1801 French White Wine Contract for Trade at La Rochelle Seaport
10064On offer is an excellent example of a commercial contract dating to the earliest years in France following the Revolutionary War.
The document is a commercial agreement involving several parties and dealing with a consignment of white wine. The agreement was struck in La Rochelle in 1801.
La Rochelle was France’s major Atlantic seaport. Founded in the 10th century, it became a significant commercial and fishing port. It played a large role in the French slave trade. Home to Huguenots, the city figure in the French Wars of Religion of the 17th century. As the slave trade dwindled and the Revolution overtook the country, the city lost its prominence in trans-Atlantic trade. However, it nonetheless remained as an important trading port.
A quote from the document:
Presentemens payer pour Trois [] de vin blanc qui dois a la suivion du feu sieur Belin...
[Translation: Present to pay for Three [] of white wine which must to the following of the late Monsieur Belin...]
Allard Belin is recorded in the records of La Rochelle as a ‘negociant’ or merchant.
The manuscript bears the printed seal of La Rochelle confirming that a stamp tax of ‘deux sols’ had been paid.
This double-sided document measures 12.75 inches by 8.5 inches. There is some slight feathering along the edges and some staining from age along the edges as well. The document is hand-written and the text is reasonably legible.
For a historian, especially one interested in tracing the business and trading links of this majot port city,
this is an excellent primary-source document. Regardless of the turmoil occurring across the country,
business continued.
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