ABSTRACT
After the experience of the Nine Years War and the acute distresses of 1693–1695, and the financial deficits which had led to the capitation of 1695, Louis had sincerely wished to avoid a further war. Between 1667 and 1714 the wars in which France was a major player became more extensive, saw the deployment of larger armies and involved ever greater expenditure. The low level of domestic demand and the further effect of war on trade curtailed what could be raised in indirect taxation through the tax farms. In wartime government needed cash more urgently, refused to accept instruments of exchange but ventured into the system itself by issuing paper to pay its debts. The death of Burgundy brought prominence to the personality and claims of Philippe duc d’Orleans, son of Monsieur, Louis’s brother, who had died in 1701.
