Secrétariat d'État à la Marine. Actes du pouvoir souverain
Item
Country
FR
Name of institution (English)
National Overseas Archives
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
fra
Contact information: postal address
29 Chemin du Moulin de Testa, 13090 Aix-en-Provence
Contact information: phone number
0033 442933850
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
anom.aix@culture.gouv.fr
Reference number
COL A
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Secretary of State of the Navy. Acts of the sovereign power
Title (official language of the state)
Secrétariat d'État à la Marine. Actes du pouvoir souverain
Language of title
fra
Creator / accumulator
Secrétariat d'État à la Marine
Date(s)
1663/1779
Language(s)
fra
Extent
2.5 linear metres
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This series comprises two very different sets: volumes A 1 to 20, containing a collection of original minutes until 1779, organised chronologically, and volumes A 21 to 28, containing miscellaneous papers that served as working tools for the office staff, including acts, memoranda, provisions, legislation, etc., arranged geographically and dating back to 1628. This documentation reflects daily life, the concerns of those who governed and those who were governed, and changes in the economy and colonial policy. For this reason, it contains precious materials regarding the history of the Sephardim in the French West Indies. Some examples are the following:
COL A 24, fol. 203: ordinance of Jean-Charles de Baas, Governor of the Islands of America, forbidding the Jews to celebrate the Sabbath publicly and to have their feasts observed by enslaved people. August 1, 1669.
COL A 23, fol. 50: edict of the king, or Black Code, whose first article orders the directors to drive out the Jews and the Protestants. March 1724.
COL A 6, fol. 22: judgment which enjoins the Attorney General of the Parliament of Bordeaux to send to Antoine Louis Rouillé, Minister and Secretary of State for the Navy, the reasons for the judgment delivered to that parliament on August 5, 1752, against Abraham and Benjamin Gradis, in favour of La Noguehemt. June 22, 1753.
COL A 8, fol. 147: letters patent ordering that there shall be paid as indemnity by Baudard de Vaudésir, general treasurer of the colonies, to David Gradis et fils, Portuguese Jewish merchants and shipowners in Bordeaux, an amount for damages and losses suffered by the ship Robuste during the battles against the English, while heading for Canada with troops and ammunition on board in 1757.
COL A 17, fol. 149: judgment which granted David Gradis et fils, as well as their successors and assigns, to enjoy the property they had acquired in Martinique and Santo Domingo and in the other French colonies. August 21, 1779.
COL A 24, fol. 203: ordinance of Jean-Charles de Baas, Governor of the Islands of America, forbidding the Jews to celebrate the Sabbath publicly and to have their feasts observed by enslaved people. August 1, 1669.
COL A 23, fol. 50: edict of the king, or Black Code, whose first article orders the directors to drive out the Jews and the Protestants. March 1724.
COL A 6, fol. 22: judgment which enjoins the Attorney General of the Parliament of Bordeaux to send to Antoine Louis Rouillé, Minister and Secretary of State for the Navy, the reasons for the judgment delivered to that parliament on August 5, 1752, against Abraham and Benjamin Gradis, in favour of La Noguehemt. June 22, 1753.
COL A 8, fol. 147: letters patent ordering that there shall be paid as indemnity by Baudard de Vaudésir, general treasurer of the colonies, to David Gradis et fils, Portuguese Jewish merchants and shipowners in Bordeaux, an amount for damages and losses suffered by the ship Robuste during the battles against the English, while heading for Canada with troops and ammunition on board in 1757.
COL A 17, fol. 149: judgment which granted David Gradis et fils, as well as their successors and assigns, to enjoy the property they had acquired in Martinique and Santo Domingo and in the other French colonies. August 21, 1779.
Archival history
The origins of the Navy archives are still little known. A historical note written in 1879 by Octave de Branges, then assistant curator of the Archives, alleged that Colbert created the Dépôt de la Marine in 1680, but there is no documentary evidence to support this assumption. According to tradition, the archives were originally located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1699, Jérôme de Pontchartrain (1674-1747), the Navy minister, installed the Dépôt de la Marine in a building in Place des Victories, in Paris. It was at this time that the Dépôt de la Marine started operating more systematically.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of strong criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, etc.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the Rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of strong criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, etc.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the Rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
Administrative / Biographical history
The period from the 17th century to 1815 is usually referred to as the "premier empire colonial" (first colonial empire). France settled in Canada, the West Indies, French Guiana, the Regency of Algiers, Saint-Louis du Sénégal, Gorée, and Rufisque. In the Indian Ocean, it gained a foothold in Madagascar (Fort-Dauphin), in the Ile de France, and in the Ile Bourbon. In India, the French colonial empire established itself in Surat, in Pondicherry in 1673, and then in the whole Deccan peninsula. Its apogee was under the reign of Louis XV. The European wars affected the colonial empires. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 marked the first collapse of France, which lost Canada and all the settlements in Senegal except Gorée, and kept only five trading posts in India. However, France retained Martinique, Guadeloupe, the occupied part of Santo Domingo and Saint Lucia, as well as French Guiana. The Napoleonic period saw the liquidation of the Colonial Empire. France recovered a few shreds of its former possessions under the Treaties of Paris (1814-15). It was not until 1830 that the French Empire took off again.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The records are arranged chronologically and/or geographically.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Linked resources
Filter by property
| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer | Collections (official language of the state) |