L'affouage au XVIIIe siècle : intégration et exclusion dans les communautés d'Ancien Régime

A positive revolution in the conception of human settlement occurred in the 1660s. Until that time, the forest had permitted development of an extensive settlement pattern. The August 1669 Water and Forest Ordinance turned this into a specifically-delimited area of land managed rationally for the sole purpose of producing trees. There was no longer any room for man in this area now that it had been turned over to professional management. From the 18th century onwards, the forest environment was perceived as repellent to man. A century later, it was the turn of livestock to be driven out. The forest was now empty. The violence of village communities was thus increasingly turned against the Water and Forest Authority, simultaneously responsible for the lying-down of human settlement, the break-up of ancient solidarities and for the dwindling supply of wood .Corvol Andrée. L'affouage au XVIIIe siècle : intégration et exclusion dans les communautés d'Ancien Régime. In: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 36ᵉ année, N. 3, 1981. pp. 390-407