Agricultural History Review, Volume 61 Part 1 (2013), p. 179

In his masterly thesis, Les Paysans du Nord pendant la Révolution française (1924), Georges Lefevbvre depicted agrarian conditions throughout the Nord département, whilst also drawing a distinction between intensive cultivation around Lille, very productive rotations in other parts of Flanders, cereal production across the southern plateaux where triennial rotations were supreme, and the hilly territory of the Avesnois whose livestock rearing complemented cereals. Since then, various studies of these component areas have appeared, the latest of which is a revised version of the doctoral thesis by Fulgence Delleaux, who teaches modern history at the University of Namur. The spatial framework for this work is ‘French Hainaut’ that covers the eastern section of the Nord and extends from the valleys of the Scarpe and the Scheldt, through wooded areas to the valley of the Sambre, and eastwards into the hills of Avesnois. In functional terms, French Hainaut largely corresponds with the hinterland of the city of Valenciennes. The ‘long eighteenth century’ saw the area being wrecked by invasion and warfare, associated with the War of the League of Augsburg (1688–97) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13). In the wake of this repeated devastation, the population of the Hainaut recovered rapidly and more than doubled from the beginning to the end of the eighteenth century. Metal working, textile production and other industries flourished, and coal mining added a new element to the local economy. Many smallholdings were created by this growing industrial workforce. The agricultural economy was also transformed, with many large properties (censes) being assembled from the ruins of earlier agrarian structures. These large units were managed by tenants (censiers), were equipped with impressive farmhouses and associated buildings, and produced large quantities of cereals for local towns and for more distant markets that were accessible by water transport along the three north-flowing rivers. In addition, livestock was of importance on censes in the hills of Avesnois.

Rather than relying on official reports, Delleaux draws on detailed account books, farm records and legal documents to trace the transition of French Hainaut from wartime disruption to economic success during the greater part of the eighteenth century. Early chapters focus on material and fiscal ruin in the wake of retreating armies, and on the subsequent restructuring of land holding. Many censiers expressed great interest in advances in agronomy to enhance their cereal yields, introducing fodder crops into traditional triennial rotations, adopting intensive ‘Flemish’ methods in immediate proximity to centres of consumption, and improving livestock rearing in Avesnois. Paradoxically, local learned societies expressed little interest in promoting agricultural improvement, unlike the censiers who took every opportunity to raise yields, increase production, and enhance profits. Later sections reveal that toward the end of the eighteenth century, their lifestyle improved greatly, their children were well educated, and daughters of censier families were considered appropriate marriage partners for the sons of bourgeois households in Valenciennes and other towns of the French Hainaut. By the eve of the Revolution, the censiers were recognized as members of an agricultural elite whose economic success ran in parallel with social advancement. Fulgence Delleaux concludes this valuable case study with a selection of transcripts from farm accounts, statistical digests showing increased cereal yields, and a summary of archival sources consulted in Lille, Valenciennes, Paris and elsewhere. An array of black and white photographs of large farm buildings complements the beautiful picture of the Cense d’Hurtebize at Trith, taken from the Album de Croÿ, that is shown on the front cover.