How Important Were Intendants During the Reign of Louis Xiv of France?

How important were the intendants in Louis XIV's France? (24)

Intendants were agents of the crown and were the eyes and ears of Louis XIV and his government, providing vast amounts of useful information about the provinces. This essay will argue that they were extremely useful and therefore important overall, however they were less important is some aspects of their job.

On the one hand, intendants were extremely important in Louis XIV's France because they gathered unprecedented levels of information for Louis and his government about the provinces. During this period, there were only primitive ways of travel available and many routes/roads were poorly built or dangerous. This, along with the sheer size of France, made travelling extremely difficult and created a great divide between the distant and inaccessible provinces and the centre of France, Paris (it took about 14 days to travel from Paris to Marseille).This meant that the provinces were extremely hard to govern as the politicians in the capital were not able to know much about these distant and unconnected regions. However, the intendants were a way of gathering such information about the provinces. They were each sent to a certain area or province and were made to submit reports every month to the king, consisting of key information regarding the province, such as the extent of landed wealth, the quality of livestock and the state of industries. Information like this allowed Louis to get the most out of the provinces and govern them effectively. Therefore, the indendants were extremely useful in this respect as they allowed Louis to exert his absolutist powers and gain control over the provinces, while contributing to the process of centralisation and the dominance of Paris over these regions. Overall, this argument is extremely significant as it shows how important and instrumental the intendants were with helping the Louis and his ministers govern the provinces. They were the only key source of information for Louis, so they were greatly needed. Although one limitation is that some of the information gathered was inaccurate and may have led to further problems, it was still hugely beneficial as a whole and was certainly better than nothing.

In addition, they were also very important because they greatly increased revenue for the crown. Intendants were required to oversee the collection of taxes in the provinces and prevent problems regarding tax, such as the corruption of officials. Averting such problems greatly increased crown revenues as more money was being returned to the king, rather than going into the pockets of criminals. This was therefore hugely beneficial to Louis in order to fund his policies and warfare, suggesting intendants were of great importance during his reign. Intendants were also required to gather detailed information regarding taxes for their reports for the king. This also increased the revenue of the crown as it gave Louis a figure for tax revenue and other important information, which allowed him to manage the income and expenditure of the crown more efficiently and save a great deal of money. This further suggests the importance of intendants in increasing revenue, thus providing the resources that were required for Louis to lead effectively. Overall, this argument is important as crown revenues played a huge part in Louis' reign, especially when you consider the excessive warfare that took place and the enormous funds that were required. The only limitation of the argument is that the tax system still remained a mess as a whole, with a huge number of corrupt officials and unnecessary dynamics. While revenues increased which is surely better than nothing, they were still nowhere near the potential number if the tax system was adequate.

Finally, intendants were important because they acted as a presence of the king in the provinces. During this period, there were many revolts in the provinces, such as the anti-tax revolts of The Fronde, between 1648 and 1653. Therefore a representative of the king was required in the provinces to assert his authority and control. The intendants were extremely helpful in doing this. Not only did they represent and promote the king is these regions, they worked with local inhabitants through a policy of cooperation, keeping them happy and in allegiance with the king. In addition, information