Confiscating to Redistribute: Pierre Remi’s Fall from Grace as an Example of the Circulation of Royal Gifts (1328)
Type de matériel :
78
"When Philip the Sixth ascended to the throne, Pierre Remi, the treasurer of Charles the Fifth and his trusted confidant, suffered the same fate as favorites before and since: condemned to death, he was executed on April 25, 1328. Remi was a scapegoat: the new king sacrificed him in hopes of opening the way to political consensus in order to regenerate the monarchy. Philip the Sixth profited notably from the execution, seizing Remi’s immense fortune, of which he disposed in the following eight years in 41 separate grants, barely keeping any part of it. Three groups benefited from the royal grants: some creditors of the monarchy were paid a part of their dues; the counselors and the barons of the king were rewarded for their support to the new king; and eventually, some modest servants, mostly employed at the royal hotel, were thanked with gifts. The redistribution of Remi’s fortune may have responded to financial and political necessities, or may appear as free and useless grants. Whatever it was, it allowed the king to maintain his role of patron over his servants. It also attested to the new ruler’s generosity throughout the kingdom, a capacity essential to reign since gifts, along with judicial favors, constituted one of the two fundamentals of a royal government ruled by favor. Gifts and confiscations were two complementary forms of asset circulation. Both were made inseparable as the theory of the inalienability of the royal domain developed. The fallen favorites, like Pierre Remi, attest to that: they accumulated gifts from the king and even monopolized them. But at their downfall, they were deprived of them to the benefit of some new beneficiaries of royal gifts. The king was overall the master of this circulation of wealth: it did not provide him with any material profit but allowed him to constantly regenerate his power."
Réseaux sociaux