbingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1956). Johannes Kleinpaul, Die Fuggerzeitungen
15681605 (Walluf bei Wiesbaden: M. Sndig, 1972). For an outline of the giant
Fugger network, see Ehrenberg, Capital and Finance; Mark A. Meadow, Merchants
and Marvels: Hans Jacob Fugger and the Origins of the Wunderkammer, in Mer-
chants and Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe ed. Pamela H.
Smith and Paula Findlen (New York: Routledge, 2002), 182200. Also see the light
but useful compilation, George T. Matthews, ed., News and Rumor in Renaissance
Europe: The Fugger Newsletters (New York: Capricorn Books, 1959).
32. On the Fugger knowledge and information network and commerce, see
Hermann Kellenbenz, Die Fugger in Spanien und Portugal bis 1560: Ein Groun-
ternehmen des 16. Jahrhunderts (Munich: Ernst Vgel, 1990).
33. Philip II also maintained royal archives in Barcelona as well as in Rome. See
Parker, Grand Strategy, pp. 2166; Burke, Social History of Knowledge, p. 119. For a
very brief study of the organization and cultural practices within the Spanish royal
library see Fernando Bouza lvarez, Leer en palacio. De aula gigantium a museo de
reyes sabios, in El libro antiguo espaol, ed. Mara Luisa Lpez-Vidriero and Pedro
M. Ctedra (Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1996), pp. 2942; on
Simancas, its origins, and its organization see Jos Luis Rodrguez de Diego and
Francisco Javier Alvarez Pinedo, Los Archivos de Simancas (Madrid: Lunwerg Edi-
tores, 1993); and Rodrguez de Diego, ed., Instruccin para el gobierno del archivo de
Simancas (ao 1588) (Madrid: Direccin General de Bellas Artes y Archivos, 1989),
and La formacin del Archivo de Simancas en el siglo xvi. Funcin y orden in-
terno, in Lpez Vidriero and Ctedra, pp. 51957. Also see Fernando Bouza l-
varez, El escribano a la biblioteca: La civilizacon escrita europea en la alta Edad Moderna
(siglos XVXVII) (Madrid: Sntesis, 1992), pp. 7193; Richard Kagan, Arcana Im-
perii: Mapas, Sabidura, y Poder a la corte de Felipe IV, in El atlas del Rey Planeta,
ed. Fernando Maras and Felipe Pereda (Madrid: Editorial Nerea, 2002), pp. 4970.
In spite of Juan de Ovandos theories, Philips approach to information handling was
more reactive than proactive. I am grateful to Ted Rabb for this point. See Juan de
Ovando, Ordenanzas para la formacion del libro de las descripciones de Indias (1573). See
Stafford Poole, Juan de Ovando: Governing the Spanish Empire in the Reign of Phillip II
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004). On information and industry in
Spain see David C. Goodman, Power and Penury: Government, Technology, and Science
in Philip IIs Spain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), chap. 4.
34. Philip II also maintained royal archives in Barcelona as well as in Rome
(Parker, Grand Strategy, p. 66).
35. Ibid., p. 21.
36. J. H. Elliott, A Europe of Composite Monarchies, Past and Present 137
(1992): p. 60.
37. Ibid., p. 50.
38. Goodman, Power and Penury, chap. 4.
39. Kagan, Arcana Imperii, p. 29.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid., p. 41.
42. Sebastin Snchez Madrid, Arqueologa y Humanismo: Ambrosio de Morales
(Crdoba: Universidad de Crdoba, 2002); Aubrey F. G. Bell, Benito Arias Montano
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1922); and B. Rekers, Benito Arias Montano,
15271598 (London: Warburg Institute, 1972), pp. 112.
43. Peter Burke, Early Modern Venice as a Center of Information and Com-
munication, in Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City
State, 12971797, ed. John Martin and Dennis Romano (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2000), pp. 389419.
44. Filippo de Vivo, Information and Communication in Early Modern Venice: Re-
thinking Early Modern Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). On the
Venetian archives and their uses see Armand Baschet, Les Archives de Venise: Histoire
de la Chancellerie secrte (Paris: Henri Plon, 1870).
45. Donald E. Queller, The Development of Ambassadorial Relazioni, in
Renaissance Venice, ed. John R. Hale (London: Faber, 1974), pp. 17496. The great
printed collection of relazioni is found in Luigi Firpo, ed., Relazioni Ambasciatori
Veneti (Turin: Fondazione L. Firpo, 1975).
46. Filippo de Vivo, Le armi dellambasciatore: Voci e manoscritti a Parigi du-
rante lInterdetto di Venezia, in I luoghi dellimaginario barocco, ed. Lucia Strappini
(Naples: Liguori Editore, 1999), pp. 189201; and La publication comme enjeu
polmique: Venise au dbut du XVIIe sicle, in De la publication, ed. Christian
Jouhaud and Alain Viala (Paris: Fayard, 2002), pp. 16175.
47. Venice also mixed administrative information and mapping in its archives.
See Camillo Tonino and Piero Lucchi, Navigare e descrivere. Isolari e portulari del
Museo Correr di Venezia XVXVIII secolo (Venice: Marsilio, 1997).
48. William J. Bouwsma, Venice and the Defense of Republican Liberty: Renaissance
Values in the Age of the Counter Reformation (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1968), chaps. 610; Paolo Prodi, The Papal Prince: One Body and
Two Souls; The Papal Monarchy in Early Modern Europe, trans. Susan Haskins (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 172.
49. On the church as the origin of the administrative information state see
Clanchy, From Memory to Written Record, chap. 2. Peter Burke places the church at
the center of a history of the modern information state: Social History of Knowledge,
pp. 12023. Also see his earlier Sacred Rulers, Royal Priests: Rituals of the Early
Modern Popes, in Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1987), pp. 16882; Jean Delumeau, Rome: Le progress de
la centralization dans ltat pontical au XVIe sicle, Revue Historique 226 (1961):
pp. 399410; Wolfgang Reinhard, Papstnanz une Nepotismus unter Paul V.
(16051621): Studien und Quellen zur Struktur und zu quantitativen Aspekten des pp-
stlichen Herrschaftssystems (Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann, 1974); Peter Partner, The Popes
Men: The Papal Civil Service in the Renaissance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), pp.
4046. Also see Prodi, The Papal Prince, pp. 116.
50. Sharpe, Sir Robert Cotton, pp. 79.
51. Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1997), p. 160. Also see Gregory B. Lyon, Baudouin, Flacius, and the Plan for
the Magdeburg Centuries, Journal of the History of Ideas 64 (2003): pp. 25372.
52. On the uses of humanist philology and history in defense of Anglican rights
see Sharpe, Sir Robert Cotton.
53. Anthony Grafton and Megan Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of
the Book: Origen, Eusebius, and the Library of Caesaria (Cambridge: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 2006), pp. 17.
54. On history and antiquarianism as political weapons, see Anthony Grafton,
What Was History? The Art of History in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2007).
55. Baschet, Les Archives de Venise, pp. 17881. On Paul Vs government see
Birgit Emichs nely documented Brokratie und Nepotismus unter Paul V.
(16051621): Studien zur Frhneuzeitlichen Mikropolitik in Rom (Stuttgart: Anton Hi-
ersemann, 2001); the original source on the Archivio Segreto is Gaetano Marini,
Memorie istoriche degli archivi della S. Sede, in Monumenta Vaticana, ed. Hugo
Laemmer (Freiburg: Herder, 1861), pp. 43353; for a basic history see M. Gachard,
Les Archives du Vatican (Brussels: C. Muquardt, 1874); for the rst catalog of the
Archivio Segreto and the nest primary source bibliography on its conception see
Franceso Gasparolo, Constituzione dellArchivio Vaticano e suo primo indice
sotto il ponticato di Paolo V. Manoscritto inedito di Michele Lonigo, Studi e Doc-
umenti di Storia e Diritto 8 (1887): pp. 364; also see Louis Gurard, Petite Introduction
aux Inventaires des Archives du Vatican (Rome: Libreria Spithver, 1901); for a ne
catalog of catalogs see Karl August Fink, Das vatikansche Archiv. Einfhrung in de
Bestnde und ihre erforschung (Rome: W. Regenberg, 1951); for a light but informa-
tive overview of information, libraries, and the papacy see Maria Luisa Ambrosini,
The Secret Archives of the Vatican (Boston: Little, Brown, 1969). For the most recent
overview on the foundations and holdings of the Archivio Segreto see Terzo Na-
talini, Sergio Pagano, and Aldo Martini, eds., Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Florence:
Nardini Editore, 1991); Ludwig, Freiherr von Pastor, History of the Popes, trans.
Dom Ernest Graf, 40 vols. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952), vol. 27, pp.
12953; on Jesuit ideology and information see Harro Hp, Jesuit Political Thought:
The Society of Jesus and the State c. 15401630 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004), pp. 2352. On the learned information bank of the papacy see An-
thony Grafton, ed., Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture (Wash-
ington, DC: Library of Congress, 1993). On Urban VIIIs government see Pastor,
History of the Popes, vols. 2829; Judith Hook, Urban VIII: The Paradox of a Spir-
itual Monarchy, in The Courts of Europe: Politics, Patronage and Royalty 14001800,
ed. A. G. Dickens (London: Thames and Hudson, 1977); and Laurie Nussdorfer,
Civic Politics in the Rome of Urban VIII (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
1992). On the Barbarini library, papacy, and relations with the Dupuys and the Re-
public of Letters, see the detailed and important work by Jrme Delatour,
Abeilles thuaniennes et barberines: Les relations des savants franais avec les Bar-
berini sous le ponticat dUrbain VIII, in I Barberini e la cultura europea del Seicento
(Rome: De Luca Editor, 2007), pp. 15572.
56. Peter Burke has studied the church in the context of a history of the mod-
ern information state. See Rome as a Centre of Information and Communica-
tion, in From Rome to Eternity, ed. Pamela Jones and Thomas Worcester (Leiden:
Brill, 2002), pp. 25369, and The Social History of Knowledge, pp. 12023. Also see his
earlier Sacred Rulers, Royal Priests: Rituals of the Early Modern Popes, in his
Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987).
57. Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 27, pp. 12953; on Jesuit ideology and in-
formation see Hp, Jesuit Political Thought, pp. 2352.
58. Grafton, Rome Reborn.
59. On Urban VIIIs government see Pastor, History of the Popes, vols. 2829;
Hook, Urban VIII; and Nussdorfer.
60. Burke, Rome as Centre.
61. The notable case of Balthasar Gracin, author of LHomme de cour (1647),
shows the casuistical methods of how Catholic princes could rule effectively. See
Robert Bireley, SJ, The Counter Reformation Prince: Anti-Machiavellism or Catholic
Statecraft in Early Modern Europe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1980).
62. Francois de Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites XVIXVIIIe sicles (Paris: Les
ditions de Minuit, 1978); Grafton, Teacher, Text and Pupil; Anthony Grafton
and Lisa Jardine, Studied for Action: How Gabriel Harvey Read His Livy, Past
and Present 129 (1991): pp. 3078; Ann Blair, Humanist Methods, and Reading
Strategies for Coping with Information Overload ca. 15501700, Journal of the His-
tory of Ideas 64 (2003): pp. 1128. On the general concept of the commonplace see
Moss, Printed Commonplace Books, p. 7; Goyet, Le sublime; Terence Cave, The Cor-
nucopian Text: Problems of Writing in the French Renaissance (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1977); Jean Card, Les mots et les choses: Le commentaire la Renaissance, in
LEurope de la Renaissance: Cultures et civilizations, ed. Jean-Claude Margolin and
Marie-Madelaine Martinet (Paris: J. Touzot, 1988), pp. 2536; Nancy Streuver, The
Language of History in the Renaissance: Rhetoric and Historical Consciousness in Florentine
Humanism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970), pp. 82143; and Paul
Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Literacy and Learning, 13001600 (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989).
63. Blair, Information Overload, p. 17.
64. Ibid., p. 20.
65. On early seventeenth-century Rome as an information bank and on Jesuit
knowledge, see Delatour, Abeilles thuaniennes et barberines. Also see Anthony
Grafton, The Ancient City Restored: Archeology, Ecclesiastical History, and
Egyptology, in Anthony Grafton, with Nancy Siraisi and April Shelford, New
Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 110, 87124; Ingrid D. Rowland, The Culture
of the High Renaissance: Ancients and Moderns in Sixteenth-Century Rome (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998); Paula Findlen, Scientic Spectacle in Baroque
Rome: Athanasius Kircher and the Roman College Museum, in Jesuit Science and
the Republic of Letters, ed. Mordechai Feingold (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003), pp.
22484; Daniel Stolzenberg, Egyptian Oedipus: Antiquarianism, Oriental Studies,
and Occult Philosophy in the Work of Athanasius Kircher, Ph.D. diss., Stanford
University, 2003, chap. 2; and for more early context see Charles L. Stinger, The Re-
naissance in Rome, 3rd ed. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), pp.
28291. On the closed, Jesuit nature of Kirchers learning see Malcolm, Private and
Public Knowledge, p. 299. On Jesuit travel and church information culture see
Steven J. Harris, Mapping Jesuit Science: The Role of Travel in the Geography of
Knowledge, and Dominique Deslandres, Exemplo aeque ut verbo: The French Je-
suits Missionary World, in The Jesuits: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts, 15401773, ed.
John W. OMalley, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Steven J. Harris, and T. Frank
Kennedy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), pp. 21240, and 25873.
66. Fernand Braudel, Civilisation materielle, conomie et capitalisme, XVXVIIIe
sicle, 3 vols. (Paris: Armand Colin, 1979), vol. 2, p. 80; Woodruff D. Smith, The
Function of Commercial Centers in the Modernization of European Capitalism:
Amsterdam as an Information Exchange in the Seventeenth Century, Journal of
Economic History 154 (1984): p. 986.
67. Michel Morineau, Or brsilien et gazettes hollandaises, Revue dHistoire
Moderne et Contemporaine 25 (1978): pp. 330.
68. Braudel, Civilisation, vol. 2, pp. 7580.
69. Smith, Function of Commercial Centers, p. 992.
70. Peter Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Elites
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994), p. 66.
71. On Hollands federated form of government, without a true information
center, see Jonathan Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 14771806
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), p. 725. Also see Burke, Social History of Knowledge,
pp. 15768.
72. Geoffrey Parker, Guide to the Archives of the Spanish Institutions in or concerned
with the Netherlands, 15561706 (Brussels: Association des Archivistes et Biblio-
thquaires, 1971).
73. Smith, Function of Commercial Centers, pp. 98596.
74. Ibid.
75. Evans, Rudolf II, chap. 4.
76. Ibid., pp. 12330.
77. Walter Goldinger, Geschichte des sterreichischen Archiwesens (Vienna: Druck
und Verlag Fernand Berger, 1957).
78. The founding work on the history of state building and antiquarianism is
J. G. A. Pocock, The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1957). On this topic see Miller, Peirescs Europe, chap. 3.
79. Ambrosio de Morales, Viage de Ambrosio de Morales por orden del Rey D. Phe-
lipe II. Para reconocer Las Reliquias de Santos, Sepulcros Reales, y Libros manuscritos de las
Cathedrales y Monasterios (Madrid: Ediciones Guillermo Blzquez, 1985).
80. England and Holland were also less centralized in terms of state information.
On state information in England before the Restoration see Elukin, Keeping Se-
crets, p. 126. Still the nest source on the topic is Fraser, Secretaries of State, p. 10.
Also see Steve Pincus, From Holy Cause to Economic Interest: The Study of Pop-
ulation and the Invention of the State, in A Nation Transformed: England after the
Restoration, ed. Alan Houstein and Steve Pincus (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2001), pp. 27298. On Hollands federated form of government, without a
true information center, see Israel, The Dutch Republic, p. 725. Also see Burke, Social
History of Knowledge, pp. 15758.
81. Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy, p. 66; Burke, Social History of Knowledge, p.
123. During the period of the Civil War, the Parliament sent out its own ambas-
sadors. See James Westfall Thompson and Saul K. Padover, Secret Diplomacy: Espi-
onage and Cryptology, 15001815 (New York: Frederick K. Ungar, 1963), p. 93.
82. Elukin, Keeping Secrets, pp. 12425.
83. See Maurice F. Bond, The Formation of the Archives of Parliament
14971691, pp. 11829, and Thomas G. Barnes, The Archives and Archival
Problems of the Elizabethan and Early Stuart Star Chamber, pp. 13049, in Prisca
Monumenta: Studies in Archival and Administrative History Presented to Dr. A. E. J. Hol-
loender (London: University of London Press, 1973). On Sandys see T. K. Rabb, Ja-
cobean Gentleman: Sir Edwin Sandys, 15611629 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1998).
85. On the political role of historians in seventeenth-century Britain see Philp
Styles, Politics and Historical Research in the Early Seventeenth Century, in En-
glish Historical Scholarship in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed. Levy Fox (Ox-
ford: Dugdale Society and Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 4972.
86. Miller, Peirescs Europe, pp. 7781.
87. One exception to the rule is the Gallican archbishop of Toulouse, Pierre de
Marca, who will be discussed in further detail. William F. Church, Constitutional
Thought in Sixteenth Century France (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941);
Franklin Ford, Robe and Sword: The Regrouping of the French Aristocracy after Louis XIV
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962). On Gallicanism see Jotham Parsons,
The Church in the Republic: Gallicanism and Political Ideology in Renaissance France
(Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2004); and Donald Kelley,
Historia Integra: Franois Baudouin and His Conception of History, Journal of the
History of Ideas 25 (1964): pp. 3557, Jean Du Tillet, Archivist and Antiquary, Jour-
nal of Modern History 38 (1966): pp. 33754, and Fides historiae: Charles Dumoulin
and the Gallican View of History, Traditio 22 (1966): pp. 347402; and J. H. M.
Salmon, Clovis and Constantine: The Uses of History in Sixteenth-Century Gal-
licanism, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 41 (1990): pp. 584665.
88. For the most detailed study of the mechanics of the Republic of Letters and
its service to the state and Gallican causes under the Dupuy brothers see Delatour,
Le Cabinet des frres Dupuy.
90. Michel de Waele, Les relations entre le parlement de Paris et Henri IV (Paris:
Publisud, 2002), pp. 191248; Sylvie Daubresse, Le parlement de Paris, ou la voix de la
raison 15591589 (Geneva: Droz, 2005), pp. 2124.
91. John Hurt, Louis XIV and the Parlements: The Assertion of Royal Authority
(London: Palgrave, 2002).
92. Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, pp. 5455.
93. David Buisseret, Sully and the Growth of Centralized Government in France,
15981610 (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1968), p. 93.
94. Anon., Mmoires de lestablissement des Secrtaires dEstat et des Clercs,
Notaires et Secrtaires du Roy et Secrtaires des Finances qui faisoient le fonction
des Secrtaires dEstat, avant lestablissement desdicts secrtaires dEstat en titre
dofce, et leur reproduction au nombre de quatre faitte par le roy Henry 2 en lan-
ne 1547. Avec la suitte des Secrtaires dEstat selon la datte de leurs provisions et
receptions, depuis ladicte anne 1547 jusques present 1647, BNF MS Cinq-Cents
Colbert 136, fols. 347 ss. and MS Fr. 18236, fols. 87 ss. I am using a transcription
made by Patricia M. Ranum and edited by Orest Ranum in 2006, found on their
website: http://www.ranumspanat.com/secretaries_intro.htm. See Ranums de-
tailed introduction and bibliography. Also see Adolphe Chruel, Histoire de ladmin-
istration monarchique, 2 vols. (Geneva: Slatkine-Megariotis Reprints, 1974), vol. 2, p.
116.
95. On the evolution of French secretaries of state see Chruel, Histoire de lad-
ministration monarchique, vol. 1, p. 147. Also see Chruels De ladministration de Louis
XIV (Geneva: Slatkine-Megariotis Reprints, 1974), pp. 12223. For an overview of
histories of the French administration see Donald Kelley, Foundations of Modern His-
torical Scholarship (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), p. 212. One major
original source on institutional history is Vincent de la Loupe, Premier et second livre
des dignitez, magistrats, & ofces du royaume de France (Paris: Guillaume Le Noir, 1556).
96. Mmoires de lestablissement des Secrtaires dEstat & des clercs, notaires
et Secrtaires du roy, BNF MS Cinq-Cents Colbert 136, fols. 347 ss., fol. 349r,
fols. 483r485v.
97. On the secretaries of state see Orest Ranum, Richelieu and the Councillors of
Louis XIII: A Study of the Secretaries of State and Superintendents of Finance in the Min-
istry of Richelieu 16351642 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), pp. 4599. On state pa-
perwork in the sixteenth century and the role of the secrtaires see Hlne Michaud,
La Grande Chancellerie et les critures royales au XVIe sicle (Paris: Presses Universitaires
de France, 1967), pp. 12763. On the role of the secretaries see Nicolas Schapira,
Occuper lofce. Les secrtaires du roi comme secrtaires au XVIIe sicle, Revue
dHistoire moderne et contemporaine 51, no. 1 (2004): pp. 3661; and Les secrtaires
particuliers sous lAncien Rgime: Les usages dune dpendance, in Cahiers du
Centre de Recherche Historique, October 2007, pp. 11125.
98. Ranum, Richelieu, p. 96.
99. Ibid., fols. 37577.
100. On the beginnings of state bureaucracy in France see Ranum, Richelieu;
also see Robert Descimon, Jean-Frdric Schaub, and Bernard Vincent, eds., Figures
de ladministrateur: Institutions, rseaux, pouvoirs en Espagne, en France, et au Portugal,
XVIeXIXe sicle (Paris: EHESS, 1997); and Erik Thomson, Commerce, Law, and
Erudite Culture: The Mechanics of Thdore Godefroys Service to Cardinal Riche-
lieu, Journal of the History of Ideas 3 (2007): pp. 40727.
101. Daubresse, Le parlement de Paris, pp. 65, 12731.
102. Du Tillet was the rst to catalog the royal charters. Elizabeth A. R.
Brown, Jean Du Tillet et les archives de France, Histoire et Archives 2 (1997): pp.
2963; Jean Du Tillet, Sieur de la Bussire, Recueil des roys de France, leurs couronne et
maison, 2 vols. (Paris: Jean Houz, 1607), vol. 1, pp. 12 of dedication. Also see Du
Tillets Pour la majorit du roi treschrestien contre les escrits des rebelles (Paris: G. Morel,
1560). On Du Tillet see Kelley, Jean Du Tillet, p. 348.
103. On legal scholarship and politics also see Donald Kelley, Legal Human-
ism and the Sense of History, Studies in the Renaissance 13 (1966): pp. 18499. On
Gallicanism see Historia Integra, p. 41; Guillaume Bud and the First Historical
School of Law, American Historical Review 72 (1967): pp. 80734; The Rise of Le-
gal History in the Renaissance, History and Theory 9 (1970): pp. 18592; and nally
the Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship. On the role of legal scholars in the
Royal Library, see Simone Balay, La naissance de la Bibliothque du Roi,
14901664, in Jolly, Histoire des bibliothques franaises, vol. 2, pp. 7879; and Jrme
Delatour and Thierry Sarmant, La charge de la bibliothque du roi aux XVIIe et
XVIIIe sicles, Bibliothque de lcole des Chartes 2 (1994): pp. 46575. On the his-
tory of the Parlement of Paris as the archival body of the monarchy, see Daubresse,
Le parlement de Paris, pp. 2124.
104. Donald R. Kelley, History as a Calling: The Case of La Popelinire, in
Renaissance Studies in Honor of Hans Baron, ed. Anthony Molho and John Tedeschi
(Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1971), p. 781; Jean Bodin, Les six livres de la Rpublique,
ed. Grard Mairet (Paris: Livres de Poche, 1993), book 3, chap. 4, pp. 28083; book
6, chap. 2.
105. On Peirescs network, see in general Peter N. Millers authoritative
Peirescs Europe. Also see Ren Pintard, Le libertinage erudite dans la premire moiti du
XVIIe sicle (Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1983), pp. 8899; Marc Fumaroli, Nico-
las-Claude Fabri de Peiresc: Prince de la Rpublique des Lettres, in IVe Centenaire
de la naissance de Gassendi. Conference organise par lAssociation Pro-Peyresq dans la mai-
son dErasme Anderlecht le mercredi 3 juin 1992 (Brussels, 1993), pp. 2226; Henri-
Jean Martin, Livre, pouvoirs et socit Paris au XVIIe sicle, 2 vols. (Geneva: Droz,
1969), vol. 2, pp. 92425.
106. Bodin, Les six livres, book 3, chap. 4, pp. 28083; book 6, chap. 2.
107. Jrme Delatour, Abeilles thuaniennes et barberines, p. 171: ce
niveau hirarchique supplmentaire sajoutait en France une tendance la transmis-
sion hrditaire des charges et la vnalit des ofces. Transmise de Jacques-Au-
guste de Thou son ls en 1617, la charge de grand matre tendait devenir hrdi-
taire; vendu par Nicolas Rigault aux frres Dupuy en 1645, lofce de garde tendait
devenir vnal. Dans ces conditions, le roi perdait la plus grande part de son con-
trle sur la Bibliothque. Pendant toute la priode de leur administration, les de
Thou et leurs clients, les Rigault et les Dupuy, purent agir sur la Bibliothque leur
guise, conformment la parrhsia.
108. On de Thous library and career in the Republic of Letters and politics see
Delatour, Abeilles thuaniennes et barberines, in general; Ingrid A. R. de Smet,
Thuanus: The Making of Jacques-Auguste de Thou, 15531617 (Geneva: Droz, 2006);
Samuel Kinser, The Works of Jacques-Auguste de Thou (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff,
1966); Grafton, The Footnote, chap. 5; Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 4143; and
the important work by Antoine Coron, Ut prosint aliis: Jacques-Auguste de
Thou et sa bibliothque, in Jolly, Histoire des bibliothques franaises, vol. 2, pp.
10126.
109. Miller, Peirescs Europe, pp. 6870; Harcourt Brown, Scientic Organizations
in Seventeenth-Century France, 16201680 (New York: Russell and Russell, 1934), pp.
116; Also see Delatour, Le Cabinet des frres Dupuy, pp. 28894.
110. Delatour, Le Cabinet des frres Dupuy, pp. 3012.
111. Pierre Pithou, Les libertez de lglise gallicane, 2 vols. (Paris, 1639); Pierre
Dupuy, Trait de la majorit de nos rois et des rgences du royaume, avec les preuves tires
tant du Trsor des chartes du roy que des registres du parlement et autres lieux; ensemble un
trait des prminences du parlement de Paris, par M. Dupuy (Paris: chez la Vve Du Puis
et Edme Martin, 1655); Thodore Godefroy, Traitez touchant les droits du roy trs
chrestien sur plusieurs estats et seigneuries possdes par divers princes voisins et pour prouver
quil tient juste titre plusieurs provinces contestes par les princes estrangers. Recherches pour
monstrer que plusieurs provinces et villes du royaume sont du domaine du roy. Usurpations
faites sur les trois veschez, Metz, Toul, Verdun, et quelques autres traitez concernant des
matires publiques . . . Par M. Dupuy et T. Godefroy (Paris: A. Courb, 1655). Gode-
froy also worked as a diplomat and wrote Le crmonial franois . . . contenant les cr-
monies observes en France (Paris: S. Cramoisy et G. Cramoisy, 1649).
112. Pierre Dupuys 1651 Testament, in which he donates his books to the king,
is found in Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 263.
