The "Private Army" of the Tax Farms: The Men and their Origins

There is no specialized study of the men who composed the "private army" of the Royal General Tax Farms in 18th century France. The operational unit was the brigade composed of from four to twenty men which functioned as an organized unit "to protect the rights of the Farms." The main purpose of the brigades was to supervise the salt trade for the General Farms. The brigades of the General Tax Farms were organized in the 1680's following the formation of the Company of General Tax Farmers itself. The poor harvests of the period combined with the unprecedented size of the French army set the stage for one of the wildest smuggling operations in the history of the General Tax Farms. The pressure on the employees of the Farms was so great, for this amounted to small-scale warfare, that many began to fail. The "dirty work" of the Farms was thus done largely by organized groups of peasants and soldiers.