Les parlementaires bordelais de 1750 à 1793 : vie publique, vie privée
Institution:
Bordeaux 4Disciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
In the first part, to improve our knowledge of the members of this parliament and the world they lived in, we have studied their cultural, economic and family background, as well as their office and their work. Judging from the documents we have been able to study, the members chose this particular office not because of the financial advantages they might obtain from it, but mainly for the prestige that came along with it. Indeed not anybody could accede to this station, and informal barriers as well as inviaible bridges were set up to maintain a certain level of cooptation, all the more so as the office thus acquired and fulfilled allowed the member to get acceed to nobility. The parliament is therefore socially quite homogeneous, all the more as it is strongly endogamous. It emerges that this group had a strengthh and coherence that must have helped it in its ambitions. That is why the second part consists of an appraisal of the relations between the compagnie and the various agents of power -both local and national-, to figure out their actual authority, and an analysis of the compagnie's specific functions. It appears that from the point of view of the royal administration, the parliament should have had no more than the rank of a departmental court accompanied with limited powers to make regional regulations and an optional counselling function. Yet, this is not what its members expected their functions to be. This explains why they developped "democratic" theories which undermined the french monarchic organisation but at the same time eroded the parliament's own legitimacy. Neither the members of the parliament nor their citizens seem to have been aware of this process which resulted in an escalation of affairs, each leading to more and more contestation and ending in the demand for the meeting of the states general. To conclude, it makes no doubt that the failure of the members and of the parliament of bordeaux is due to their opposition to the forces that were to gradually influence and dominate the course of french history. This institution was both too old and too sclerosed to get over the hurdle of 1789, which is also a revolution in intellectual thought. From that point, society came back to an elitism based upon individual merit. The buying of offices, and therefore wealth and family ties were no longer relevant in this new system. At that point
Abstract FR:
Dans une premiere partie, pour mieux connaitre les parlementaires et le monde qu'ils frequentaient, leurs charges, leur travail, leur milieu familial, culturel et economique ont ete etudies. Des textes, il ressort qu'un parlementaire choisit sa fonction non en raison de l'hypothetique apport financier qu'il pourrait en retirer, mais surtout pour le prestige qui en emane. De ce fait, n'importe qui ne peut acceder a cet etat, ainsi des barrieres informelles et des ponts invisibles sont mis en place pour assurer une certaine cooptation. D'autant plus que la charge acquise et remplie, permet a la personne concernee d'acceder a la noblesse. La societe parlementaire est ainsi en grande partie tres homogene, d'autant plus qu'elle est fortement endogame, il se degage donc de ce groupe une force et une coherence qui ont pu l'aider dans ses ambitions. C'est pourquoi dans une deuxieme partie et afin de cerner leur veritable autorite, les rapports de la compagnie avec les differents agents du pouvoir - tant locaux que nationaux - ont ete examines et ses fonctions propres ont ete analysees. Il est apparu, que d'un point de vue royal, le parlement n'aurait du avoir qu'un rang de tribunal de derniere instance assorti d'un pouvoir reglementaire regional restreint et d'une fonction de conseil facultatif. Ce n'est pourtant pas ce que ses membres attendaient de leurs fonctions. C'est ainsi qu'ils ont developpe des theories " democratiques " sapant, il est vrai, l'organisation monarchique francaise, mais minant du meme coup leur propre legitimite, ce dont ils ne semblaient conscients, ni eux ni leurs administres. Alors c'est la surenchere des " affaires " qui amene chacune, un etage de plus a la contestation jusqu'a l'apogee : la demande de reunion des etats generaux. En conclusion, il est certain que l'echec des parlementaires bordelais et du parlement de bordeaux est du a leur opposition aux forces qui allaient graduellement dominer le cours de l'histoire de france. Leur institution etait trop ancienne et trop sclerosee pour passer le cap de 1789, qui represente aussi une revolution de la pensee intellectuelle. La societe revient alors a un elitisme base sur le merite individuel. L'achat des charges, et donc la fortune et les liens familiaux n'ont plus de place dans cette logique. Ces pratiques paraissent a ce moment la obsoletes et immorales.