[NARBONNE], Deed of sale of property located near Narbonne o - Lot 165

[NARBONNE], Deed of sale of property located near Narbonne on September 1, 1789. Manuscript on stamped paper (generality of Montpellier), 4 ff. 330 x 215 mm. Very interesting testimony of the difficulties of the nobility in the Narbonne region just before the Revolution. Throughout the 18th century, the fall in rural leases left the nobles of Narbonne with insufficient income to support their lifestyle. They got into debt and sold plot after plot to pay the interest on the loans they could not pay back. Then it was no longer enough; they were obliged to sell what they had left in one block in the years 1780-1790 (cf. Gilbert Larguier, "Le marché immobilier et foncier à Narbonne en 1789 : atonie d'une ville et difficultés de la noblesse" in Annales du Midi, 1989, pp. 375-407). This is what happened here to the last scion of an illustrious Languedoc family, the Pascals, marquis of Saint-Félix: Hyacinthe-Joachim Antoine Xavier, pressed by his creditors, had to part with a large part of the outbuildings of Grandselve, one of his large estates in Narbonne near Coursan, during the month of September 1789, at the time of 25 sales. This one, passed before a notary on September 1, 1789, concerned 168 "sétérées" (about 55 ha) of various fields for 38,000 livres (about 50,000 euros today), a considerable sum at the time! The purchasers were wealthy citizens of Coursan, Sieurs Laforgue père et fils, and Jacques Fourcade, who were also able to pay a life annuity to the Marquis de Saint-Félix and his wife of 10,000 and 3,000 livres respectively. Is it because of the grief of having to part with most of these properties? The marquis de Saint-Félix died less than a year later. Expert Dominique COQ