The New Rome: Infrastructure and national identity on the Canal du Midi

Osiris

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 15-32

  Mukerji, Chandra ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 70450278987     PISSN: 03697827     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/605967     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (London, 1983).
2. Vincente L. Raphael, White Love and Other Events in Filipino History (Durham, N.C., 2000).
3. For ways of thinking about national identity and collective memory in France and elsewhere, see Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen (Stanford, Calif., 1976);
4. Barry Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory (Chicago, 2000);
5. Lyn Spillman, Nation and Commemoration: Creating National Identities in the United States and Australia (New York, 1997);
6. Nikolas Rose, Powers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought (Cambridge, UK, 1999), 51-60.
7. Jean Bodin, Six Books of the Commonwealth (New York, 1967);
8. and the legal commentary on his work in Roland Mousnier, The Institutions of France under the Absolute Monarchy, 1598-1789:
9. Society and the State, trans. Brian Pearce (Chicago, 1979), 645-720.
10. Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (New Haven, Conn., 1992).
11. Alain Degage, "Le Port de Sète: Proue Mé diterreanèenne du Canal de Riquet," in Jean-Denis Ber-gasse, Canal du Midi (Cessenon, France, 1985), 4:265-306, especially, 272.
12. Chandra Mukerji, Territorial Ambitions and the Gardens of Versailles (Cambridge, UK, 1997), 1-38.
13. Compare Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory (New York, 1995), with
14. Schama, Embarrassment of Riches (London, 1988), chap. 1.
15. Jean-Denis Bergasse, "Le 'culte' de Riquet en Languedoc au XIXe siècle," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 1:217-31.
16. For an extended description and analysis of patrimonial politics in this time and place, see Sharon Kettering, Patrons, Brokers, and Clients in Seventeenth-Century France (New York, 1986).
17. Michel Adgé, "Chronologie des Principaux Évé nements de la Construction du Canal (1662-1694)," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 4:176-77;
18. La première navigation sur le canal du Langudedoc, fait par ordre du Roy pour la jonction des deux Mers, depuis Toulouse jusques au port de Cette" (Toulouse, France, c.1691),
19. reprinted in Arnaud Ramière de Fontanier, " Du Grand Canal au Grand Bassin: Fêtes sur le canal du Midi aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles" in Le Canal du Midi et les Voies Navigables dans le Midi de la France.
20. Actes du congrès des fédérations historiques languedociennes (Carcassonne, France, 1998), 243-44.
21. Louis de Froidour, Les Pyrenees centrales au XVIIe siècle: Lettrespar M. de Froidour. . . à M. de Haericourt. . . et à M. de Medon . . . publiees avec des notes par Paul de Casteran (Audi, France, 1899), 30-31.
22. See the map by Nicolas de Fer, "Partie de France, et d'ltalie par rapport a la Route de Cesar pendant la premiere campagne dans les Gaules," Bancrost Library, University of California, Berkeley.
23. Riquet à Colbert à Bonrepos, 15 Nov. 1662, 20-2, Archives du Canal du Midi, Toulouse, France (hereafter cited as ACM);
24. "L'Arret d'adjudication des ouvrages à faire pour le canal de communication des Mers en Languedoc est promulgué. Ce même jour, le Roi 'fait bail et délivrance à M. de Riquet des ouvrages contenues au Devis,' " préalablementéfini sous l'autorité du Chevalier de Cler-ville, 14 Oct. 1666, 03-10, ACM. L. T. C. Rolt, From Sea to Sea: The Canal du Midi (London, 1973), 24-26
25. P. Burlats-Brun and J.-D. Bergasse, "L'Oligarchie gabelière, soutien financier de Riquet," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 3:123-41;
26. J. Dent, Crisis in Finance: Crown, Financiers, and Society in Seventeenth-Century France (New York, 1973).
27. "L'Arrêt d'adjudication des ouvrages à faire pour le canal de communication des Mers en Languedoc est promulgue" (cit. n. 13), especially, 20-21.
28. L. Malavialle, "Une Excursion dans la Montagne Noire," Bulletin de la Société Languedocienne de Géographie 14 (1891): 7:287, 8:135;
29. Bertrand Gabolde, "Revel: Des eaux du Sor à la rigole de la plaine," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 4:241-44.
30. A letter from Colbert to Riquet on 12 Dec. 1664 (94-14, ACM) illustrates Riquet's lack of credibility with the minister. Colbert says he is pleased with Riquet's zeal in developing the project, but he must wait for the Chevalier de Clerville, France's highest-ranking engineer, who served Colbert in improving French infrastructure, and in his company, not by himself, come up to Paris to talk about the project. For peasant knowledge and the water supply, see Rolt, From Sea to Sea (cit. n. 13), 45-46.
31. Jean Poldo d'Albenas, Discours Historial de l'Antiqve et Illvstre Cite de Nismes, En la Gaule Narbonnaise, auecs les portraitz des plus antiques & insignes bastimens dudit lieu, reduitz à leur vraye mesure & proportion, ensemble de l'antique & moderne ville (Lyons, France, 1560);
32. Henri-Louis Baudrier, Bibliotheque lyonnaise: Recherché sur les impremeurs, libraries, relieurs et fondeurs de letters de Lyon au XVIe-XVIIe siècles, 13 vols (Paris, 1964-65), 9:93-102, 268-69.
33. See, e.g., Nocret's 1670 painting L'Assemblée des Dieux, showing the king's whole family as classical gods.
34. J. P. Neraudau, L'Olympe du Roi Soleil (Paris, 1986), 234-37.
35. Mukerji, Territorial Ambitions (cit. n. 6), 39-97.
36. Mukerji, Territorial Ambitions, Ibid., 257-58, 297-99.
37. Hélène Vérin, "Technology in the Park: Engineers and Gardeners in Seventeenth-Century France," in The Architecture of Western Gardens, ed. Monique Mosser and George Teyssot (Cambridge, Mass., 1991), 135-46.
38. L. A. Barbet, Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles: Installations méchaniques et éstangs artificiels, descriptions des fontaines et de leurs origines (Paris, 1907), 31-48.
39. Mukerji, Territorial Ambitions (cit. n. 6), 203-19, especially, 207.
40. Chandra Mukerji, "Entrepreneurialism, Land Management, and Cartography during the Age of Louis XIV," in Merchants and Marvels, ed. Paula Findlen and Pamela Smith (New York, 2002), 248-76.
41. Vitruvius, The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. M. H. Morgan (New York, 1960).
42. Pierre Aupert, Raymond Monturet, and Christine Dieulafait, Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges: Les thermes de forum (Pessac, 2001), especially, 203-305.
43. Cf. Pamela O. Long, Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance (Baltimore, 2001), 72-101.
44. Elting Morison, From Know-How to Nowhere (New York, 1974).
45. Jacques Heyman, The Stone Skeleton: Structural Engineering of Masonry Architecture (New York, 1995), 12-26.
46. Gustavo Giovannoni, "Building and Engineering," in The Legacy of Rome, ed. Cyril Bailey (1923; repr., Oxford, 1940), 429-74.
47. Oiorgius Agricola, De re metallica, trans. Herbert Hoover (New York, 1950), 149, 166, 172-81, 190-96;
48. Joseph de Lalande, Des canaux de navigation, et spécialement du canal de Languedoc (Paris, 1778), 26-29;
49. Belidor, "De l'Usage des Eaux a la Guerre," in Architecture Hydraulique seconde partie qui comprend l'Art de diriger les eaux de la Mer & des Rivieres à l'avantage de la défense des places, du Commerce & de l'AgricultureparM. Belidor, Coloneld'Infanterie . . . (Paris, 1753), vol. 2, especially, 233.
50. Andreossy and the commission did such studies, but they were not considered really trustworthy. That is why Riquet was required to make a rigole d'essai for the water supply to prove that enough water could be brought from Mt. Noire to the main canal to keep refilling the canal where it crossed the continental divide. "Relation particuliere de la rigolle dessay," 02-14, ACM;
51. Rolt, From Sea to Sea (cit. n. 13), 35-37;
52. Louis de Froidour, Lettre à M. Barrillon Damoncourt contenant la relation & la description des travaux qui se font en Languedoc pour la communication des deux mers (Toulouse, France, 1672), 9-10;
53. Francois Gazelle, "Riquet et les eaux de la Montagne Noire: L'idée géniale de l'alimentation du canal," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 4:143-67;
54. and Michel Adgé, "Chro-nologie des Principaux Événements" (cit. n. 10), 176-77.
55. Louis de Froidour, Mémoire du Pays et des États de Bigorre, introduction and notes by Jean Bou-dette (Paris, 1892), 20-22.
56. For the survey of French mineral waters ordered by Colbert and Riquet's role in this project, see Lettre de Colbert à Riquet, 12 Jan. 1670, 23-3, ACM;
57. and his letter of 15 Feb. 1670, 23-11, ACM.
58. Chandra Mukerji, "Women Engineers and the Culture of the Pyrenees," in Knowledge and Its Making in the Early Modern World, ed. Pamela Smith and Benjamin Schmidt (Chicago, 2008), 19-44;
59. Froidour, Mémoire du Pays et des États de Bigorre (cit. n. 34), 20-21.
60. On October 20, 1668, Riquet wrote to Colbert that he was staying on in Perpignan to recruit large numbers of workers for the canal; 21-18, ACM.
61. He wrote later about finding them in Bigorre, 30-65, ACM.
62. Women of the Pyrenees and their seasonal migrations in work are described in Isaure Gratacos, Femmes Pyrénéennes, un statut social exceptionnel en Europe (Toulouse, France, 2003), 105-15. For women working on the canal, see
63. Rolt, From Sea to Sea (cit. n. 13), 89;
64. 13-3, ACM, and the accounts from the Somail region, 1071, ACM, and 1072, ACM.
