QUITTANCE FOR THE OFFICE OF COMMISSAIRE-VÉRIFICATEUR | VOUVRAY, FRANCE, 1702 | SALT TAX (GABELLE) ADMINISTRATION UNDER LOUIS XIV

Quarto (w. 13 in. x h. 9.75 in.), 1 page. In Good minus condition. Light uneven soiling and age toning overall, with multiple creases from contemporaneous folding. Some handwriting faded to illegibility. Approximately one-twelfth of the document (along the bottom edge) torn away, affecting one of three subsequent notarial additions.

Quittance for the venality of office, issued at Paris, December 1702, confirming the payment of 300 livres for the post of Commissaire-Vérificateur particulier des Rôles et États for the parish of Vouvray (Touraine; here spelled “Voiurar”). Printed form on parchment, with notarial entries, additions, and endorsements; verso with registration at the Contrôle général des finances in Paris. Vouvray, situated in the province of Touraine (modern Indre-et-Loire, within the Généralité de Tours), was subject to the salt tax (or, gabelle).

The office carried responsibility for oversight of fiscal rolls in the distribution of salt under the gabelle, one of the most detested imposts of the Ancien Régime. Such offices were routinely sold to raise crown revenues, particularly during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).

A scarce survival illustrating the fiscal administration of Louis XIV’s France and the venality of local offices tied to the gabelle.