The sale of national assets in Vendômois 1789-1850

In 1789, the traditional area of the Vendômois, bordered by the Beauce and Sologne regions, is poor and the revolutionary authorities have not succeeded in addressing the prevailing food shortage. By growing the landed property of the upper classes, who already had a stronghold on three quarters of the region's real estate and who would now control the political and administrative system, the sale of "biens nationaux" would reinforce their influence over the population. Although the paternalistic system in the field of agriculture came to an end, it not made way for a flourishing capitalistic system. The lack of development in industry and agriculture will remain important throughout the XIXth century. The outcome of the sale has been an almost complete disappearance of church property while ownership by the nobility was divided by three. The transfer of ownership to the peasantry which might have seemed real at the times of the first sales was greatly diminished by the subsequent resales over the next fifty years. Another noteworthy point which emerges from this study is the s ense of moderation of "vendômoise" population, and of those political leaders, when it was able to appoint to administer locally. Although the local population, which had a strong attachment to tradition, did take part in the acquisition of national lands, it resisted to extreme behaviour of the political leaders from Paris and Blois. Unlike what happened in many other more urban french regions, persecutions and destructions which characterized the period of the national sales were not systematic in the Ven dômois, much to its credit.