113. Pierre Dupuy, Trait de la majorit de nos rois et des regences du royaume avec les
preuves tires, tant du Tresor des Chartes du Roi, que des Registres du Parlement, & autres
lieux, et un Trait des preminences du Parlement de Paris, 2 vols. (Amsterdam: Jansons
Waesberge, 1722), vol. 2, p. 421: Ce Parlement conserve en soi la dignit Royale,
& si quelquun a chercher la Majest Royale en quelque lieu, il ne la peut ren-
contrer quen cette Compagnie, qui defend la reputation du Roi contre ses enne-
mis, qui les fait punir comme rebelles. The idea that the Parlement represented the
king is found in numerous texts and ordonnances. See Daubresse, Le parlement de
Paris, p. 46; Jacques Krynen, Quest-ce quun Parlement reprsente le roi? in Ex-
cerptiones iuris: Studies in Honor of Andr Gouron, ed. Bernard Durand and Laurent
Mayali (Berkeley: Robbins Collection, 2003), p. 356.
114. Church, Constitutional Thought; Gaston Zeller, Ladministration monar-
chique avant les Intendants, Parlements, et gouverneurs, Revue Historique 197
(1947): pp. 180215; Roland Mousnier, Comment les franais du XVIIe sicle
voyaient la constitution, XVIIe Sicle 29 (1955): pp. 936, and also his Institutions of
France under the Absolute Monarchy, 15981789, 2 vols. (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1979), vol. 1, chaps. 4 and 6; Monique Cubells, Le Parlement de
Paris pendant la Fronde, XVIIe Sicle 35 (1957): pp. 173; Albert N. Hamscher, The
Conseil priv and the Parlements in the Age of Louis XIV: A Study of French Absolutism
(Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1987); and Daubresse, Le parlement
de Paris, p. 65.
115. Etienne Thuau, Raison dtat et pense politique lpoque de Richelieu (Paris:
Armand Colin, 1966). For the relationship of the French crown to Tacitism and
reason of state scholarship and propaganda under Henry IV and Richelieu see Jacob
Soll, Amelot de La Houssaye and the Tacitean Tradition in France, Translation
and Literature 6 (1997): pp. 18698; and Healing the Body Politic, pp. 126972.
116. For an example of the early news pamphlets or relations from the Bureau
dAdresse, see Thophraste Renaudot. Pices Historiques contenant les Couriers, Mer-
cures, Relations, et autres semblables Observations curieuses sur lEstat et gouvernement de
France, comme il est en la prsente anne, 1649. Cest comme une notice gnrale pour servir
de fondement toute lHistoire du temps (Paris: Sebastien Martin, 1649). On Renaudot
see Howard M. Solomon, Public Welfare, Science, and Propaganda in Seventeenth Cen-
tury France: The Innovations of Thophraste Renaudot (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1972); and Kathleen Wellman, Making Science Social: The Conferences of
Thophraste Renaudot,16331642 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
117. Orest Ranum, Artisans of Glory: Writers and Historical Thought in Seven-
teenth-Century France (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), pp.
14996; and Nicolas Schapira, Un professionel des letters au XVIIe sicle. Valentin Con-
rart: Une histoire sociale (Seyssel: Editions Champ Vallon, 2003), p. 81.
118. Jouhaud, Les pouvoirs de la literature, pp. 191217. On Richelieus lack of
direct involvement with the actual scholarship of state itself see Jacob Soll, Empir-
ical History and the Transformation of Political Criticism in France from Bodin to
Bayle, Journal of the History of Ideas 64 (2003): pp. 3089.
119. See Delatour, Abeilles thuaniennes et barberines, in general.
120. Even more, the crown lost faith in de Thou and the Dupuys when their
friends and family were implicated in the Cinq-Mars conspiracy.
121. Ford, Robe and Sword, pp. 93; A. Lloyd Moote, The Revolt of the Judges: The
Parlement of Paris and the Fronde, 16431652 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1971), p. 364.
122. Jol Cornette, La mlancolie du pouvoir: Omer Talon et le procs de la raison d-
tat (Paris: Fayard, 1998), p. 344.
chapter 3
1. On Colbert, see Dessert, Colbert, p. 44. On the Colbert familys slow rise
to power, see Jean-Louis Bourgeon, Les Colbert avant Colbert: Destin dune famille
marchande (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1973); on the rise of the Le Tel-
lier family see Louis Andr, Michel Le Tellier et Louvois (Geneva: Slatkine, 1974). For
a modern overview of Colbert across various spectrums see Roland Mousnier, ed.,
Un nouveau Colbert (Paris: SEDES, 1985). For biographies of Colbert, see Ins Mu-
rat, Colbert, trans. Robert Francis Cook and Jeannie Van Asselt (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1984), which contains research on family documents
never before seen; and Jean Meyer, Colbert (Paris: Hachette, 1981). Aside from these
standard modern biographies, Pierre Clments classic work remains useful, Histoire
de la vie et de ladministration de Colbert. For the nest work on Colberts government
see Daniel Dessert and Jean-Louis Journet, Le lobby Colbert, Annales 30 (1975):
pp. 130329. Also see Colbert 16191683, the compilation of documents and refer-
ences in the catalog of the exposition celebrating the tercentenary anniversary of
Colberts death. The major studies of Colberts industrial and colonial policies ig-
nore his information apparatus. See Stewart L. Mims classic Colberts West India Pol-
icy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912); Ren Mmain, La marine de guerre
sous Louis XIV. Le matriel. Rochefort, arsenal modle de Colbert (Paris: Hachette, 1937);
Charles Woolsey Cole, Colbert and a Century of French Mercantilism, 2 vols. (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1939), vol. 1, pp. 356532, and French Mercantil-
ism: 16831700 (New York: Octagon, 1971). Philippe Minard examines the question
of information culture, but only later, as Colberts heritage in the eighteenth cen-
tury: La fortune du colbertisme: tat et industrie dans la France des Lumires (Paris: Fayard,
1998). On the importance of Colberts bureaucracy of observers, see Daniel Roche,
La France des Lumires (Paris: Fayard, 1993), pp. 1537.
2. Douglas Clark Baxter, Servants of the Sword: French Intendants of the Army,
16301670 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976).
3. Dessert, Colbert, p. 43.
4. Grafton, Teacher, Text and Pupil; Blair, Information Overload, pp.
1415; Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 9799.
5. de Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites, pp. 31522.
6. Dessert, Colbert, pp. 4445.
7. Ibid., p. 45.
8. See Geijsbeek, Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping. This topic will be dis-
cussed in detail in chapter 4.
9. Pierre Jeannin, Merchants of the Sixteenth Century, trans. Paul Fittingoff (New
York: Harper and Row, 1972), pp. 91103; Braudel, Civilisation, vol. 3.
10. On the role of nancial managers and families such as the Particelli in the
new French army see David Parrott, Richelieus Army: War, Government, and Society
in France, 16241642 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 37075.
11. Murat, Colbert, p. 8.
12. Ibid.
13. Colbert to Le Tellier, June 23, 1650, Lettres, vol. 1, p. 14.
14. Ibid., Colbert to Le Tellier, June 12, 1650, p. 12: Monseigneur, jay fait
voir ce matin Mgr le Cardinal les deux articles en chiffre de vostre mmoire du
jour dhier. Sur le second, Son Eminence mordonne de vous crire. . . . Pour le
surplus des ordres quil vous plaist me donner par vos lettres et mmoires du mesme
jour dhier, Son Eminence ma remis ce soir ou demain matin. Je la presseray au-
tant que je pourray de rsoudre le tout, pour vous le faire savoir aussytost.
15. Ibid., Colbert to Mazarin, February 17, 1651, p. 66: Monseigneur, jen-
voye Vostre minence un inventaire de tous les papiers que M. Longuet ma remis
entre les mains depuis don dpart, et luy rends compte en mesme temps de tout ce
que jay pu faire jusqua prsent pour ce qui regarde les affaires dont Vostre mi-
nence ma charg.
16. Ibid., Colbert to Le Tellier, April 19, 1650, p. 8: Monseigneur, je crois
navoir rien ajouter ce que je me suis donn lhonneur de vous crire par mes
prcdentes, touchant laffaire de Brisach, nayant rien appris de nouveau depuis ce
temps. Celle-cy sera seulement pour vous donner avis de la capitulation de Belle-
garde, comme vous verrez par la relation cy-jointe, et de ce qui sest pass de prin-
cipal et en quoy vous pouvez avoir quelque inrest, depuis quelque temps, dans la
chambre de Mgr le Cardinal.
17. Ibid., Colbert to Le Teller, August 9, 1650, pp. 2426.
18. Ibid., Colbert to Le Tellier, August 29, 1650, p. 38.
19. These numbers come from the tat de la France en 1658, reedited in the Let-
tres, vol. 1, p. cv.
20. Dessert, Colbert, p. 49.
21. Ibid., p. 48.
22. Jean Villain, La fortune de Colbert (Paris: Ministre de lconomie, 1994), pp.
6572.
23. Jean Villain, Mazarin, homme dargent (Paris: Club du Livre dHistoire,
1956).
24. Gabriel-Jules, comte de Cosnac, Mazarin et Colbert, 2 vols. (Paris: Plon,
1892), vol. 1 in general; Murat, Colbert, pp. 2225.
25. Dessert, Colbert, p. 52; J. A Bergin, Cardinal Mazarin and His Beneces,
French History 1 (1987): pp. 326.
26. Colbert to Mazarin, September 31, 1651, Lettres, vol. 1, p. 132.
27. Colbert to Mazarin, September 14, 1652, in Cosnac, Mazarin et Colbert, vol.
1, p. 324: Je dois travailler lun de ces jours avec M. Tubeuf terminer les comptes
quil doit rendre Votre minence. Je trouve par le calcul que jen ai fait sur les m-
moires que jai recueillis, qui sont assez srs, que sa dette rduite quatre cent mille
livres et les affaires dAuvergne et de Languedoc comptes pour acheves comme il
en demeure en quelque sorte daccord, la dernire pour deux cent mille livres, il de-
vra de reste Votre minence la somme de cent trente-neuf mille cinq cent quatre-
vingt-trois livres, outre et par-dessus les trente-six mille livres que Votre minence
a dj reues et une promesse de MM. des gabelles de vingt mille livres que je retir-
erai et quil faudra trouver moyen de faire payer promptement; et je la supplie de
croire que je ne peux pas mtre mescompt notablement. (marginal note) Il serait
ncessaire que le Cardinal ft la recherche de tous les papiers et mmoires de M.
Tubeuf; la seule difcult claircir concerne une erreur de calcul de vigt-cinq
mille livres pour le loyer des maisons, erreur qui serait au prot du Cardinal.
28. It should be remembered that Mazarin and Ann of Austria were secretly
married.
29. Colbert to Mazarin, September 31, 1651, Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 128240.
30. Ibid., Colbert to Mazarin, December 11, 1651, p. 178: Jay les perles entre
les mains, moyennant les conditions que je vous ay crites. M. Mnardeau ne
vouloit pas dintrests de son argent, et M. Tubeuf na pas voulu terminer laffaire
quil nen ayt pris au denier dix-huit, ce qui sest touv monter 4,128 livres 17 sols,
et le principal 62,220, revenant le tout 66,348 livres 17 sols. . . . Il faut donner un
peu de patience. Jay envoy un homme exprs en Limousin pour obliger Tabouret
de payer; jen espre quelque chose, de la manire dont jay tourn laffaire.
31. Ibid. On Mazarins spat with Colbert see Mazarin to Le Tellier, June 5,
1650, and Colberts explanation and apology from June 23, p. 14 n. 3. On de La
Vieuvilles difculties in working with Colbert, see pp. 13038.
32. Daniel Dessert, Argent, pouvoir, et socit au Grand Sicle (Paris: Fayard, 1984),
p. 294.
33. Ibid., Mazarin to Colbert, July 27, 1654.
34. On the Mazarinades, see Celestin Moreau, Bibliographie des Mazarinades, 3
vols. (Paris: Renouard, 185051); Christian Jouhaud, Les Mazarinades: La Fronde des
mots (Paris: Aubier, 1985); Pierre Barbier, La Fronde et des Mazarinades (Paris: Galli-
mard, 1956); Hubert Carrier, Les Mazarinades, 2 vols. (Geneva: Droz, 198991);
Roger Chartier, Pamphlets et gazettes, in Histoire de ldition Franaise, ed. Roger
Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin, 2 vols. (Paris: Fayard/Promodis, 1989), vol. 1, pp.
50126.
35. Like Pierre Charron, Naud discusses passages on Lipsiuss ideas of pru-
dence and dissimulation from the Politica in his Considrations politiques sur les coups
dEstat (Rome, 1639), pp. 5559.
36. This denition of reason of state comes from Maurizio Viroli, From Politics
to Reason of State: The Acquisition and Transformation of the Language of Politics,
12501600 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 4. On the history of
reason of state see Friedrich Meineckes classic, Machiavellism: The Doctrine of Raison
dtat and Its Place in Modern History, trans. D. Scott (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1957). For a useful overview see Burke, Tacitism, Scepticism; and see
Michael Stolleis, Machiavellismus und Staatsrson: Ein Beitrag zu Conrings Poli-
tischem Denken, in Hermann Conring (16061681): Beitrge zu Leben und Werk, ed.
Michael Stolleis (Berlin: Dunker & Humblot, 1983), p. 208. Most studies of Machi-
avellian political theory do not examine the second half of the seventeenth century.
Etienne Thuaus important work, Raison dtat et pense politique lpoque de Riche-
lieu, stops after the reign of Louis XIII, as does Ren Pintard. Other relevant con-
textual literary histories such as Jean Jehasses La Renaissance de la critique: Lessor de
lHumanisme rudit de 1560 1614 (Saint-Etienne: Publications de lUniversit de
Saint-Etienne, 1976); William F. Churchs Richelieu and Reason of State (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973); and Marc Fumaroli, Lge de lloquence (Paris:
Albin Michel, 1980), also ignore the later part of the seventeenth century. Also see
Anna Maria Battistas Alle origini del pensiero politico libertino: Montaigne e Charron (Mi-
lan: Giuffr, 1966). From the Cambridge school of the history of political thought,
Q. R. D. Skinners The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, 2 vols. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1978), also stops before the reign of Louis XIV, as does
Virolis From Politics to Reason and Richard Tucks Philosophy and Government,
15721652 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). For a history of libertine
thought during the reign of Louis XIV see J. S. Spink, French Free-Thought from
Gassendi to Voltaire (London: Athlone Press, 1960). Also, see Lionel Rothkrug, Op-
position to Louis XIV: The Political and Social Origins of the French Enlightenment
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965), p. 385.
37. On Nauds problematic position as a humanist at the end of a period of tra-
ditional political humanism, as well as on the birth of a new style of royal library, see
Paul Nelles, The Library as an Instrument of Discovery: Gabriel Naud and the
Uses of History, in History and the Disciplines: The Reclassication of Knowledge in
Early Modern Europe, ed. D. R. Kelley (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester
Press, 1997), pp. 4157; Jacques Revel, Entre deux mondes: La bibliothque de
Gabriel Naud, in Le pouvoir des bibliothques. La mmoire des livres en Occident, ed.
Marc Baratin and Christian Jacob, (Paris: Albin Michel, 1996), pp. 24350. On
Nauds own readings see Estelle Buf, La Bibliothque parisienne de Gabriel Naud en
1630. Les lectures dun libertin erudit (Geneva: Droz, 2007).
38. On Nauds dilemma, as a master of secrecy engaged in publishing, see in
general Louis Marins authoritative study, Pour une thorie baroque de laction
politique, in Gabriel Naud, Considrations politiques sur les coups dtat, ed.
Frdrique Marin and Marie-Odile Perulli (Paris: ditions de Paris, 1988), pp. 164;
Cavaill, Dis/simulations, pp. 1631. Naud had long complained of popular politi-
cal pamphletry in his early and prescient Le Marfore ou Discours contre les libelles (Paris:
Louys Boulenger, 1620), pp. 13: Puisque contre la nature dune populace la-
quelle le plus souvent sabandonne autant dopinions que la mer est agite de di-
verses bourasques et tempestes, chacun conspire maintenant coucher la mdisance
[p. 2] sur le papier des nouveautez, pour lampraindre plus facillement s esprits de
ceux qui allechez par ce miel de curiosit ne recognoissent le venin de ces perni-
cieux effets quau pralable ils ne taxent leur peu de iugement et mecognoissent leur
trop grande inconsistence; sans toutefois que personne jusque presnt se soit ontr
pour faire boulevart et resistance ce torrent de callomnie, ou qui ait eu la hardiesse,
sarmant de la raison, de sopposer ceste multitude de libelles, et eslever un phare,
lequel conduisant au port de la verit, dissipt les tenebres de lignorance, soubs la
faveur desquelles ces escrips medisans croians savoir. . . . [p. 3] Je romperay mon si-
lence, et pour nestre veu asymbolos & sans dicton parmi ceste multitude de-
scrivains, ou comme disoit Diogne: Inter tot operarios cessator, courant au plus
prompt remde qui est la plume, delle messagre de nos conceptions, ie prepareray
un remede cordial & antidote pour rsister au soufe de ces basilics, lesquels sac-
commodant nos passions comme le polype et cameleon font aux couleurs, ou les
feus folets au mouvant de nostre corps, nous conduisent en n dans des abismes de
folles opinions et maximes eronees. Also see Robert Damien, Bibliothque et tat:
Naissance dune raison politique dans la France du XVIIe sicle (Paris: Presses Universi-
taires de France, 1995), p. 308.
39. Naud to Mazarin, July 15, 1651, in Considrations politiques sur la Fronde. La
correspondance entre Gabriel Naud et le Cardinal Mazarin, ed. Kathryn Willis Wolfe
and Phillip J. Wolfe (Paris: Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature,
1991), pp. 3840: le silence si obstin des ministres qui se laissaoient accabler, et le-
stat avec eux, soubs mesdisance et soubz la calomnie sans se justier de vive voix ny
par escrit, au lieu que les ennemis du public tiroient de grands avantages et met-
toient tousjours les peuples de leur cost par le dernier de ces moyens l.
40. Ibid., p. 40: Mais, Monseigneur, outre ces deux moyens qui requiert les
plumes et lattention de V. E., il faudroit encore employer celles de tous les amis de
V. E. qui ont le don descrire, an de faire paroistre son innocence en diverses
faons, soubz divers jours, par plusieurs moyens pour detromper les peuples le plus
quil seroit possible et sinon par tels et tels livres, au moins par tels et tels autres, de-
quoy si vous pouviez venir bout il ny auroit plus ny princes ni parlementaires qui
vous pussent prejudicier ny mesme qui osa songer le faire.
41. Ibid., Mazarin to Naud, July 25, 1651, pp. 5152: Je suis plus persuad
que jamais quil faudrait escrire et jimprimer continuellement pour desabuser les
peuples des fausses impressions que par ce mesme moyen on leur donne. . . .
Cependant je vous conjure de confrer avec Mr. Colbert sans en parler dautres et
de faire travailler au lieu o vous estes par des personnes affectionnes et capables, et
ce quil faudra pour la despense, ledict sieur Colbert le fournira avec ponctualit et
secret. Je vous ay desja escrit conformement depuis peu. Certains feuillets volants
fouron bon effect parmy le peuple.
42. Pintard, Le libertinage erudite, p. 156.
43. Naud to Mazarin, July 15, 1651, in Wolfe and Wolfe, Considrations poli-
tiques, pp. 3845.
44. Jacques Savary, Le parfait ngociant, ou Instruction gnrale pour ce qui regarde le
commerce, 2 vols. (Paris: Veuve Estienne & Fils, 1749), vol. 1, p. 30.
45. On the nancial and political context of the period see Julian Dent, An As-
pect of the Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: The Collapse of the Financial Ad-
ministration of the French Monarchy (16531661), Economic History Review 20
(1967): pp. 24156; and The Role of Clienteles in the Financial Elite of France un-
der Cardinal Mazarin, in French Government and Society 15001850: Essays in Mem-
ory of Alfred Cobban, ed. J. F. Bosher (London: Athlone Press, 1973), pp. 4069;
Meyer, Colbert, p. 164; and Richard Bonney, The Kings Debts: Finance and Politics in
France, 15891661 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), pp. 24271; and his Political
Change in France under Richelieu and Mazarin, 16241661 (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1978).
46. Colbert to Mazarin, July 28, 1651, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 10910: Je
fourniray M. Naud ce quil demandera. Mais, sur cela, je suis oblig de vous dire
que tous vos amis et serviteurs ne sont nullement davis de faire quoy que ce soit qui
paroisse en public, pour vous, estant absolument ncessaire de laisser agir lhumeur
de nostre nation. Qui est de la dernire inconstance en ses haynes et en ses amitis,
quand lobjet en est absent, et quon ne lexcite point. Les dsordres et les guerres
civiles o nous allons tomber indubitablement travaillent pour vous; et pourvu que
lon change la conduite que lon a tenue par le pass, on doit avoir quelque es-
prence. [Je ne sais pas si ce discours est fond sur la raison; mais je sais bien
quune trs-faschuese exprience, et pour vous, en vostre particulier, et pour tous
vos amis, et pour la Reine encore plus, le justie fort.] Il est vray quil faut toujours
prparer les matires, ce qui se peut faire par le moyen de lestat gnral de vos
avances, qui est une pice convaincante; mais il ne faut rien remuer ni publier que
la hayne publique ne soit amortie.
47. Naud to Mazarin, August 19, 1663, pp. 6263; and September 9, 1663, in
Wolfe and Wolfe, Considrations politiques, p. 78.
48. Colbert had long emphasized secrecy in his relationship to Mazarin. See
Colbert to Mazarin, June 9, 1651, in Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 8788: Je ne fais aucune
difcult de vous crire toutes ces choses qui regardent la disposition de vos affaires,
avec une sincrit toute entire, croyant bien que Vostre minence me fera la grce
de tenir la chose trs-secrte et que qui que ce soit naura connoissance de ce que je
luy cris, soit en cette occasion, soit en tout autre.
49. Ibid., Colbert to Mazarin, July 28, pp. 11112. In this letter Colbert ex-
plains that he will not only take over the management of Mazarins papers, but he
will keep them in more secrecy than his predecessor, Euzenat. Even more, he de-
mands secrecy in his interactions with the Cardinal himself: il est bon que vous
sachiez que celuy qui travailloit avec ledit sieur Naud vostre bibliothque (et
tous vos domestiques disent assez haut quil en a dtourn une trs-grande quantit,
dont il a compos une bibliothque particulire pour luy, et quil pretend cacher ce
vol en avouant quil en a dtourn quelques-uns des meilleurs, crainte que vostre
palais ne fust pill) a toujours est dans des sentimens trs-contraires vos intrests,
et quil prtend par son industrie, vous obliger fonder un revenu pour lentretien
de vostre bibliothque. Vous verrez sil y a de la vraysemblance cela. There is no
existing evidence that Naud stole books from Mazarin, though this letter implies
that Colbert has his own evidence that he will reveal to the cardinal. Colbert often
demands secrecy from his correspondents. See Colbert to Lomnie de Brienne, June
8, 1682, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 170.
50. Jack A. Clarke, Gabriel Naud, 16001653 (Hamden, CN: Archon, 1970), p.
129.
51. On Nauds concept of the coup dtat and secrecy see Marin, Pour une
thorie baroque, pp. 3141; and Cavaill, Dis/simulations, pp. 199265.
52. Mmoire de Colbert pour le Cardinal de Mazarin, March 3, 1654, in
Cosnac, Mazarin et Colbert, vol. 1, p. 450.
53. Ibid., p. 451.
54. Ibid.
55. James E. King was the rst to examine knowledge culture and politics dur-
ing the reign of Louis XIV in his pioneering work, Science and Rationalism in the Gov-
ernment of Louis XIV. Also see Rothkrug, Opposition to Louis XIV, pp. 124233.
56. For examples of Colberts functions as Mazarins paperwork master, see his
letters to Mazarin, September 16 and October 7, 1651, Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 12840. On
Colbert reconstituting and managing Mazarins library, see Colbert to Mazarin,
March 3, 1654, pp. 21517. Though not a true modern police state, the effectiveness
Colberts censorship campaign and its long-term ramications for the book trade
should not be underestimated. See Martin, Livre, pouvoirs et socit, vol. 2, pp.
667762; David T. Pottinger, The French Book Trade in the Ancien Rgime, 15001791
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958); Anne Sauvy, Livres saisis Paris entre
16781701 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1972), pp. 89; Joseph Klaits, Printed Pro-
paganda under Louis XIV: Absolute Monarchy and Public Opinion (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1976), pp. 3555; Bernard Barbiche, Le rgime de ldi-
tion, in Histoire de ldition franaise, vol. 1, pp. 45771; Jean-Dominique Mellot,
Ldition rouennaise et ses marchs vers 1600vers 1730 (Paris: cole des Chartes, 1998),
pp. 38890. Although Colbert and La Reynie were not completely successful in reg-
ulating the book trade, he and La Reynie aggressively prosecuted pamphleteers,
sometimes sending them to the galleys. See Lettre de M. Colbert M. de La
Reynie, 25 avril, 1670, in Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 2829: Sa Majest dsire que vous
continuez de faire une recherch exacte de ces sortes de gens et que vous passiez
punir svrement ceux que vous avez fait arrester, estant trs-important pour le bien
de lEstat dempscher lavenir l;a continuation de pareils libelles. Also see note 5
on the same page. As in many domains, Colbert followed in the footsteps of the
church: Paul F. Grendler, The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press, 15401605
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977) and his collection of essays, Culture
and Censorship in Late Renaissance Italy and France (London: Variorum Reprints, 1981).
57. Colbert to Mazarin, August 30, 1656, in Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 25152: plusiers
conseillers recherchent desj dans leurs registres les exemples et les raisons qui peu-
vent les servir sur cette matire. . . . Jay cru que peut-estre Vostre minence ne
dsagreroit pas que je sse une recherche de tout ce qui a est fait et dit sur cette
matire, tant par les mesmes ordonnances quen ce qui sest fait dans le parlement de
Paris, quoy les roys ont toujours ce quil a mal fait et sen sert pour autoriser la suite
de ses entreprises, et nallgue jamais les remdes que les roys y ont apports, qui
souvent demeurent inconnus. Si jtois assez heureux que cette petite recherche
pust agrer Vostre minence, je mestimerois bien rcompens du tempts que jy
employeray, et, en dautres occasions, je mefforcerois de rendre le mesme service
Vostre minence.
58. Ibid., p. 252. Mazarin to Colbert, September 9, 1656: Je vous conjure de
faire travailler la recherche que vous me proposez; elle sera fort utile, et je vous
seray oblig. Il est trange quon nayt jamais pris le soin de tenir un registre de ce
que les roys ont fait pour rprimer les entreprises des parlemens, an davoir de quoy
les confondre quand ils apportent des exemples de ce quils ont fait. Il en est de
mesme du clerg, qui ne met dans les procs-verbaux qui se font chaque assemble
que ce qui luy plaist.
59. Ibid., pp. 25358. Colbert took special interest in obtaining parliamentary
registers for himself. BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 32 contains a number of Colberts
documents on this subject, most notably, Registres secrets du parlement de Mets,
depuis son establissement de 1633 jusques au mois daoust 1672 (fol 216), with a
manuscript note in Colberts own hand: Pour ma bibliothque.
60. Colbert to Louis XIV, Au Roi. Pour le Conseil Royal, in Lettres, vol. 2,
part 1, p. cci.
61. Ibid., Discours de Louis XIV louverture du Conseil des Finances
(Minute autographe de Colbert), 1661, p. cciii.
62. See Mme de Sevigns letters to Pomponne between November 17 and
December 10, 1664, in Mme de Sevign, Lettres, ed. M. Suard (Paris: Firmin Didot,
1846), pp. 4467.
