Western Civilization II / Unit 1 WC2 0003 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Richelieu, 1628 to 1642: Intendants and the Taille
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The idea
Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister from sixteen twenty-eight to his death in sixteen forty-two, crushed noble revolts and created the intendants: royal governors, usually non-noble merchants' sons, who collected taxes and supervised administration answerable to no local lord.
In practice
Three of six regional tax assemblies abolished; the taille, the land tax, nearly tripled.
Where people slip
The burden fell on peasants, whom Richelieu compared to mules.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- 0004Raison d'État: A Cardinal Backs Protestants and Turks
- 0017Sequencing France, 1610 to 1715
- 0018Classifying an Absolutist Instrument: Intendant, Tax, Ritual, Academy, Army
- 0020How Louis XIV Made France the Model of Europe and Bankrupted It
- 0120Absolutism and Constitutionalism Compared: France and England on Five Features
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