Research Notes
The following is a series of extremely raw and unorganized notes for my research behind ‘A Question of Time’. Some of the research was set aside, unused, because it did not fit into the main story.
Coffee percolation had not yet been introduced — it was slated to arrive by 1802. Lambert had never been much of a coffee drinker, however, because Versailles had coffee done in the style of a French press or percolation.
The royal declaration on privileges for inventors in 1762 was a moment of drawing a new conception of privileges, which depended on the strong debates about economic regulation. Inspired by the British patent system, the French royal administration facilitated the granting of privileges for inventions and made procedures of prior expertise easier. Recognition of the natural right of inventors, issuing temporary privileges to reward them, and allowing access to the market and the disclosure of inventions, were the three features of a model which appeared even before the Revolution.
Possible military advances that could be discovered:
Before the revolution, French society was divided into three estates or orders. The First Estate contained around 130,000 ordained members of the Catholic church — from archbishops and bishops down to parish priests, monks, friars and nuns — and occupied a prestigious place in the social order. The church had an ideological stronghold over the people and was an integral part of France’s social and political framework, underpinning royal authority by reinforcing the king’s divine right to the throne.
The church’s importance allowed it to accumulate vast wealth: it owned roughly 10 per cent of all land in France and collected around 150 million livres each year, mainly from rents and tithes, while being largely exempt from state taxes. As a compromise, church leaders provided the state with a don gratuit (“voluntary gift”) every five years — in effect a bribe to retain its tax-exempt status.
By the late 18th century, while still dominant, the church faced rising criticism — growing discontent with the higher clergy, falling recruitment to religious orders, and a drift toward Freemasonry, Protestant religions, or indifference. There was also unrest among the lower clergy: around one third of all clergy were parish priests (curés), often poorly paid and disregarded by the higher clergy. At the Estates General of 1789, 208 of the First Estate delegates were parish priests, and 149 of their deputies opted to join the Third Estate to form the National Assembly.
Note: this section draws on summarized historical background — verify sourcing before publishing.
The French guild system, despite the agitation surrounding its abolition and reinstatement in 1774–76, was economically moribund by the 18th century. The most dynamic branches of industry had moved to the countryside, leaving the towns to produce luxury goods or small artisanal wares. The guilds survived until March 1791, when the Assembly finally eradicated them with full consciousness that they were anachronistic.
Louis XVI inherited a kingdom deeply in debt due to the Seven Years War; his mistake was to aid the American revolutionaries, ballooning France’s debt out of control. By 1783, the American Revolutionary War had cost France 1 billion livres; total debt by 1788 was 3.6 billion livres. By 1788, interest on debt payments cost over half of the government budget (318 million livres, 51% of the total).
French Debt (livres): 1721 — 1.7 bn; 1764 — 2.4 bn; 1770 — 1.8 bn; 1783 — 3.3 bn; 1788 — 3.6 bn.
Annual interest payments (livres): 1721 — 48 m; 1774 — 120 m; 1782 — 220 m; 1788 — 318 m.
In 1789, King Louis XVI stated that he regretted assisting the American Revolution: “On that occasion they took advantage somewhat of my youth and today we are paying the penalty for it. The lesson is too vivid to be forgotten.”
Possible economic advances: Metric system, irrigation, fertilizers, rail, spinning mule, the Industrial Revolution, British agricultural revolution, Caisse d’escompte, physiocracy, Wealth of Nations, economic rent, roads in France, watch making, tax reform, decimalization, crop rotation advances, cradle scythe, seed drill, canning.
Livre Tournois — an accounting measurement between nations at the time; not used as a currency but as a means of settlement between nations.
Gold: The Half Louis (= 5 livres tournois); The Louis d’or aka Pistole (= 10 livres tournois); The Double Louis (= 20 livres tournois). The Louis d’or contained 6.7 grams of gold.
Silver: Écu d’argent (= 60 sou); Demi Écu (= 30 sou); Quart d’écu (= 15 sou); le sixième d’écu (= 10 sou); le douzième d’écu (= 5 sou); le sou (= 1/20th of a livre tournois).
On etiquette: Rank and position at Versailles shaped nearly every aspect of a courtier’s life — even which doors ushers opened. Though the palace boasted plenty of double doors, ushers opened only one of the two for the vast majority of courtiers; only the king and his close family had both opened. High-ranking VIPs could receive visitors from their beds, and even the king observed rank in something as basic as removing his hat — doffing it fully for a prince of the blood, lifting it for a nobleman, and merely touching it for a gentleman. Red heels were the most coveted shoes at court; Louis XIV decreed only certain nobles could wear them.
Note: the Versailles etiquette anecdotes appear to be adapted from Tony Spawforth’s work and a Ranker list — verify/attribute before publishing.
Amélie Galimard — Lambert’s love interest, daughter of Madame Galimard, introduced to Lambert by his lawyer Pétion.