The story of a huge historic storm, the beginnings of the Revolution – act 2 -. Eurelian Chronicles #56

Find on Actu Chartres, every Sunday, a Eurelian chronicle of History and stories proposed by Alain Denizet. Professor, historian, writer from Eure-et-Loir, he has for years brought together all of his chronicles on his site.

The terrible storm of July 13, 1788 fits into a difficult sequence for Francemarked by a budget in strong deficit and already by dearness of grain.

Colossal losses

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It is on this ground that the climate disaster lossesestimated at 25 million poundssoit 5% you budget [1].

But as some parishes “did not think they had to complain” and that the damage linked to buildings, gardens and woods was not counted, the real figure is close to 10%.

That’s a lot for finances already battered by the american war of independence.

Helping: from the national lottery to the “quests” of the bishop

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So, how to help the “hazed” provinces without raising taxes?

In a judgment in its Council of State, dated July 26, Louis XVI decided to allocate to them the proceeds of the twelve million from the royal lottery [2].

At the local level, from July 28, the chapter of Chartresa large landowner, granted his farmers 60 muids[ 3] of wheat and 30 muids of oats for seed, a discount for the payment of rents and an advance of 26,000 pounds.

As for the Bishop of Chartres, Mgr de Lubersac, he orders by a letter in September a “quest to help the unfortunate inhabitants” of his diocese [4] : it brings in 44,000 pounds.

Both a lot and very little in view of the losses recorded: 20,000 pounds for Montainville, 80,000 for Gault-Saint-Denis and even 200,000 for Umpeau [5].

The citizens of Chartres at the court of Versailles

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For its part, from July 15, the municipal body of Chartres decided to send to Versailles three emissaries provided with a memorandum and four letters intended for the “principal minister”, the comptroller general, the intendant and the chancellor of the Duke of Orléans, possessor of the Duchy of Chartres [6].

It reported on the destruction in the election of Chartres due to the ” fatal ouragan ».

The solicitors were well received at Court and the Duke of Orléans promised a relief of 12,000 pounds, the publicity of which was opportunely ensured by a notice on Chartres posters.

The warning to the king: “All excesses, all crimes are close to despair”

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In the petition addressed to the king, the bourgeois of Chartres had linked their request for “prompt help” to the very tense climate, the leaven, according to them, of an imminent revolt.

As if the storm of 1788 had electrified the relationship between young and old:

The peasants band together and arrest (…) the owners [bourgeois, clergé et nobles] will take back their leases (…) they will give them the means to cultivate. Everything is to be feared in this unfortunate occurrence. All excesses, all crimes are close to despair.

This is why, “to warn them”, they implored the king for “his paternal goodness”, a promise of social peace regained – safeguarded? –: “They will bless you and come back to life [7] ».

The storm of July 13, 1788 in the notebooks of grievances

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Eight months later, in March 1789, the villagers voiced their grievances, recorded in notebooks of the same name.

Present in all memories, the storm of July 13, mentioned by name in many parishes, is worth argument for tax relief.

Thus, the inhabitants of Meslay-le-Vidame put “under the eyes of the king the deplorable state of this parish which suffered two hurricanes on July 13, 1787 and July 13, 1788. Consequently, they request the remission of the impositions of 1787 and 1788”, those of Fresnay-le-Comte [8] expect an additional gesture from the sovereign: a “moderation on sizes for subsequent years [9] ».

The storm of 1788, cause of the Revolution?

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In the spring of 1789, in the countryside as in town, the food situation was catastrophic. Grain is rare, it is expensive, its price is soaring.

Food riots break out in the spring as the lean season approaches. Also, very early the storm of 1788 was made a major cause of the French Revolution.

“The scarcity that followed this storm became one of the greatest springs of the Revolution”, explains the small universal monitor the 24th of 1870.

Half a century later, the very serious Political and literary annalswithout denying the “political and social causes” of the Revolution, explain its triggering by two “ meteorological events that brought the misery of the French people to its heightthe hailstorm of July 13, 1788 and the incredibly harsh winter [10] ».

Answer to qualify

Le Roy Laduriea climate historian, relativizes their importance, considering that “its date, a year and a day before the storming of the Bastille, struck the collective imagination. »

If the hail of 1788 “completed the squall disaster”, it “cannot account, on its own, for the the magnitude of the grain deficit that year “. The fundamental cause of the lack of grain, prior to the hail, was due to the episode of scalding which withered everywhere the harvest of 1788.

In short, the ferment of discontent which was also everywhere was accentuated by the storm was accentuated by the storm whose rumblings continued until July 1789. At the Bastille

[1] Report of the members of the Academy of Sciences at the request of Louis XVI (Tessier (1741-1837), Jean-Nicolas Buache (1741-1825) and Jean-Baptiste Le Roy (1720-1800).

[2] On June 30, 1776, Louis XVI founded the ancestor of our current lottery: the Loterie Royale, supported by 700 tobacconists and peddlers who, twice a month, “sell luck”. It brought in 11 million pounds in 1789.

[3] The muid is a unit of measurement. In Châteaudun, the muid of wheat is equivalent to 11.52 hectoliters (12 setiers and 8 bushels).

[4] MBP 1863

[5]The storm of 1788, Abbé Sainsot, in Memoirs SAEL, 1895 -1900 volume xii, Chartres, imp. Garnier 1901 p. 144 and 148.

[6] The storm of 1788, Abbé Sainsot, in Memoirs SAEL, p 159 and 160.

[7] The storm of 1788, Abbé Sainsot, in Memoirs SAEL, p. 161 and 162

[8] Notebooks of grievances Eure-et-Loir 2, Denis Jeanson editor, Meslay-le-Vidame, meeting of February 22, 1789, p. 321 Art 16, AD 28 B 67; Fresnay-le-Comte, meeting of February 22, 1788, p.193, article 13.AD 28 B 66.

[9] Royal tax levied on the peasants

[10]Political and Literary Annales, September 4, 1921, Article by Charles Nordmann, astronomer at the Paris Observatory. The same echo in Le Siècle of December 24, 1907. The decisive cause of the Revolution, “it was the hail of July 13, 1788, which ravaged the harvests and in 1789 engendered a kind of famine”.

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