If in a few hundred years a historian takes the whim of painting a picture of the city of Luxembourg during the second half of the 20th century, assuming the subject is still of interest, he will only have to inventory the various censuses of the time to have at hand the most diverse data necessary for his work.
At first glance, one might therefore believe that ten lists and a census from 1655 to 1688 should be more than enough to describe in detail the city, its inhabitants, and their activities at that time. However, at the risk of disappointing more than one person from the outset, I must affirm that this is not the case. And this for the good reason that the censuses of yesteryear are not to be placed on an equal footing with their namesakes today. Established for the most diverse reasons, they provide mainly, if not exclusively, information only relevant to the intended purpose Thus, the census and list X were drawn up for fiscal purposes, list II was intended to inventory the population's reserves of "grains and peas." Other lists mainly concern military units to be housed, while lists I and VIII describe the various dwellings in detail. Apart from this, only the census and lists II, VIII (with VIIIa), and X cover the entire city; the others, or at least what remains of them, only concern the upper town in whole or in part. With this disparate and fragmentary material, only broad outlines and certain trends can be determined. And to overgeneralize would also necessarily distort the result. By adding data from parish registers, it will be possible to draw more precise conclusions; however, they will also remain approximate and cannot claim rigorous scientific value, as too many unknowns ultimately remain. Nevertheless, these multifaceted lists, taken as a whole, provide a picture, if not complete, at least very colorful, of life in the city of Luxembourg during the second half of the 17th century. Brief introductions, which are by no means exhaustive, provide some additional details for the respective list and also suggest applications of the data in various fields, demographic, social or otherwise.