63. Dessert, Arget, pouvoir et socit, p. 300.
64. Ibid., pp. 21037.
65. Cited in Murat, Colbert, p. 61.
66. Ibid., p. 63.
67. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Arrestation de Fouquet; Msures prparatoires,
1661, in Lettres, vol. 2, pp. clxxxixcxcix.
68. Ibid., p. cxc: Disposer toutes choses pour observer du secret, et que les
premires nouvelles viennent du Roy pour empescher toutes les prcautions. Pour
cet effet, envoyer tois ou quatre mousquetaires dles sur les deux routes pour em-
pescher quaucun courrier ordinaire ou extraordinaire de passe sans un ordre du
Roy, contre-sign de M. Le Tellier. Dans le mesme temps de larrest, arrester aussy
tous les commis et sceller partout, et empescher visites.
69. Ibid., p. cxcvi: Il faut joindre cet exempt un maistre des requestes pour
sceller les cassettes et les mettre en seuret; comme aussy quil fasse recherche exacte
de tous les papiers qui se trouveront dans la maison pour les saisir. Ordre un autre
exemt pour arrester les commis et prendre garde quaucuns papiers ne soyent trans-
ports. Sil y a deux maistres des requestes, on pourra en envoyer un avec les com-
mis pour sceller les papiers. Tous ces ordres donns et excuts, il faut travailler de-
pescher les courriers.
70. De la Fosse to Seguier, September 23, 1661, in A. Chruel, ed., Mmoires sur
la vie publique et prive de Fouquet, Surintendant des nances. Daprs ses lettres et des pices
indites conserves la Bibliothque Impriale, 2 vols. (Paris: Charpentier diteur, 1862),
vol. 2, pp. 27274.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid., p. 277.
73. A table of contents of the Cassette is found at in the annexes of Chruel (M-
moires, vol. 2, pp. 481576), with a number of transcriptions. The original papers of
the Cassette are now found in the manuscript collection of the BNF, Collection
Baluze 14950.
74. Chruel, Mmoires, vol. 2, p. 489.
75. Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, pp. xxvixxx.
76. Albert Borowitz, A Gallery of Sinister Perspectives: Ten Crimes and a Scandal
(Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1982), pp. 6273.
77. To understand the basis of the Chambre de Justice, as an extraordinary
body to maintain royal dominance over issues of taxation see Jean Bourgoin, La
chasse aux larrons, ou avant-coureur de lhistoire de la Chambre de Justice. Des livres du bien
public, et autres oeuvres faits pour la recherche des nanciers, & de leurs fauteurs (Paris,
1618), as well as his report to Marie de Medici, Les desirs du peuple franois pour le bien
de lEstat. Et les moyens pour reprimer les abus, & les Mal-Versations qui se commettent au
maniement des Finances (1625).
78. See M. Gaillard, Vie de M. le Premier Prsident de Lamoignon, in Vie ou loge
Historique de M. de Malesherbes (Paris: Xhrouet, Dterville, Lnormant et Petit,
1805), p. 170.
79. Dessert, Colbert, p. 34. One anonymous poem characterizes Colbert this
way:
Ministre avare et lche, esclave malheureux, / Qui gmis sous le faix des af-
faires publiques, / Victime dvou aux changrins politiques, / Fantme respect
sous un titre onrique; / Vois combine des gandeurs le comble est dangereux! /
Contemple de Fouquet les funestes reliques; / Et tandis qu sa perte en secret tu
tappliques, / Crains quon ne te prepare un destin plus affreux. Colbert, Lettres,
vol. 7, anon., p. cxcvi.
80. Gaillard, Vie ou loge, p. 170.
81. The papers from Fouquets Cassette are preserved, like a trophy, in the
Baluze manuscript collection of the BNF, MS Baluze 14950. For a detailed cata-
log of the Cassette as well an account of Colberts role in the trial, see Chruel, M-
moires, vol. 2, pp. 253440, 48186. On the publics reaction to Colberts illegal
procedure see pp. 386440. Also see Joseph Foucaults parliamentary notes on the
trial: BNF MS 500 Colbert, 23545. The parliamentarian and memorialist Olivier
Lefvre dOrmesson documents the trial of his friend, Fouquet, and his own reac-
tions and interactions with Colbert and Pussort in volume 2 of his Mmoires, 2 vols.
(Paris: Imprimerie Impriale, 1861). Also see Stewart Saunders, Politics and
Scholarship in Seventeenth-Century France: The Library of Nicolas Fouquet and
the Collge Royal, Journal of Library History 20 (1985): pp. 1319; and Dessert,
Colbert, p. 34.
82. In 1673, he had Carcavy copy seventy-three large register books of docu-
ments for his own library. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 440.
83. Colbert, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 15: Moyens de parvenir a remettre le parlement
dans lestat o il doit estre naturellement, et luy oster pour toujours les maximes sur
lesquelles cette Compagnie entrepris de troubler lEstat, en voulant prendre part
ladministration diceluy.
84. Ibid.: Faire une dclaration pour leur interdire jamais la connoissance des
matires dEstat.
85. Ibid., pp. 34. In Colberts Mmoire to Louis, October 22, 1664, he rec-
ommends a strategy to initiate long-term legal reforms.
86. David Parker, Sovereignty, Absolutism, and the Function of the Law in
Seventeenth Century France, Past and Present 122 (1989): pp. 3674. On the con-
nection between scholarship, antiquarianism, and the functioning of the French an-
cient constitution, see Miller, Peirescs Europe, pp. 9295.
87. See Marguerite Boulet-Sautel, Colbert et la legislation, in Mousnier, Un
nouveau Colbert, pp. 11932.
88. Hamscher, Conseil priv, p. 158.
89. BNF MS Fr. 7216, fol. 240r: Proces Verbal de lOrdonnance de 1667. On
Lamoignons horror in reaction to Colberts plan see Colbert, Lettres, Plan de la
Chambre de Justice et des principales affaires qui sy traitent, vol. 7, p. 213. On
Colberts attempt to exclude Lamoignon from the legal reforms see Lefvre
dOrmesson, Mmoires, vol. 2, p. 27; also see the document in Colbert, Lettres, part
1, vol. 2, p. 56. At Lamoignons request, Louis XIV allows Lamoignon into the se-
cret Colbert meetings: M. Colbert emploie actuellement M. Pussort ce travail;
voyez M. Colbert et concertez vous ensemble. Gaillard, Vie ou loge, pp. 19192.
For Colberts personal papers on the procedural reform, see BNF MS Mlanges
Colbert 33, Recueil de mmoires form par Colbert sur la Rforme de la Proc-
dure (16651679).
chapter 4
1. By the time of the War of Spanish Succession (170214), the decit would
run 371 percent. On Colberts tax collection see Bonney, Political Change, 4247;
and on royal expenditures see Bonney, The Kings Debts, p. 325, table 11. Also see
Richard Bonney, The Secret Expenses of Richelieu and Mazarin, 16241661,
English Historical Review 91 (1976): p. 834.
2. On Colbert and the early period of Louis XIVs reign, see Dessert, Colbert,
pp. 120.
3. Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1992), pp. 4959.
5. Ibid., p. 85.
6. Ibid., p. 70.
7. Unpublished document cited in Murat, Colbert, p. 78.
8. Louis XIV, Mmoires for Instruction, p. 64.
9. Ibid., p. 65.
10. See Paul Sonninos introduction to the Instructions, p. 5.
11. Christian Bec, Les marchands crivains: Affaires et humanisme Florence
13751434 (Paris: Mouton, 1967), p. 51.
12. Armand du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, Testament Politique, ed. Franoise
Hildesheimer (Paris: Socit de lHistoire de France), p. 253.
13. Gerhard Oestreich, Neostoicism and the Early Modern State, ed. Brigitta
Oestreich and H. G. Koenigsberger, trans. David McLintock (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1982), pp. 29.
14. Baltasar Gracin, LHomme de cour, trans. and ed. Abraham-Nicolas Amelot
de La Houssaye (Paris: Veuve Martin and Boudot, 1684). The nal chaper is enti-
tled Enn, tre saint. Also see Bireley, The Counter-Reformation Prince.
15. Soll, Healing the Body Politic.
16. Buisseret, Sully, pp. 7486.
17. Cited by Ranum, Richelieu, p. 136: aucune cognoissance des nances
[mais] il sen rapportoit ceux ausquels le Roy en avoit donn la direction. Also
see Richard Bonney, Louis XIII, Richelieu and the Royal Finances, in Richelieu
and His Age, ed. Joseph Bergin and Laurence Brockliss (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1992), pp. 99133; Bonney, Political Change, p. 8.
18. On the relationship of scholarly, philological humanism to technical, artisan
culture, see in general Grafton, Leon Battista Alberti.
19. On Stevin see Simon Stevin, Principal Works, ed. Ernst Crone, E. J. Dijk-
terhuis, R. J. Forbes, M. G. J. Minnaert, and A. Pannekoek, 5 vols. (Amsterdam:
C. V. Smets and Zeitlinger, 1966). See vol. 5 on engineering.
20. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 36.
21. Peter Burke, The Fortunes of the Courtier (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995), p.
29.
22. A transcript of Stevins journal and discussion with Prince Maurice is found
in Geijsbeek, Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping, pp. 1516.
23. Ibid., p. 15.
24. De Roover, Medici Bank, pp. 3738.
25. Cited in Geijsbeek, Ancient Double-Entry Bookkeeping, p. 89.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid., p. 39.
28. Ibid., p. 41.
29. Ibid., p. 43.
30. Ibid., p. 78.
31. Ibid., p. 77.
32. For more examples of discursive record-keeping tools, see p. 45.
33. Ibid., p. 9.
34. The notebook in question is a personal, manuscript journal, or agenda
found in the Rare Books Collection of the University of Pennsylvania, MS Codex
207: Robert Williams, Notes Concerning Trade 16321654. Special thanks to
Peter Stallybrass who helped me decipher this list.
35. On the rise of information culture in the sphere of merchant, church, and
state culture, see Burke, Social History of Knowledge in general. On naval information
see Mmain, La marine de guerre, pp. 50213.
36. Buisseret, Sully, p. 85.
37. Bonney, The Kings Debts, pp. 3045. In his appendix 2, pp. 297325, Bon-
ney provides an extraordinary reproduction of account balances for the seventeenth
century.
38. Antoine de Montchrtien, Traict de loeconomie politique (Rouen: J. Osmont,
1615), pp. 1151.
39. Ibid., pp. 32324.
40. Ibid., p. 18.
41. Ibid., p. 358.
42. On Louis XIIIs education see Soll, Healing the Body Politic, p. 1279.
43. Ibid.
44. Cole, Colbert, vol. 1, p. 138. Franklin Charles Palm, The Economic Policies of
Richelieu (1922; reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint, 1970). On Montchrtiens
inuence on Richelieu and his milieu see Thomson, Commerce, Law, and Eru-
dite Culture, p. 421.
45. On Louis XIVs education see John B. Wolf, Louis XIV (New York: Nor-
ton, 1968), pp. 5682.
46. Ranum, Artisans of Glory, pp. 26567.
47. Pintard, Le libertinage erudite, pp. 595612.
48. Jonathan Israel, Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modern
Modernity 16501750 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 15.
49. Cited in Wolf, Louis XIV, p. 58. Also see BNF MS Fr. 4926.
50. Robert Lacour-Gayet, Lducation politique de Louis XIV (Paris: Hachette,
1898).
51. Wolf, Louis XIV, p. 70.
52. Ibid.
53. The following passage from the Instructions (p. 30) is typical of the pruden-
tial and reason-of-state topos of the king as an all-seeing eye. For a passage that has
strong echoes of the introduction to Lipsiuss Politica, see p. 24: Disorder reigned
everywhere. . . . People of quality, accustomed to continual bargaining with a min-
ister who did not mind it, and who had sometimes found it necessary, were always
inventing an imaginary right to whatever was to their fancy; no governor of a
stronghold who was not difcult to govern; no request that was not mingled with
some reproach over the past, or with some veiled threat of future dissatisfaction.
Graces exacted and torn rather than awaited, and extorted in consequence of each
other, no longer really obligated anyone, merely serving to offend those to whom
they were refused.
54. Ibid., pp. 15255.
56. Louis XIV, Instructions to the Dauphin, pp. 3536.
57. See Paul Sonninos introduction to the Instructions to the Dauphin, p. 5.
58. Colbert, Mmoire pour linstruction du Dauphin, manuscript in Col-
berts hand, 1665, in Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, p. ccvx.
59. Ibid., p. ccxvii.
60. Louis XIV, Instructions to the Dauphin, p. 29.
61. Also see Richard Bonney, Vindication of the Fronde? The Cost of Louis
XIVs Versailles Building Programme, French History 21 (2006): p. 12.
62. See Jacob Soll, The Antiquary and the Information State: Colberts
Archives, Secret Histories, and the Affair of the Rgale 16631682, French Historical
Studies 31 (2008): pp. 328.
63. Colbert, Mmoire au Roi, July 22, 1666, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, pp.
ccxviiccxxvi.
64. Colbert, Mmoire sur le rglement des taxes pour la dcharge de la Cham-
bre de Justice, 16612, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, sec. 2, pp. 13.
65. Colbert, Mmoires sur les affaires de nances de France pour servir lhis-
toire, 1663, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, sec. 2, pp. 1768.
66. See Desserts analysis of this text in Colbert, pp. 1737.
67. Mmoires sur les affaires, p. 19.
68. Ibid., p. 19.
69. Ibid., p. 20.
70. Ibid., p. 23.
71. Ibid., p. 51.
72. Ibid., pp. 3032.
73. Ibid., p. 40.
74. Ibid., pp. 4445.
75. Louis to Anne of Austria, 1661, cited by Murat, Colbert, p. 69.
76. For this correspondence see Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, pp. ccxxvicclvii.
77. Ibid., Louis XIV, marginal notes on letter, May 24, 1670, Colbert to Louis
XIV, May 22, 1670, p. ccxxviii.
78. Ibid., Colbert to Louis XIV, May 24, 1673, with Louiss undated marginal
responses in parentheses, p. ccxxxii.
79. Ibid., Colbert to Louis XIV, August 1, 1673; Louiss response in the mar-
gins, August 3, p. ccxxxiv.
80. For Colberts administrative folios, see the Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Col-
lection des Mlanges Colbert, pp. 1100.
81. On the genealogy of the personal agenda and notebook, see Peter Stally-
brass, Roger Chartier, J. Franklin Mowrey, and Heather Wolfe, Hamlets Tables
and the Technologies of Writing in Renaissance England, Shakespeare Quarterly 55
(2004): pp. 379419.
82. BNF MS Fr. 676392. The gures from the notebook for the year 1680 are
reproduced in the Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 77182.
83. See BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 31117.
84. BNF MS Fr. 7753, Receuil de Finance de Colbert.
85. Abrg des nances 1665, BNF MS Fr. 6771, fols. 4v7r.
86. Abrg des nances 1671, BNF MS Fr. 6777, nal table.
87. Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 77183, contains all the gures from the agenda of
1680, yet with no mention of their remarkable decoration.
chapter 5
1. For Emmanuel Le Roy Laduries excellent synthesis of Colberts contribu-
tion to French government, see The Ancien Regime: A History of France, 16101774,
trans. Mark Greengrass (New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 1998), pp. 12679.
2. Daniel Nordman and Jacques Revel, La formation de lespace franais, in
Histoire de La France, ed. Andr Burguire and Jacques Revel, 5 vols. (Paris: Seuil,
1989), vol. 1, p. 108.
3. Edmond Esmonin, tudes sur la France des XVIIe et XVIIIe sicles (Paris:
Presses Universitaires de France, 1964), p. 25.
4. Louis Trnard, Les enqutes statistiques au XVIIe sicle origine de LEn-
qute des Intendants, in Les Mmoires des Intendants pour lInstruction du Duc de Bour-
gogne (1698), ed. Louis Trnard (Paris: Bibliothque Nationale, 1975), p. 12.
5. Esmonin, tudes sur la France, p. 33. On the intendants during the Fronde,
see Bonney, Political Change, chaps. 2 and 3.
6. Esmonin, tudes sur la France, p. 35.
7. Bonney, Political Change, pp. 42432.
8. Dessert and Journet, Le lobby Colbert; Dessert, Argent, pouvoir et socit,
pp. 32235; and Dessert, Colbert, pp. 8592.
9. See Bonney, Political Change, pp. 7273. Among the most powerful inten-
dants, Colbert placed his brother, Charles Croissy de Colbert, as intendant of Brit-
tany; his cousin Colbert du Terron became intendant of Rochefort and Toulon,
major naval ports; the ubiquitous Joseph Foucault became intendant at Montauban;
Bezons became intendant at Toulouse; Pellot, intendant at Bordeaux and Mon-
tauban; Bouchu, intendant at Dijon; Arnoul, intendant at the massive naval galley
operation; and dHerbigny, intendant at Moulins.
10. Michel Nassiet, La France du second XVIIe sicle 16611715 (Paris: Belin,
1997), p. 51.
11. Hamscher, Conseil priv, p. 158; BNF MS Fr. 7216, fol. 240r: Proces Ver-
bal de lOrdonnance de 1667. On Lamoignons horror in reaction to Colberts
plan see Colbert, Lettres, Plan de la Chambre de Justice et des principales affaires
qui sy traitent, vol. 7, p. 213. On Colberts attempt to exclude Lamoignon from
the legal reforms see Lefvre dOrmesson, Mmoires, vol. 2, p. 27; also see the doc-
ument in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, p. 56. At Lamoignons request, Louis XIV
allowed Lamoignon into the secret Colbert meetings: M. Colbert emploie
actuellement M. Pussort ce travail; voyez M. Colbert et concertez vous ensem-
ble. Gaillard, Vie du premier prsident, pp. 19192. For Colberts personal papers on
the procedural reform, see BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 33, Recueil de mmoires
form par Colbert sur la Rforme de la Procdure (16651679).
12. Colbert, Instruction pour les matres des requtes, commissaires dpartis
dans les provinces, in Lettres, vol. 4, pp. 2743. On the transformation of inten-
dants from tax collectors to state observers see Esmonin, tudes sur la France, p. 25;
and Trnard, Les enqutes statistiques, p. 12. It was rumored by Jacques Savary
that Colbert had learned of the enqute formularies in the papers he conscated
from Fouquet. See Rothkrug, Opposition to Louis XIV, pp. 16061 n. 45. This seems
unlikely in the face of Colberts early knowledge of state paperwork and correspon-
dence with maitres des requtes.
13. Esmonin, tudes sur la France, p. 28. On the relationship of the royal map-
maker with the intendants see Josef W. Konvitz, Cartography in France, 16601848:
Science, Engineering and Statecraft (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985),
p. 2.
14. For the most extensive collection of orders to the commissaries and inten-
dants see BNF MS Mlanges de Clairambault, 42633. F. Baudry reproduces many
of them in his compilation, Dpches de Colbert Foucault et aux Intendans du
1er janvier 1679 au 19 aot 1683, in Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, Mmoires, ed. F.
Baudry (Paris: Imprimerie Impriale, 1862), pp. 409501.
15. Instruction pour les matres des requtes, commissaires dpartis dans les
provinces, p. 31.
16. See Brian Ogilvie, The Science of Describing: Natural History in the Renaissance
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).
17. See Stagl, A History of Curiosity, in general.
18. Antoine Furetires Dictionary of 1690 denes relation as observations made
by a voyager; or as a testimony made by a public gure, or in a court of law.
19. On the proliferation of literary knowledge genres such as the relation, see
Shapiro, A Culture of Fact, pp. 6385. For reproductions of Jesuit relations see Alan
Greer, ed., The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth-Century North
America (London: Bedford / St. Martins Press, 2000).
20. Svetlana Alpers, The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984).
21. Shapiro, A Culture of Fact, p. 70.
22. Ibid., p. 79.
23. Ibid., p. 58.
24. Bodin, Les six livres, book 6, chaps. 2 and 3.
25. Ibid., book 5, chap. 1.
26. Shapiro, A Culture of Fact, p. 65.
27. De Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites, pp. 44262.
28. Evans, Rudolf II, pp. 12531; Stagl, A History of Curiosity, pp. 11247; An-
thony Grafton, Believe It or Not? New York Review of Books, November 5, 1998,
pp. 1418; Also see Meadow, Merchants and Marvels.
29. Even the French proto-journalist Thophraste Renaudots state-sponsored
Bureau dAdresse never amounted to a truly systematized state information ofce,
though it had some of those qualities.
30. Colbert, Instruction au sieur de Pne, Ingnieur gographe, pour faire les
cartes des ctes de la Normandie, February 5, 1678, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 1, ad-
dition, p. 78. Aprs avoir fait des observations sur toute la rivire de Seine
jusquau Havre, Sa Majest veut quil continue les mesmes reconnoissances jusqu
Trport, son intention estant davoir, depuis la Hogue jusqu Trport, des cartes
fort exactes de toutes sinuosits de la coste toutes les entres des rivires, avec les
remarques exactes et prises sur les lieux sans sen er au rapport de personne, de
toutes les rades, hauteurs et bassesses de la mer, dunes, falaises, anses, et entres dans
les terres, ensemble de tous les lieux o les ennemis pourroient aborder sils es-
toient assez forts pour faire des descentes; avec des desseins particuliers de chacun
endroit o ils peuvent les faire, et des plans et devis de tous les ouvrages qui pour-
roient estre faits.
31. Esmonin, tudes sur la France, p. 71. Anette Smedley-Weill, Les intendants de
Louis XIV (Paris: Fayard, 1995), pp. 13354. Also see Jacob, Scientic Culture, pp.
4750.
32. Colbert to the chevalier de Pne, p. 78.
33. When Louis XIVs grandson became Philip V of Spain, he replaced the cor-
regidores with the administration of French-style, centralizing intendentes on July 4,
1718. See Fabrice Abbad and Didier Ozanam, Les intendants espagnols du XVIIIe si-
cle (Madrid: Ediciones Casa de Velzquez, 1992); and Franois-Xavier Emmanuelli,
Un mythe de labsolutisme bourbonien: LIntendance, du milieu du XVIIeme siecle a la n
du XVIIIeme siecle: France, Espagne, Amerique (Aix-en-Provence: Publications de
lUniversit de Provence, 1981).
34. Colberts correspondence (166370) with Claude Bouchu and other royal
representatives in Burgundy is reproduced in William Beik, Louis XIV and Abso-
lutism: A Brief Study with Documents (Boston: Bedford / St. Martins, 2000), pp.
13046.
35. For the most detailed analysis of the enqutes, as well as the reproduction of
major examples albeit dating from after Colberts death, see Arthur de Boislisles in-
troduction to the Mmoires des Intendants sur ltat des gnralits (Paris: Imprimrie
Nationale, 1881).
36. Colbert to Courtin, August 18, 1662, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, p. 413. Col-
bert asks Courtin to verify Dutch merchandise in Sweden.
37. Mmain, La marine de guerre, pp. 27193.
38. Ibid., pp. 77260.
39. Ibid., p. 258.
40. Ibid., p. 291.
41. Colbert to Terron, Matharel and Seuil, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 1, p. 373. I
take this translation from King, Science and Rationalism, p. 111.
42. Colbert, Mmoire sur le rglement faire pour la police gnrale des arse-
naux de marine, October 1670, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 1, pp. 28790.
43. Cited by Mmain, La marine de guerre, p. 502: Se faire rendre un compte
exacte par les escrivains prposs aux corderies, fonderies et forges, la rception des
bois, masts et autres marchandises et munitions, et la garde des agrs sur nos vais-
seaux qui seront dans le port, pour savoir en tout temps lestat de nos magasins, et
estre toujours prest nous informer.
44. Colbert, Mmoire sur le rglement faire pour la police gnrale des arse-
naux de marine, p. 287: Le garde-magasin doit avoir le soin de tous les magasins
gnraux et particuliers, et avoir des crivains sous luy qui soyent chargs envers luy
de tous les magasins particuliers de chacun vaisseau, ensemble des magasins
poudre, de la corderie, estuve, fonderie, voilerie, fustailles et gnralement de tout
ce quil ne pourra pas faire par luy-mesme. Et les crivains qui luy seront ncessaires
pour toutes ces fonctions doivent tenir des livres qui ayant rapport son grand livre
de raison en partie double.
45. Mmain, La marine de guerre, pp. 5067.
46. Such responsibility led to cases of corruption among the writers. Ibid., p.
511.
47. Ibid., p. 509.
48. Ibid., p. 289: Le commissaire doit faire ses revues frquentes et les envoyer
de tous les endroits do il pourra avoir communication avec la terrre. Mmain has
a chapter on the crivains entretenus, La marine de guerre, pp. 50213.
49. De Terron to Colbert, April 25, 1669, in Mmain, La marine de guerre, p.
512: Lestablissement des escrivains contribue fort tenir les capitaines en rgle, et
pour assurer lessort des vos intentions, il faut sil vous plaist que dans toutes les oc-
casions qui se prsenteront vous fassis connoistre aux capitaines que cet establisse-
ment descrivains est agrable au Roy et que sa Majest veut quils fassent leur fonc-
tion dans toute son estendu, avec toute libert.
50. On Colberts massive production of naval rules and regulations see M-
main, La marine de guerre, pp. 26382.
51. Ibid., pp. 287 and 1005. Colberts naval dispatches are found in the series B2
of the Archives de la Marine.
52. See the section Cartes in Colberts Instruction, p. 28.
53. Mmoire pour M. Bellinzani, Inspecteur Gnral des Manufactures, Oc-
tober 8, 1670, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 56063.
54. Ibid., pp. 56061.
55. On Ballinzani and his mission, see Cole, Colbert, vol. 2, pp. 41617.
56. Ibid., p. 562.
57. Ibid., p 561.
58. Jean Kerhave, Franois Roudot, and Jean Tanguy, eds., La Bretagne en 1665
daprs les rapport de Colbert de Croissy (Brest: Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Cel-
tique, 1978). For a sense of Croissys remarkable library and archive see Inventaire
des biens de feu Monseigneur de Croissy, Ministre et Secrtaire dEtat du 7 aot
1696, Archives Nationale de France (hereafter AN) Minutier Central, tude
CXLIII, liasse 20. This library shows de Croissys technical training and interest in
state administration: 30 percent law and political science, including works by Cujas,
and customs books; 50 percent history, French, foreign, with an oriental bias. Only
10 percent concerned classics, and religion only a small portion of his various other
books.
59. Ibid., p. 23.
60. See BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 6, fols. 3847.
61. Ibid., pp. 15556. See Colberts memo to the intendants of June 15, 1682.
For one of the more insightful accounts of the information role of the intendants see
King, Science and Rationalism, chap. 4.
62. On Louiss close reading of the intendants correspondence see Colbert to
Bezons, intendant at Toulouse, February 6, 1671, in Lettres, vol. 4, p. 53.
63. On Louis insisting to see reports even before they are sent to Colbert see the
tripartite correspondence between Louis, Colbert, and the colonial lieutenant gov-
ernor of the Isles of America, M. de Bass, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, pp. 453 and
59091.
64. Colbert to de Terron, December 11, 1671, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 1, p. 408.
65. Ibid., Colbert to de Terron December 26, 1671, p. 409.
66. Ibid.
67. Colbert to Foucault, intendant at Montauban, July 14, 1682, in Lettres, vol.
2, part 1, p. 199.
68. Ibid.
69. Colbert to du Moulinet, July 3, 1682, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 1, p. 98: Vous
devez observer dcrire en plus gros caractre ou de faire transcrire vos dpesches,
parce que jay beaucoup de peine les lire.
