The
gabelle was a very unpopular
taxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
on
saltIn chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
before 1790. The term gabelle derives from the
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
gabella (a tax), itself from the Arabic
qabala.
In France, Gabelle was originally applied to taxes on all
commoditiesIn economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
, but was gradually limited to the tax on
saltIn chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
. In time it became one of the most hated and most grossly unequal taxes in the country. It was abolished in 1790, then reinstated by Napoleon in 1806; abolished briefly by the
French Second RepublicThe French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
, and then finally abolished permanently in 1945.
The
gabelle existed outside France, even after 1790. In the
1919 Paris TreatiesThe Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
,
Ho Chi MinhHồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
described the oppressiveness of taxes, forced labor, and exploitation that the
gabelle symbolized.
Introduction
First imposed as a temporary expedient in 1286 in the reign of
Philip IVPhilip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
, it was made a permanent tax by
Charles VCharles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
(it was temporarily suspended after his death but reimposed by his successor after putting down a
tax revoltThe Harelle was a revolt that occurred in the French city of Rouen in 1382 followed by the Maillotins Revolt a few days later in Paris, and numerous other revolts across France in the subsequent week. France was in the midst of the Hundred Years War, and had seen decades of warfare, widespread...
). Repressive as a state monopoly, it was made doubly so from the fact that the government obliged every individual above the age of eight years to purchase weekly a minimum amount of salt at a fixed price.
Classification
When first instituted, it was levied uniformly on all the provinces in France, but for the greater part of its history the price varied in different provinces. There were six distinct groups of provinces, who were called
pays (lit. "countries"; to be understood as an obsolete word for "region"), and classified as follows:
- the Pays de grandes gabelles, in which the salt came from the Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and the tax was heaviest: between about 54 and 61 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s for a minotThe minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
, that is to say about 50 Kilograms of salt, in 1789;
- the Pays de petites gabelles, in which the salt came from the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and the tax was about half the rate of the former: between 22 and 30 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s for a minotThe minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
;
- the Pays de quart-bouillon, such as the coast of Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, ProvenceProvence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
or RoussillonRoussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...
, in which salt came from boiling sea-salt impregnated sand, a fourth of which production went to the king, and prices ranged from 13 to 27 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s for a minotThe minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
;
- the Pays de salines (Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
, AlsaceAlsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and LorraineThe Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
), in which the tax was levied on the salt extracted from the salt marshes, and prices for a minotThe minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
varying from 15 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s (Franche-Comté) to between 12 and 36 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s in the numerous fiscal divisions of the Alsace-Lorraine;
- the Pays redimés, which had purchased redemption in 1549: the minot
The minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
of salt could be found there for about between 8 and 11 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s;
- the Pays exempts, which had stipulated for exemption on entering into union with the kingdom of France; there, minot
The minot is an old unit of dry volume, used in France prior to metrication. The unit was equivalent to three French bushels , half a mine, and one quarter of a setier. The size of the minot is comparable to the US and Imperial bushels.The name minot derives from the larger unit, the mine, with...
of salt would cost only between 1 and 8 livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Etymology:...
s.
Greniers à sel (salt granaries dating from 1342) were established in each province, and to these all salt had to be taken by the producer on penalty of confiscation. The grenier fixed the price which it paid for the salt and then sold it to retail dealers at a higher rate.
Smuggling
The important differences in cost between various
pays clearly show the reason behind the active contraband of salt that took place in France until the gabelle was abolished. The obvious idea was to buy salt in a region where it was cheap and to sell it under the coat in regions where it was expensive, at a higher price, but still less than the legal price. Such smugglers were called
faux-sauniers, from
faux ("false") and the root
sau-, referring to salt. In turn, the customs guards tasked with arresting the
faux-sauniers were nicknamed
gabelous, a term obviously derived from the
gabelle they sought to uphold.
Faux-sauniers were sentenced to the galleys if they were caught without weapons, and to death if caught with weapons.
Rebellion in Brittany
In 1675, the
red bonnets in
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
rebelled against the gabelle. They expressed a list of demands in a document known as the
peasant code. In this document, the gabelle was personified, as was common in this age, especially with
deathDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
and
plagueInfectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
.