Conseil du Roi
The Conseil du Roi, also known as the Royal Council, is a general term for the administrative and governmental apparatus around the King of France during the Ancien Régime designed to prepare his decisions and to advise him. It should not be confused with the role and title of a "Conseil du Roi", a type of public prosecutor in the French legal system at the same period.
One of the established principles of the French monarchy was that the king could not act without the advice of his council. Under Charles V, it was put forward that the king made decisions only after "good and careful deliberation", and this principle was maintained by his successors; the closing formula of royal acts "le roi en son conseil" expressed this deliberative aspect. Even during the period of French absolutism, the expression "car tel est notre bon plaisir" applied to royal decisions made with consultation.
The administration of the French state in the early modern period went through a long evolution, as a truly administrative apparatus – relying on old nobility, newer chancellor nobility and administrative professionals – replaced the feudal clientele system. The exact divisions and names of these councils varied over time.
Overview
Role
The kings of France traditionally always sought the advice of their entourage before making important decisions, but only in the 12th century did this deliberation take the form of a specific institution called the King's Court.The council had only a consultational role: the final decision was always the king's. Although jurists frequently praised the advantages of consultative government, mainstream legal opinion never held that the king was bound by the decisions of his council. The opposite was however put forward by the States General of 1355–1358, and by the Huguenots and by the Catholic League in the second half of the 16th century.
The council's purview concerned all matters pertaining to government and royal administration, both in times of war and of peace. In his council, the king received ambassadors, signed treaties, appointed administrators and gave them instructions, elaborated on the laws of the realm. The council also served as a supreme court and rendered royal justice on those matters that the king reserved for himself or decided to discuss personally.
Council meetings, initially irregular, took on a regular schedule which became daily from the middle of the 15th century.
In addition to the King's Council, the consultative governing of the country also depended on other intermittent and permanent institutions, such as the States General, the Parlements and the Provincial Estates. The Parliament of Parisas indeed all of the sovereign courts of the realmwas itself born out of the King's Council: originally a consultative body of the Curia Regis, later endowed with judicial functions, the Parliament was separated from the King's Council in 1254.
Composition of the King's Council
The composition of the King's Council changed constantly over the centuries and according to the needs and desires of the king.Medieval councils generally included:
- the crown prince – if he was of age to attend the council
- the "grands" – the most powerful members of the church and of the nobility.
- the queen – the queen lost direct political control as early as the 13th century, except in periods of regency; the queen thus attended only in extraordinary circumstances.
- close relations to the king, including younger sons, grandsons and princes of the royal bloodline from junior branches of the family – these individuals were often suspected of harboring political ambitions.
Over the centuries, the number of jurists, generally educated by the université de Paris, steadily increased as the technical aspects of the matters studied in the council mandated specialized counsellers. Coming from the lesser nobility or the bourgeoisie, these jurists helped in preparing and putting into legal form the king's decisions. They formed the early elements of a true civil service and royal administration which wouldbecause of their permanenceprovide a sense of stability and continuity to the royal council, despite its many reorganizations. These counsellors, called conseillers d'État from the reign of Henry III on, were aided in their tasks by the maître des requêtes.
In their attempts at greater efficiency, the kings tried to reduce the number of counsellors or to convoke "reduced councils". Charles V had a council of 12 members. Under Charles VIII and Louis XII the king's council was dominated by members of twenty or so noble or rich families. Under Francis I the total number of councillors increased to roughly 70 individuals.
The most important matters of state were discussed in a smaller council of 6 or fewer members, while the larger council was consulted for judicial or financial affairs. Francis I was sometimes criticized for relying too heavily on a small number of advisors, while Henry II, Catherine de' Medici, and their sons found themselves frequently unable to negotiate between the opposing Guise and Montmorency families in their council. In periods of crisis, the number of members of the Council tended to increase: 100 councillors under Charles IX, during the worst moments of the Wars of Religion.
From 1661 to the French Revolution, royal administration was divided between the various sections of the King's Council and a small group of ministers and secretaries of state. The royal governmental councils were the most important and were presided by the king personally. Despite popular opinion, the king did in fact listen to his counsellors and often adopted the opinion of the majority: according to Saint-Simon, Louis XIV only went against the advice of his council six times.