70. King, Science and Rationalism, pp. 11213.
71. Colbert to Arnoul ls, June 21, 1676, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 1, addition, p.
18.
72. Ibid., Colbert to Arnoul ls, July 4, 1676, pp. 2425.
73. Ibid., Colbert to Arnoul ls, September 18, 1676, p. 73.
74. Ibid., Colbert to Arnoul ls, December 28, 1675, p. 574.
75. Ibid., p. 57475: Vous voyez bien que, faute de parler clairement par vos
lettres et de dire vritablement lestat auquel sont les choses, vous estes cause que le
Roy fait une rprimande un ofcier principal ne la mrite pas; et, comme je vous
ay desja donn une innit davis sur ce sujet, prenez garde que ce soit icy le dernier;
relisez vos dpesches et apprenez vous expliquer si clairement et si vritablement
que je naye pas la peine de rechercher la vrit par la comparaison des autres lettres
avec les vostres.
76. Colbert to M. Rouill, December 23, 1672, in Lettres, vol. 4, p. 84.
77. Colbert to M. de Marle, intendant Riom, September 23, 1672, in Lettres,
vol. 4, pp. 7576 at 75: Mais je vous prie, une fois pour toutes, de mviter la peine
de vous faire daussy grandes lettres pour vous apprendre lestendue de vostre employ
et ce que vous y devez faire, parce que, assurment, la quantit daffaires que jay ne
convient point avec le peine quil faut prendre pour faire daussy grandes lettres.
78. Notes secrtes sur le personnel de tous les parlemens et cours des comptes
du royaume, envoyes par les Intendans des provinces Colbert, sur sa demande,
vers la n de lan 1663, in Correspondance administrative sous le rgne de Louis XIV, ed,
G. B. Depping, 2 vols. (Paris: Imprimrie Nationale, 1851), vol. 1, pp. 33132.
79. Ibid., pp. 3334: LAMOIGNON, soubz laffectation dune grande probit
et dune grande intgrit, cache une grande ambition, conservant pour cet effet une
grande liaison avec tous les dvots de quelque party et caballe que ce soit.
80. Ibid., p. 34.
81. Ibid., p. 36: DOUJAT, a de lextrieur et est de peu de chose au fonds;
foible, timide, dvou entirement la cour, intress; M. de Maupeou, son gen-
dre, a grand pouvoir sur luy; Herbinot, huissier de la cour, le gouverne.
82. Ibid., p. 37.
83. Ibid., Pellot to Colbert, April 25, 1664, pp. 13536.
84. William Beik, Absolutism and Society in Seventeenth-Century France: State
Power and Provincial Aristocracy in Languedoc (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1985).
85. Colbert to Charles Colbert de Croissy, August 10, 1663, in Lettres, vol. 4, pp.
1619. On the limits of the royal tax administration see Richard Bonney, Le secret
de leurs familles: The scal and social limits of Louis XIVs dixime, French History 7
(1993): pp. 383416; and Les intendants de Louis XIII et Louis XIV: Agents de la r-
forme scale? in Ladministration des nances sous lAncien Rgime (Paris: Comit pour
lhistoire conomique et nancire de la France, 1996), pp. 197217.
86. Ibid., Colbert to de Croissy, September 17, 1663, Lettres, vol. 4, p. 26.
87. Ibid., p. 63 n. 2.
88. On antiscal revolts during the reign of Louis XIV see Pierre Clment,
LHistoire de Colbert et de son administration, 2 vols. (Paris: Guillaumin, 1846). vol. 1,
chap. 11: Les meutes en province; William Beik, Urban Protest in Seventeenth-
Century France: The Culture of Retribution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997), pp. 14659. For the correspondence with Colbert concerning the uprisings
inspired by the Bordeaux revolts see BNF Clairambault 796.
89. Colbert to Foucault, August 25, 1674, Lettres, vol. 4, p. 109.
90. Colbert to de Creil, intendant at Rouen, December 23, 1672, Lettres, vol.
4, p. 85.
91. The historian Jean Le Laboureur wrote to Colbert in August 1665 to com-
plain about these researches, noting that unrest would stop when honest nobles
were no longer harassed. See Lettres, vol. 6, p. 369.
92. Ibid., p. 23.
93. Ibid., p. 76: Jay reu les lettres que vous mavez crites les 12 et 14 de ce
mois. . . . lgard des pages, je vous rpteray encore ce que je vous ay dit beau-
coup de fois, que vous avez trop envie de faire des recherches gnrales dans vos
emplois, et que ces grandes recherches ne tendent qu vexer les peuples, les faire
venir du fond des gnralits o vous servez vous apporter leurs papiers dans vostre
greffe, et vous charger dune innit de papiers et de discussions qui ne peuvent ja-
mais convenir au bien du service du roy ni au soulagement des peuples. . . . Je vous
avoueray franchement mesme que je ne puis croire ce que vous dites, que tous les
seigneurs particuliers lvent des pages dans leurs terres. Ce seroit un trop grand
abus, et une ngligence qui ne pourroit estre pardonne aux ofciers des justices
royales, joint quil est impossible de croire que la Chambre des grands jours eust
laiss impunie une vexation sur les peuples aussy considrable que celle-l.
94. Genealogical verication was a major element of legal code of 1665. See
Lettres, vol. 6, p. 377.
95. Ibid., Colbert to the intendants, April 30, 1666, 6, pp. 2224.
96. On the justice reforms of noble abuses see Esprit Flchier, Mmoires sur les
Grands-Jours dAuvergne, ed. Yves-Marie Berc (Paris: Mercure de France, 1984).
97. Colbert to the intendants, pp. 2223: Un inventaire par abrg, con-
tenant la qualit de chaque acte et son nonc, avec la date, la qualit et les noms de
tous ceux qui y sont mentionns. Cet inventaire se fera par cahiers spars qui seront
cots par bailliage, et la teste diceux sera mis: Un tel, dun tel baillage, est comparu
le tel jour, lequel se dit estre de telle maison et porter telles armes, reconnoistre telles et telles
branches pour estre de sa mesme famille, et a produit les titres suivants. . . . Et pour
procder linventaire des pieces, il faudra commencer par celuy qui jusitie la li-
ation de la partie appele, et ainsy remonter les degrs jusquau plus ancien. Si lon
na pas le loisir de dresser cet inventaire sur-le-champ, on retiendra les titres pour y
travailler avec plus de loisir, et on donnera jour la partie pour les venir retirer, aprs
avoir ou la lecture et sign linventaire. . . . Il sera bon de faire des copies de tous
ces inventaire rangs par baillages et de les envoyer . . . signes de M. lintendant,
pour les faire mettre par ordre et pour en dresser des genealogies o lon joindra la
connoissance quon en a par dautres actes qui serviront pour en justier de leur
qualit en la forme cy-devant nonce, et il sera dit en teste de linventaire: Un tel
rsidant dans une telle ville, comme dessus.
98. Ibid., p. 24: Et de tout cela mis en ordre, on fera des recueils trs-
curieux pour la bibliothque du roi, o lon verra toutes les noblesses du royaume,
avec leurs armes et genealogies vritables, en y ajoutant les recherches de tous les
curieux.
99. Ibid., Colbert to the intendants, December 1, 1670, vol. 2, part 1, pp.
7778.
100. Ibid., Colbert to Rouill, intendant at Aix, August 17, 1679, p. 113.
chapter 6
1. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Mmoire pour mon ls sur ce quil doit observer
pendant le voyage quil va faire Rochefort, Saint-Germain, 11 juillet, 1670, in
Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, p. 2. The original manuscripts of Colbert and Seignelays cor-
respondence, as well as Seignelays relations, are found in the manuscript collec-
tion of the Bibliothque Nationale, Mlanges Colbert, 84. Unless otherwise stated,
I will refer to the printed versions in Clment.
2. Ibid., p. 3.
3. Ibid., p. 8.
4. Ibid., pp. 1819, Colbert to Terron, August 29, 1670.
5. This is certainly not the image given by Norbert Elias in his classic The
Court Society, trans. Edmund Jephcott (New York: Pantheon, 1983), in which he
describes courtiers as principally concerned with a struggle over symbolic prestige.
6. For the classic painting of Colbert dressed in a black suit with a white col-
lar see Claude Lefebvres 1666 portrait at Versailles. See Marc Nattier the Elders
painting, Le marquis de Seignelay, 1673, in the collection at Versailles. Seignelay is
also dressed in gilded Louis quatorzian garb while working at an arsenal in Jean-
Baptiste de La Roses painting, Le marquis de Seignelay et le duc de Vivonne gnral des
galres et amiral de la marine du Levant, visitant la Galre Rale en construction larsenal
de Marseille en 1679, also found at Versailles.
7. Colbert helped train Vauban in his early days. See Michle Virol, Les car-
nets de bord dun grand serviteur du roi: les agendas de Vauban, Revue dHistoire
Moderne et Contemporaine 48 (2001): pp. 5076. On the wider context of Vauban and
the Colbertian knowledgeable state see Virol, Vauban: De la gloire du roi au service de
ltat (Paris: Champ Vallon, 2003), pp. 13050.
8. Savary, Le parfait ngociant, vol. 1, p. 29.
9. Ibid., p. 30. Ds lge de sept huit ans, dit-il, il faut apprendre [aux en-
fants] les exercices ncessaires pour cette profession; cest dire, bien crire, bien
savoir lArithmtique, tenir les Livres en partie double & simple. See pp.
29799, and vol. 2, p. 73, for descriptions of how to keep books.
10. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 30: Je voudrauis encore dans les heures o ils ne sont point
employs ces sortes dexercices, leur faire lire les Histoires, tant de France, quE-
trangres, & les Livres qui traitent des Voyages & du Commerce; parce que ces
sortes de lectures forment merveilleusement le jugement des jeunes gens; & ils y ap-
prennent par thorie, ce quils doivent pratiquer quand ils feront le Commerce dans
les Pays trangers; car ils apprendront les moeurs & les coutumes des Peuples, avec
lesquels ils auront traiter.
11. On early modern merchant handbooks, both manuscript and printed, see
Hoock and Jeannin, Ars Mercatoria.
12. Not listed in any bibliography, a copy of this text is found in the Biblio-
thque Mazarine, call number A. 1544018e: Positiones mathematicae de mundi system-
ate/Positiones mathematicae ex architectura militari (Paris: Anon., 1668), essentially a
simple set of mathematical, astronomical exercises set in Latin.
13. Laurent Dingli, Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay. Le ls amboyant (Paris: Perrin,
1997), p. 24.
14. On the rise of geography in seventeenth-century Jesuit pedagogy, see
Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites, pp. 25150, 42763; and Antonalla Romano, La
Contre-Rforme mathmatique: Constitution et diffusion dune culture mathmatique jsuite
la Renaissance (Rome: cole Franaise de Rome, 1999), chap. 9.
15. On the proliferation of literary knowledge genres, such as the relation, see
Shapiro, A Culture of Fact, pp. 6385.
16. On ambassadorial practices and spying see Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy,
pp. 11118; and Lucien Bly, Espions et ambassadeurs au temps de Louis XIV (Paris:
Fayard, 1990), pp. 23588. On the functions and responsibilities of Venetian am-
bassadors see Donald E. Queller, Early Venetian Legislation on Ambassadors (Geneva:
Droz, 1966).
17. Instruction de Colbert au marquis de Seignelay pour son voyage dItalie,
January 31, 1671, in LItalie en 1671. Relation dun voyage du marquis de Seignelay, ed.
Pierre Clment (Paris: Didier et Cie., 1867), pp. 9699:
Il verra principalement la ville, sa situation, sa force, le nombre de ces
peoples, la grandeur de ltat, le nombre et le nom des villes, bourgades et
villages, la quantit des peoples dont le tout est compos; la forme du
gouvernement de ltat, et comme il est aristocratique, il sinformera des
noms et de la qualit des familles nobles qui ont ou qui peuvent avoir part
au gouvernement de la republique, distinguant lancienne davec la
nouvelle noblesse; de toutes les dignits de la Rpublique; leurs diffrentes
functions; leurs conseils tant gnraux que particuliers; celui qui reprsente
ltat, dans lequel le pouvoir souverain reside et qui rsout la paix et la
guerre, qui peut faire des lois, etc: les nombres et noms de tous ceux qui
ont droit dy entrer; par qui et de quelle faon les propositions en sont
faites; les suffrages recueillis et les resultants pris et pronounces; les conseils
particuliers pour la milice, pour lamiraut, pour la justice, tant pour la ville
que pour le reste de ltat; les lois et les coutumes sous lesquelles ils vivent;
en quoi consistent les milices destins pour la garde de la place; idem pour
les forces maritimes.
Visiter tous les ouvrages publics, maritimes et terestres, ensemble les
palais, maisons publiques, et gnralement tout ce qui peut tre
remarquable en ladite ville et dans tout ltat.
18. Seignelays trips to Holland and England were much more of the industrial
sorts, and the reports he wrote for his father are less formal than the relation of the
trip to Italy, and resembled more the work he did in Rochefort.
19. On commonplace books see note 17, chap. 2.
20. There are two different editions of the Mmoire sur les Ordonnances en gen-
eral de Mr. Colbert. The rst, BNF MS Fr. 7213, contains only two volumes. The
second, MS Fr. 74977500, not mentioned by Pierre Clment, contains four volumes.
21. Ordonnanes, vol. 2, fol. 471: Mmoire de Monseigneur. Faire un M-
moire succinct de toutes les formes diffrentes des letters de chancellerie, leurs
formes et leurs clauses essentielles de leur distinctions duquel mmoire de tous les
diffrents noms et letters qui sexpdient sous chaque forme. Par exemple. Lettres
patentes. . . . Declarations, commissions, . . . arrests.
22. Ibid., vol. 3, fol. 175: Quest ce quun Comptant: Cest un acquit en Par-
chemin, sign de la main du Roy des Derniers qui luy ont t payee nouvellement
par le Tresorier de lEpargne et auquel nest fait aucune mention des Causes.
23. Colbert to Seignelay, April 17, 1672, Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, p. 80.
24. Ibid., p. 62: Instruction . . . ma charge, Aussytost que jauray vu toutes
les dpesches, mesure quelles arriveront, je les enverray mon ls pour les voir,
en faire promptement et exactemen lextrait, lequel sera mis de sa main sur le dos de
la letter et remis en mesme temps sur ma table; je mettray un mot de ma main sur
chaque article de lextrait, contenant le rponse quil faudra faire aussytost; il faudra
que mon ls fasse les rponses de sa main, que je les voye ensuite et les corrige, et
quand le tout sera dispose, le vendredy nous porterons au Roy toutes les letters,
nous luy en lirons les extraits, et en mesme temps les rponses; si Sa Majest y or-
donne quelque changement, il sera fait; sinon, les rponses seront mises au net,
signes et envoyes. Et ainsy, en observant cet ordre rgulier avec exactitude, sans
sen dpartir jamais, il est certain que mon ls se mettra en estat de sacqurir de les-
time dans lesprit du Roy.
25. Ibid., p. 80, Colbert to Seignelay, April 17, 1672. Colberts tirade goes on
for three pages. For the rest of his life, into Seignelays thirties, Colbert continued
to regularly harass his son in his letters.
26. Ibid., Seignelay to Colbert, pp. 7174:
Je me feray reprsenter les enregistremens le mardy, aprs le disner, je les
coteray aprs les avoir lus, et marqueray cost les minutes de la main de
mon pre.
Surtout, je ne manqueray pas, lorsque jauray quelque expdition
faire, de quelque nature quelle soit, de chercher dans les registres ce qui
aura est fait en pareille occasion, et je me donneray le temps de lire et
examiner lesdits registres, an de former mon style sur celuy de mon pre.
Je visiteray tous les soirs ma table et mes papiers, et jexpdieray, avant
de me coucher, ce qui pourra lestre, ou je mettray part et enverray,
avant de marquer, sur lagenda que je tiendray exactement sur ma table, les
affaires que je leur auray renvoyes, an de leur en demander compte en
cas quils les diffreraient trop longtemps.
Je mettray sur ledit agenda toutes les affaires courantes, et je les rayeray
mesure que leur expdition soit acheve.
Jemployerai le mercredy travailler aux affaires courantes, que je
nauray pu achever le mardy, et en cas quil y eust quelques affaires
presses, dont il fallust donner part dans les ports de Brest et de Rochefort,
jcriray par lordinaire qui part ce jour-l.
Je liray toutes les lettres mesure quelles viendront, feray moi-mesme
lextrait des principales, et enverray les autres au commis qui a le soin des
dpesches. [Colbert writes in the margin: Il faut lire et faire lextrait des
principales lettres, et, lgard des autres, lextrait des principaux points.]
Je prendray le mercredy aprs le disner pour examiner tous les
portefeuilles, ranger les papiers suivant lordre mis cost par mon pre, y
remettre les nouvelles expeditions qui auront est faites, et les maintenir
toujours dans lordre prescrit par mon pre.
Je feray le jeudi matin un mmoire des orders demander mon pre
sur les dpeches de lordinaire, an de commencer ensuite y travailler.
Je travailleray le soir au conseil, feray les extraits des affaires auxquelles
il y aura quelques difcults, an destre en estat den render compte le
lendemain matin mon pre.
Je feray en sorte dachever dans le vendredy toutes les dpesches de
lordinaire.
En faisant les principales, que je feray toutes de ma main, je mettray
cost les points desquels je dois parler dans le corps de la letter, et tascherai
de suivre le style de mon pre, an de luy oster, sil est possible, la peine de
les corriger ou de les refaire mesme tout entires, ainsy quil arrive souvent.
Le samedi matin sera employ examiner et signer les letters de
lordinaire, expdier le conseil du vendredy et travailler aux affaires
courantes.
Le samedy aprs le disner, je travailleray sans faute examiner lagenda,
voir sur le register des nances sil ny a point de nouveaux fonds qui
ayent est omis sur le register des orders donns au trsorier; si je nay
point omis, pendant la semaine, denregistrer ceux qui ont est donns; et
je mappliqueray ester si exact dans la tenue dudit agenda, que je naye
pas besoin davoir recours au trsorier pour savoir les fonds quil a entre
les mains.
Jenregistreray aussy le samedy toutes les ordonnances sur le register
tenu par le sieur de Breteuil.
Le dimanche matin sera employ verier la feuille des lieux o sont
les vaisseaux, et travailler aux affaires qui seront expdier.
Jauray toujours lagenda des vaisseaux, des escadres et des ofciers dans
ma poche.
Je feray surtout en sorte dexcuter ponctuellement tout ce qui est
contenu dans le mmoire cy-dessus, en cas quil soit approuv par mon
pre, en de faire mesme plus sur cela que je ne luy promets.
27. Ibid., pp. 17273, Colbert to Seignelay, October 24, 1676:
Vous devez encore prendre garde bien conserver vos papiers,
particulirement les importans, que vous devez garder sous vostre clef,
comme tous les traits et les mmoires que jay fait faire et que je fais faire
encore tous les jours pour vous, que je trouve prsent rouls dans un
bureau et estant dans la dernire salet quoyque ce soit la quintescence de
lesprit des plus habiles gens du royaume;
Vos portefeuilles;
Les Arrests, par cotes et par dates;
Tous les traits, les livres, les instructions et tout ce qui concerne les
fondemens et les maximes des prises, que vous devez savoir parfaitement.
Prendre soin que tous vos mmoires et lettres soyent bien cots.
Quil ny ayt aucun qui schappe que vous ne voyiez, que vous
nexaminiez, et que vous ne donniez vos ordres sur ce quil contient. . . .
Quil ne passe jamais aucun papier par vos mains, ni aucune lettre, sans les
voir, les examiner et donner vostre rsolution, et sans demander ce que
vous ne saurez pas parfaitement.
28. Ibid., p. 64, Instructions: Il falloit coter les feuillets, diviser ces maxims
par date et par chapitre, et faire seulement un extrait prcis et sappliquer en exe-
cuter quelque partie ou quelque article.
chapter 7
1. Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, fol. 491; for
original documents on this purchase see Colbert, Lettres, vol. 7, pp. cciicciii; and
Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, pp. 8081.
2. Colbert had written to Bernini about plans to build a grand royal library,
which never materialized. Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, p. 83.
3. Balay, La bibliothque du Roi, p. 209.
4. BNF MS Baluze, 362, fols. 60281. When he was refused access by the
Achille de Harlay III, the procurator of the Royal Archive and a parliamentarian, he
had Carcavy copy seventy-three volumes of documents for his own library. BNF
MS Baluze 100, fol. 8v; Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 440; Saunders,
Public Administration, p. 289.
5. Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, fol. 491;
Balay, La Bibliothque du Roi, p. 209. After Colberts death, there were public
complaints that he had stolen many materials from the public library, and a pam-
phlet written denouncing Carcavy and Baluze for working against the public inter-
est. See S. Solente, Nouveaux dtails sur la vie et les manuscrits de Pierre de
Carcavy, Bibliothque de lcole des Chartes 111 (1953): pp. 13639. Published
anonymously in 1683, the pamphlet is entitled, Mmoire concernant la Biblio-
thque du Roy. It was met by responses by both Carcavy and Baluze. See Bloch,
Bibliothque de Colbert, p. 175.
6. Old Jrome Bignon had long since stopped working for the library, though
he retained the title of Matre de la Bibliothque Royale. BNF MS Baluze, 297.
Also see Jean Boivin, another of Colberts library technicians, whose manuscript
history of the Royal Library is the most revealing source on its inner workings:
Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, fol. 469. On Colbert de
Luons activities and Gallican interests see BNF MS Baluze 362, fols. 2231, 349;
MS Baluze 297, fol. 7r.
7. Numerous sketches and inventories are found in the correspondence from
Seignelay [8384]. [62] Recueil de pices sur la Marine de Guerre (16401683).
Journal de pilotage du vaisseau la Force, envoy dans lOcan Indien (166870).
[31] Recueil de relations et mmoirs sur lEspagne (16061666), les Indes Orien-
tales (16281669), lAmerique (16241669), les Antilles (16681671), containing
Propositions pour faire une compagnie en France pour les Indes Occidentales,
Discours sur le passage des gallions et des otes de la Nouvelle Espagne dans
lAmrique et sur leur retour en Europe, Une tradition anonyme, [double from
the royal collection MS Fr. 19032] G. Gardyner, Description of the New World, or
Islands and continents of America, as they were all in the year 1649 (London,
1651). [34] Recueil de documents annotes par Colbert pour un trait de com-
merce avec lAngleterre et pour le cration de la Compagnie des Indes (16671674).
Traduction franaise de la Lex mercatoria de Girard Malynes (1622). [3840, 48]
Trade with England and Holland. [53] Chartes de fondation des Colonies
Anglaises en Amrique et dans les Indes Occidentales, en anglais et en latin
(16201670).
8. On the centralization of natural knowledge and reports see Lettres, vol. 3,
part 2, p. 66. To Seignelay on what the intendants are supposed to do with infor-
mation.
9. [55] Receuils de motifs dArchitecture et de pices sur le Cabinet des M-
dailles et sur la Navigation uviale en France.
10. [177343].
11. Henri-Franois, comte Delaborde, Les Archives royales depuis la mort de saint
Louis jusqu Pierre dtampes (Nogent-le-Rotrou: Daupeley-Gouverneur, 1908),
and tude sur la constitution du Trsor des Chartes (Paris: Plon-Nourrit, 1909).
12. On the biblioteca selecta and its evolution, see Jean Viardot, Livres rares et
pratiques bibliophiliques, in Roger Chartier and Henri-Jean Martin, Histoire de
ldition franaise, 3 vols. (Paris: Fayard, 1984), vol. 2, pp. 583614; Helmut Zedel-
maier, Bibliotheca Universalis und Biblioteca Selecta: Das Problem der Ordnung das
gelehrten Wissens in der frhen Neuzeit (Cologne: Bhlau Verlag, 1992), pp. 11921;
and Neil Kenny, Books in Space and Time: Bibliomania and Early Modern His-
tories of Learning and Literature in France, Modern Language Quarterly 61 (2000):
pp. 25386.
13. Jean-Marc Chatelain, La bibliothque de lhonnte homme: Livres, lecture et col-
lections en France lge classique (Paris: Bibliothque Nationale de France, 2003).
14. On Blotius and the Imperial Library, se Paola Molino, Hugo Blotius:
From a Universal Project to the Establishment of the Imperial library, European
University Institute, June Paper, 2005, pp. 1519.
15. Ibid., p. 28. Cited and translated by Paola Molino: Hugo Blotius to a friend,
Vienna, August 8, 1575, sterreichische Nationalbibliothek, HSS, Cod. Ser. Nov.
363, fols. 27r28v.
16. Molino, Hugo Blotius, p. 41.
17. Erik Thomson, Axel Oxenstierna and Books, Sixteenth Century Journal,
38 (2007): pp. 70529.
18. Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, in Francis Bacon, A Critical Edition of the Major
Works, ed. Brian Vickers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 471.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid., pp. 48489.
21. R. W. Serjeantson, Natural Knowledge in the New Atlantis, in Francis
Bacons New Atlantis, ed., Bronwen Price (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 2002), pp. 82105.
22. Anthony Grafton, Where Was Salomons House? Ecclesiastical History
and the Intellectual Origins of Bacons New Atlantis, in Die europische Gelehrtenre-
publik im Zeitalter des Konfessionalismus/The European Republic of Letters in the Age of
Confessionalism, ed. Herbert Jaumann (Harrassowitz Verlag/Wolfenbtteler For-
schungen: Wiesbaden, 2001), p. 21.
23. New Atlantis, pp. 467, 471.
24. While there is no concrete evidence that Colbert read the New Atlantis, he
knew who Bacon was.
25. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, pp. 43940.
26. Pierre Hliot, Nouveau details sur la vie et les manuscripts de Pierre de
Carcavi, Bibliothque de lcole des Chartes 111 (1953): pp. 12439.
27. Leibniz was inuenced by his visit to the French loyal library, where he met
with Baluze and Clment. See W. Leibniz, Suggestions for the Perfection and Ex-
tension of the Far-famed Library at Wolfenbuttel, in L. M. Newman, Leibniz
(16461716) and the German Library Scene (London: Library Association, 1966); A. L.
Clarke, Leibniz as a Librarian, The Library 3 (1914): pp. 14054.
28. For Colberts correspondence with Cassini and Charles Perrault, see Lettres,
vol. 5, especially the notes by Perrault about Colberts role in its building, p. 515.
Also see Charles Joseph tienne Wolf, Histoire de lObervatoire de Paris de sa fondation
1793 (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1902), which contains original documents and shows
Colberts involvement in the minutiae of founding the observatory; Stroup, A Com-
pany of Scientists, pp. 4345.
29. Alice Stroup, Christian Huygens et lAcadmie royale des Sciences, La
Vie des Sciences: Revue de lAcadmie des Sciences 4 (1996): pp. 33341; also see Stroup
on Colberts shadow republic of letters: Nicolas Hartsoeker, savant hollandais as-
soci de lAcadmie des Sciences et espion de Louis XIV, Cahiers dHistoire des Sci-
ences et Techniques 47 (1999): pp. 20123.
30. Christian Huygens, Note de Huygens avec des Observations de Colbert,
ca. 1670, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. 523.
31. Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. lxvi.
32. See Hahn, Anatomy of Scientic Institution; and Hirscheld, Acadmie Royale
des Sciences, pp. 16869.
33. On the program of public experiments to be performed at the Royal Gar-
den, see Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. 545, Dclaration du roi pour la continuation des
leons au Jardin Royal des plantes, January 20, 1673; Stroup, A Company of Scien-
tists, pp. 3839.
34. For Colberts correspondence with Bernini and the preliminary plans for
Versailles see Lettres, vol. 5, pp. 45282.
