The capitouls, sometimes anglicized as capitols which is also the Occitan and Catalan word, were the chief magistrates of the commune of Toulouse, France, during the late Middle Ages and early Modern period. Their council and rule was known as the Capitoulate (French: capitoulat). They were suppressed in 1789 amid the French Revolution.
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Name
The officials were originally known as consuls (consules) but were christened "capitouls" in 1295 as part of an effort to connect Toulouse with the greatness of such cities as Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem.
Rival councils
In addition to the Capitoulate, Toulouse housed the rival Parliament, General Council, Town Council, and Council of Sixteen. Each included the reigning capitouls, but only as associate or junior members.
The Parlement of Toulouse (French: parlement de Toulouse) was established by King Charles VII in 1420 and put on a permanent basis in 1444. It was nominally restricted to the nobility, although positions could be purchased via an annual fee known as the paulette. Members (parlementaires) were exempt from gabelles, city property taxes, and tithes; exempt from billeting of troops; and exempt from any legal proceeding except those within the Parliament itself. It also served as a bastion of Catholicism and, after 1548, was charged with operating the town's chambre ardente, which persecuted Protestant "heretics". It also built up an influential body of lawyers (procureurs and advocats) around its operations.
The General or Common Council (counseil général) was formed of a large body of notables, including representatives of the Catholic archdiocese, the major local chapters, and university, several lawyers, townsmen, and the present and former capitouls. In the 16th century, this made up almost eighty men but this changed over time: by the 17th century, the church and tradesmen had been almost removed from representation. Meanwhile, the Parliament went from having no representation in 1550 to eight members including the First President in 1556 to being forbidden to meet without the members of Parliament present in 1578. It was thenceforth usually directed by the First President of the Parliament. A remnant of the medieval commune's general assemblies, it was typically limited to ceremonial hearings and oversight of the capitulary election. It was restructured and given greater importance during the 1778 reform of Toulouse's civic government.
The Town Council (counseil des bourgeoisie) was a smaller number of townsmen and capitouls who met more often to oversee the Capitoulate.
The Council of Sixteen (counseil des seize) was formed of the present year's eight capitouls and the previous year's eight as well. It also met regularly in the 16th century.
Election
The capitouls were elected annually from the city's eight districts, also called "capitoulates". Between the 14th and late 17th centuries, the election of the capitouls took place in November and December of each year. On November 23, each outgoing capitoul proposed six candidates. An assembly of former office holders halved this list to 24. The town's viguier and seneschal then selected the eight who took their oath of office on December 13. Backroom negotiation and bribery were commonplace. Following the 1562 riots, the elections were closely controlled by the Parliament and in 1661 Louis XIV's appointee Gaspard de Fieubet secured the perpetual right to name the capitouls from his position as First President of the Parliament.
In 1683, the king began to appoint the capitouls from a slate of candidates provided by the city. By 1701, the position was broadly venal, with prospective capitouls required to provide loans of at least 10,000 livres to the city upon their "election"; in 1734, a royal edict made four of the positions explicitly venal, "commissioned" offices that were purchased from the king. Another edict in 1746 established eight permanent "titular" (titulaire) capitouls, pairs of which rotated in office each year with the six other capitouls, which were "elected" by the king from the town's slate of nominees.
History
The Toulousians claimed that their liberties predated the Kingdom of France, having been bestowed by the Roman emperor Theodosius I, and that the capitouls represented a direct continuation of the consuls of the Roman Republic. The town annals described their dignity as arising from "halting their own business, suspending their commerce, abandoning all particular affectations and putting aside their cherished projects in order to augment the Republic, following the precepts of Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon and other philosophers." In fact, the municipal government of Toulouse grew from the assembly permitted by Count Raymond V in 1152. His successors confirmed the council and permitted the open election of its members by the town's citizens. Any free citizen over 25 was eligible.
Initially, the council consisted of six men from the city (cité) of Toulouse proper, bound by its old Roman walls, and six from the borough (bourg) of tradesmen which had developed around St-Sernin. After the 1215 union of these two settlements, the twelve positions were divided among twelve capitoulates, six in each half. The districts of the old city were La Daurade, the Old Bridge (Le Pont-Vieux), and La Dalbade near the Garonne; St-Étienne around the bishop's cathedral; St-Pierre & St-Géraud around the count's palace; and St-Romain around the town hall. Those in the borough were named for the church of St-Pierre-des-Cuisines and for their adjacent gates into the old town: Arnaud Bernard, Las Crosses, Matabovis, Pousonville, and Villeneuve.
The commune received many privileges from its counts during the 12th century: its capitouls formed the city's principal court, established market rules and tax exemptions, and maintained the town's drainage. Even the counts' vicars occasionally submitted to the Capitoulate's jurisdiction. Most of these powers were lost following the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in the 13th century, particularly after the ascension of the Capetian Alphonse of Poitiers as count of Toulouse and his succession by King Philip, who imposed seneschals over his new territories. The election procedure was revamped by King Philip III in 1283, when he provided that each outgoing capitoul was to provide a list of three potential replacements to the seneschal, who would choose one or—in the event he disapproved of them all—nominate his own man. The new capitouls were then to swear their vows and pledge loyalty to the king on the steps of the old comital palace.
The Capetians accepted the need to preserve some local traditions, and the capitouls were charged with presenting lists of Toulouse's privileges and laws, which the king then accepted or rejected. The town's new charter preserved the right for citizens to elect a town council of 24 "capitouls"; this number was subsequently reduced to eight by the 15th century. Major decisions of the town—including legal and economic questions—were decided by the Capitoulate, as well as the patronage attendant on their control of more than a hundred civic positions. In the late 13th century, the capitouls regulated the town's guilds, with the power to nominate and depose their bailiffs. They also directed the town's 400 or so ward heelers (dizainiers). In October 1283, Philip III accepted that the capitouls would administer civil justice within the city and its surrounding seneschalty; questions of canon law continued to be determined by the bishop's court and some oversight was given to the king's seneschal, but the capitouls' deliberations were normally free of interference by the king's judges. They secured the city's grain supply, which frequently brought them into conflict with the large landowners represented in the Toulouse Parliament. The capitouls also purchased freedom from royal taxation and an exemption from royal garrisons within the town walls, liberties confirmed by Charles VIII in 1495. They participated in the city's general processions, mass parades through the town organized for the high holy days, various civic occasions, and at times of collective danger. The outgoing capitouls were also responsible for drafting the town annals (annales manuscrits de la ville), an account of municipal affairs during their year in office. These records, also known as the Twelve Books (Douze Livres), began their first entry—that for the year 1296—with a Latin poem translated in Turning as: