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Introduction
Abel Poitrineau, in his analysis of the traditional festival in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, argues that as a result of the
incessant and hostile attention of the authorities during this period, "les
fêtes profanes stagnated into frozen ceremonies, prefabricated, analogous
to empty frames".[1] The programme of institutionalisation and suppression
that took place removed many of the spontaneous and informal elements that
had characterised popular festivals in the medieval and Renaissance era. He
does not address these ideas by means of a specific case study or with an
inclination towards one particular region. It is my intention, however, to
take his analysis and evaluate how true this was of Bordeaux, and to place
the scope and success of this 'policy' of institutionalisation and
suppression within a national context.[2] From a historiographical
standpoint, this is what makes this study unique. Although the secondary
literature makes reference to festivals in Bordeaux in general or in
individual examples, this piece presents a view of festivals in the city
over two centuries and considers the change and continuity that took place
during this eventful period. It takes the themes from the broad analysis of
French popular culture by scholars such as Abel Poitrineau and Robert
Muchembled and attempts to understand if they can be applied to Bordeaux.
The predominant themes of this period were institutionalisation and
suppression. This examination is made all the more difficult by the fact
that a social and cultural history of Bordeaux in the seventeenth century
remains to be written[3]. François Loirette and Louis Desgraves's
contribution in Histoire de Bordeaux 1453-1715 provides a good starting
point for further understanding of the city at time, but it is limited in
its scope and treatment of festivals. The eighteenth century offers more,
notably in terms of primary evidence. There may have been relatively little
deviation from the central line across France, but it is especially
interesting to understand the effectiveness of the campaign of the
authorities in one of the more prosperous and well-governed cities of the
realm.
Although it is impossible to talk of a finite leap from 'informal'
festivals organised by laymen to 'formal' festivals managed closely by
those in power, the evidence of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
suggests that a rapid transition took place. The apparent disappearance of
long-held customs such as carnivals and charivaris from Bordeaux, the 'pre-
political safety-valve for members of structural and hierarchical society',
is puzzling.[4] The primary material for this period specifically mentions
very few such events. This can be attributed to a change of attitude
towards such spontaneous outpourings of passion on the part of the Church
and State that manifested itself after 1600 and was shaped by such
momentous events as the Catholic Counter-Reformation and the Fronde that is
outlined in the secondary literature. For the most part they sought to
either alter the dynamics and character of these festivals or to eliminate
them altogether. In short the authorities tried to reclaim the leisure of
the community for their own political and cultural ends. Yet conversely the
king, successive archbishops and the municipal authorities all continued to
issue proclamations condemning the general nature and direction of
festivities in Bordeaux right the way up to 1789. There is thus an
important contradiction here: we know that the authorities successfully
concentrated their collective resources against popular festivals, but the
fact that this struggle was still going on well into the second half of the
eighteenth century reveals a certain resilience of popular culture and
observance. The problem that therefore hinders a deeper, balanced
exploration of this subject is that of a lack of documentary evidence from
'below'. Plenty of official literature survives, consisting predominantly
of royal and episcopal proclamations, official descriptions of festivals,
records of the jurade along with letters and observations recorded by
members of the upper classes. However, there is almost nothing to reveal
the thoughts and practices of the ordinary 'Bordelais' concerning the
erosion of traditional pleasures. Did they welcome this, or at the very
least show indifference? Or was there a deep-rooted antipathy towards the
interference of the monarch and the Church? And, tellingly, did they
continue to stage and celebrate traditional festivities in the same manner
as their predecessors? This is unclear; moreover, the official propaganda
is too formulaic and one-sided to shed an objective light upon popular
opinion. It is unlikely for example that as one chronicler claimed on the
occasion of one royal festival in 1729, "everyone agreed that one cannot
add anything to the order and magnificence of this festival".[5] The
authorities were well aware of the power of propaganda to manipulate the
behaviour of the masses behind the façade of popular celebration. Peter
Burke points to the growing politicisation of France during the seventeenth
century. Although it emerged at a much slower pace than other European
countries such as England and the Dutch Republic, the stream of pamphlets
into French society from the secular and religious authorities is
unmistakable.[6] Festivities, which united and inspired large sections of
the population, were naturally therefore easy targets. André Stegmann
alludes directly to this in his treatise on the Parisian festival in the
Place Royale in April 1612, which marked the final crushing of the Huguenot
uprisings. The crown is represented in the allegorical figure of 'L'Equité'
who, while enforcing justice against the rebels, shows moderation in
victory. What is more, "the contiguous themes of Peace and Love, which
dominated the whole festival, allowed them to sweeten the discreet
warnings".[7] This does to some extent disguise the true impact of the
campaign against festivals and impedes our ability to judge it successful
or not. When historians, sociologists and anthropologists discuss the nature
of festivals and what they signified to people in the early modern period,
the notions of collective unity and class reversal are dominant themes. For
many people, festivals represented the opportunity not only to transport
themselves into a world detached from the reality of their daily lives, but
also act out and reinforce the customs and traditions of their ancestors
and as a result to strengthen the community. Mikhail Bakhtin argues this
further, stating that one can perceive a change in the institutions and
rhythms of society as each festival alters and reshapes the established
hierarchy.[8] While the carnivals, charivaris and religious festivals were
a welcome opportunity to unite as a community and to enjoy the rituals and
spectacles that they offered, Gregory Hanlon develops the idea of a darker
side to the themes of competition and a parallel hierarchy that infused
these gatherings. The individual, he contends, "makes his mark playing a
role in a manner as to appear a little bit more important than his
objective status allows him".[9] This constant jostling for position was
one of the principal reasons for the rise in violence and crime that
characterised early modern festivals and which drew the unwanted attention
of the authorities to the negative aspects of these occasions. This was
especially true of urban areas such as Bordeaux, where the continual
renewal forced every individual to be wary of his neighbour and to protect
his own status. It was this "violence latente" of day-to-day life that
emerged at festival time that contributed to the greater
institutionalisation and suppression of festivals in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.[10] The link between the Catholic Counter-Reformation
and the decline in such violence in Aquitaine indicates that the more rigid
approach adopted by the authorities was successful. The active impact of
the urban missions was complemented by the spiritual message promulgated by
the church leaders, which advocated "a greater sociability, the inculcation
of personal reflection, the creation of a need to calculate one's actions
not simply on tradition but on moral concepts, with the reminder of the
infernal punishments for defaulters".[11] The authorities were therefore
not only undermining the physical reality of these festivals; they were
manipulating the mentality that fundamentally underpinned ritual and
festival. Peter Burke proposes an alternative view for the success of the
authorities, one that owes less to their direct influence. He
differentiates between the 'Great Tradition', the classical study and
teaching of the learned elite, and the 'Little Tradition', the practical,
tangible heritage of the rest. In the early modern period, popular culture
flourished as "educated people did not yet associate festivals with the
common people, precisely because they participated in these forms of
entertainment themselves".[12] Consequently, as the upper classes and
clergy gained in intellectual awareness and declined to participate so
openly in these events during the seventeenth century, so persecution began
to increase.[13] As many of the officials of the state began to acquire
titles and noble status, they differentiated themselves even further from
the lower-classes. Although it appears to be nothing more than a throwaway
remark, the recorder of the festival in honour of the birth of the Dauphin
held in Bordeaux in 1729 encapsulates the evolving attitude of the elite.
The author describes the feast attended by the notables of the city and its
magnificence, but observes that the most surprising aspect was the
continuous arrival of the 'nouveau monde' into the chamber.[14] As the
festivals of the early modern period became more organised and
standa