35. Hillary Ballon, Louis La Vau: Mazarins Collge, Colberts Revenge (Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), pp. 12830.
36. Frances Yates, The French Academies of the Sixteenth Centuries (London: War-
burg Institute, 1947).
37. Denis de Sallo, Le Journal des savans (Paris: J. Cusson, 1665), p. 1. On the
founding of the Journal des Savants and its connection to the Petite Acadmie, see
Hirscheld, Acadmie Royale des Sciences, pp. 67.
38. Eugne Hatin, Histoire politique et littraire de la presse en France, 2 vols. (Paris:
Poulet-Malassis rt de Broise, 1859), vol. 1, pp. 15282.
39. On Colberts creation of a parallel Republic of Letters, see volume 5 of his
Lettres, which contains his correspondence with cultural gures. On Chapelains re-
lationship with Colbert see Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 4850. On Huygens in
France see Stroup, Christian Huygens.
40. George Collas, Un pote protecteur des lettres au XVIIe sicle, Jean Chapelain,
15951674 (Paris: 1912); Ranum, Artisans of Glory, pp. 18896.
41. Jean Chapelain, Lettres, ed. Philippe Tamizey de Larroque, 2 vols. (Paris:
Imprimerie Nationale, 188083), vol. 2, p. 275.
42. Chapelain to Colbert, November 1662, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. 619.
43. Ibid., Colbert to Hevelius, June 20, 1663, pp. 23941.
44. tienne Baluze, Histoire des Capitulaires des Rois Franois sour la premire et sec-
onde Race sur ldition de 1677 (The Hague, 1755), p. 144.
45. Jean Mabillon worked for Colbert as a state medievalist, through his close
relationship with Baluze. See for example BNF MS Baluze 214, fol. 10. mile Fage,
tienne Baluze: Sa vie, ses ouvrages, son exil, sa defense (Tulle: Crauffon, 1899), p. 91;
Emmanuel de Broglie, Mabillon et la Socit de Labbaye de Saint-Germain des Prs, 2
vols. (Paris: Plon, 1888), vol. 1, pp. 5557; Barret-Kriegel, Les historiens et la monar-
chie, vol. 1, pp. 5254.
46. Colbert to Baluze, October 13, 1673, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 73.
47. The correspondence concerning acquisitions for both libraries is found in
BNF MS Baluze, 36466, with records kept by Baluze.
48. The classic documents on the origins of scholarly sociability and manuscript
hunting is found in Walter and Goodhart, Two Renaissance Book Hunters.
49. Chapelain to Colbert, February 11, 1667, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. 620.
50. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliothque Nationale, vol. 1, pp.
27985; Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, p. 89.
51. Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, p. 89. On Colberts quick and thrifty re-
constitution of the Bibliothque Mazarine see Colbert to Mazarin, March 3, 1654,
in Lettres, vol. 1, pp. 21517.
52. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 274. See the Mmoire des man-
uscripts de le bibliothque de M. Fouquet, qui se vendent Paris chez Denys
Thierry, Frdric Lonard, Jean Dupuis, rue Saint-Jacques, et Calude Barbin, au
Pallais, Bibliothque de lInstitut, MS AA 1862.
53. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, pp. 27074; Balay, La Bibliothque
Nationale, p. 87.
54. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 286.
55. Cited by Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 215.
56. On the younger de Briennes central place in politics during three reigns,
and on the secret royal state cahiers, and the registers kept by Parlement see
Henri-Auguste de Lomnie de Brienne, Mmoires, 3 vols. (Amsterdam: Jean-
Frdric Bernard, 1719), vol. 1, pp. 2125.
58. Ibid., p. 216.
59. Ibid.
60. Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, pp. 100101.
61. Bloch, La Colbertine, p. 403.
62. On the constitution of the royal manuscript collection, see Delisle Le Cabi-
net des Manuscrits, in general. For a general history of the Bibliothque Nationale see
Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, pp. 71145. For a history of the state archives, see
the introduction to Boislisle, Mmoires des Intendants, vol. 1, pp. ilix.
63. On Wotton the book thief, see Molino, Hugo Blotius, p. 19.
64. Foucault, Mmoires, pp. cxviiicxxi; Balay, La Bibliothque Nationale, p. 91.
Baluze worked with Foucault on these document hunts, which Colbert closely
oversaw. See Baluzes 1680 memo to Foucault: Mmoire sur les livres retirer de
lAbbaye de Moissac, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 37778. Henri Omont, La
Collection Doat la Bibliothque nationale, documents sur les recherches de Doat
dans les archives du Sud-Ouest de la France de 16631670, Bibliothque de lcole
des Chartes 77 (1916): pp. 286336; Lothar Kolmer, Colbert und die Entstehung
der Collection Doat, Francia 7 (1979): pp. 46389; Jean-Loup Le Maitre, Les cat-
alogues mdivaux et le pillage des bibliothques languedociennes, inLivres et
bibliothques XIIIeVIe sicles, ed. Jean-Louis Biget, in Cahiers de Fanjeaux 31
(Paris: Privat, n.a.), pp. 3640.
66. Omont, La Collection Doat, p. 292.
67. Ibid., pp. 29093 and 307. The threat to nobles was real. One of Colberts
plans was to form a register of noble titles to combat noble tax fraud, or what was
called the recherche et punition de faux nobles, which was one of the specic re-
sponsibilities of the intendants and an element of Colberts judicial reform. See Col-
berts Orders to the Intendants, April 3, 1666, in Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 2224. Al-
though it initially failed under strong opposition, this project inspired Clairambaults
genealogical registers.
68. Saunders, Public Administration, pp. 29396.
69. Note de Carcavy sur les recherches de Doat en Barn, Guyenne et
Languedoc, in Omont, La Collection Doat, p. 327.
70. Colbert to Godefroy, October 19, 1668, and January 11, 1669, in Lettres,
vol. 5, pp. 27476; Saunders, Public Administration, pp. 29192.
71. On Peirescs orientalist antiquarianism and Kircher see Peter N. Miller,
Copts and Scholars: Athanasius Kircher in Peirescs Republic of Letters, in Find-
len, Athanasius Kircher, pp. 13348. For the specic description of riding in a camel
train and rummaging in the archives of various Eastern houses of prayer see the re-
markable correspondence of the Jesuit Johann Michael Wansleben, or Vansleb in
French, with Pierre Carcavy and Colbert in which a remarkable adventure of learn-
ing is described.
72. See Peiresc to Holstenius, July 27, 1630, in Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc, Lettres,
ed. Tamizey de Larroque, 7 vols. (Paris, 188898), vol. 5, pp. 35051.
73. Henri Omonts Missions archologiques en Orient aux XVIIe et XVIIIe sicles
(Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1902), p. ix. Omont reproduces de Thous corre-
spondence concerning Eastern manuscripts with the ambassador to Constantinople,
Harlay de Sancy, a fellow erudite (pp. iiix).
74. Franois Bernier, Lettre Monseigneur Colbert sur ltendue de lHin-
doustan, circulation de lor et de largent pour venir sy abmer, richesses, forces et
cause de la dcadence des tats dAsie, in his Voyage dans les tats du Grand Mogol,
ed. France Bhattacharya (Paris: Fayard, 1981), pp. 14376.
75. See Henri Omonts rich source collection, which contains all of Colberts
correpondence on the topic: Missions archologiques en Orient, p. 101. Also see Pierre
Burger, Quand il en trouve qui savent quelque chose. . . . Sur les informateurs
orientaux en Europe aux XVIIe et XVIIIe sicles, in Les orientalistes sont des aven-
turiers: Guirlande offerte Joseph Tubiana par ses lve et ses amis, ed. Alain Rouaud
(Paris: INALCO, 1999), pp. 5560.
76. See Colbert to Seignelay, April 17, 1672, Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, p. 80.
77. Colbert to M. de Guilleragues, ambassador to Constantinople, April 4,
1680, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 104: Vous savez la curiosit que jay davoir de bons
manuscrits pour lornement de ma bibliothque, et je suis bien persuad, par lami-
ti que vous avez pour moy, que, pendant tout le temps que vous serez Constan-
tinople, vous prendrez quelque soin den faire chercher et de me les envoyer; faites-
moy savoir, de temps en temps, la dpense quil faudra faire pour cela, an que jy
puisse pourvoir. Cependant, je suis bien ayse de vous donner avis que le sieur
Sauvan, consul de Chypre, mcrit que larchevesque de Chypre, qui est prsent
Constantinople, a dassez beaux manuscrits que lon pourroit peut-estre tirer de luy.
Vous verrez si cet avis pourra produire quelque chose, sans toutefois rien hasarder ni
vous commettre.
78. Jean-Baptiste Cotelier, Remarques sur les manuscrits grecs, ca. 1667, in
Omont, Missions archologiques en Orient, pp. 3032. The original is found in BNF
MS Latin 18610, fols. 6566.
79. Ibid., p. 31: Il ne faut point laisser chapper aucun livre historique, ny au-
cun livre de loix civiles ou ecclsiastiques, cest dire canons.
80. For Colberts correspondence with Arnoul concerning the outtting of the
expedition see Colbert to Arnoul, April 1, 1671, in Omont, Missions archologiques en
Orient, p. 63.
81. Ibid., p. 250.
82. Ibid., pp. 5863.
83. Ibid., p. 61: Il remarquera tout ce qui peut entrer dans la composition de
lhistoire naturelle de chaque pays, comme des animaux de toutes espces, des
minreaux et des marcassite, particulirement de ceux qui ont quelque chose dex-
traordinaire, des fonteynes minralles et autres eaux, des plantes et fruits, tant de la
campagne que de celles qui se cultivent dans les jardins, observant ce qui crot plus
facilement en un pays quun autre.
84. Ibid., p. 62.
85. See Omont for later missions, Missions archologiques en Orient, pp. 22250.
86. Ibid., pp. 22427.
87. Ibid., p. 228. The catalog of this batch of manuscripts is found in BNF MS
Latin 9363, fols. 9099v.
88. Besson, in Omont, Missions archologiques en Orient, p. 227: Jay escrit ces
rexions, bien que je mestime peu habile pour servir laccomplissement dun
dessein, dont lexcution contribueroit beaucoup lhonneur de lglise gallicane,
pour conrmer nommmant contre les sectes hrtique les vritz catholiques de
lEucharistie, touchant le sacerdoce, le sacrice de la Messe, la Ralit et la Tran-
substantiation, les prires pour les morts, le purgatoire, le chef visible de lglise et
la pimaut de lglise romaine, et semblables poincts que lglise orientale confesse
en mille endroicts de ses anciens manuscrits.
89. Richelets 1686 Dictionary denes portfolio, or portefeuille: Cest un ou-
vrage de Relieur, compos de deux ais de carton, couverts de parchemin, de veau,
de mouton, ou de maroquin, avec quelques enjolivements de doreur sur la couver-
ture. Register or, registre, is dened as Cest un livre qui nest pas pas imprim,
o sont enregistrez les actes publics & autres choses. Coucher sur le registre. Cest-
-dire, crire sur le registre. Tenir le registre. Garder le registre.
90. The crown managed to retrieve many of the Colbertine manuscripts
bought at its expense during the reign of Louis XIV. In 1728, when Colberts
grandson, the comte de Seignelay, tried to sell Colberts state manuscripts on the
open market, the king intervened. Seignelay demanded 600,000 pounds for the en-
tire collection. In the margins of his letter to Louis XV demanding this sum, the
king noted with his own hand, Good. 300,000, half of the value assessed by the
appraisers. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 485.
91. Colbert, January 5, 1673, Lettres, vol. 7, p. 71. The current bound folios
were organized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but appear to corre-
spond to Colberts original thematic portfolios.
92. For an example see BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 33, fol. 5.
93. I have not been able to ascertain to what extent he removed documents
from these notebooks.
94. All the following reference numbers refer to the BNF MS Mlanges Col-
bert.
95. [4647].
96. [12] Recueil de pices sur lHistoire de France: Description du royaume
(1607), traits, tats de la maison royale, protocole au temps de Henri IV, Chancel-
liers de France, hpitaux de Paris, titres du duch dAlenon, etc. [14] Documents
divers, relatifs au rgne de Louis XIII (16111643). [15] Mlanges sur lHistoire
de France, pendant les rgnes de Louis XIII et Louis XIV, containing documents
such as the Pices relatives au rle du Parlement, lors de la Fronde (16481649),
and Les crimes du Cardinal, et autres pices pour ou contre Mazarin, pami
lesquelles des actes et des dlibrations des Cours souveraines. [27] Recueil de
mmoires et instructions donns par Louis XIII aux lieutenants gnraux des armes
de terre et de mer, aux amdassadeurs et envoys de la France ltranger
(16401643).
97. [5] Recueil de pices relatives aux relations de la France avec la Turquie,
Alger, et Italie, containing documents such as Affaire de la Valteline: traits de
Madrid, sign par Franois de Bassompirre, 25 avril 1621, et dOccagna, 1622 en
Italien (fols. 6275). [8] Recueil de pices, traits et correspondances orginales
dambassades sur les rapports entre la France, la Pologne et la Sude (16271683),
containing contemporary documents such as the Instruction du Roy au sieur Col-
bert [de Croissy] sen allant de la part de sa Majest en la court de Vienne (fol 688).
[10] Recueil de mmoires et de lettres originales sur lAllemagne (15541664).
[11] Recueil de pices diplomatiques, la plupart en copies, sur les rapports de la
France avec le Danemark, les Pays-Bas espagnols (14991655) et hollandais
(15971657), lAngleterre (12151654), lcosse (1295XVIIe sicle et lIrlande
(1624). This portfolio contains a long subcollection on English law, court, Parlia-
ment, and French relations, starting at fol. 288 with a French original of the Magna
Carta, Grande charte des liberts anglaises, en franais, 1215. [13] Copies de
Corrspondances diplomatiques, relatives lhistoire de France, des XVIe et XVIIe
sicles. [1626, 28] More diplomatic correspondance from the time of Henri
IIIV.
98. [24, 7], [85].
99. [29] Receuil de mmoires sur les droits de la reine Marie-Thrse
dAutriche la succession dEspagne et des Pays-Bas espagnols. [30] Recueil de
mmoires, form par labb Amable de Bourzeis et remis Colbert sur les droits de
la Reine Marie-Thrse dAutriche la succession des Pays-Bas, et sur la nullit de
sa renonciation successoriale (16641667). [37] Recueil dodes et de pomes
latins, franais et italiens composs la louange du rgne de Louis XIV, par boileau-
Despraux, labb de Bourzeis, Cl. Boyer, labb Jacques Cassagnes, Jean Chapelain,
Franois Charpentier, Thomas Corneille, labb Cotin, Jacques Cousinot, etc.
[54], fols. 194, Clefs dcritures secrtes. [54]. Mlanges relatifs lHistoire Lit-
traire, oraisons funbres, pitaphes, lettres, etc, XVIe et XVIIe sicles.
100. [56] Receuil de lettres pouvant servir de modle de style pistolaire, tir
de la correspondance de secrtaires dtat, entre autres de Richelieu, dambas-
sadeurs, etc. (16171625). [35] Escrit sur les Ordonnances du royaume, par labb
Amable de Bourzeis. [36] Escrit sur les Ordannances du royaume, par Bourzeis.
101. [32] Recueil de pices relatives aux Parlements et la Justice, aux Cou-
tumes de Metz et Verdun, etc. Rponse du surintendant Fouquet lacte daccusa-
tion de D. Talon, in which, Droictz appartenans la grande chambellanie de
France, avec une note de Colbert adresse a M. Baluze. [33] Recueil de mmoires
form par Colbert sur la Rforme de la Procdure (16651679). [64] De la Loy
Salique, anonymous report made for Colbert. Notable among Colberts antiparlia-
mentarian les are the Notes secrtes sur le personnel de tous les parlemens et cours
des comptes du royaume, envoyes par les Intendans des provinces Colbert, sur sa
demande, vers la n de lan 1663, in Depping, Correspondance administrative, vol. 1,
pp. 33132. This gives an earlier though less sophisticated sense of what Robert
Darnton discusses in A Police Inspector Sorts His Files: The Anatomy of the Re-
public of Letters, in Great Cat Massacre, pp. 14589. At the beginning of the sev-
enteenth century, Henry IVs minister, Sully, meticulously collected economic data
and kept a large historical archive, which remained in the hands of his family. Sullys
famous work, part memoir, part compilation of economic data and documents, is
Mmoires des sages et royalles oeconomies dEstat, domestiques, politiques et militaires de
Henry le Grand, lexemplaire des roys, le prince des vertus, des armes et des loix et le pre en
effet de ses peuples franois: et des servitudes utiles, obissances convenables et administrations
loyales (Amsterdam: Jacques Bouquet, 1632). On this work and on his use of eco-
nomic information see Buisseret, Sully, pp. 1720, chap. 3.
102. BNF Mlanges Colbert 61, Mlanges relatifs diffrentes bibiothques et
lHistoire ecclsiastique au XVIIe sicle, is lled with inventories and catalogs.
[81] Recueil danalyses de Titres scells, avec la description des sceaux (XIVXVIe
sicle). [88100] Catalgus librorum bibliothecae illustrissimi domini D. Jacobi
Nicolai Colbert, Catalgue des manuscrits de la Collection Dupuy, Catalgue de
la collection forme sur les affaires trangres et ladministration de la France, par
Antoine de Lomnie de Brienne. Inventaire des Chartes du Thrsor du Roy es-
tant en la Saincte Chapelle du Palais Paris, faict par Messieurs Dupuy et Godefroy,
advocats en Parlements, suivant larrest du Conseil dEstat de sa Majest, du 21e
may, 1615.
103. Gabriel Naud, Advis pour dresser une bibliothque (Paris: Rolet Le Duc,
1644), pp. 16364; Pintard, Le libertinage erudite, 16874; Chartier, Lordre des livres,
pp. 7173. On Nauds library as a site of new knowledge see Nelles, Instrument
of Discovery, pp. 4157; also Damien, Bibliothque et tat, pp. 3016. On Nauds
library project and the new philosophies of the universal library see Jonathan Israels
chapter, Libraries and Enlightenment, his Radical Enlightenment, pp. 11941.
104. Hirscheld, Acadmie Royale des Sciences, pp. 16869. On Colbert and the
Acadmie des Sciences see Stroup, Christian Huygens, in general. On Colberts
personal collection see Bloch, La Colbertine; also see Bloch, La bibliothque de
Colbert; Saunders, Public Administration, pp. 28399.
105. Brown, Scientic Organizations, pp. 13560; Claude Gros de Boze, Histoire
de lAcadmie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 3 vols. (Paris: H-L Guerin, 1740),
vol. 1, p. 2. Also see David S. Lux, Patronage and Royal Science in Seventeenth-Century
France: The Acadmie de Physique de Caen (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
1989), pp. 10525; Barret-Kriegel, Les historiens et la monarchie, vol. 3, pp. 171301.
106. BNF Mlanges Colbert 5860, Recueil de diffrents traits de Mathma-
tiques et dAstronomie, Geometricorum elementorum Euclidis libri IVI, avec
gures lencre . . . , Recueil de Tables Astronomiques.
107. Auguste Bernard, Histoire de lImprimerie Royale du Louvre (Amsterdam:
Verlag P. Schnippers, 1966), pp. 12354. This work contains a very revealing cata-
log of published books. During Colberts lifetime and after his death, the press fo-
cused mainly on ndings by the Acadmie Royale des Sciences. Also see Brown,
Scientic Organizations, pp. 185207.
108. See the catalog, which speaks for itself, in Bernard, Histoire de lImprimerie
Royale, pp. 12363.
109. A list is in Prosper Boissonnade, Colbert. Le Triomphe de ltatisme. La Fon-
dation de la Suprmatie industrielle de la France. La Dictature du Travail 16611683 (Paris:
Marcel Rivire, 1931), p. 32.
110. Colbert, Lettres, vol. 6, pp. xxvxxvi n. 2. On this citation and Colberts
attempts at educational reform, see Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites, p. 38.
111. H. Didier-Neuville, Les tablissments de lancienne marine (Paris: Berger-
Levrault, 1882); Dainville, Lducation des Jesuites, pp. 219, 31522; Franois Russo,
Lhydrographie en France aux XVIIe et XVIII sicles. coles et ouvrages den-
seignement, in Roger Hahn and Ren Taton, coles techniques et militaires au XVI-
IIe sicle (Paris: Hermann, 1986), pp. 41940.
112. For the catalog of Croissys library see Archives Nationales Minutier Cen-
tral, tude CXLIII, liasse 20: Inventaire des biens de feu Monseigneur de Croissy,
Ministre et Secrtaire dEtat du 7 aot 1696.
113. For Vaubans reading catalog for his sons library see Virol, Vauban, annex.
114. Saunders, Public Administration, p. 292.
115. Colbert to Baluze, July 1672, in Lettres, vol. 7, pp. 6364.
116. Colbert to Baluze, March 23, 1672, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 59. This request
was related to the legal, historical minutiae of trade negotiations with England in
1672. See the Demandes faites pas les commissaires de la Grande-Bretagne pour le
trait de commerce, et rponses du Roy de France, Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, p. 828.
For Colberts correspondence with Baluze concerning bibliographical references see
BNF MS Baluze 362, fols. 60-282.
117. BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 34.
118. Ibid., fols. 82v84r. Also see the corresponding le on English documents
concerning their colonies and their charters: BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 40.
119. Ibid., fol. 9.
120. The portfolios Colbert refers to are BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 11, fols.
28855; 34, 38, 39, and 40. The Projet du trait de commerce entre la France et
lAngleterre, avec les remarques de lambasssadeur de France Londres et quelques
notes de Colbert, October 9, 1669, is a working copy of the trade treaty written
from these documents, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 80332. Also see Colberts let-
ter to de Croissy, January 3, 1670, pp. 81516.
121. Colbert to Colbert de Croissy, September 26, 1669, in Lettres, vol. 2, part
2, pp. 49293. Jexamineray exactement le projet de trait de commerce que vous
mavez envoye, et je vous feray savoir ensuite mes sentimens sur chacun des arti-
cles dont il est compos. . . . Je seray bien ayse de voir les remarques que vous ferez
sur ce projet de trait en consquence des avis que vous prendrez des plus habiles
ngocians franais qui soyent en Angleterre; et comme les manuscrits et mmoires
que je vous a cy-devant envoys vous instruiriront de la conduite que vous aurez
tenir dans la discussion des articles de ce trait, vous pouvez sans difcult les garder
pour vous servir de rgle dans tout ce qui concernera le bien du service du roy et
lavantage de ses sujets. The portfolios to which Colbert refers are BNF MS
Mlanges Colbert 11, fols. 28855; 34, 38, 39, and 40. The Projet du trait de com-
merce entre la France et lAngleterre, avec les remarques de lambasssadeur de
France Londres et quelques notes de Colbert, October 9, 1669 is a working copy
of the trade treaty written from these documents, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp.
80341; for Colberts correspondence with Baluze concerning bibliographical ref-
erences see BNF MS Baluze 362, fols. 60282.
122. For Colberts report and Louiss annotations see Mmoire au Roy servant
de rponse au Projet de trait de commerce entre la France et lAngleterre mis en-
tre les mains di sieur Colbert, ambassadeur de Sa Majest prs de la Grande-Bre-
tagne, par mylord Arlington, in Lettres, vol. 2, part 2, pp. 81618.
123. Ibid., pp. 81832.
124. For Colberts Correspondance dArrive en Provenance du Canada,
see AN Col. C11A 14.
125. On how internal cultural practices of government affect and warp policy
see James Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Con-
dition Have Failed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998); Bdeker, Origins of
Statistical Gaze, pp. 16572; and Head, Knowing Like a State.
126. Colbert to the sieur Gaudais, May 1, 1669, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, pp.
44348.
127. Ibid., 444.
128. Ibid.
129. Ibid., p. 445.
130. On Philips formularies see Kagan, Arcana Imperii, pp. 4970.
131. See Mims, Colberts West India Policy; Mmain, La marine de guerre; and
Cole, Colbert, vol. 1, pp. 356532, and French Mercantilism: 16831700 (New York:
Octagon Books, 1971). Also see Glenn J. Ames, Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French
Quest for Asian Trade (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1996). On Col-
berts mercantilist Canadian failures see Kenneth J. Banks, Chasing Empire across the
Sea: Communication and the State in the French Atlantic, 17131763 (Montreal: McGill-
Queens University Press, 2002), pp. 2425; and James Pritchard, In Search of Empire:
The French in the Americas 16701730 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004), pp. 23437.
132. See in general Colbert, Lettres, vol. 3, part 2.
133. One of the most useful sources on Colberts colonial enterprises is Ernest
Benot, Recherches sur la politique coloniale de Colbert (Paris: A. Pedone diteur, 1902).
It includes this small enqute (pp. 12024).
134. Anthony Pagden, European Encounters with the New World: From Renaissance
to Romanticism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993); Ogilvie, The Science of
Describing; James Delbourgo and Nicholas Dew, eds., Science and Empire in the At-
lantic World (London: Routledge, 2007).
135. Kathleen A. Meyers, ed., Fernandez de Oviedos Chronicle of America: A New
History for a New World (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007).
136. Miles Ogborn, Indian Ink: Script and Print in the Making of the English East
India Company (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007); also see Miles Ogborn
and C. W. J. Withers, Knowing Other Places: Travel, Trade and Empire,
16601800, in A Concise Companion to the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century, ed.
Cynthia Wall (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), pp. 1436.
137. Greer, The Jesuit Relations.
138. Donald McKenzie, Oral Culture, Literacy and Print in Early New Zealand:
The Treaty of Waitangi (Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, 1985).
139. AN Col. C11A 14.
140. See New World les in note 7.
142. Ibid., fol. 38.
143. Ibid., fols. 3940.
144. Ibid., fol. 53.
145. Ibid., fol. 71.
146. Ibid., fol. 299.
147. Colbert to Plissier, Directeur de la Compagnie des Indes Occidentales,
November 4, 1671, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, p. 527: Envoyez-moi tousjours tout ce
que vous trouverez de rare et dextraordinaire dans les isles, en plantes, animaux,
bois, et autres choses.
148. Colbert, Mmoire pour les directeurs de la Compagnie des Indes occi-
dentales envoys en amrique, February 26, 1670, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, p. 472.
149. Ibid., p. 474.
150. Colbert to Talon, February 11, 1671, in Lettres, vol. 3, part 2, pp. 51215.
151. Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West: France and En-
gland in North America (Williamstown, MA: Corner House, 1980), p. 15.
152. John W. Olmsted, The Voyage of Jean Richer to Acadia in 1670: A
Study of the Relations of Science and Navigation under Colbert, Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society 104 (1960): pp. 61234.
153. Benot, La politique coloniale de Colbert, p. 208; Cole, Colbert, vol. 2, pp.
12231.
154. Cole, Colbert, vol. 2, p. 131.
155. On the importance of historical language and the perception of empires
see Emma Rothschild, Language and Empire, c. 1800, Historical Research 78 (May
2005): pp. 20829.
chapter 8
1. Jean Mabillon worked for Colbert as a state medievalist through his close
relationship with Baluze. Broglie, Mabillon, vol. 1, pp. 5557; Barret-Kriegel, Les
historiens et la monarchie, vol. 1, pp. 5254.
2. On Mabillons inuence on English political scholarship and English po-
litical antiquarianism see H. A. Cronne, The Study and Use of Charters by English
Scholars in the Seventeenth Century: Sir Henry Spelman and Sir William Dug-
dale, in English Historical Scholarship in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, ed.
Levi Fox (Oxford: Society and Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 7391.