65. Mukerji, "Women Engineers" (cit. n. 35);
66. Froidour, Mémoire du Pays et des États de Bigorre (cit. n. 34), 20-21.
67. Lesley Adkins and Roy Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (New York, 1994), 135-36;
68. Mukerji, "Women Engineers" (cit. n. 35); 13-3, 1071, and 1072, ACM.
69. Mukerji, "Women Engineers" (cit. n. 35);
70. Froidour, Memoire du Pays et des États de Bigorre (cit. n. 34), 20-21.
71. Riquet à Colbert, 24 Dec. 1669, 22-38, ACM;
72. "Memoire, 1 March 1672," 5, 13-15, ACM.
73. Matthieu de Mourgues, Relation de la seconde navigation du Canal Royal (1683),
74. in Phillippe Delvit, "Un Canal au Midi," in Canal royal de Languedoc: Le partage des eaux, ed. Conseil d'Ar-chitecture, d'Urbanisme et de l'Environnement de la Haute-Garonne (Caue, France, 1992), 204-24,
75. especially, 205-6. Mourgues's position as inspecteur du canal when he wrote this "relation" is described
76. by Frangois de Dainville, Cartes Anciennes du Languedoc XVIe-XVIIIe Siècle (Montpellier, France, 1961), 53.
77. Mourgues, Relation de la seconde navigation (cit. n. 42), 206.
78. The inscription was a list of the august individuals associated with the presumed great work. These included "Pierre de Riquet, INVENTEUR de ce gd. Ouvrage." Quoted in "Notes sur l'Histoire du Canal de Languedoc par les Descendents de Riquet," 1803, 66, uncataloged papers, ACM.
79. Memoire de mes remarques du Canal M. de Seguelay," Oct. 1670, 13-05, ACM.
80. For Riquet's critics and Colbert, see Murat, "Colbert et Riquet," in Bergasse, Canal du Midi (cit. n. 5), 3:105-22.
81. In a letter from Bordeaux in May 1669, Clerville offered to come look at whatever Riquet wanted him to see and asked the entrepreneur to pay his expenses; 31-25, ACM. One of the verifications he did make after M. d'Aguesseau became intendant for Languedoc in 1673 is a detailed inventory of all the major worksites, commentary on their status given to M. d'Aguesseau by Riquet, and Clerville's review of the work completed in these areas (13-12, ACM). For an example of a different sort of verification, less like an account book, there is a 1672 review of work on the water supply system. New and deeper ri-goles were being dug then, and some of the connections to rivulets and rivers were being fixed. Drains were being installed to get rid of excess water and return it for use by locals; 13-07, ACM.
82. Riquet to Colbert, 27 March 1670, 23-16, ACM.
83. Letter from Colbert to d'Aguesseau in 1677, quoted in Rolt, From Sea to Sea (cit. n. 13), 91-92.
84. Avis a messieurs les Capitouls de la Ville de Tolose, par Arquier, Doyen de anciens Capitouls. Et Response a cet Avis, Article par Article par Jean de Nivelle, Ancien Capitaine Chasseauant du Canal dans l'atelier de Mr. Sagadenes, 1667, 01-16, ACM.
85. Lettre de Colbert à d'Aguesseau, 6 Sept. 1679,
86. in Pierre Clément, Lettres, Instructions et Mémoires de Colbert (1867);
87. Nendeln, Liechtenstein, 1979, 4:386.
88. Pierre Pinsseau, Le Canal Henri IV, ou Canal de Briare. 1604-1943 (Orleans, 1944), 98-105.
89. Lettre de d'Aguesseau à Colbert, 5 Oct. 1680, and de d'Aguesseau à Colbert, 19 Oct. 1680, in Clément, Lettres (cit. n. 50), 4:598-99.
90. Lettre de Colbert à d'Aguesseau, 1 Oct. 1680, in Clément, Lettres (cit. n. 50), 4:389-90.
91. Lettre de d'Aguesseau à Colbert 5 Oct. 1680, and de d'Aguesseau a Colbert 19 Oct. 1680 (cit. n. 52), 4:598-99.
92. "La premiere navigation sur le canal du Langudedoc" (cit. n. 10).
93. In the eighteenth century, this program of fostering regional pride in the canal was so successful that the États du Languedoc even considered taking the waterway from the Riquet family, claiming it as an asset of the province. "Histoire du Canal par les descendents de Riquet," 162. Unpublished typescript of the original. Uncataloged papers, ACM.
94. Belidor, translated and quoted in Charles Vallancey, A Treatise on Inland Navigation. . . (Dublin, 1763), 100.
95. Belidor, A Treatise on Inland Navigation. . ., 1763, Ibid., 109.
96. Belidor, A Treatise on Inland Navigation. . ., 1763, Ibid., 116-17.
97. Chandra Mukerji, "Cultural Genealogy: Method for a Cultural Sociology of History or Historical Sociology of Culture," Cultural Sociology 1, no. 1 (2007): 49-71.
98. Bergasse, "Le 'culte' de Riquet en Languedoc au XIXe siècle" (cit. n. 8), 1:217-31.