The Political Evolution of the Old Regime, 1715–89 357ally liberal and enlightened influence on French policy,
but she was not able to master the king’s greatest prob-
lem: Like George III of England, he found that he had
inherited a government deep in debt, with disordered
finances and no ready solutions.
The French Financial Crisis and the
Resurgent Aristocracy
The foremost problem facing Louis XV was the disas-
trous state of French finances created by high military
expenses and low taxation. The wars of Louis XIV left
France in debt and near bankruptcy. The debt amounted
to 36 percent of the government’s budget in 1739.
Royal opulence compounded the problem: The cost
of maintaining the royal family, splendid palaces such
as Versailles, and the life of the royal court exceeded
10 percent of the national budget, whereas all expendi-
tures on social welfare, including royal pensions, got
only 8 percent of the budget. The extravagant spending
on luxuries could reach absurd levels. A single piece of
furniture for a royal palace, gilded and bejewelled, cost
more than the servant who dusted it could earn in two
thousand years (see table 19.2).
Cardinal Fleury established financial order in
France, but he could not resolve the underlying prob-
lems of inadequate taxation and therefore could not
eliminate the debt. The principal direct tax, the taille,
was collected on land and property, but it was inade-
quate because the aristocracy, the church, and some
towns had exemptions from it. Attempts to create an
income tax without exemptions, such as the dixième
(10 percent) of 1710, had been blocked by the aristoc-
racy, the church, and the parlements. The right to
collect indirect taxes, such as tax stamps on documents,
had been sold to “tax farmers” for a fixed sum, while
they collected whatever excess they could. Many tradi-
tional taxes, such as the salt tax (gabelle), had been cut
for some regions and could not be increased.
The Seven Years’ War converted an intractable fi-
nancial problem into a national crisis. France was
populous, rich, and powerful, but the government was
facing bankruptcy. The war cost most of the French
colonial empire and 50 percent of French world trade.
The national debt rose to 62 percent of the national
budget in 1763, and it was growing because of huge in-
terest obligations and a rigid tax structure; new loans to
restructure the debt could reduce the percentage of the
budget consumed but perpetuate the problem. So fi-
nances became the dominant issue in France during the
twilight years of the Old Regime. Ultimately, neither
side won. The financial crisis led France to one of the
greatest revolutions of modern history.
King Louis XV, once beloved, was unable to handle
these problems. His indebted and ineffective govern-
ment plus his life of luxury and debauchery produced
unpopularity and stately torpor. The death of Madame
de Pompadour in 1764 left the king in despair. He
slowly became an eighteenth-century stereotype, the
aging voluptuary. After a few years of entertaining him-
self with a royal brothel at Versailles known as Deer
Park, Louis selected another official mistress in 1769.
Unfortunately, Madame du Barry lacked the insights
and education of Madame de Pompadour.
The dominant figure in the French government af-
ter the Seven Years’ War was Duke Etienne de Choiseul,
a capable soldier-statesman who had been sponsored by
Madame de Pompadour. Choiseul effectively rebuilt
French military strength after 1763 but not French fi-
nances. To his credit, Louis XV attempted a solution.
He ordered that a wartime tax, the vingtième—“the twen-
tieth,” a 5 percent income tax that fell on all classes—
remain in force. This provoked a virtual rebellion of
aristocrats who believed themselves exempt from such
taxes. The aristocratic lawyers and magistrates of the no-
blesse de robe,who controlled the parlements of the higherThe following bill was presented by a Parisian jeweller in
1760 for a single piece of furniture, a jewelled, lacquered
writing desk called an escritoire. To understand this level of
royal spending, compare it with the annual incomes and
prices in livres shown in Table 17.3.
Component of a lacquer desk with
flower vase, powder box, and
sponge case Cost in livres
Gold 3,464
Lacquer 528
Labor (cabinet maker, joiner, and
lock maker) 360
Labor (sublet jewellery work) 6,148
Miniature portrait of the empress 600
Packaging box with copper mounts 30
Labor (packaging) 28
Jewels 66,000
Total 77,158
Source: Condensed from data in Nancy Mitford, Madame de Pompadour
(New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton, 1968); p. 276.TABLE 19.2The Cost of Royal Extravagance, 1760