3. On Mabillons relationship with Baluze and Colbert see BNF MS Baluze
214, fol. 10. On his relations with Baluze see Fage, tienne Baluze, p. 91.
4. Lucien Auvray and Ren Poupardin, Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Collec-
tion Baluze (Paris: ditions Ernest Leroux, 1921), p. XVII.
5. BNF MS Baluze 100, fols. 157.
6. Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, fol. 443;
Saunders, Public Administration, p. 290. In BNF MS Baluze, 100, fol. 8v, Baluze
explains to Colbert how he extracted material according to Colberts orders. Delisle
remarks that the library registers still contain the marks made on them by Baluze and
Colbert. Much of the Baluze collection is comprised of extractscopied portions
of documents from the royal collection. See MS Baluze 63, Extraits de manuscripts
de la Bibliothque du Roi. For an example of Colbert demanding quick extract
copying, see Colbert Baluze, August 12, 1675, in Lettres, vol. 7, pp. 8081. On
Baluzes function as an erudite administrator see his correspondence with Colbert in
the same volume, pp. 37178, in particular Baluzes progress report to Colbert,
April 14, 1671, pp. 37475: Le travail quon fait prsentement ne consiste quasy
que dans la continuation des copies des registres du Trsor des Chartes, dont on
verra bientost la n. Also see Colberts letter to Baluze, August 19, 1675, Lettres,
vol. 7, p. 81. On Baluze managing state account books see Lettres, vol. 7, p. 52,
Colbert Baluze, March 16, 1671.
7. On Colberts creation of a parallel Republic of Letters, see volume 5 of his
Lettres, which contains his correspondence with cultural gures. On Chapelains re-
lationship with Colbert see Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 4850.
8. Saunders, Public Administration, pp. 29097.
9. Colbert to Baluze, October 18, 1673 in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 73: Je prie M.
Baluze de verier si jay dans ma bibliothque tous les livres qui ont est annoncs
par le Journal des Savans, depuis cinq ou six ans, et de men envoyer un mmoire
bien exacte Je serais ayse aussy davoir une copie du catalogue de tous les livres qui
sont dans ma bibliothque qui ont est faits pour et contre le Jansnisme, avec un
mmoire de tous ceux qui me manquent, en cas quil le sache.
10. On the philosophical inuences on the movement of mass cataloging and
collecting, Baluze and the Benedictines, see Barret-Kriegelm, Les historiens et la
monarchie, vol. 2, pp. 20525. Also see Claude Jolly, Les bibliothques bn-
dictines, in Jolly, Histoire des bibliothques franaises, vol. 1, pp. 2939.
11. For examples of Baluzes internal histories and reports see BNF MS Colbert
3, in general. For specic examples of Baluzes internal reports and secret histories
see Mmoire sur les differens entre la cour de Rome et la Cour de France (fols
14), and his Trait de la Rgale (fols 941).
12. Payments of some sort were probably made to his order. Paul Nelles,
Lrudition ecclsiastique et les bibliothques de Paris au XVIIe sicle. tude de
catalogage et de classication, Revue franaise dhistoire du livre 1045 (1999): pp.
22752.
14. Ibid., fols. 1311, 32634, 547.
15. On Foucault see the excellent biography by F. Baudry, in Foucault, M-
moires, pp. iclxxvi. On the paperwork functions of a maitre de requte, see the
Procs-Verbal des confrences tenues devant Louis XIV pour la rformation de la
justice, September 25, 1665, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 371; Mousnier, The In-
stitutions of France, vol. 2, pp. 14043. Also see Franois Bluche, ed., Dictionnaire du
Grand Sicle (Paris: Fayard, 1990), p. 945.
16. On the rather unique career of Foucault see Antoine Schnapper, Le gant, la
licorne at la tulipe: Collections et collectionneurs dans la France du XVIIe sicle (Paris: Flam-
marion, 1988), pp. 297301.
17. Baudry, in Foucault, Mmoires, p. xii.
18. Ibid., p. xv.
19. Ibid., pp. xvxvi.
20. Ibid., pp. cixcxx. Reproduced by Baudry.
21. Foucault to Baluze, February 9, 1678, in Foucault, Mmoires, p. cxviii: Je
nai point voulu, Monsieur, faire rponse la dernire lettre que vous avez pris la
peine de mcrire, que je naie t en tat de vous envoyer le catalogue des manu-
scrits qui sont dans labbaye de Moissac. Je me suis servi pour les examiner de M.
Fouillac, chanoine de Cahors, qui a demeur sept jours en parcourir seulement
une partie, les archives de ce monastre tant dans une trs-grande confusion et la
plupart des actes pourris ou mangs des rats. M. le prsident Doat y a pass assez
lgrement, et il y a beaucoup de livres et de cartulaires quil na point vus. Il est ais
de connotre parfaitement ce qui est renferm dans cette abbaye, par le moyen du-
dit sieur Fouillac, qui est trs-habile en ces matires et aux yeux duquel rien
nchappera de tout ce qui mrite dtre relev. Mais, comme il perdroit le revenu
de canonicat pendant le temps quil travailleroit cette recherche et quil offre dy
travailler gratuitement, il seroit, Monsieur, ncessaire davoir une commission du roi
qui enjoignt au chapitre de Cahors de le tenir prsent pendant quil seroit occup
dans sa perquisition. Ce seroit u moyen davoir une connoissance entire de tout ce
quil y a de curieux dans les glises de cette province, et vous serez, Monsieur,
dabord clairci de tout ce que vous voudrez savoir. M. lvque de Cahors est
Paris la poursuite dun procs quil a contre lUniversit, et je suis persaud quil
ne vous refusera pas le manuscript de Radulphe, archevque de Bruges, dont vous
marquez avoir besoin.
22. BNF MS Cinq-Cents Colbert, 23545. Also see the appendix in Adolphe
Chruel, Histoire de LAdministration Monarchique depuis lavnement de Philippe-Au-
guste jusqu la mort le Louis XIV, 8 vols. (Paris: Dezobry, 1855), vol. 2.
23. See Bibliothque de lArsenal, MS 5298.
24. Baudry, in Foucault, Mmoires, p. xcvii. This enqute is reproduced in
Henri, Comte de Boulainvilliers, tat de la France, 7 vols. (London: T. W. Wood
and S. Palmer, 1737), vol. 4. Also see the modern edition, Nicolas-Joseph Foucault,
LIntendance de Caen en 1700 . . . pour linstruction de M. le duc de Bourgogne, ed. Pierre
Gouhier (Paris: ditions du CTHS, 1998).
25. See Joseph-Nicolas Foucault, Lettres patentes avec les statuts pour lAcadmie
des belles-lettres tablie en la ville de Caen. (Janvier 1705.)Discours de M. Foucault
louverture de la premire sance, le 2 mars 1705.)Rponse de M. le prsident de
Croisiles . . . au discours de M. Foucault (Caen: A. Caveller, 1705). Also see Gros de
Boze, in particular see his loge de M. Foucault, in Histoire, vol. 1, pp. 22342,
23941.
26. Gros de Boze, Histoire, vol. 1, p. 240.
27. Bernard de Montfaucon, Lantiquit explique et reprsente en gures, 5 vols.
(Paris: F. Delaulne, 171924), vol. 1, p. xix: M. Foucault, conseiller dtat, ma plus
fourni de pices antiques que nul autre. La charge dintendant, quil a exerce dans
plusieurs provinces, lui a donn moyen den decouvrir beaucoup qui auraient peut-
tre pri si elles tioent tombes en dautres mains. Comme il a un got mer-
veilleux, il a fait un des plus beaux cabinets du royaume, et peut-tre de lEurope.
Toujours attentif faire plaisir aux gens de lettres, il a prvenu ceux qui travaillaient
sur lantiquit, et, comme un autre Peiresc, il leur a offert avec plaisir ce quil navoit
ramass que pour lutilit publique.
28. Baudry, in Foucault, Mmoires, p. cliii.
29. Foucault, Mmoires, pp. 5764.
30. Ibid., p. 62: Jai trouv parmi les papiers du P. dAubarde un mmoire en
forme de jounral de ce qui sest pass au sujet de la rgale depuis le 12 janvier 1680.
. . . Il y est fait mention de deux vques que M. larchevque de Toulouse assure
tre MM. de Rieux et de Lectuore, tant les seuls vques qui fussent Toulouse le
jour marqu dans ledit journal.
31. Ibid., Colbert to Foucault, July 25, 1680, p. 453.
32. Colbert to Foucault, December 12, 1680, in Foucault, Mmoires, p. 459:
Dans les diffrentes visites que vous faites dans ltendue de votre gnralit, vous
me ferez plaisir de rechercher dans les glises, cathdrales et dans les principales ab-
bayes sil y auroit quelques manuscrits considrables, et, en ce cas, chercher les
moyens de les avoir sans y employer aucune autorit, mais seulement par douceur
et par achat.
33. Colbert to Tubeuf, intendant at Tours, February 3, 1679, in Lettres, vol. 7,
p. 84:
Jay appris que Messieurs du chapitre de Saint-Gatien de Tours avoient
dessein de menvoyer quelques-uns de leurs manuscrits pour mettre dans
ma bibliothque. Tesmoignez-leur, sil vous plaist, en mon nom, lorsque
vous les verrez, que je leur seray fort oblig de ce prsent, prenant un
grand plaisir de ramasser des manuscrits pour servir aux ouvrages de
littrature qui sont entrepris pour illustrer ce rgne.
Je vous prie aussy de me faire savoir ce que vous avez fait pour tirer
copie du manuscrit intitul: Gesta Aldrici, qui appartient au chapitre de
lglise cathdrale du Mans; et en cas que vous layez fait tirer, vous me
ferez plaisir de me lenvoyer le plus tost que vous pourrez.
34. See Colberts request to Bouchu, Intendant at Dijon regarding the manu-
scripts of the abbey of Fontenay, March 9, 1679 (Lettres, vol. 7, p. 87).
35. Colbert to Barillon, ambassador to London, May 16, 1682, in Lettres, vol. 7,
pp. 13435.
36. On Colberts creation of a parallel republic of letters, see volume 5 of his
Letters. On Chapelains relationship with Colbert see Soll, Publishing The Prince,
pp. 4850.
37. Chapelain to Colbert, November 1662, in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 5, p. 619.
38. Chapelain to A. M. Heinsius, June 1, 1663, in Chapelain, Lettres, vol. 2, p.
305.
39. Chapelain to J. G. Vossius, July 31, 1665, ibid., pp. 4067.
40. Ibid., p. 275.
41. Chapelain to Colbert, September 18, 1662 in ibid.: Je viens lhistoire
quavec beaucoup de raison vous avez juge, Monsieur, un des principaux moyens
pour conserver la splendeur des entreprises du Roy et le dtail de ses miracles. Mais
il est de lhistoire comme de ces fruits qui ne sont bons que gards et pour arrire-
saison. Si elle nexplique point les motifs des choses qui y sont racontes, si elle nest
pas accompagne de rexions prudentes et de documents, ce nest quune relation
pure, sans force et sans dignit. De les y employer aussy, durant le rgne du Prince
qui en est le sujet, cela ne se pourroit sans exposer au public les ressorts du Cabinet,
donner lieu aux ennemis de les prvenir ou de les rendre inutiles, et trahir ceux qui
auroient des liaisons avec luy, lesquelles ne subsistent que par le secret et lombre
dun profond silence. Ainsi, jestime que si vous faites travailler lhistoire de Sa Ma-
jest en la manire quelle doit estre que pour tenir louvrage cach jusques ce que
les inconvnients remarqus ne puissent prjudicier ses affaires et ses allis.
42. D. C. Godefroy-Menilglaise, Les savants Godefroy: Mmoires dune famille
(Paris: Didier, 1875), pp. 11213. For a full archival bibliography concerning this re-
lationship see Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 5256.
43. Colbert to Godefroy, March 6, 1669, in Lettres, vol. 5, p. 274.
44. Varillas to Colbert, October 17, 1663, in Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire
de la Bibliothque du Roy, fols. 476 and 479. The original documents concerning
literary disputes between Colbert and Varillas, as well as his literary correspondance
with Godefroy and Chapelain are in BNF MS Baluze 362, fols. 3859. Varillas pub-
lished his book and many others drawn from his privileged knowledge of the royal
and Colbertian manuscripts only after Colberts death: Antoine Varillas, Les Anec-
dotes de Florence, ou lHistoire secrte de la maison de Mdicis (The Hague: chez A. Leers,
1685).
45. Boivin, Mmoire pour lhistoire de la Bibliothque du Roy, fols. 47678.
46. Steve Uomini, Cultures historiques dans la France du XVIIe sicle (Paris: LHar-
mattan, 1998).
47. On Colberts sanctioning of Mzray for implicitly criticizing Colberts tax
policies see Ranum, Artisans of Glory, p. 222; and Soll, Empirical History, pp.
29798.
49. Ibid., pp. 26061.
50. Charles Perrault, Mmoires (Paris: Librarie des Bibliophiles, 1878), p. 27.
51. Ibid., p. 26.
52. Ibid., p. 27.
54. Priolo to Colbert, June 4, 1661, in Benjamin Priolo, Lettres indites, ed.
Tamizey de Larroque (Tours: Bouserez, 1877), p. 3.
55. Ibid., p. 6, Priolo to Colbert, June 6, 1661.
56. Benjamin Priolo, The History of France under the Ministry of Cardinal
Mazarine, trans. Christopher Wase (London: John Starkey, 1671), p. 419.
57. Rothkrug, Opposition to Louis XIV, pp. 195212; Lynn Wood Mollenauer,
Justice versus Secrecy: Investigating the Affair of the Poisons, 16791682, in En-
gel et al., Das Geheimnis, pp. 179205.
58. Guillaume Ribier, Lettres et Mmoires dEstat, des Roys, Princes, & Ambas-
sadeurs (Paris: Franois Clouzier & la Veuve Aubouyn, 1666), p. 5 of the preface.
59. Ibid.
60. For a model letter see Colbert to La Reynie, April 25, 1670: Jay rendu
compte au Roy du contenu de la lettre que vous mavez crite sur le sujet des
gazettes la main. Sa Majest dsire que vous continuiez de faire une recherche ex-
acte de ces sortes de gens et que vous fassiez punir svrement ceux que vous avez
fait arrester, estant tres-important pour le bien de lEstat dempescher lavenir la
continuation de pareils libelles. Colbert would continue writing this same sort of
letter to La Reynie and the intendants until his death. For a later example from 1682
see Lettres, vol. 6, p. li.
61. Martin, Livre, pouvoirs et socit, vol. 2, p. 691.
62. Pierre Clment, La Police sous Louis XIV (Paris: Didier & Cie., 1866), pp.
7379; and Martin, Livre, pouvoirs et socit, vol. 2, p. 679.
63. Ibid., p. 695.
64. Ibid., pp. 67882.
65. Ibid., p. 683.
66. On Lonards clandestine printing see Jacob Soll, The Hand-Annotated
Copy of the Histoire du gouvernement de Venise, or How Amelot de La Houssaye
Wrote His History, Bulletin du Bibliophile 2 (1995): pp. 27993.
67. On La Reynie see Jacques Saint-Germain, La Reynie et la police au grand si-
cle (Paris: Hachette, 1962), p. 19.
68. The reference to La Reynies library catalog is found in ibid., p. 22: A copy
of La Reynies marriage certicate is in the Bibliothque Mazarine, Fonds Tralage,
Catalogues T3 ZZ 379, fol. 97.
69. BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 132, fol. 188r: Jai appris que, pour mnager
du temps bien plus que pour votre soulagement, vous permettez vos serviteurs de
vous informer par crit des choses dont ils doivent vous rendre compte. Et comme
je dois prtendre que vous mavez fait lhonneur de me mettre en ce rang, aprs tant
de tmoignages de votre protection, je prends la mme libert et, si elle vous est
agrable, je me donnerai lhonneur de vous expliquer par la mme voie ce que je
pourrai penser sur quelques matires importantes, o il vous a plu de me donner
quelque part. . . . Je vous envoie un mmoire des fermiers du roi, dans lequel vous
verrez leur contestation beaucoup plus nettement que je ne lai expliqu et sur
lequel votre justice pourra beaucoup plus nettement sassurer.
70. Saint-Germain, La Reynie, p. 25.
71. Orest Ranum, Paris in the Age of Absolutism: An Essay (New York: John Wi-
ley and Sons, 1968), pp. 27292.
72. Saint-Germain, La Reynie, pp. 2627.
73. La Reynie to Colbert, May 21, 1664, in Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 2829 n. 5: Les
ofciers et commis de la douane mettoient toutes choses en confusion, par la licence
quils prenoient de rendre aux libraires, avant quils eussent est pralablement vis-
its au Collge Royal, par les syndics de limprimrie, les livres qui arrivoient em-
balls a leurs bureaux. . . . Il est inuntile de contenir les sujets du roy dans lobis-
sance, si les estrangers ont la libert de remplir le royaume de doctrines scadaleuses.
Cest par ce moyen que les rois et les gouvernemens de lEstat ont est calomnis par
le pass.
75. Cited in ibid., pp. 16667.
76. La Reynie and his assistant Delamares folio les of seditious materials are
found in massive folios at the Bibliothque Nationale. See BNF MS Fr. 21626 and
21742. On La Reynies role in providing material for and helping write the Trait de
la Police see Saint-Germain, La Reynie, pp. 3839. In his Trait de la Police, 4 vols.
(Paris: M. Brunet, 171938), book 1, title 12, chap. 6), which La Reynie helped him
write, Nicolas Delamare wrote of the police commissaries of the book trade who
worked on the rue St. Jacques: Ils font recherche de tous les livres ou libelles im-
primez contre la Religion, ou ceux mme sur cette matire qui ne sont que suspects,
pour avoir t imprimez sans approbation des Docteurs, et sans privilge ou permis-
sion. Ils les font saisir; et aprs que sur leur rapport le Magistrat en a ordonn la sup-
pression, ils les font dchirer en mettre au pilon, cest dire, livrer un Cartonnier
qui le jette en leur prsence dans une cuve deau, o il les pile pour en faire du car-
ton./Pour faire cette dcouverte et celle des autres mauvais livres, ils visitent les Im-
primeries. Sil sen trouve quelques uns de cette qualit sous la presse, ils en dressent
un Procs-verbal, font saisir les formes et les exemplaires; et en certains cas graves,
ou en matire de frquente rcidive, ils ont quelquefois dofce fait emprisonner
limprimeur, lont interrog, et ont inform contre lui; mais ordinairement ils en
rfrent dabord au Magistrat, qui ordonne, sur leur Procs-verbal, la procdure ex-
traordinaire, ou renvoye lSudience, selon que la matire sy trouve dispose./Sils
dcouvrent les auteur de ces mauvais livres, ils en rfrent au Magistrat. Et lgard
des distributeurs, comme ce sont ordinairement gens vils et dont lvasion est
craindre, ils les font arrter, les interrogent, en informent contre eux.
77. La Reynie to Baluze, January 17, 1684, BNF MS Collection Baluze 180, fol.
141rv: Je ne comprends pas comment il se peut encore trouver des gens assez in-
solents et hardis pour oser entreprendre de faire et de chanter en public de pareilles
extravagances. On a emprisonn plusieurs de ces misrables, on a saisi toutes leurs
feuilles et on a aussi menac tous ces petits imprimeurs.
78. See La Reynies catalog of seized books and general lists of seized books in
seventeenth-century Paris in Sauvy, Livres saisis Paris, pp. 2330.
79. Ibid., pp. 1114.
80. Sergio Bertelli, Rebelli, libertini, ortodossi nella storiograa barocca (Florence: La
Nuova Italia, 1975); Paul Hazard, La crise de la conscience europenne (Paris: Arthme
Fayard, 1961); Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons,
and Republicans (London: Allen and Unwin, 1982); and Israel, Radical Enlightenment.
81. BNF MS Collection Baluze 336, fol. 82: Lauteur de ce petit trait prtend
insinuer que le roi veut runir les deux religions, quil est de son intrt de nen
souffrir quune, et quil a autorit et droit de la faire. . . . Il se sert de plusieurs ex-
emples considrables, do il tire des consquences extraordinairement fortes, quil
serait dangereux dautoriser et quil nest peut-estre pas aussi propos de condamner
cause des quelques vrits quelles enferment, qui sont importantes au roi et au
royaume.
82. Ibid.
83. Ibid., fol. 86vr.
84. BNF MS Fr. 21743, fol. 172: Combien a-t-il tir dexemplaires de ce livre?
A-t-il un privilge: le voir. Saisir tous les exemplaires. Savoir sil en a t vendu
dautres libraires. Lesquels? Combien? Savoir qui est lauteur de louvrage. Prlever
trois exemplaires relis si possible, sinon en blanc. Mettre les ouvrages saisis en pa-
quets scells. Dtruire les feuilles en cours dimpression.
85. BNF MS Collection Baluze 367, fols. 13747.
86. Colbert to La Reynie, June 29, 1671, in Depping, Correspondance administra-
tive, vol. 2, pp. 56162: de marquer les endroits qui vous ont paru de consquence,
afn quaprs en avoir rendu compte S. M., elle puisse prendre la rsolution
quelle estimera plus advantageuse pour son service; mais en cas quil ne soit point
encore imprim, vous pouvez en faire retarder limpressoin jusques notre retour a
Paris.
87. Darnton, The Business of Enlightenment, pp. 913.
88. On La Reynie, Seignelay, and the censorship of the works of Amelot de La
Houssaye, see Soll, Publishing The Prince, pp. 1819. Also see Pierre-Franois
Burger, Deux documents sur Amelot de La Houssaie, Dix-Septime Sicle 131
(1981): pp. 199202.
89. See Seignelay to La Reynie, November 27, 1676, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 46:
Jay rendu compte au Roy du mmoire que vous avez donn mon pre
au sujet du journal des Affaires de Paris que le nomm Colletet sest ingr
de faire imprimer.
Sa Majest ma ordonn de vous dire quelle veut que vous en
dfendiez le dbit et limpression.
90. Cited in Saint-Germain, La Reynie, p. 166.
91. Ibid., p. 184.
92. La Reynie to Louvois, 1685, cited from the Archives de la Guerre in Saint-
Germain, La Reynie, pp. 17978: Jay reu cette aprs-dine la lettre que que vous
mavez fait lhonneur de mcrire avec celle de M. le comte dAvaux. Cette lettre
justie enn que lavis donn touchant le nomm Bayle tait juste en toutes ses cir-
constances. Sa Lettre sur les Comtes, la Critique du Calvinisme, et les Nouvelles de
la Rpublique des Lettres peuvent bien faire jusger de son habilit, mais la nesse et
la dlicatesse de ce mmes crits ne les rendent pas moins suspects et, bien que cet
auteur se soit beaucoup contraint dans son Journal pour le faire recevoir en France,
il n;a pu cependant si bien cacher sa mauvaise volont et son dessein que Mgr le
chancellier ne sen soit apreu et que le dbit nen ait t ici arrt par ses ordres.
Enn Monsieur, si cet homme a plus desprit et de discrtion que les autres, il en est
un peu plus dangereux et le lieu o il loge La Haye, la considration o il est
auprs du prince dOrange, et son pre et son frre qui font actuellement la profes-
sion de ministres de la religion prtendue rforme en France, doivent rendre sa
conduite suspecte.
93. For further examples of Seignelay and La Reynie repressing rogue printers
see Seignelay to La Reynie, February 12, 1676, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 43.
95. Clment, Introduction, Lettres, vol. 6, p. li.
96. Some were collected by Russian nobles who thought they might be im-
portant, and thus sent them to St. Petersburg. Had this correspondence survived, La
Reynie would perhaps be more famous today.
97. University of Pennsylvania Rare Books, MS Coll 578, 6 folders: 1667 (10
letters), 1672 (4 letters), 1675 (28 letters), 1677 (9 letters), 1678, 1 (18 letters), 1678,
2, (10 letters), for a total of 79 letters.
98. There are two letters from August 5, 1675.
99. For reproductions of the remnants of this correspondence see Saint-Ger-
main, La Reynie, in general; Lettres, vol. 6, pp. xlixli; and Depping, Correspondance
administrative, vol. 2, pp. 56171.
100. University of Pennsylvania, MS Coll 578, Colbert to La Reynie, June 22,
1678, Jacobin reform pour le livre quil a compos depuis peu de lhistoire des
isles Antilles de lAmrique que je luy avois fait deffence de poursuivre.
101. Ordre pour faire mettre le nomm Jaillot la Bastille, le Roy veut que
vous fassiez ensorte que lon surprenne cet homme la, ensorte que lon trouve sil est
possible de saisir tous ses papiers.
102. Ibid., p. xlix, La Reynie to Colbert, April 23, 1670: Jay lev le scell qui
avoit est mis sur les papiers des crivains qui furent arrests la nuit de vendredy
dernier, et il sest trouv, particulairement dans ceux des nomms Thubeuf et Pi-
geon, un trs-grand nombre de pices manuscrites, et en gnral tout ce qui a est
fait sans exception dinfme et de meschant depuis quelques annes. Il seroit difcile
de juger prsentemet sils en sont les auteurs on non, ou de quelque partie; mais
comme ils on de lesprit et quelque estude, et quentre leur maunscrits il y en a qui
ressemblent extrmement des minutes originales, et quavec cela les malheureux
demeurent daccord den avoir vendu plusieurs copies, le soupon quon peut aussy
cet gard contre eux nest pas sans fondement.
103. Colbert to La Reynie, April 1, 1680, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 62: Il est impor-
tant que jinforme Sa Majest de toutes les raisons et de toutes les pices que vous
pouvez avoir pour porter empescher, par un rglement, les dsordres que ces priv-
ilgis ont causs jusque present dans la police. . . . comme il ny avoit que cinq ou
six arrests sur des faits particuliers joints vos mmoires, vous preniez la peine dex-
aminer sil ny a aucunes autres pices que vous puissiez joindre celles que vous
mavez desj donnes, et vous naviez rien ajouter aux raisons contenues dans vos
mmoires.
104. Sauvy, Livres saisis Paris, p. 5.
105. Martin, Livre, pouvoirs et socit, vol. 2, pp. 73256.
chapter 9
1. On Foucaults role in the rgale, see his Mmoires, pp. 5773, which con-
tain his notes and correspondence concerning the affair.
2. Louis XIV, Dclaration pour la Rgale, February 10, 1673, registered in the
Chambre des Comptes de Paris, July 27 of the same year, in Lettres, vol. 6, pp.
33940: le droit de Rgale auroit est jug inalinable, imprescriptable, et nous ap-
partenir dans tous les archeveschs et veschs de nostre royaume, terres et pays de
nostre obissance; et nostre intention estant que nostre droit soit universellement re-
connue.
3. Ibid., p. 340. On the Rgale see Charles Grin, Louis XIV et le Saint Sige,
2 vols. (Paris, 1894).
4. On the general question of the churchs rights see Oakley, The Conciliar
Tradition, chap. 1.
5. Bonice VIII had erected a monastery in Pamiers in an attempt to assert
papal control of the city in opposition to Philip the Fair. Thus the bishopric was of
symbolic value in the ancient conict of jurisdiction. Pierre Dupuy, Histoire du dif-
frend dentre le pape Boniface VIII et Philippes le Bel roy de France (Paris: Sebastien et
Gabriel Cramoisy, 1655), pp. 62766; and Georges Digard, Philippe le Bel et le Saint-
Sige de 12851304, 2 vols. (Paris, 1936), vol. 2, pp. 4951. For a detailed literary his-
tory of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century French Gallicanism see Parsons,
Church in the Republic.
