Provost of the merchants of Paris

The provost of the merchants was the chief of the municipality Paris ienne under the Ancien mode.

The provost of the merchants, assisted of four alderman S, dealt with the provisioning of the city, public works, the tax basis, and had the jurisdiction on the river trade.

Etienne Marcel installed it in the “house with the pillars” on the Place of Strike, with the site of the current town hall.

History

Traditionally, the king managed his capital via a Vicomte, then of a provost, which was recruited among the Bourgeois of Paris. But this load having been put in tenant farming, the royal capacity lost little by little its control.

In 1246, Saint Louis decided to align the statute of the Prévôté of Paris on that of the Bailliage S and named in 1261 a provost civil servant, Etienne Boileau. In order to avoid a conflict with the middle-class men dispossessed of their prerogatives, it authorized them to elect alderman S to represent them. Their chief was called provost of the merchants , which took for Sceau that of the merchants of water, the corporation the powerful holder since 1170 of the monopoly of the provisioning by inland waterway. In 1263, the hanse of the merchants elects a first municipality made up of a provost of the merchants, Evrard of Valencians, assisted of four aldermen. Thus a system of double Ville authority - State sets up

The competence of the provost of the merchants was theoretically limited to the commercial businesses, but the load acquérit quickly a political role because of its strong bonds with the Parisian middle-class, which it defends vis-a-vis the abuses the royalty.

Prévôté of Etienne Marcel mark the apogee of the political role of the provost. After its failure, the capacities of prévôté are decreased, then, in 1383 after the Révolte of Maillotins, this one is removed and linked with prévôté of Paris, and the dissolved jurisdictions of the trades.

Partially reconstituted in 1409, prévôté consequently remained subordinate to the king. The provosts will be moreover recruited among the royal officers (people of justice or finance).

Prévôté of the merchants was removed with the French revolution.

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