Cour du Palais de Justice de ROUEN, façade

The Parliament of Normandy (''parlement de Normandie''), also known as the Parliament of Rouen (''parlement de

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

'') after the place where it sat (the provincial capital of Normandy), was a provincial

parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...

of the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

. It replaced the ancient court of the

exchequer of Normandy The Exchequer of Normandy (''Échiquier de Normandie'') or Exchequer of Rouen (''Échiquier de Rouen'') was the fiscal and administrative court of the Duchy of Normandy until the early 16th century. Surviving records show that the Exchequer of N ...

, set up by Rollo, first

duke of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...

. The parlement was built in a mixing of the French

Flamboyant Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

style and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

architecture by Roger Ango and Roulland le Roux, between 1499 and 1508, during the reign of the king

Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

. Today, the building is the seat of the courthouse of the city of

History

Raised to a sovereign court and given a base in Rouen by

, this court's name was changed from ''échiquier'' to ''parlement'' by

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...

on his accession in 1515. The parlement de Rouen had responsibility for the seven great bailliages of Normandy –

, Caudebec-en-Caux, Évreux,

Les Andelys Les Andelys (; Norman: ''Les Aundelys'') is a commune in the northern French department of Eure, in Normandy. Geography It lies on the Seine, about northeast of Évreux. The commune is divided into two parts, Grand-Andely (located about from ...

Alençon Alençon (, , ; nrf, Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department. It is situated west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people). History The name of Alençon is firs ...

. It was thus made up of 4 presidents (of which the first and third were clergy and the other two laymen), 13 clergy councillors, 15 lay councillors, 2 ''greffiers'' (a secretary for civil law and one for criminal law), a ''huissier audiencier'' (the bailiff who officially assigns documents between lawyers and introduces the judges in the public court room), 6 other '' huissiers de justice'', 2 advocates general and 1 procurator general. Following letters patent of 1507 from Louis XII, the archbishop of Rouen and the abbot of Saint-Ouen were 'ex officio' honorary councillors to the parlement. When the court of the échiquier was made permanent, it was divided into two chambers, one to sit in the morning and the other in the afternoon. This second chamber later became known as the première des enquêtes. The chambre de la Tournelle, entrusted with criminal cases, was built in 1519 and the chambre des vacations was not set up until 1547. Until 1 October 1506, the parlement de Normandie sat in the

château de Rouen Rouen Castle (''Château Bouvreuil'') was a fortified ducal and royal residence in the city of Rouen, capital of the duchy of Normandy, now in France. With the exception of the tower wrongly associated with Joan of Arc, which was restored by Vi ...

then in the palais (which was begun in 1499 and only completed long afterwards). Many kings of France held lits de justice at the parlement de Normandie. Charles VIII held one on 27 April 1485 and at it confirmed Normandy's privileges. Louis XII was accompanied there by the main officers of his court on 24 October 1508. On 2 August 1517, Francis I held one there, accompanied by chancellor Duprat and many officers of his court. Some days later, the dauphin came to the parliament, where he was granted the same honors as the king himself, as the king had ordered. In January 1518, he granted the parlement de Normandie the same privileges as that of the parlement de Paris and, by another edict the following February, temporarily exempted it from the

arrière-ban In medieval and early modern France, the arrière-ban (Latin ''retrobannum'') was a general proclamation whereby the king (or duke) summoned to war all the vassals of his vassals.. The term is a folk-etymological correction of Old French ''herban'' ...

. On 8 October 1550, Henri II held a lit de justice at the parlement de Rouen, accompanied by the cardinals, king Henry II of Navarre, many dukes, constable

Anne de Montmorency Anne, Duke of Montmorency, Honorary Knight of the Garter (15 March 1493, Chantilly, Oise12 November 1567, Paris) was a French soldier, statesman and diplomat. He became Marshal of France and Constable of France and served five kings. Early lif ...

, the admiral, the duc de Longueville, chancellor Olivier, and many other lords. Charles IX was declared of age at the parlement, accompanied by chancellor

Michel de L'Hospital Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), S ...

. In 1523, Francis I exempted the parlement from the gabelle and ordained that it would issue to each of his officers and his widow as much salt as it had for his household, without fixing the quantity, paying only the market price, on the condition it did not abuse this privilege. In 1540 chancellor

Guillaume Poyet Guillaume Poyet (c. 1473 – April 1548) was a French magistrate born in Angers. After practising successfully as a barrister at Angers and Paris, he was instructed by Louise of Savoy, mother of the king Francis I, to uphold her rights against the ...

set the king against the parlement de Rouen, and the king banned it. Commissaires were named for the Tournelle, and a president and 12 councillors sent to

Bayeux Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...

, to give justice to the subjects of basse-Normandie until the king raised his ban; and wishing to give to this court's officers a mark of his satisfaction with their conduct, in June 1542 he made the arrière-ban exemption general and perpetual via an edict. In 1560, the parlement de Normandie and the other provincial parlements were suppressed before being reestablished in June 1568 by Charles IX. In February 1589, an edict of the month by

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

transferred the parlement to

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,revolt of the va-nu-pieds The Revolt of the ''va-nu-pieds'' (, ''barefooted ones'') was a popular uprising in Normandy in 1639 following King Louis XIII's decision to set up the gabelle salt tax in Cotentin in place of the privilege of the quart-bouillon. Context The Nu-P ...

strongly enough, it as replaced by commissaires from the parlement de Paris until its reestablishment in January 1641.Pierre Miquel, ''Les Guerres de religion'', Club France Loisirs, 1980, () p. 367 In April 1545, Francis I had set up a criminal chamber here to judge cases relating to Protestants, which was replaced by a chambre de l’édit, as part of the execution of the

edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...

of April 1598, suppressed in its turn in January 1685 as part of the

edict of Fontainebleau The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...

. Made up at this time of 57 councillors and 2 presidents, an edict of July 1680 created a second chambre des enquêtes, after which the parlement was made up of five chambers, the grand-chambre, the Tournelle, two chambres des enquêtes and the chambre des requêtes du palais right up until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. It was at the parlement de Normandie that, from 1728, the general assemblies of députés of different courts and other notables met to discuss public affairs such as hospitals' needs and other necessities.

Organisation

Notes

Sources

* ''

Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publi ...

'' by

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

& d’Alembert, vol. 12, p. 60

References

* Amable Floquet,
Histoire du parlement de Normandie
', 7 volumes, Rouen,

Édouard Frère Édouard Frère (27 September 1797, Rouen – 7 April 1874, Rouen) was a French bookseller, archivist, biographer, and historian specialized in the Normandy area. Life The son and grandson of booksellers, Frère's father, Jacques-Christophe oper ...

, 1840–1842 *

Olivier Chaline Olivier Chaline (29 December 1964, Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a contemporary French historian, a specialist of the history of Central Europe. Biography The son of Jean-Pierre Chaline, himself an historian (a specialist on the French Third Republic), ...

, ''Godart de Belbeuf : le parlement, le roi et les Normands'', Luneray, Bertout, 1996, * (ed. Nicolas Plantrou), ''Du Parlement de Normandie à la Cour d'appel de Rouen 1499–1999'', Rouen, 1999 {{Authority control History of Normandy Nor