6. Cited by Lavisse, Louis XIV, p. 384.
7. Caulets 1679 letter to Louis XIV is cited in Charles Grin, Recherches his-
toriques sur lAssemble du clerg de France de 1682 (Paris: Lecoffre, 1869), pp. 4749:
dailleurs ltude que vous avez faite des saints canons qui dfendent, sous les
dernires peines, aux prelates qui sont la cour des princes de causer aucun prju-
dice non-seulement leurs confrres, ou leurs glises, mais encore aux ecclsias-
tiques infrieurs, ce que lon peut voir en termes exprs dans le 25e canon du con-
cile dAvignon tenu en lan 1326 par le pape Jean XXII, renouvl par le 30e du
concile tenu en la meme ville lan 1337 sous le pape Benot XII, sont des motifs as-
sez puissants pour vous obliger embarasser le parti de lglise, nonobstant tous les
intrts et les respects humains qui pourrait vous en dtourner.
8. Ibid., p. 386: Louis XIV to his ambassador to Rome, the duke of Estres,
March, 1678: Je tmoigne au nonce combien jtais surpris que le Pape entrt avec
moi sur une matire qui tait purement des droits de ma couronne; que dans toutes
celles qui regardent lglise et la religion, jcoutais toujours ce qui me venait de lui
avec un profond respect, mais que je ne pouvais rien entendre sur ce qui touchait
mon tat et ma couronne, quainsi je navais aucune rponse lui rendre sur une af-
faire dans laquelle je ne pouvais entrer.
9. The famous account of the Inquisition and its archival holdings in Pamiers
is Le Roy Laduries Montaillou.
10. Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, Mmoires, pp. 5758. Caulet wrote Louis, begging
for food and food to be distributed to the poor.
11. Foucault calls this work a libel. Ibid., 59.
12. Grin, Recherches historiques sur lAssemble, pp. 5962. When the pope ap-
pointed the pre Cerles as vicar general, a temporary successor to Caulet, Foucault
had the Parlement of Toulouse condemn him to death in absentia, and he was
forced to escape and go into hiding. With the fervor used to persecute Protestants,
Foucault applied regalian rights to excommunicate renegades such as Antoine Char-
las, preceptor to the Caulet family and author of an attack on the rgale, who
promptly ed to Rome and stayed for the remainder of his life, vociferously de-
fending the popes rights against those of his king. See Colberts letter to the Chan-
cellier LeTellier, rst president of the Parlement of Toulouse, seeking to repress
Cerles, March 13, 1681, in Depping, Correspondance administrative, vol. 4, pp.
13132. Also see Antoine Charlas, Causa regaliae penitus explicata (Toulouse, 1679).
Charlas became a leading anti-Gallican theologian, and died in Rome in 1698.
13. Foucault, Mmoires, p. 58. Foucault lists the documents he is sending back
and how he is using them to make his case against Caulet.
14. On the use of documentary evidence for politics see Miller, Peirescs Europe,
p. 85.
15. A few de Marca documents are found in the Colbert collection, but the rest
are in the Collection Baluze. It is clear that Baluze used his collection integrally with
that of Colbert as long as he worked for the Colbertine until the death of Seignelay
in 1691. In BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 3, fols. 310 onward are documents from the
time of Seignelay.
16. He makes detailed reference to it on a number of occasions. See Colbert,
Mmoire au roi sur la Rgale, 1675, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 105.
17. Boislisle, Mmoires des Intendants, vol. 1, pp. xxixxii.
18. Colbert, Mmoire au roi, in Lettres, vol. 6, p. 116.
19. See Saunders,Public Administration, in general.
20. Colbert to Baluze, October 18, 1673, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 73: Je prie M.
Baluze de verier si jay dans ma bibliothque tous les livres qui ont est annoncs
par le Journal des Savans, depuis cinq ou six ans, et de men envoyer un mmoire
bien exacte Je serais ayse aussy davoir une copie du catalogue de tous les livres qui
sont dans ma bibliothque qui ont est faits pour et contre le Jansnisme, avec un
mmoire de tous ceux qui me manquent, en cas quil le sache.
21. Colbert to Baluze, March 23, 1672, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. 59.
22. Colbert reprimands Baluze for lending manuscripts to Colberts son
Seignelay without express permission and without noting this fact. Colbert to
Baluze, July 1672, Lettres, vol. 7, p. 63: Vous jugerez vous-mesme assez facilement
quil faut quune bibliothque prisse avec le temps, si elle nest pas mieux et plus
soigneusement conserve.
23. Ibid., note 2.
24. Ibid., p. 64.
25. Ibid., p. 62, Colbert to Baluze, June 14, 1672: Je prie M. Baluze de
rechercher avec soin toutes les bulles et lettres patentes des deux congrgations de
Sainte-Genevive et de Saint-Maur, pour les mettre dans ma bibliothque. Je luy
envoye celles que jay, pour en chercher de pareilles; et quand il les aura trouves, il
rendra celles-cy M. Foucault.
26. Cole, Colbert, vol. 1, p. 425; Dessert, Argent, pouvoir et socit, pp. 32538.
27. tienne Baluze, Capitularia regum Francorum (Paris, 1677). I refer to the
translation: Histoire des Capitulaires des Rois Franois sous le premier et seconde race sur
ldition de 1677 (The Hague, 1755), pp. 16465: Manuscrits des Bibliothques du
Roi, du Vatican, de Colbert, de Thou, Bigot, Mazarin, du Tillet, Alby, Poitiers,
Corbye, Moissac, St. Lomer, St. Gal, S. Vincent de Metz, S. Vincent de Laon, S.
Remi de Reims, des Monastres dAniane et de Rivipullensis, de Philibert de la
Marre, Conseiller Dijon, du Collge de Navarre Paris, de lAcadmie dHelm-
sted, de laquelle Hermand Conringius, Joachim, Jean Maderes ont ces variets, et
men ont grati, jai dissqu plusieurs excellens Manuscrits du Collge de Louis le
Grand; jai prot de ceux de Pierre Pithou et Jerme Bignon; lexemplaire de ce
dernier avait dabord appartenu Jean-Antoine lEscure et achet de ses heritiers par
Claude dExpilli: plusieurs passages de du Tillet dclent quil lui a t fructueux,
son habitude tant dcrire de sa main au dessus des lignes les corrections quil sub-
stituait au texte. Jai enn mis au jour et purg les Rglemens de Charlemagne et
Louis le Debonnaire, accords aux espagnols laide dun Manuscrit antique qui re-
pose dans les Archives de Narbonne.
28. Ibid., 168.
29. Baluze, Capitulaires, pp. 3944.
30. Ibid., 97.
31. Clarke, Leibniz as a Librarian, pp. 14054.
32. On the humanist reading and note-taking methods for handling enormous
amounts of information, see Blair, Information Overload, pp. 1140.
33. On Baluzes extracts see in general the Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Collec-
tion Baluze. Also, on the philosophical inuences on the movement of mass cata-
loging and collecting, Baluze, and the Benedictines, see Barret-Kriegel, Les historiens
et la monarchie, vol. 2, pp. 20525. Also see Jolly, Les bibliothques bndictines,
pp. 2939.
34. Baluze to Colbert, February 17, 1671, BNF MS Baluze, 100, fol. 8v: LOr-
dre quon a toujours tenu pour les copies des registres du Thresor des Chartes est
que lon marque la marge de chaque registre les pieces quon croit valoir la peine
destre copies. Autrefois, lorsque je suivois lordre de M. de Carcavy y avoit es-
tably, je marquois les ennoblissments, les Contrats de Marriages entre les Grands, les
Traictez de Paix ou dalliances, les concessions & dons faits par nos Roys aux parens
des Papes, les privilges accordez aux Eglises, aux provinces, aux villes, & divers
mestiers, & enn les remissions o il se trouvoit quelque clause considerable, &
quelques legitimations de bastards dont les noms & familles estoient connus. Job-
serve le mesme ordre, [fol. 9r] mais avec plus de modration depuis que Mon-
seigneur ma fait lHonneur de sexpliquer moy sur ce sujet. Delisle remarks that
the library registers still contain the marks made on them by Baluze and Colbert (Le
Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 440). See also Extraits de manuscripts de la Biblio-
thque du Roi, BNF MS Baluze 63.
35. Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Collection Baluze, p. xvii. This catalog com-
prises an immense amount of extracts made from Baluzes archival research. Col-
berts medieval manuscript collection is today called the Cinq-Cents Colbert.
36. For Baluzes inventories of Colberts and other libraries, see BNF MS
Mlanges Colbert 88100. For example, Baluze made an inventory of the Trsor
des Chartes de Paris (Mlanges Colbert, 92100).
37. Colberts le on the rgale is found in BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 3. For the
list prepared by Gallois but written by Colbert see Liste des auteurs qui ont trait
de la Rgale, 1675, BNF MS Baluze, 177, fol 268. For Colberts request to Gallois,
see fol. 14. They are reproduced in Colbert, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 441.
38. Colbert to the abb Gallois, 1675, BNF MS Baluze, 177, fol. 16. Also see
Lettres, vol. 6, p. 103: Sil y a quelque trace que le droit de rgale fust estably en
Angleterre avant cette conqueste, citer les auteurs et les passages qui en parleront. Il
faut me rapporter tous mes mmoires avec les rponses. . . . Il faut surtout examiner
sil y a des preuves de ce droit dans la premire et dans la seconde race. Il faut avoir
quelques exemples des veques et abbs qui ont servy les rois des deux premires
races dans leurs armes. . . . Savoir pour quel sujet le parlement de Paris t des re-
monstrances au Roy Louis XI sur le droit de rgale. Il faut chercher le premier livre
des Capitulaires de Louis le Dbonnaire, chapitre LXXXIV. . . . Examiner dans les
mmoires du clerg si, environ lan 1644, le clerg ne t pas instance au roy de don-
ner une dclaration pour la collation des bnces dpendans des abbayes vacantes.
39. Colbert to Baluze, August 1, 1675, Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 11415: Points des
Exemptions Examiner. Par quells termes de bulles, constitutions et autres, les
vesques sont empeschs dentrer dans les glises exemptes avec leurs crois et autres
marques de leur dignit, donner la bndiction au peuple, ofcier ponticalement.
. . . Examiner les privilges de la juridiction quasy piscopale lgard des cath-
drales, des abbayes et autres qui pourvoyent des curs sujettes cette juridiction.
. . . Vrier par quel dit ou ordonnance, cause des troubles la religion et des pil-
lages des glises et abbayes, les ecclsiastiques ont est dispenss de rapporter leurs
titres.
40. Baluze to Gallois, August 2, 1675, BNF MS Baluze 177, fol. 25v.
41. The le is BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 3.
42. Colbert to Baluze August 12, 1675, in Lettres, vol. 7, pp. 8081: Je vous
renvoye ce mmoire crit de vostre main. Faites-moy savoir si les copies de ces
titres mont est envoyes ou si cest seulement lextrait dun inventaire dont je nay
point les copies, an que je puisse les demander M. Godefroy. Gardez avec soin la
pice que je vous envoye: il faudra la mettre dans le premier volume de manuscrits
que vous ferez relier. Sur la liste des contrats de mariage, il faudroit en faire une fort
exacte [inventaire?] de tous les contrats que jay dans ma bibliothque, et rechercher
avec le temps tous ceux que je nay point pour les avoir. Il faudrait aussy faire la
mesme chose des testamens.
43. Colbert to Baluze, November 25, 1672, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 98: Je prie M.
Baluze de me faire un agrg succinct de tout ce qui concerne la sanctication des
Saints, savoir: Lusage de la primitive glise sur cette matire, les sentimens des
Pres et des quatre premiers conciles gnraux; En quel temps les festes des Saints
ont commenc; Par quelle autorit les principaux Saints ont est reconnus; si par le
consentement universel; par les conciles; ou par lautorit des papes; En quel temps
les papes ont commenc de sanctier. Quest-ce qui est ncessaire pour cela, et quels
en sont les mmoires?
44. BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 3, fols. 941.
45. Ibid., fol. 36v: ZLon voit la garde des glises vacantes cone en 1er
lieu aux roys.
46. Ibid., fols. 14.
47. Ibid., fol. 81.
48. Ibid., fols. 81 to 96 contain short heavily referenced histories of the rgale.
Fol. 105 contains what looks to be the draft of a royal proclamation, covered with
marginal reference letters so it could be dissected and used quickly.
49. Ibid., fols. 97103 are a summary of a treatise on the rgale, with chapter
summaries and text references.
50. BNF MS Baluze, 177, fol. 25v.
51. Baluze might have sent this back with his own set of questions and docu-
ment queries for Colbert (ibid., fol. 71).
52. BNF MS Mlanges Colbert 3, fol. 139.
53. Ibid., fol. 114.
54. Ibid., fols. 15356.
55. Colbert, Mmoire au roi sur la Rgale, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 104: Et comme,
en toute sorte de droits, on recherche toujours le titre et la possession . . . cest--
dire ce qui peut avoir attach ce droit la couronne de Vostre Majest, a est, Sire,
la matire de la recherche et de la curiosit des plus habiles hommes du royaume
depuis plusieurs sicles.
56. Ibid., p. 105: Le roy Philippe de Valois, dans son ordonnance de 1334,
fonde principalement la rgale sur cette possession [principle of long possession], et
Choppin a suivy en partie cette opinion.
57. Ibid., pp. 1067: La huitime opinion rassemble toutes les autres et croit
que ce droit vient de la souverainet de garde, de patronage, de possession de ef
tout ensemble. . . . Il y en a des preuves certaines en grand nombre dans Grgoire
de Tours et dans le recueil des formules de Marculphe. Cest lopinion de M. Dupin
et du Pre Sirmond en la prface dune Collection danciennes formules concernant
les lections. Il dit que Louis le Dbonnaire fut le premier roy qui restitua lglise
la puissance dlire ses pasteurs, et que son ordonnance se trouve au premier livre de
ses Capitulaires, chap. LXXXIV [ lire].
58. Ibid., pp. 11213.
59. He also used his knowledge of the literature on the rgale to help him cen-
sor works. See Colbert to the Lieutenant of Police, Le Reynie, May 25, 1682, in
Depping, Correspondance administrative, vol. 4, p. 119.
60. Aim-Georges Martimort, Le Gallicanisme de Bossuet (Paris: ditions du
Cerf, 1953), pp. 361516.
61. See the Declaration du Clerg de 1682, in Documents relatifs aux rapports
du clerg avec la royaut de 1682 1705 ed. Lon Mention (Paris: A. Picard et ls,
18931903), pp. 2731. Colbert personally oversaw the organization of the Assem-
bly of the Clergy and made sure that his intendants would crush any opposition (see
Colberts orders to the intendants in Grin, Recherches historiques sur lAssemble, pp.
12527). On Colberts management of the clergys reception of the edict of 1682,
see Colberts Mmoire on the edict in Depping, Correspondance administrative, vol.
4, pp. 12631. See Colberts letters to the duke of Estres, ambassador to Rome be-
tween 1677 and 1680 in Grin, Recherches historiques sur lAssemble, pp. 18283. See
Colbert to dEstres, bishop of Laon, March 8, 1682, in Lettres, vol. 6, pp. 16061
and his letter to Harlay of March 20, on the following pages, 16162. On Colberts
involvement with the negotiation with the papacy see his letters to the papal am-
bassador, Grin, Recherches historiques sur lAssemble, pp. 18486. While negotiating
with the pope, Colbert also manages to get the pope to grant his son an ofce in the
church.
62. Franois, abb Ledieu, Mmoires & Journal sur la vie et les ouvrages de Bossuet;
publis pour la premire fois dapres les manuscrits autographes, et accompagns dune introd.
et de notes par M. lAbb Guette, 4 vols. (Paris: Didier, 185657), vol. 1, p. 161:
surtout depuis M. Colbert, on avait eu cette politique dhumilier Rome, et de
safrmer contre elle, et que tout le conseil avait suivi ce dessein. Joseph de Maistre
insists on this point in his ultramontane defense, De lglise gallicane dans son rapport
avec le souverain Pontife (Louvain: Vanlinthout et Vandenzande, 1821), p. 96. Also see
Grin, Recherches historiques sur lAssemble, p. 16.
63. Colbert had corresponded with Le Vayer concerning documentation on re-
ligious matters in 1682, Lettres, vol. 6, p. 174.
64. Ibid., vol. 2, part 1, p. 207.
chapter 10
1. Clment, in Lettres, vol. 7, p. xxxviii.
2. Seignelay to Louis XIV, September 2, 1683, in Lettres, vol. 7, pp.
xxxviiixxxix.
3. Colberts reasons for choosing Desmaretz as his ministerial successor were
clearly complex. He was known to be lazy, was despised by Seignelay, and Colbert
apparently disavowed him on his deathbed. Saint-Simon, Mmoires, 41 vols., ed. A.
de Boislisle (Paris: Hachette, 1890), vol. 7, p. 132.
4. Ibid., pp. 513. Cited in Rothkrug, Opposition to Louis XIV, pp. 21213:
Quand ils vous demanderont en particulier quelque claircissement sur quelque
nature daffaire particulire, lavis de M. de Croissy et le mien est que vous leur don-
niez de bonne grace. Mais, pour les instructions gnrales sur les nances, nous
croyons que vous vous en pouvez dispenser.
5. Claude Le Pelletier, Mmoire prsent au Roi par M. Le Pelletier, aprs
avoir quitt les nances, par lequel il rend compte de son administration, June
1691, in Correspondance des Contrleurs Gnraux des Finances avec les Intendants, ed.
Boislisle, 3 vols. (Paris, 187497), vol. 1, p. 544: Je reconnus que M. Colbert avoit
renferm en luy-mesme toute la direction des nances, et quil ny avoit personne
qui fust dans la suite des affaires et en estat de men instruire. . . . Je crus que les reg-
istres sur lesquels V. M. crivoit mapprendroient srement et prcisment lestat du
Trsor royal; mais je trouvay que le rapport nestoit pas exact entre les registres et la
caisse du Trsor royal. Je ne rencontray pas non plus dans les papiers de M. Colbert
que lon me remit toute linstruction dont javois besoin, et je ne pus me faire don-
ner ni plus de papiers ni plus dclaircissemens.
6. Lionel Rothkrug describes this interministerial conict in detail: Opposition
to Louis XIV, pp. 21225. Mmain shows explicitly that after the death of Colbert,
Seignelay was unable to effectively manage naval industrial projects without the
control and cooperation of the ministry of nance (La marine de guerre, p. 265).
7. See Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 128.
8. Colbert briey managed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1679 to 1680.
9. Croissys archival les look just like Colberts document compilation note-
books. See Armand Baschet, Histoire du Dpot des Archives des affaires trangres (Paris:
Plon, 1875), pp. 7582.
10. Kerhave, Roudot, and Tanguy, La Bretagne en 1665, p. 23.
11. Baschet, Dpot des Archives des affaires trangres, p. 83; Jean Baillou, ed, Les
Affaires trangres et le Corps Diplomatique Francais, 2 vols. (Paris: CNRS, 1984), vol.
1, p. 109; Guy Thuillier, La premire cole dadministration: LAcadmie Politique de
Louis XIV (Geneva: Droz, 1996). The Acadmie Politique was disbanded after the
death of de Torcy. Also see Klaits, Printed Propaganda in general on de Torcys secret
information system and its relationship to propaganda. On the espionage informa-
tion network during the ministry of de Torcy see Bely, chap. 2.
12. Delisle, Le Cabinet des Manuscrits, vol. 1, p. 485; La Roncire and Bondois,
Catalogue des Mlanges Colbert, introduction, p. iii.
13. La Roncire and Bondois, Catalogue des Mlanges Colbert, pp. xvxxii.
14. What remained is held in four boxes in the Luynes Family collection dis-
cussed by Ins Murat.
15. John A. Lynn, Giant of the Grand Sicle: The French Army, 16101715 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
16. Thierry Sarmant and Mathieu Stoll, Le style de Louvois. Formulaire ad-
ministratif et expression personnelle dans la correspondance du secrtaire dtat de
la guerre de Louis XIV, Annuaire-bulletin de la Socit de lhistoire de France (1999): pp
5777.
17. Boislisle, Correspondance des Contrleurs Gnraux, vol. 1, p. iv.
18. Ronald D. Martin, The Marquis de Chamlay, Friend and Condential
Advisor to Louis XIV: The Early Years, 16501691, Ph.D. diss., University of Cal-
ifornia at Santa Barbara, 1972; and Jean-Philippe Cnat, Le Marquis de Chamlay,
Mmoire de DEA, Universit de Paris I.
19. And Corvisier, Louvois (Paris: Fayard, 1983), pp. 23540, 32631.
20. Charles Frostin, Les Pontchartrain, ministres de Louis XIV. Alliances et rseau
dinuence sous lancien rgime (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2006); Bar-
ret-Kriegel, Les historiens et la monarchie, vol. 4, pp. 1046. Rothkrug, Opposition to
Louis, XIV, chap. 3, describes this process. Italian states had a tradition of insisting
that ministerial documents remain the property of the state, as in the case of the
Venice, where ambassadors and ministers had to give their papers to archives. State
documents were also readily available on the black market. On the career of a
Venetian diplomat and his state papers see Aide Scala, Girolamo Rorario: Un uman-
ista diplomatico del Cinquecento e i suoi Dialoghi (Florence: Olschki Editore, 2004), pp.
2541.
21. Frostin, Les Pontchartrain.
23. Godefroy-Mnilglaise, Les savants Godefroy, p. 165.
25. Ibid., pp. 298301.
26. Boislisle, Correspondance des Contrleurs Gnraux, vol. 1, p. iii.
27. Pim den Boer, History as a Profession: The Study of History in France,
18181914 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), pp. 7885; Jennifer
Milligan, Making Archivists: History and the State in the Archives of the Second
Empire, Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University, 2007. On the culture of the French
archives and Bibliothque Nationale see Lara Moore, The Ecole des Chartes and the
Organization of Archives and Libraries in France, 18201870 (Duluth, MN: Litwin
Books, 2008).
28. Boislisle, Correspondance des Contrleurs Gnraux, vol. 1, p. xx.
29. Fnelon, crits et lettres politiques publis sur les manuscrits autographes, ed. Ch.
Urbain (Paris: ditions Bossard, 1920), pp. 1015.
30. Madelaine Danielou, Fnelon et le duc de Bourgogne. tude dune ducation
(Paris: Bloud & Gay, 1955).
31. Boulainvilliers, tat de la France, vol. 1, p. 54: Lesprit de servitude est
gnralement rpandu dans ces Escrits; mais au fond quentendoient-ils, ces Inten-
dans, par le nom vague de Secret de lEtat? Ce terme peut tre dusage par raport
une ngociation & une entreprise, qui sont des secrets, mais le Gouvernement
nen a point, & nen peut avoir; les ressorts en sont connus de tous les hommes; en
est-il dautres que lEtablissement des Loix & leur observation? Le pouvoir &
lobissance? Lamour ou la crainte? Les passions ont des mistres & des secrets; un
Gouvernement lgitime nen connoit point; mais si les Ministres pillent, sils ont des
intrts particuliers, javourai pour lors quil y a des secrets inconnus dans le Gou-
vernement, & quils ont une espce de raison demployer & la force & le mistre
pour en drober la v autant au Prince quaux sujets, galement intressez ceux
quil ny en ait point.
32. Ibid., p. 49: les ambitions et les mouvemens intriguans, de ces pratiques se-
cretes qui conduisent la fortune par des routes justement suspectes; enn ceux [les
Intendants] qui se attent dune plus grande protection.
33. Henri, Count de Boulainvilliers, Histoire de lancien governement de France
(Amsterdam: Aux Dpens de la Compagnie, 1727), p. 20.
34. Ibid., p. 17: Ctoit une ncessit indispensable de redresser de tels M-
moires, tantot par le changement du texte & des matires, tantot par une rfutation
srieuse des erreurs quils contiennent, tantot par la voye de lironie & de la rduc-
tion labsurdit: mtode la plus aise lgard de tels Ecrivains, qui ont abus or-
dinairement des notions les plus communes pour faire servilement leur cour.
35. Ibid., p. 21.
36. Jacques Necker, Compte rendu au roi, (Paris, 1781), pp. 34:
Mais une autre cause du grand credit de lAngleterre, cest, nen doutons
point, la notorit publique laquelle est soumis ltat de ses nances.
Chaque anne cet tat est present au Parlement, on limprime ensuite; et
tous les prteurs connaissent ainsi regulirement la proportion quon
maintient entre les revenues et les dpenses, ils ne sont point troubls par
ces soupons et ces craintes chimriques, campagnes insparables de
lobscurit.
En France, on a fait constamment un mystre de ltat des nances; ou
si quelquefois on en a parl, cest dans des prambules ddits, et toujours
au moment o lon vouloit emprunter; mais ces paroles, trop souvent les
mmes pour tre toujours varis, ont d ncessairement perdre de leur
autorit, et les homes dexperience ny croient plus que sous la caution,
pour ainsi dire, du caractre moral du minister des nances.
37. On the emergence of royal opposition and even radical philosophy in the
world of parliamentary scholars see Lionel Gossman, Medievalism and the Ideologies of
the Enlightenment: The World and Work of La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1968). On the monarchys attempts to reorganize its chartes, see Di-
eter Gembicki, Histoire et politique la n de lAncien Rgime: Jacob-Nicolas Moreau
17171803 (Paris: Nizet, 1979). On the archival conict between the Parlement and
the monarchy, and the essential point that feudal legal documents were a source of
political ideology, see Keith Michael Baker, Inventing the French Revolution (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 3185. On the parliamentarian use
of medieval legal archives as a source of secret knowledge to be used against the
monarchy and the rise of eighteenth-century constitutionalism, see the essential
work by Francesco Di Donato, Lideologia dei robins nella Francia dei Lumi: Consti-
tuzionalismo e assolutismo nellesperienza politico-instituzionale della magistratura di antico
regime 17151788 (Naples: Edizioni Scientiche Italiane, 2003), and his Constitu-
tionnalisme et idologie de robe: Lvolution de la thorie juridico-politique de
Murard et Le Paige Chanlaire et Mably, Annales HSS 4 (1997): pp. 82152. On
the status of legal culture in the eighteenth century, see David Avrom Bell, Lawyers
and Citizens: The Making of a Political Elite in Old Regime France (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1994). Also on the same dynamics in England, see Alessandro
Arienzo, Alle origini del conservatorismo politico inglese: Geore Savile e la Retaurazione
Stuart (Florence: Centro Editoriale Toscano, 2004).
38. Darnton, The Business of Enlightenment, pp. 913.
39. On enlightened despotism and its ever paradoxical role in the rise of moder-
nity see Fritz Hartung, Der aufgeklrte Absolutismus, Historische Zeitschrift 180
(1955): pp. 1542; John G. Gagliardo, Enlightened Despotism (New York: Harlan
Davidson, 1967); Leonard Krieger, An Essay on the Theory of Enlightened Despotism
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975); Charles Ingrao, The Problem of
Enlightened Absolutism and the German States: Politics and Society in the Holy
Roman Empire, 15001806, Journal of Modern History 58 suppl. (1986): pp. 16180;
Hamish Scott, ed., Enlightened Absolutism: Reform and Reformers in Later Eighteenth-
Century Europe (London: Macmillan, 1990).
40. See Bayley, Empire and Information.
41. On the inuence of Colberts Intendants in Bourbon Spain see Abbad and
Ozanam, Les intendants espagnols; and Emmanuelli, Un mythe de labsolutisme bour-
bonien. On the emergence of a French-style royal library and system of scientic
academies within it in eighteenth-century Spain see Fernando Alvarez Bouza and
Elena Santiago Pez, eds., La Real Biblioteca Pblica 17111760 de Filipe V a Fernando
VI (Madrid: Biblioteca Nacional, 2004), p. 48.
