Intendant
An intendant (French: [ɛ̃tɑ̃dɑ̃] ⓘ; Portuguese: intendente [ĩtẽˈdẽtɨ]; Spanish: intendente [intenˈdente]) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.[1][2][3][4] The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701 to 1714 the French royal House of Bourbon secured its hold on the throne of Spain; it extended a French-style intendancy system to Spain and Portugal - and subsequently worldwide through the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire. Regions were divided into districts, each administered by an intendant.[5] The title continues in use in Spain and in parts of Spanish America for particular government officials.
Development of the system in France
Intendants were
Their missions were always temporary, which helped reduce favorable bias toward a province, and were focused on royal inspection. Article 54 of the Code Michau described their functions as "to learn about all crimes, misdemeanors and financial misdealings committed by our officials and of other things concerning our service and the tranquility of our people" ("informer de tous crimes, abus et malversations commises par nos officiers et autres choses concernant notre service et le soulagement de notre peuple").
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the intendants were chosen from the
A symbol of royal centralization and absolutism, the intendant had numerous adversaries. Those nostalgic for an administration based on noble lineage (such as Saint-Simon) saw intendants as parvenus and usurpers of noble power. Partisans of a less absolute monarchy (such as Fénelon) called for them to be abolished. Jacques Necker, the only Minister of Finances since 1720 who had not himself been an intendant, accused them of incompetence because of their youth and social aspirations. The cahiers de doléances of 1789 depicted them as over zealous agents of fiscal policies which weighed heavily on the people.
The term intendant was also used for certain positions close to the Controller-General (see this term for more information):
- intendants of finance
- intendants of commerce
- intendants of the sovereign council
In the same way, the term intendant général was used for certain commissioned positions close to the State Secretaries of War and of the Navy.
History
As early as the 15th century, the French kings sent commissioners to the
When
Under Louis XIII's minister
When
The position of Intendant remained in existence until the French Revolution. The title was maintained thereafter for military officers with responsibility for financial auditing at regimental level and above.
A 2021 study, which used a dataset of 430 intendants from 1640 to 1789, found that less than half of these officials went through the legally-specified training path.[7] The study raised questions about the impersonal nature of these bureaucrats, with evidence indicating that familial and marital ties were factors in appointments, and that appointment duration had wide variability.[7]
Functions
Appointed and revoked by the king and reporting to the Controller-General of Finances, the Intendant in his "généralité" had at his service a small team of secretaries. In the 18th century, the "généralité" was subdivided into "subdelegations" at the head of which was placed a "subdelegate" (having also a team of secretaries) chosen by the Intendant. In this way, the Intendant was relatively understaffed given his large jurisdiction.
Notable intendants
- Claude-François Bertrand de Boucheporn, in Corsica then Pau, Bayonne and Auch
- Paul Esprit Marie de la Bourdonnaye in Poitiers
- Charles Alexandre de Calonne in Metz, then in Lille, future Controller-General of Finances
- Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur in Bordeaux
- Antoine-Martin Chaumont de La Galaizière in Soissons then in Lorraine
- Jean-Baptiste Antoine Auget de Montyon in Poitiers
- Louis-Urbain-Aubert de Tourny in Limoges, then in Bordeaux
- Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot in Limoges, future Controller-General of Finances
New France
The French North American colony of New France, which later became the Canadian province of Quebec, also had a senior official called an intendant, who was responsible to the French King. New France's first intendant was Jean Talon, comte d'Orsainville in 1665, and the last one, at the time of the British conquest of Quebec was François Bigot.
Spain and Spanish Empire
Intendants were introduced into Spain and the Spanish Empire during the eighteenth-century Bourbon Reforms. The reforms were designed by the new dynasty to make political administration more efficient and to promote economic, commercial, and fiscal development of their new realms.[8] An intendente was in charge of a Spanish administrative unit, called an intendencia, which could include one or more provinces. The intendente was appointed directly by the Crown and had responsibility to oversee the treasury, the collection of taxes, and corruption practices and to promote agriculture and economic growth in general. With fiscal powers that gave them a say in almost all administrative, ecclesiastical and military matters, intendentes were conceived by the Bourbon kings to be a check on other local officials (who in the past couple of centuries had come to gain their position through the sale of offices or inheritance), just as the intendants had been in France a century earlier. Throughout the 18th century the Bourbons experimented with the powers and duties of the intendants, both in Spain and overseas, so what follows is only a general description of the Spanish intendancy. In any given area at any given time, the duties of the intendant would have been specified by the laws that established that particular intendancy.
The first intendencias were established in Spain after 1711, during the
As a result of the
That same year Visitador General
In 1776 Gálvez, now Minister of the Indies, established an intendancy (superintendencia) for all of Venezuela in 1776, and several in the Río de la Plata in 1783. Most of the overseas intendants were assisted by officials (subdelegados) who replaced the old corregidores or alcaldes mayores. Initially intendancies were held by a separate person from the viceroy or the governor, but eventually in many places the offices were granted to one person due to conflicts that emerged between these two.
More intendancies were established in
Portugal and Portuguese Empire
In Portugal, historically, the title "intendant" (intendente in Portuguese) has been mainly associated with police roles.
From 1760 to 1832, the head of the Police of the Kingdom of Portugal had the title of "Intendant General of the Police of the Court and of the Kingdom". A similar title - that of "Intendant General of the Public Security" - was used from 1928 to 1932 to designate the head of the Portuguese Civil Police.
