The king in the town: politics of wine and of space: 16th-18th centuries Lyon/France

Abstract

Different from many towns in Central and Northern Europe, the crucial question of sovereignity in early modern French towns is less characterized by conflicts between burghers and city councils than by conflicts between royal institutions and towns. This counts especially for the time period of the absolute monarchy from the end of the 16th century on. The paper examines the case of Lyon with special regard to tavern life. Formally, each burgher (being an inhabitant and landowner) and not only a privileged elite as in some parts of the Holy Roman Empire had the right to sell wine. Therefore, the winesellers (i.e. the ‘taverniers’ and ‘cabaretiers’) did not necessarily represent a political elite. Uprisings over too high wine taxes, organized by urban winesellers against representatives of the king, were not unlikely to occur. As public spaces taverns were nevertheless highly controlled and shaped by different institutions of power (the king’s representatives, police guards, the town council, landlords and clients). In this respect, the space of the tavern is highly negotiable. It is a field where different strategies and resources of power as well as different interests and arguments competed with each other. ‘Urban stability’ appears to be only one among other relevant arguments. The element of negotiation shaped both, the micro-site of the tavern and urban space as a whole.