Rodama: a blog of 18th-century & Revolutionary France

The division of the  gabelle  into regions, with extreme and arbitrary price differences, inevitably made the smuggling of salt an intractab...

One particularly inventive ruse of 18th-century smugglers was the use of specially trained dogs to carry contraband salt and tobacco.  On 6t...

 [...continuing my notes from Bernard Briais's book,  Contrabandiers de sel (1984)] THE  GABELOUS Gardes des brigades des Fermes du roi,...

  Bernard Briais, Contrebandiers du sel la vie des faux sauniers au temps de la gabelle, Paris, Aubier (1984) It is easy to become overwhelm...

These evocative pictures of old river barges are from the "Remontée du sel",  a event which took place along the River Loire for a...

Organisation of the gabelle Salt taxes - the hated gabelle - were a crucial component of royal revenue, involving a whole series of diffier...

Throughout France the General-Farm advertised its presence with imposing offices, factories and warehouses.  In the provinces, it was common...

The General-Farm (or, strictly speaking, General-Farms) of Taxes was one of the most hated institutions of 18th century France.  It wa  resp...

  It is always exciting to find a new image of a prominent Enlightenment figure!  This portrait of Helvétius has been on the website of Laph...

Portrait  of Orléans by Jean-Pierre Franque, musée de Dreux https://webmuseo.com/ws/musee-dreux/app/collection/record/18 8 Here is a curiou...