42. Marco Carassi and Isabella Massab Ricci, Gli archivi del principe. Lor-
ganizzazione della memoria per il governo dello Stato, in Il Tesoro del principe.
Titoli, carte, memorie per il governo dello Stato, ed. Marco Carassi, Angela Griseri, Is-
abella Mossab Ricci, and Elisa Mongiano (Turin: Archivio di Stato di Torino,
1989), pp. 2139. This article also contains the nest description of how, reacting to
the French state, Victor Amadeus II built his state archives. See p. 21 for Victor
Amadeuss enunciation of his new centralized archival policy: Nous marquons la
conance que nous avons en vous, en vous commettant la garde et la direction de
nos Archives Royalles qui sont le dept des Chartres et papiers principaux de ntre
Couronne, tant persuad que vous observerez non seulement une delit invio-
lable dans la garde de ce trsor mais aussy une attention toute particulire bien
conserver les papiers, Bulles, Brefs, Diplomes, Investitures, Traitts, Contracts de
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268 bi bli ography
Index
269
Aachen, 13
Absolutism, 12
Acadmie dArchitecture, 100
Acadmie des Beaux-Arts, 100
Acadmie des Belles-Lettres de Caen,
12324
Acadmie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres, 100, 109, 128
Acadmie des Inscriptions et Mdaillons,
100
Acadmie des Sciences, 100, 109
Acadmie Franaise, 31
Acadmie Franaise de Rome, 100
Acadmie Politique of de Torcy, 156
Accounting, 18, 34, 36, 5458; and Louis
XIV, 6066
Agendas, 6, 18; made for Louis XIV,
5166; of Seignelay, 89
DAguesseau, Henri de, intendant, 91
Alberti, Leon Battista, 54, 57
Amelot de La Houssaye, Abraham-
Nicolas, 54, 57
American Historical Association, 11
Amsterdam, 2425
Ancient Constitution, the, 13, 29, 31,
49
Ann of Austria, Queen of France, 38, 58
Antiquarianism, 2533; and government,
152; information management, 14352;
and politics, 142
Archives, 7, 11; archival pillages, 1018,
126; de Brienne archive, 103; Colbert
and archives, 37, 10412; colonial
archives, 11319; Dutch archives, 24;
ecclesiastical archives, 1036; Fouquets
archive, la Cassette de Fouquet, 46;
French parliamentary archives, 4344,
108; French state archives, 2830,
1018; Fugger family archive, 19; ge-
nealogical archives, 18283; medieval
archives, 1415; nineteenth-
century centralizing state archives,
15859; openness and archives, 166;
and Orientalism, 1057; permanent
state archives, 158; Renaissance
archives, 16; and royal authority, 162;
searchable archives, 158; and secrecy,
166; Spanish Archives, 1921
Archivio di Stato di Torino, 163
Archivio Segreto del Vaticano, 22, 28
Arnoul, Nicolas, intendant, 7374, 106
Arnoul, Pierre, ls, intendant, 7879
Ars apodemica, 7072
Ars mercatoria, 18, 35
Atlantic World, lack of concept of, 115,
118
dAubarde, Vincent, Pre, 141
Augsburg, 19
dAvity, Pierre, 71
Bacon, Francis, 5, 8, 9, 97
Bagni, Nicola Guidi di, cardinal, 39
Bale, John, 22
Baluze, tienne, 1, 7, 101, 108; adminis-
ters Colberts library, 11113; manages
information for the Affair of the rgale,
14352; and New World archives, 116;
serves Seignelay, 156; trains with Ma-
billon, 12114; works with La Reynie,
133
banking, 18, 24
Barnier, Franois, 105
Baronius, Cesar, cardinal, 22, 145
Barret-Kriegel, Blandine, 9
Bastille, the prison of, 130, 138
Bayle, Pierre, 101, 136, 139
Beauvilliers, Paul, duke de Saint-Aignan
et de, 159
Bellinzani, Francesco, 76, 117
Benedictines, 120, 146
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 100
Besson, Joseph, pre, 1067
bibliophilia, 1718, 102, 104, 162
Bibliotheca San Marco, 21, 28
biblioteca selecta, 9597, 111
Bibliothque Mazarine, 4043
Bibliothque Nationale, 8
Bicci, Averardo Francesco di, 55
Biterne, Law Firm of, 35
Blair, Ann, 23
Blois, Franoise-Marie de Bourbon,
mademoiselle de, 51
Blondel, Franois, 110
Blotius, Hugo, 70, 9597
Bodin, Jean, 30
Boislisle, Arthur de, 9
Bookkeeping, double-entry, 18, 35,
5358; naval, 7476
Boniface VIII, Benedetto Caetani, pope,
141
Bossuet, Jacques-Bnigne, bishop, 151
Botero, Giovanni, 55
Bouhours, Dominique, pre de, 87
Boulainvilliers, Henri, comte de, 15960
Bourgogne, Louis, ls de France, duke
de, 125, 159
Bourzeis, Aimable, abb, 108, 122
Boutigny, Roland Le Vayer de, inten-
dant, 151
Boyle, Robert, 115
Bracciolini, Poggio, 16, 17
Brienne, Antoine de Lomnie, comte de,
103
Brienne, Henri-Auguste de Lomnie,
comte de, 29; archive of, 103
Brunelleschi, Filippo, 54, 57
Bruno, Giordano, 24
Bud, Guillaume, 30
Bullion, Claude de, 53
Bureaucracy, 3, 11; Colberts reforms of
the intendancy, 67; Foucaults training
for, 12326; Jesuit, 23, 29, 31; and
scholarship, 106; Spanish, 20; and the
Terror, 166
Busbeque, Ogier Ghislain de, 105
Call numbers, 93
Cambridge University, 1
Cambridge Modern History, 15
Canada, 11319
Carcassonne, 104
Carcavy, Pierre, 99
cartography, 7172, 76
Casa de Contratacon, 20, 28
Cassini, Giovanni Domenico, 8, 76,
99
Castiglione, Baldessare, 54
Castille, 18
catalogs, 146
categories, 5
Catherine II, the Great, Tsarina of Rus-
sia, 162
Catinat de Vaugelay, Pierre, Prsident de,
81
Caulet, Franois-tienne, bishop,
14042, 149
censorship, 13039
the church, and paperwork, 1314, 16;
scholars of, 12023
Central Intelligence Agency, 12
Chambers, Ephram, 195
Chambre des Comptes, 28, 123, 151
270 i ndex
Chamlay, Jean-Louis Bol, marquis de,
157
Champaigne, Philippe de, 4
Chapelain, Jean, 101, 157; family ac-
counting rm of, 35
Charlemagne, 14, 140
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 54
Charles VIII, King of France, 109, 141
Charles IX, King of France, 30
Charron, Pierre, 58
Chevreuse, Charles Honor dAlbert,
duke de Luynes, de Chaulnes et de,
159
Choppin, Ren, 28
chorography, 71
Christina, Queen of Sweden, 41
Cicero, 2
Clanchy, M. T., 15
Clment, Nicolas, 122
Clment, Pierre, 6
clerks, 30
Clermont, Collge de, 87, 89, 123
Clinton, William Jefferson, 12
Cluny, 15
Clusius, Carolus, 19
Coffee Houses, 10
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste: and accounting,
34, 36, 50, 6066; and archives, 7,
10712; book collector, 1018,
12627; and bookkeeping, 35; collapse
of his ministry, 156; and colonial pol-
icy, 11319; correspondence of,
13739; death, 153; education of,
3436; family, 34; and nance, 34; and
nancial management, 38; fortune of,
3637; and Foucault, 12326; his son,
8893; and historiographical culture,
12729; information management, 7;
information management, blueprint for
his system of, 86; information manage-
ment, collapse of his system, 15459;
information management, cross-check-
ing, 78; information management and
intendants, 6873; information man-
agement and navy, 7375; information
management systems, 12, 41; innova-
tions, 16365; and Jesuits, 34; and La
Reynie, 13339; legacy of, 16365; li-
brary of 13, 95119, 121, 145; library,
sale of, 156; lobby of, 68; and Louis
XIV, relationship to and education of,
5152, 5964; and Louis XIV, reports
to, 91; and Mazarin, 3540; and
Mazarins library, 4043; and merchant
culture, 3435; and Gabriel Naud,
3942; original name of Mississippi
River, 113; and paperwork, 4, 6, 8, 36;
and the Paris Parlement, 43, 4749;
Paris Parlement, conict with, 8081;
Paris Parlement, regulation of, 69; and
the Republic of Letters, 127; reputa-
tion and historical image, 35; rise to
power, chap. 3; Royal Library, 4, 42,
94101; and science, 98104; secrecy
of, 44, 4748
Colbert, douard Franois, comte de
Maulvrier, 155
Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, marquis de
Seignelay, education, 8488; makes en-
qutes; and note-taking, 8993; policy
letters, 13837; takes over from his fa-
ther, 153
Colbert, Marie Charron, 36
Colbert, Nicolas, archbishop, 84
Colbert de Croissy, Charles, intendant,
Ambassador, 74, 77, 81, 11112
Colbert de Terron, Jean, intendant, 45,
7374, 79, 84
Colbert de Torcy, Jean-Baptiste, foreign
minister, archive and information sys-
tem of, 15657
collecting, 19, 1018, 127
Collegio Romano, 22
colonies, 11319
Commines, Philippe, de, 109
Committee of Public Safety, 165
Communication Networks, 10
Congress of the United States, 11
Conring, Herman, 101, 127
Corregidores, 72
Cotelier, Jean-Baptiste, 105
Cotton, Robert, 8, 2728
Council of Finances, 53, 60
Counter, or Catholic Reform, 53, 143
Cour des Aides, 8182
Courtilz de Sandras, Gatien, 4
Index 271
Cramoisy, Sbastien Marbre, 102
credit, 16061
Creil, Jean de, intendant, 81
curia regia, 29
curiosity, 19; Colberts lack of in the
New World, 114, 119
Dafforne, Richard, 56
DAlembert, Jean Le Rond, 4
Dallek, Robert, 11
DArtagnan, Charles de Batz-Castelmore,
46
Dassi, F., 110
data, management, 23; search, 14652
deBarbari, Jacopo, 55
Delamare, Nicolas, 131, 133
Descartes, Ren, 3, 5, 41
Desmaretz, Nicolas, 15455
Dessert, Daniel, 68
Diderot, Denis, 45, 95, 110
diplomatica, 101, 121
Diplomats, 1718, 7071
Doat, Jean, Prsident de, 104
Dodart, Denis, 110
Doomsday Book, 15
Doujat, Jean, 80
Dreyfus, Alfred, 11, 165
Du Cange, Charles du Fresne, sieur, 31,
105
Dumoulin, Charles, 28
Dupuy Academy, 31
Dupuy, Jacques, 2728, 31, 94, 100, 145,
161
Dupuy, Pierre, 2728, 3133, 100, 145,
161
Durey de Meinires, Jean-Baptiste
Franois, 161
Du Tillet, Jean the elder, 30, 33, 89,
102
East India Company (VOC), 2425
Eastern manuscripts, 1046
Ecclesiastical scholars, 12023, 144
Edict of Nantes, 155
Encyclopdie, 45, 95, 110, 161
encyclopedism, 94101, 104
England, 18, 21; government and infor-
mation, 2627; treaties with, 11113
enqutes, 67, 69, 77; Seignelay trains to
write them, 155
dpernon, Bernard de Nogaret de La
Valette, duke, 131
Erasmus, Desiderius, 57
Escorial, el, 20
Evans, R. J. W., 9
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 12
Flibien, Andr, 110
Fermat, Pierre de, 95
Fernandez de Oviedo, Gonzalo, 114
Files, 17, 23; Colberts les, 116, 122;
Colberts le on the rgale, 147; of po-
lice, 80; Seignelays les, 8993, 108
nance, 18, 34; and openness, or trans-
parency, 15961
Flacius, Mathias, 22
Florence, Italy, 10, 1619, 98
Foucault, Joseph-Nicolas, marquis de
Magny, 43, 48, 78, 80, 90, 12328,
137, 14142
Foucault, Michel, 9
Fouillac, Antoine Raymonde, abb de,
124
Fouquet, Nicolas, marquis de Belle-Isle,
vicomte de Melun et Vaux, 4347;
Cassette, or archive of, 4647; library,
102
Franois I, King of France, 30
Frederick II, the Great, King of Prussia,
162
Freedom of Information Act, 11
Fronde, the, 35, 40, 130, 131
Fugger, Anton, 19, 144
Fugger, Jakob, 19
Fulda, 15
Galileo, 8, 24
Galison, Peter, 11
Galland, Antoine, 125
Gallicanism, 22, 2732, 107, 12325,
14042, 145, 151
Gallois, Jean, abb de 144, 14750
Gardiner, George, 116
Gates, Bill, 163
Gaudais-Dupont, Louis, 113
genealogy, policy of, 82
272 i ndex
Genoa, 16, 19
geography, 7172
German states, 18
Gesner, Conrad, 23, 58, 95
Godefroy, Denis II, 128
Godefroy, Thodore, 2931, 89, 102, 104
Google, 2, 7
government; and paperwork, 6, 22, 60;
and antiquarianism, 2533, 69
Gracin, Balthasar, 53
Grafton, Anthony, 99
Grands Jours dAuvergne, 82
Gregory XV, Alessandro Ludovisi, pope,
22
Grotius, Hugo, 26, 28, 41, 54
Grub Street, 139
Guicciardini, Francesco, 1718
Guise, Henri II, duke de, 38
Habermas, Jrgen, 10
Hague, the, 24
Hapsburg, empire, 25
Harlay, Achilles de, 151
Harlay de Champvallon, Franois de, 30,
108, 151
Heinsius, Nicolas, 28, 127
Henry IV, King of France, 29, 5253, 103
Henry VIII, King of England, 141
Hrouard, Jean, 58
Hevelius, Johannes, 101
history, and politics, 12729
Hobbes, Thomas, 97
Holland, 18; Dutch Revolt, 21; Dutch
Wars, 122; French competition with,
76; radical books from, 13639; trade
empire, 2425
dHozier, Charles-Ren, 83
humanism, 1619; Colberts distaste for,
109; decline of political humanism,
3940; and political pedagogy, 52;
practical humanism and accounting,
5455
Huygens, Christian, 8, 99, 127
Ianziti, Gary, 17
information, 6; Amsterdam, 2425; Col-
berts orders concerning, 77; Colberts
system of, 97; collection, 68; and colo-
nial affairs, 114; cross-checking, 79;
and genealogy, 82; handling and man-
agement of, 23, 41, 52, 56, 6266; and
ministry of foreign affairs, 156; and
navy, 7376; networks, 10, 12; over-
load, 77; and the Parlement, 16162;
and politics, 14452; retrieval of, 146;
war room, 14852
informants, political, 80; religious, 15, 76
informers, 69, 72
Innocent XI, Benedetto Odescalchi,
pope, 141
Intelligence, 12, 68, 72, 80; and historical
documents, 129; scientic, 99
intendants, 67; and enqutes, 77; as in-
formers, 72; and navy, 7376
investiture crises, 14041
James I, King of England, 97
Jansenism, 105, 121, 13334, 144
Jarry, Nicolas, 65
Jefferson, Thomas, 11718
Jesuits, 5, 6, 12; and bureaucracy, 23; and
education of Colberts son, 8993; and
New World, 114, 117, 118; and sci-
ence, 98; and travel, 7071
Journal (Giornale), 5556, 62
Kelley, Donald, 30
King, James E., 9
Kircher, Athanasius, 8, 23, 1045
Koselleck, Reinhard, 10
Kunstkammern, 71
Laffemas, Barthlemy de, 57
La Fosse, Conseiller de, 46
La Hire, Philippe de, 8
Lamoignon, Guillaume de Malesherbes,
Prsident de, 47
La Mothe Lavayer, Franois de, 5859
La Reynie, Gabriel-Nicolas, lieutenant
gnral du Chtelet, 8; education, 131;
governing Paris, 132; policing of let-
ters, 13039; works with Baluze, 133
La Salle, Jean-Baptiste, chevalier de, 114,
118
Lavisse, Ernst, 6, 8, 67
Law, John, 160
Index 273
Lecointe, Charles, 110
ledgers, 5458
Le Gallois, Jean, 100
Legal reforms, 4749
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr
von, 146
Le Laboureur, Jean, 161
Le Maistre, 28
Le Ntre, Andr, 1
Lonard, Frdric, 102
Le Paige, Louis-Sbastien, 161
Le Pelletier, Claude de, 15455, 157
Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel, 67
Le Tellier, Michel, 3536, 45; family,
15455
libraries: and the Encyclopdie, 5;
Mazarine library, 102; and science, 1,
98104. See also Colbert, Jean-Baptiste,
library
Library, Royal, 1, 7, 8, 28, 83, 94107;
and Louvois family, 158; taken from
Colberts control, 15456
library science, 7
Lionne, Hugues de, 51
Lipsius, Justus, 39, 5354
Lister, Martin, 12, 95
Livy, 129
Locke, John, 5
longitude, 8
Longueil, Ren de, 80
Longueville, Henri II dOrlans, duke de,
97
Louis, Grand Dauphin de France, 50,
60
Louis XI, King of France, 109
Louis XIII, King of France, 103, 143
Louis XIV, 5, 6, 12, 13, 33, 39, 43, 44,
4749; breaks up Colberts ministry
and system, 15459; and clandestine
literature, 139; and colonies, 114; edu-
cation, 5865; Friday morning reports
from Colbert, 91; patronage, 101, 104;
reading enqutes, 77; relationship with
Colbert, 5052; and the right of rgale,
14043
Louis XV, 135; purchases Colberts
books, 157, 165
Louis XVI, 135, 161, 165
Louvois, Camille Le Tellier, abb de, 158
Louvois, Franois Michel Le Tellier,
marquis de, 15758
Louvre, palais du, 95; and the royal press,
109
Luther, Martin, 141
Lyon, 18
Mabillon, don Jean de, 101, 12123
Machiavelli, Niccol, 17
Malesherbes, Guillaume-Chrtien de
Lamoignon de, 13561
Mallet, Roland, 57
Malynes, Girard, 116
maps, 7172, 76, 95; Native American,
117
Marca, Pierre de, archbishop, 28, 121,
14344
Maridor, Jean, Prsident de, 47
Marie-Thrse dEspagne, Queen of
France, 51, 122
Marle, Bernard-Hector de, intendant, 79,
81
Marsilius of Padua, 141
Mascranni, banking house, 35
Mason Lodges, 10
Maurice of Nassau, 53
Mazarin, Cardinal Jules de, 3, 29, 33; and
Colbert, 3539, 4344, 51; and educa-
tion of Louis XIV, 89, 129; library of,
4043, 102
McKenzie, Donald F., 115
Medici, bank, 18, 54; family, 34
Medici, Cosimo de, 18
Medici, Marie de, Queen of France,
57
Mellis, John, 56
Mercantilism, 3, 7, 164
Merchants, 18; culture of, 3435, 6266;
code of, 86
Merovingians, 13
Mesme, Henri, prsident de, 188
Mzray, Franois-Eudes, 128
Milan, 1618
Ministry of Finance, 154; falls out of con-
trol of Colbert family, 156
Mississippi River, originally called the
Colbert River, 113
274 i ndex
Modifort, Thomas, 116
Moissac, Abbey de, 124
Montaigne, Michel de, 58, 115
Montano, Benito Arias, 21
Montchrtien, Antoine de, 5758, 70
Montespan, Franoise-Athnas, marquise
de, 51, 157
Montfaucon, Bernard de, 12526
Morales, Ambrosio de, 21, 26
Moreau, Jean-Jacob, 162
Mnster, Sebastian, 70
Napolon, Bonaparte, 165
Nattier, Marc, the elder, 85
Naud, Gabriel, 3942, 58, 95, 102,
1089
navy, French, record and information
systems, 7376
Newton, Sir Isaac, 5
Niccoli, Niccol, 102
Northumbria, 15
notebooks, 18, 48, 54; of Charles Per-
rault, 129; of intendants, 82; Louis XIV
(Carnets de Louis XIV), 6466; of
Seignaly, 89
note taking, and accounting, 5458; and
the Jesuits, 23; and Seignelays training,
8493
Observatory, Royal, 8
Ogilvie, Brian, 70
Openness, nancial, 15961
Orientalism, 1057
Origen, Adamantius, 22
dOrlans, Philippe, duke de, 51
dOrlans, Philippe, duke de, Regent of
France, 123
Orta, Gracia da, 57
Ovando, Juan de, 114
Oxenstierna af Sdermre, Axel Gustafs-
son, Chancellor of Sweden, 96
Pacioli, Luca, 5457
Pallavicino, Sforza, 21
Pamiers, 14042
paperwork, 8, 14; and colonies, 11319;
and the Italian City States, 16; in
Spain, 20; and secrecy, 45, 59, 79;
Seignelays guide to state paperwork,
8990
Parker, Geoffrey, 9
Parker, Matthew, 22
Paris, 1, 18
Parlement of Paris, 2833, 4344, 6768,
8081; and information, 16162; and
censorship, 133
Paul V, Camillo Borghese, pope, 2123
Pedagogy, 6, 5254, 57; merchant, 8687;
project for the duke de Bourgogne,
159
Peiresc, Nicolas Fabri de, 27, 30, 95, 100,
102, 1045, 12526, 139
Pellison-Fontanier, Paul, 128
Pellot, Claude, intendant, 81
pendulum clock, 8
Prxe de Beaumont, Paul-Philippe, 58
Perrault, Charles, 12829
Perrault, Claude, 109
Petrarch, Franceso, 16
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, 162
Petty, William, 69
Philip the Fair, King of France, 141
Philip II of Spain, 9, 1921, 26, 68, 71;
compared to Colbert, 73, 77, 95,
11314, 166
Philip V, King of Spain, 162
Philippe-Auguste, King of France, 67
philology, 17
Picard, Jean, 9
Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tus-
cany, 10
Pithou, Pierre, 28, 3031, 145
policing, of letters, 13039; of Parlement,
80
politeness, 10
Pombal, Sebastio Jos de Carvalho e
Melo, conde de Oeiras, marques de,
162
Pontchartrain, Jrme Phlypeaux, comte
de, 158
portfolios, 8
The Pragmatic Sanction, 141
Presidential Records Act, 11
printing, 24; regulation of Paris printers,
13139
Priolo, Benjamin, 129
Index 275
Propaganda, 128
Protestants, 92, 105; policing of, 13334
Public Sphere, 1011
publishing, 41
Pussort, Henri, 4748
radical Enlightenment, 133, 164
Ramus, Petrus, 57
Reagan, Ronald, 12
record keeping, 1618, 5658, 74, 1079,
12123
reference system, 14352
Reformation, 2122, 141
regal, royal right of, 126, 14051
registers, of state funds, 7, 28, 6063, 89;
parliamentary, 43
reims, 34
relaciones topogrcas, 20, 26, 68, 71,
113
relations, 87
relazioni, 20
Renaudot, Jacques, 136
Renaudot, Thophraste, 32, 136
reports, government, 27, 61; cross-check-
ing of, 79; of intendants, 69, 73; of
Seignelay, 85
Republic of Letters, the, 10, 2728, 30;
Colberts control of, 127, 16364; and
libraries, 102; policing of, 13339; and
royal academies, 100
research, 97104, 151
Revolution, the French, 108, 151, 160,
163
Ribier, Guillaume, 12930
Richelieu, Armand du Plessis, Cardinal
de, 5, 29, 31, 34, 5253, 58, 96, 100,
143
Richer, Jean, 110
Rigault, Nicolas, 30
Rochefort, port of, 7376, 84, 87, 114
Roman script, 17
Rome, 16, 17
Royal Press, 10910, 123
Royal Society, 98
Rudolph II of Bohemia, Holy Roman
Emperor, 25, 120
Sacchini, Francesco, 23
Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide,
22
Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de La Curne
de, 161
Saint Just, Antoine Louis Lon de
Richebourg de, 16566
Sales, St. Franois de, 109
Sallo, Denis de, 100, 136
salons, 10
Salutati, Coluccio, 1718
Sandys, Sir Edwin, 26
Sanson, Nicolas, 76
Sarpi, Paolo, 8, 135
Savary, Jacques, 57, 86, 90, 110
Savoy, 16263
Scala, Bartolomeo, 17
science, 98104
Scientic Revolution, 3
scribes, in the navy, 7475, 146
scriptoria, 13, 16
search engine, 7
secrecy, and archives, 107, 12930; criti-
cism of, 15960; and the French
monarchy, 47; and government reports
and memos, 80; and modern govern-
ment, 912, 29, 39, 4445
secret sphere, 33, 168
Secretaries, 29, 36, 44
Sguier, Pierre, duke de Villemor, Chan-
cellier de France, 30, 46
Seplveda, Juan Gins de, 115
Svign, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal,
marquise de, 3
Seville, 18, 20
Shapiro, Barbara, 71
Sharpe, Kevin, 9
Shils, Edward, 11
Sienna, 16
Simancas, 20, 28
Simon, Rochard, 13435
Simonetta, Cicco, 17
Simonetta, Giovanni, 17
Smedley-Weill, Anette, 72
Smith, Adam, 4
Souchu de Rennefort, Urbain, 114
Spain, 2021, 98; and the Dutch archives,
29
Spanheim, Ezechiel, 4
276 i ndex
Spinoza, Baruch, 5
Staatenkunde, 9
Stasi, the, 165
state information system, 22; Colberts
design for, 96; collapse of, 154; criti-
cism of, 159; managing of, 60, 67
state secrecy, 912, 29, 39, 4445, 80
statistics, 7273, 118
Steven, Simon, 5355
Strada, Octavio, 25
Sublet de Noyers, Franoise de, 35
Suetonius, 109
Sully, Maximillien de Bethune, duke de,
29; archives of, 108
Tacitus, 39, 53, 57, 129, 135
Talon, Jean, 11718
Taxation, 68, 126
Terence, 109
The Terror, 165
The Thirty Years War, 53
Thou, Jacques-Auguste de, 8, 54, 95, 105,
139
travel, 7072; as an element of Colberts
training of Seignelay, 87; in the New
World, 114
Trsor des Chartes, 28
Trichet du Fresne, Raphal, 102
Trithemius, Johannes, 22
trust, 160
Tubeuf, Jacques, intendant, 3738, 126
Turgot, Ann Robert Jacques, Baron de
Laune, 16364
University of Pennsylvania, 137
Urban VIII, Maffeo Barberini, pope, 22
Vallire, Louise de, 51
Van Damme, Stphane, 10
Varillas, Antoine, 128
Vatican, 1718, 2223
Vauban, Sbastien Le Prestre, marquis de,
85, 111
Vaux-le-Vicomte, 4445
Venice, 16, 18; ambassadors, 20, 21; In-
terdict, 2122; archival catalog, 22
Vermandois, Louis de Bourbon, comte
de, 51
Versailles, 3, 67, 95, 100; publications
about, 110
Vice President of the United State of
America, Ofce of, 11
Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy, 163
Vieira, Damiao, 116
Vinci, Leonarda da, 54, 57
Vossius, J. G., 127
Wansleben (Vanslbe), Johann, Michael,
pere, 106
Wars of Religion, 28
Weber, Max, 3, 13, 15, 154
West Indies, 24
Williams, Robert, 56
Wolfenbttel Library, 99103, 146
Wotton, Sir Henry, 104
Ympyn, Jan, 56
Zsmboky, Janos (Sambucus), 25
Zwinger, Theodore, 70
Index 277

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