The Duchy of Anjou was a French province straddling the lower Loire. Its capital was Angers, and its area was roughly co-extensive with the diocese of Angers. Anjou was bordered by Brittany to the west, Maine to the north, Touraine to the east and Poitou to the south. The adjectival form is Angevin, and inhabitants of Anjou are known as Angevins. In 1482, the duchy became part of the Kingdom of France and then remained a province of the Kingdom under the name of the Duchy of Anjou. After the decree dividing France into departments in 1791, the province was disestablished and split into six new départements: Deux-Sèvres, Indre-et-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Sarthe, and Vienne.
Pays de la Loire is one of the eighteen regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital and most populated city, Nantes, one of a handful of French "balancing metropolises". In 2020, Pays de la Loire had a population of 3,832,120.
Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France. It corresponds to the former County of Maine, whose capital was also the city of Le Mans. The area, now divided into the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, has about 857,000 inhabitants.
The taille was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in Ancien Régime France. The tax was imposed on each household and was based on how much land it held, and was paid directly to the state.
Laval is a town in western France, about 300 km (190 mi) west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne department.
The ferme générale was, in ancien régime France, essentially an outsourced customs, excise and indirect tax operation. It collected duties on behalf of the King, under renewable six-year contracts. The major tax collectors in that highly unpopular tax farming system were known as the fermiers généraux, which would be tax farmers-general in English.
Salt, also referred to as table salt or by its chemical formula NaCl, is an ionic compound made of sodium and chloride ions. All life depends on its chemical properties to survive. It has been used by humans for thousands of years, from food preservation to seasoning. Salt's ability to preserve food was a founding contributor to the development of civilization. It helped eliminate dependence on seasonal availability of food, and made it possible to transport food over large distances. However, salt was often difficult to obtain, so it was a highly valued trade item, and was considered a form of currency by many societies, including Rome. According to Pliny the Elder, Roman soldiers were paid in salt, from which the word salary is derived, although this is disputed by historians. Many salt roads, such as the Via Salaria in Italy, had been established by the Bronze Age.
A salt tax refers to the direct taxation of salt, usually levied proportionately to the volume of salt purchased. The taxation of salt dates as far back as 300 BC, as salt has been a valuable good used for gifts and religious offerings since 6050 BC. The salt tax originated in China in 300 BC and became the main source of financing the Great Wall. As a result of the successful profitability of the salt tax, its use would diffuse among governments across the world. France, Spain, Russia, England, and India were the main regions to follow the Chinese lead. Salt was used as a currency during the Roman Empire, and towards the end of their reign the Romans began monopolising salt in order to fund their war objectives. Salt was such an important commodity during the Middle Ages that salt production facilities became some of the first state-owned enterprises. Salt is one of the longest standing sources of revenue for governments; the taxation policy was so successful due to the vital role of salt within the human diet. Salt taxes have been extremely influential in many of the political and economic revolts within history, resulting in important historic events including the French Revolution, the Moscow Salt Riot, the Salt March in India, and the Salt Tax Revolt in Spain.
Chouan is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Participants in this revolt – and to some extent French anti-revolutionary activists in general – came to be known as Chouans, and the revolt itself came to be known as the Chouannerie.
The Saline Royale is a historical building at Arc-et-Senans in the department of Doubs, eastern France. It is next to the Forest of Chaux and 29.2 kilometres to the southwest of Besançon. The architect was Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736–1806), a prominent Parisian architect of the time. The work is an important example of an early Enlightenment project in which the architect based his design on a philosophy that favored arranging buildings according to a rational geometry and a hierarchical relation between the parts of the project.
Jean Cottereau, better known by his nom de guerre Jean Chouan, was a French royalist and counter-revolutionary during the Chouannerie.
Guérande is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique, and the region of Pays de la Loire, Western France. The inhabitants are referred to as Guérandais (masculine), and Guérandaise (feminine).
Pouancé is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. On 15 December 2016, it was merged into the new commune Ombrée d'Anjou. It is located on the border of 4 French departements: Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne in the north, Ille-et-Vilaine in the north-west, and Loire-Atlantique in the west.
The Catholic and Royal Armies is the name given to the royalist armies in western France composed of insurgents during the war in the Vendée and the Chouannerie, who opposed the French Revolution.
The Revolt of the va-nu-pieds was an unsuccessful popular uprising in Normandy in 1639 following King Louis XIII's decision to set up the gabelle salt tax in Cotentin in place of the privilege of the quart-bouillon.
The Revolt of the papier timbré was an anti-fiscal revolt in the west of Ancien Régime France, during the reign of Louis XIV from April to September 1675. It was fiercest in Lower Brittany, where it took on an anti-lordly tone and became known as the revolt of the Bonnets rouges or revolt of the Torrebens. It was unleashed by an increase in taxes, including the papier timbré, needed to authenticate official documents.
The revolt of the pitauds was a French peasants' revolt in the mid-16th century.
The Angelets, or “the Angelets of the Land”, were peasants who rose up in peasant revolts from 1667 to 1675 against the French authorities in Roussillon; the group of conflicts of the period is called the Revolt of the Angelets. The cause was the institution of the gabelle, a tax on salt, in 1661—a measure contrary to traditional constitutions of the earldom. The revolt first concerned the county of Vallespir, then it spread to those of Conflent and Roussillon.
Smuggling in pre-revolutionary France was a reaction to the economic hardships and internal Taxations throughout the country. Though the trade of contraband was lucrative throughout Europe, it was especially so in France and contributed to national tensions. While tobacco was commonly smuggled, common items such as salt and calico were carried across provincial borders to avoid high taxes. The smuggling trade was very profitable, and it allowed families to increase their income while subverting corrupt tax farmers. The prevalence of smuggling and the economic motivations surrounding the trade helped lead France towards revolution.
The Bay of Bourgneuf is a bay situated on the French Atlantic coast, at the border of the Loire-Atlantique and Vendée departments. In the Middle Ages the bay was known as the baie de Bretagne or baye de Bretagne.