Current use in Hispanic and Lusophone countries
Portugal
Presently, intendant is a rank of officer in the
The rank insignia of an intendant consists of a dark blue epaulet with two crossed horsewhips inside a laurel wreath and two PSP stars. Each PSP star consists in a six points silver star with the "SP" monogram in the center. The rank insignia of a sub-intendant is similar but with only a single PSP star.
Spain
Nowadays in the Spanish armed forces, the title Intendant refers to a Colonel in the Supply Branch either in the Navy, Army or Air Force. It is also used in some branches of the administration such as the Catalan Police, (Mossos d'Esquadra in Catalan) or in some Autonomous Communities (Comunidades Autónomas in Spanish).
Argentina
In
Chile
Chile is administratively divided in 16 regions. Between 1976 (1974 in some regions) and 2021, each region was headed by an intendant, appointed by the president.
Cuba
In Cuba, the intendant was introduced by the Constitution of the Republic (2019) to head the Administrative Councils - subordinate to the Municipal Assemblies of People's Power (town halls) - and with strictly executive-administrative functions. As the highest local authority is the President of the Municipal Assembly (mayor), it is up to him to designate and remove the intendant, after agreement with the majority of the Delegates of People's Power (councilors).
Paraguay
The
Uruguay
Uruguay is divided administratively into 19 departamentos (departments). The executive power of each department is the intendencia (intendancy), headed by an intendente departamental (departmental intendant). The intendants are popularly elected, and serve a term of five years.
Japan
A daikan was an intendant or magistrate in historical Japan. The office he held was called the Daikansho. The daikan was responsible for overseeing a range of governmental functions, including infrastructure, tax collection, and judicial matters.
Russia and Soviet Union
The position of intendant was part of the tsarist Russian army from 1812 to 1868; intendants were responsible for supplies, finances, etc. in the field. After the 1935 rank reform that established 'personal ranks' in the Soviet military, it was reintroduced as the rank title for administrative and supply officers. The specific ranks, their collar insignia, and their line equivalents were:
- technician-intendant second class, two rectangles, lieutenant
- technician-intendant first class, three rectangles, senior lieutenant
- intendant third class, one rectangle, captain
- intendant second class, two rectangles, major
- intendant first class, three rectangles, colonel.
- brigindendant (i.e., brigade intendant), one diamond, kombrig (brigade commander)
- divintendant (i.e., division intendant), two diamonds, komdiv (division commander)
- korindendant (i.e., corps intendant), three diamonds, komkor (corps commander)
- armintendant (i.e., army intendant), four diamonds, komandarm (army commander) second class.
On 7 May 1940, the rank title system for all Soviet Army senior officers was changed to bring it closer in line with standard European practice, and the ranks of major general of the intendant service, lieutenant general of the intendant service, and colonel general of the intendant service were introduced. Senior officers from brigintendant to armintendant rank underwent a re-attestation process and were given a general rank.
On 30 March 1942, the 'intendant' ranks equivalent to those between lieutenant and colonel were abolished, and officers holding those ranks also underwent a re-attestation process and received ranks ranging from lieutenant of the intendant service to colonel of the administrative service.
Scotland
In Scotland intendant is an archaic title meaning "supervisor" or "curator". The senior officer of the City of Glasgow Police was called an Intendant in the document establishing the force in 1800.
United States
For much of its history, the chief magistrate of the city of Charleston, South Carolina was the Intendant of the City, roughly corresponding to a mayor. The title Intendant was also used in other Lowcountry towns, where the office was assisted by "wardens," a system which may have derived from earlier ecclesiastical administration under colonial rule.
Other uses
It is also commonly found today in many theaters and
In
See also
- Bourbon reforms
- List of governors and intendants in the Viceroyalty of New Spain
- List of intendants in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
- Quartermaster
References
- Portions of the section on France are a translation of the article Intendant (Ancien Régime) from the French Wikipedia, accessed on 13 August 2006.
- ^ American Heritage Dictionary definition of "intendant"
- ^ "Definition of INTENDANT".
- ^ "Oxford Languages | the Home of Language Data". Archived from the original on September 25, 2016.
- ^ "Intendant: Meaning and Definition of | Infoplease".
- ^ Jacquelyn Briggs Kent, "Intendancy System" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 3, pp. 286-87. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
- ^ Esmein, Adhémar (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 683.
- ^ S2CID 238784308.
- ^ James Lockhart and Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America, New York: Cambridge University Press 1983, pp. 352.
- ISBN 84-206-5294-6
- ^ Excerpts of the Cuban intendancy regulations can be found at "Establishment of the Intendancy in Cuba" in Charles Gibson, ed. The Spanish Tradition in America (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1968), 223–228.
- ISSN 1317-9535.
- ^ Siete nuevos municipios elegirán por primera vez a sus autoridades
Further reading
- Barbier, Jacques. Reform and Politics in Bourbon Chile, 1755-1796. Ottawa, University of Ottawa Press, 1980. ISBN 978-2-7603-5010-6(1980)
- Fisher, John R. Government and Society in Colonial Peru: The Intendant System, 1784-1814. (1970)
- Fisher, Lillian Estelle. The Intendant System in Spanish America. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1929.
- Haring, Clarence H., The Spanish Empire in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1947.
- Lynch, John. Spanish Colonial Administration, 1782-1818: the Intendant System in the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata (1958)