5.2.1 The Historiography of Black Slavery in France

Because of commercial contacts with the Mediterranean world, it is clear that some black persons, usually Muslim slaves, were already to be found in France during the Middle Ages.²⁸ This exposure, still very much limited to the Mediterranean provinces, would start to increase in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.

In contrast to England, the French tried to measure the size of the black presence in their kingdom several times. For example, an edict in 1716 and a declaration in 1738, which we will discuss, ordered some form of registration for black slaves who arrived in France. Additionally, an admiralty ordinance of 1762, a 1777 declaration and a ministerial request of 1807 tried to come to a general census of colored people, free and enslaved, in France.³⁰

Various historians have tried to bring structure to all those registrations in order to chart the black population of France. These documents show us that most blacks arrived in Nantes (608 blacks declared between 1740 and 1777), La Rochelle (660 blacks declared between 1719 and 1777) and Bordeaux (1028 blacks declared between 1720 and 1770).³¹At the same time, we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt.

The census of 1777, for which we probably have the best details and analysis, suffers from the same issue. Given that this census was made with the aim of expelling (mostly black) slaves from France, whilst free blacks often did not realise that the measure also asked them to register themselves, one ought to scarcely be surprised that it underestimates the number of black people in the kingdom.³⁵ A reconstruction of this census comes to a number of 2031 blacks in France. Taking into account the degree of underestimation, between 4000 and 5000 black people (which was also what contemporaries gave as their measure of the black presence in France) seems to be our best assessment for the final quarter of the eighteenth century.³⁶

Though black people could be found all over the kingdom, two rules of thumb are relevant. First, the black presence was concentrated in Bordeaux, Nantes and Paris, the three of them accounting for almost 60% of all blacks in France. Second, the further a region was located from the sea, the lower the number of black persons generally was.³⁷ All in all, this shows, just like in England, a marginal presence of black persons, strongly concentrated in a few cities. The black presence in France did not comprise more than 0.02% of the French population in the eighteenth century, though their presence was obviously more visible in Paris, Bordeaux and Nantes (representing about 0.16, 1.04 and 0.99% of the population there).³⁸ The number fell afterwards, and whilst the 1807 census came to an (underestimated) population of 1295 blacks, estimates of a real population of 1600–1700 blacks show the decline.³⁹

As concerns status, Koufinkana’s research has shown that, whereas until the end of the Ancien RĂ©gime the great majority of black people arriving in France were slaves, there had always been some free blacks in France as well.⁴⁰ Several black persons were also (legally or illegally) enfranchised in France, and the table des requêtes of the Parisian admiralty court, for example, shows that 93 acts of enfranchisement were registered by that court between 1750 and 1790.⁴¹ Likewise, we know of a regiment of about 100 free black soldiers in the French army of Maurice de Saxe in the middle of the eighteenth century, an experiment which was repeated during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era.⁴²

When it comes to those persons counted as slaves, one has to bear in mind that, as in England, there is no proof that the most horrible practises of the French colonies were repeated in France.

This brings us to the crux of the question, namely the legal status of those black persons who were enslaved in French colonies and who were brought to the metropolis by their masters. On the one hand, taking the seemingly strong roots of the French freedom principle into account, one would expect that they became free upon arrival. On the other hand, the example of the Turks already showed that the French were willing to neglect their freedom principle. Again, to find answers, we will have to look at royal legislation and case law. In contrast to England, legislation can tell us much. The French King made an edict in 1718, a declaration in 1738 and a declaration in 1777, all of them solely dealing with the issue of black persons in France. Likewise, various Arrêts du Conseil, ordres du roi, ministerial ordonnances and administrative correspondence also shed light on the condition of black people in France.⁴⁴ Next to these legislative initiatives, we also need to look at how courts dealt with the issue. Again, there is a stark contrast with England, as there are many more cases dealing with the status of purported slaves in France. All of the reviewed cases were first heard at the 50 Admiralty Courts of France. Cases emanating from such a court could still be appealed to various other courts, depending on the location of the Admiralty. The most important Admiralty Court was the Siège gĂ©nĂ©ral de l’AmirautĂ© de France à la Table de Marbre (the Admiralty of France) in Paris, which could sometimes hear cases on first instance and sometimes on appeal, after which another appeal to the Parlement of Paris was possible.⁴⁵