Royal Councils
Over time, the council began progressively to divide intself into separate subcouncils according to the affairs to be discussed. As early as the 13th century, one can distinguish a small council of a few members – the Conseil étroit or Conseil secret – and a much larger council which came thus to be called the Grand Conseil.Under Charles VII, a subcouncil appeared to handle particularly contentious judicial affairs. An ordinance by Charles VIII in 1497, and reaffirmed by Louis XII in 1498, removed this body from the king's council and established it as an autonomous court with the institutional name Grand Conseil. The Grand Conseil became thus a superior court of justice with its own legal and judicial personnel and with a purview over contentious affairs submitted directly to the king. This removal of the Grand Conseil from the council apparatus permitted the remaining sections of the council to focus on political and administrative affairs, but the need for further subsections continued.
Francis I created a Conseil des Affaires – a small informal group reuniting the chancellor, a secretary of commandments and several other close confidants – to deal with political and diplomatic issues, including war. The remaining large council took the name of "Conseil ordinaire" or "Conseil d'État", but lost in its prestige, all the more so given that the king no longer regularly attended its sessions; in his absence the large council was presided by the chancellor. After 1643, the "Conseil des Affairs" was generally known as the "Conseil d'en haut", due to its rooms on the second floor of Versailles.
Beginning in 1560, a separate council was created to handle financial affairs: the "Conseil des finances"; around 1600 this council was reunited with the state council as "Conseil d'État et des finances". The "Conseil d'État et des finances" lost in its prestige during the reign of Louis XIII and ended as a supreme court for legal disputes concerning royal administration and appeals on decisions from sovereign courts concerning finances and taxation. By the late 17th century, the council's role as adjudicator in administrative disputes was subsumed by the "Conseil d'État privé" and its financial oversight was largely taken over by the later "Conseil royal des finances" and by the Controller-General of Finances.
In the 16th century, with the Grand Conseil being a completely autonomous court of justice separated from the king's council, the need was seen for certain judicial affairs to be discussed and judged within the council. These special session trials gave rise to a new section of the Council of State overseeing legal disputes, which took the name "Conseil d'État privé" or "Conseil des parties". In theory, the king exercised justice in this council with his regular counsellors, but in fact the council was presided by the chancellor and was furnished with a corps of legal personnel who dealt with Privy Council matters.
The Privy Council acted as a supreme court, pronouncing judgements on the various sovereign courts of the realm, and provided final judicial review and interpretation of law, oversight of the judicial corps, and judged disputes on royal offices, church benefices and problems between Catholics and Protestants. In this way, the Conseil privé was roughly the predecessor of the present-day Conseil d'État.
Before the late 17th century, the "Conseil privé" was solely a judicial council, but at that time it took over affairs of administrative disputes from the "Conseil d'État et des finances". This new council, called the "Conseil d'État privé, finances et direction", was divided into three sections which met separately: the "Conseil des parties", the "Grande direction des finances" and the "Petite direction des finances."
From 1630, the "Conseil des Dépêches" was created to deal with notices and administrative reports from the provinces sent by the governors and intendants.
Despite these divisions into subcouncils, from a judicial point of view these various sections were all aspects of the same Council, and the decisions of the various sections were all considered to reflect the king's wishes. Even when the king was not in fact present as his councils, there were still considered to be presided over by him, and only the closing formula of their decisions changed: the expression "le Roi en son Conseil" was used when the king was not present at the meeting, the expression "le Roi étant en son Conseil" when he was.
The subcouncils of the King's Council can be generally grouped as "governmental councils", "financial councils" and "judicial and administrative councils". With the names and subdivisions of the 17th – 18th century, these subcouncils were:
Governmental Councils:
- Conseil d'en haut – composed of the king, the crown prince, the chancellor, the contrôleur général des finances, and the secretary of state in charge of foreign affairs.
- Conseil des dépêches – composed of the king, the chancellor, the secretaries of state, the contrôleur général des finances, and other councillors according to the issues discussed.
- Conseil de Conscience – composed of the king, the "Principal Ministre de l'État" when there was one and some other cardinals and bishops chosen by the monarch.
- Conseil royal des finances – composed of the king, the "chef du conseil des finances", the chancellor, the contrôleur général des finances and two of his counsellors, and the intendants of finance.
- Conseil royal de commerce
- Conseil d'État et des Finances or Conseil ordinaire des Finances – by the late 17th century, its functions were largely taken over by the three following sections.
- Conseil privé or Conseil des parties' or Conseil d'État – the largest of the royal councils, composed of the chancellor, the dukes with peerage, the ministers and secretaries of state, the contrôleur général des finances, the 30 councillors of state, the 80 maître des requêtes and the intendants of finance.
- Grande Direction des Finances
- Petite Direction des Finances
At the death of Louis XIV, the Regent Philippe II, Duke of Orléans abandoned several of the above administrative structures, most notably the Secretaries of State, which were replaced by councils. This system of government, called the Polysynody, lasted from 1715 to 1718.