ABSTRACT
Montpellier, in Languedoc, concentrated its political, administrative and economic functions during the eighteenth century. In Montpellier, authorities also established preventive measures against the plague. Montpellier, situated to the west of Provence, was not affected by the epidemic, but the fear of a disaster affected the city and led to the installation of a strict system of police control. In the case of Montpellier, it collaborated with the Police Office, which was controlled by the same men: the consuls. The town profited from a certain freedom from royal authority, a system unknown in Provence where royal control was extremely strong through the intendant and the gouverneur. On the intendant’s order, some commissaries of the Health Office, a physician and an apothecary went to Maguelonne Beach in south Montpellier to organize the quarantine. The Police Office chose someone from outside Montpellier to prevent ‘embezzlements’, which predecessors had committed. To prevent corruption of agents the method of remuneration was changed.
