The War Within (eBook)

Private Interests and the Fiscal State in Early-Modern Europe

Joël Félix, Anne Dubet (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: PDF

2018 | 1st ed. 2018
IX, 302 Seiten
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-98050-8 (ISBN)

Infos

The international financial crisis of 2007-08 and the ensuing scandals continue to raise important debates about the role of institutions in maintaining trust and fighting corruption, as well as in sustaining economic growth and political stability in a globalized world. This book proposes to historicize these problems by looking at the ways in which early-modern Europe responded to similar challenges brought about by the rising costs of international warfare in a period marked by the development of commercial capitalism and the rise of fiscal states.

Building upon the expertise of a group of fiscal historians who are leaders in their respective fields, ten chapters successively examine how Spain, Britain, France, the Southern Low Countries, the Netherlands, Sweden and Prussia dealt with domestic conflicts arising from the business of war, especially issues of financial profit, fraud and corruption. Through a series of case studies, this volume explores how the various European polities engaged with the transformative effects of warfare on the relationship between private and public interests, paving the way for institutional reforms and transformed ethics. 

Joël Félix is Professor of European History at the University of Reading, UK.  His specialism is in early-modern fiscal and political history, particularly in France. His main publications include Finance et politique au siècle des Lumières (CHEFF 1999) and Louis XVI et Marie-Antoinette (Payot 2006). With J. Swann, he is the editor of Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy (British Academy/OUP 2013), and he has recently edited Before Fiscal Transparency (Histoire & Mesure 2015).

Anne Dubet is Professor of Early-Modern Spanish History at the University Clermont-Auvergne, France, specializing in the history of finances and politics in early modern Spain. Her most recent book is La Hacienda Real de la Nueva Planta (1713-1726), entre fraude y buen gobierno (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Madrid, 2015) and she co-authored, with S. Solbes Ferri, El rey, el ministro y el tesorero. El gobierno de la Real Hacienda en el siglo XVIII español (Madrid, Marcial Pons Historia, 2019). 

Inhalt

Contents 6
Notes on Contributors 8
List of Tables 10
Chapter 1 Introduction: Corruption and the Rise of the Fiscal State 11
References 23
Chapter 2 Credit and Discredit of Financiers in Wartime: Defrauding and Serving the Crown in Seventeenth-Century Spain 27
1 A Meteoric Rise Viewed from the Moment of the Fall 30
2 Techniques of Advancement 34
3 Interpreting Corruption 43
4 Conclusion 50
References 51
Chapter 3 “I Carry a Serpent in My Bosom, Which Devours Me”: Finance, Morality and the Public Service in the Nine Years War, 1688–1697 55
1 Financial Moralities and Mentalities 56
2 The Last Temptation of Richard Hill 60
3 Ranelagh and Financial Immorality 67
4 Conclusion 74
References 76
Chapter 4 The Spanish Monarchy and Financier Fraud During the Early Eighteenth Century: A Morality of Favours and Negotiation 80
1 Good and Bad Intentions: A Casuistry of Corruption 81
2 Fresh Compromises with the ‘gens d’affaires’, or Monied Men 86
3 The Minister, the Treasurer, and the Traffic in Promissory Notes 96
Bibliography 103
Chapter 5 Forgery of the French Coinage: The Question of the Counterfeit Money in the Southern Low Countries, 1710–1730 107
1 The Violation of People’s Rights 109
2 The Fake Louis d’or of the Governor, Marquis of Prié 114
3 Pietro Proli and the Antwerp Connection 117
4 The Counterfeiting of Gold Louis with Two Ls 119
5 Liège’s Manufacture 124
6 Counterfeiters and Royal Pardon 126
7 Conclusion 129
References 130
Chapter 6 The Talhouët Affair: Graft and Punishment in 1723 France 133
1 French Finances from 1715 to 1720 134
2 The Operation of the Visa, 1721–1723 135
3 The Affair 138
3.1 The Perpetrators 138
3.2 The Crime 139
3.3 Arrest and Trial 142
3.4 The Legal Issues 145
3.5 Motives and Self-Justification 146
3.6 The Outcome 149
4 Conclusion 150
References 151
Chapter 7 Tax Officials Stand Accused: Reform in Taxation and Public Morality in the Dutch Republic, 1748–1756 152
1 A System of Tax Farming 153
2 Riots and Protest 155
3 Corruption in a Changed System: Tax Officials Stand Accused 160
3.1 Pieter Reijers and Frederik Vaster 160
3.2 Jacobus Cras and Jacob Nolla 165
4 Changing Public Morality in a Changing System of Taxation 168
5 Concluding Remarks 171
References 174
Chapter 8 Between Private and Public Interests: The Moral Economy of Collaboration in Eighteenth-Century Spain 177
1 Sovereign Entrepreneurship in Great Britain 178
2 Method or Efficiency? Spanish Policy as Regards Private Actors 180
3 The Principle of Efficiency According to the State 182
4 Tax Farmers and Contractors Before 1749 183
5 Against Tax Farming 185
6 Farmers’ Profits 187
7 Shifting Scenarios 188
8 The Procurement Policy of Charles III (1759–1788) 190
9 Fewer Contractors, Longer Contacts: An Overview 192
10 The Nationalisation of Cannon Foundries and Munitions Factories 193
11 Conclusions 195
References 196
Chapter 9 Why Did Chambres de Justice Disappear in Eighteenth-Century France? Fiscal Profit and Institutional Change, 1688–1788 200
1 The System of Indirect Tax Collection 204
2 A Fiscal Oddity? A Régie in the Name of a Ferme 206
3 Financial Profit and the Moralisation of Royal Finance 213
4 From Fermes to Régies Again 223
5 Conclusion 227
References 229
Chapter 10 War, Resources and Morality: Sweden 1740–1770 233
1 Introduction 233
2 The War Against Russia and the Persistence of the State-Merchant Link 237
3 The Seven Years’ War and the Restructuring of the State-Merchant Link 248
4 Conclusion 256
References 257
Chapter 11 For the Good of the Prince: Government and Corruption in Germany During the Eighteenth Century 261
1 The Good of the Prince: Its Context and Construction 264
2 Serving the Prince: The Administration and Its Instruments 268
3 Harming the Prince: Corruption and Its Prevention 272
4 Changing Common Good: Different Concepts and Administrative Reforms 275
5 Conclusion 278
References 279
Author Index 285
Lak Index 291
Subject Index 294

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.10.2018
• Reihe/Serie: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance
• Reihe/Serie: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance
• Zusatzinfo: IX, 302 p.
• Verlagsort: Cham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Schlagworte: ethics • Financial Crises • Fiscal History • Fraud and Corruption • Public Opinion • State Formation
• ISBN-10: 3-319-98050-5 / 3319980505
• ISBN-13: 978-3-319-98050-8 / 9783319980508