Alsatian fiscal mandate of 1741

Alsatian fiscal mandate. February 1, 1741. Folio (53 × 43.5 cm). Creases and some losses to the edges. Old cross-folds on the page. Good general condition. King Louis XV determines, for the year 1741, an ordinary subsidy and a tax of 300,000 livres on the inhabitants of Upper and Lower Alsace. By this document, Paul-Esprit FEYDEAU, then Intendant of Finance in Alsace, allocates this sum to the amount of 139 livres for the Magistrates, Mayors, and Inhabitants of the commune of Lepuix. Lepuix, today in the Territoire de Belfort, was at the time attached to Upper Alsace. This tax serves various purposes, such as the maintenance of the Rhine and the Bruche, the payment for the fortifications of Strasbourg and Landau, forage for cavalry and Dragoon troops, subscriptions for inspectors of butcheries and beverages, payment for militias, capitations, payment for nurseries in Alsace, etc. The document stipulates that the sums must be remitted to the Finance Office of Colmar. This document is signed by Feydeau. The page features a pre-printed base, leaving the necessary spaces to be filled in by pen by the Intendant. In the margins, the amounts are recorded by pen, accompanied by a manuscript statement of account, made in Delle on February 11, 1741. This fiscal document calls for several remarks: - It is instructive regarding the functioning of tax collection in Alsace, and more generally in France, in the 18th century, as well as the ordinary expenditure items necessary for the proper functioning of the country, its infrastructure, and its armies. - Furthermore, it testifies to the great rigor of the Kingdom's administrative system and tax collection, already relying on a very elaborate administrative network: starting from a decree of the Council of State in Paris, retransmitted and adjusted in its distribution in Strasbourg, addressed to the commune of Lepuix, amended in Delle, for a final collection in Colmar. - Finally, this document holds historical interest by testifying to the attachment of the Territoire de Belfort to Alsace, the place of collection being, in this case, Colmar. Paul-Esprit Feydeau de Brou (1682-1767) was Intendant of Alsace from 1728 to 1742, Councilor of State, then Keeper of the Seals of France under Louis XV. « His time in Alsace is quite significant. He intervened notably in the development of agriculture and tobacco, the regulation of vineyards, mining concessions, glassworks and paper mills, as well as in the development of the royal manufacture of cold steel weapons in Klingenthal. He also had detailed surveys of the province carried out. » Federation of History and Archaeology Societies of Alsace.