Sold – King Henry the Great Shows Compassion for His New Subjects

After decades of religious war, Henry IV ascended the French throne with an eye toward healing and peace, ceasing costly wars against rival nobles and attempting to mend the rifts between Catholics and Huguenots. He was nicknamed by his subjects “Henry the Great” because he aimed also to appease the financial burden of the third estate, the only of France’s social classes required to pay the taille, or tax. Nobles and clergy were exempted. He is said to have proclaimed “God willing, every working man in my kingdom will have a chicken in the pot every Sunday, at the least!” Never before had a French ruler considered the burden of taxation on his subjects, nor would one again until the French Revolution. After generations of domination by the extravagant Valois dynasty, Henri brought a new attitude to the throne.

France was once a much smaller kingdom than today, consisting of a core centralized government ruled by the King and several independent, locally managed fiefdoms run by various royal families. These subjects did not receive the protection of the King, nor were they required to pay taxes aside those paid to their noble lords. This changed gradually and over time. In 1607, Henry IV brought the region of Foix into the royal domain, supplanting the House of Albret as rulers with his own House of Bourbon. This region contained the town of Villefranche, which meant that its citizens would now be required to pay the taille and that Henry was responsible for the administration there. The peasants were still subject to a form of fiefdom under a Seigneur (lord or landowner) but the Seigneur held fealty to the King. Miles Marion was Henry’s treasurer and responsible for the collection of and exemption from the taille.

Autograph Letter Signed, January 18, no year but between 1607 and 1610, Monceaux (Henry’s court), France, to Marion. “The great desire that I have always entertained to see all my citizens at peace has led me this day to accord to inhabitants of my town, Villefranche, an exemption [from the taille tax] on the death of the Seigneur de St. Vincent…And in so much as I have just heard from Mr. Roquelaure, seneschal of the region, how significant it is to the well being and service of the region that it be promptly confirmed, I write you this note that you might take the matter up and verify the exemption.”