Têtes chercheuses: Sherilyn Bouyer on early modern trial bags

Last spring, during one of my visits to the Archives départementales de la Haute Garonne, I was invited to the program Têtes chercheuses. The video series showcases the work of researchers who study sources kept in these archives. The video introduces my topic, the Chambre de l’Edit of Castres, and explains my research objective: to evaluate the court's performance as an instrument of peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of the French Wars of Religion. I was especially pleased to discuss in more detail the exceptional archival holdings preserved at the Archives departmentales: the trial bags produced under the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Toulouse. It is estimated that the total of trial bags preserved from the early modern period is around 100,000. So far, archivists have been able to inventory 15,000 of these bags. It is a recent and ongoing process, which is attracting the interest of more historians.

Throughout the interview, I talk about the use of trial bags in early modern France and the judicial documents they contained. I also share how, as historians today, we can use the trial bags to research a wide range of early modern themes, such as the economy, religion, politics, social relations, and gender. Regarding my own research project, I discuss how the trial bags help my analysis of judicial disputes and reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics. 

- by Sherilyn Bouyer